Can anyone tell me what exactly the term "debility" covers in death certs?
I have a few rellies with this cause of death, and they are of varied ages. I suspect it is because the doctors did not know the cause, or could it have been mental health problems, which were rarely discussed???
Hope someone can explain!!
Cause of death - debility??
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AnneMT
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Cause of death - debility??
Researching Brogan, Waters/Watters, Docherty, Creaney/Craney, Cairnon and variations, Carley,Mellon, Grier/Greer, Kelly, Quigley, Glen, Hynds and many more
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Tracey
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Hi Ann
The dictionary definition - "weakness, Infirm" which makes sence. A lot of mine have this written on also.
Tracey
The dictionary definition - "weakness, Infirm" which makes sence. A lot of mine have this written on also.
Tracey
Scotland - Donaldson / Moggach / Shaw / Geddes / Sim / Gray / Mackie / Richards / Joel / Coull / Mckimmie / Panton / McGregor
Ireland and Scotland - Casey / McDade / Phillips / McCandle / Dinely / Comaskey + various spellings
Ireland and Scotland - Casey / McDade / Phillips / McCandle / Dinely / Comaskey + various spellings
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DavidWW
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Assuming that we're talking about 1800s records, this was a catch-all for situations where the doctor didn't really know the underlying cause of death, especially in situations involving someone in their 70s, or older, who was regarded anyway as having had their "three score and ten" !! 
While it was important back then for the authorities to be able to compile statistics on causes of death, this related much more to childhood and teenage illnesses; as well as typhoid, cholera and the like, consumption, etc.; plus data on probable occupationally related illnesses, - e.g. (severe) bronchitis in mining and other industries, now known as emphysema, and asthma, now known as pneumoconiosis.
It was largely due to the available such information that the authorities were eventually convinced of the existence of such occupationally derived causes of death, and the need to legislate so that conditions for workers in these industries was improved in order to reduce the death toll.
Even today, the death toll in Scotland, given the pre-eminence in ship building up until the 1950s and 60s, is, very sadly, considerable from conditions such as asbestosis, - this often doesn't manifest itself for several decades after the exposure to the form of abestos involved, - the professor of chemical engineering at my university in the the 1970s, only discovered in the 1990s that he had this fatal condition, deriving from university vacation work in Clydeside shipyards in the 1960s, - see http://www.historia.su.se/urbanhistory/ ... hnston.pdf for a similar situation in the construction industry, - the term "White Mice, as far as I'm aware, originally derived from the laggers in the Clydeside shipyards.
Very sadly, many others than workers in the shipyards and construction industry were affected.
The contaminated clothing of men in these industries has often lead to their families being being affected, i.e. dieing from asbestosis; as well as those living close to the factories producing the lagging/insulation material being fatally affected from dust blown into their houses and local streets......
David
David
While it was important back then for the authorities to be able to compile statistics on causes of death, this related much more to childhood and teenage illnesses; as well as typhoid, cholera and the like, consumption, etc.; plus data on probable occupationally related illnesses, - e.g. (severe) bronchitis in mining and other industries, now known as emphysema, and asthma, now known as pneumoconiosis.
It was largely due to the available such information that the authorities were eventually convinced of the existence of such occupationally derived causes of death, and the need to legislate so that conditions for workers in these industries was improved in order to reduce the death toll.
Even today, the death toll in Scotland, given the pre-eminence in ship building up until the 1950s and 60s, is, very sadly, considerable from conditions such as asbestosis, - this often doesn't manifest itself for several decades after the exposure to the form of abestos involved, - the professor of chemical engineering at my university in the the 1970s, only discovered in the 1990s that he had this fatal condition, deriving from university vacation work in Clydeside shipyards in the 1960s, - see http://www.historia.su.se/urbanhistory/ ... hnston.pdf for a similar situation in the construction industry, - the term "White Mice, as far as I'm aware, originally derived from the laggers in the Clydeside shipyards.
Very sadly, many others than workers in the shipyards and construction industry were affected.
The contaminated clothing of men in these industries has often lead to their families being being affected, i.e. dieing from asbestosis; as well as those living close to the factories producing the lagging/insulation material being fatally affected from dust blown into their houses and local streets......
David
David