General Chat

People mentioning living conditions has made me think back to the research I have done It shocked me to see how many children died from fire and poisoning during the mid to late 1800’s. The numbers reported in the paper were quite alarming. A child in the family I was researching died after drinking from a bottle, which the mother had reused to store a cleaning product. At a time when there were open fires, and candles, in overcrowded homes, a lot of children died from burns. No mention was made of the parents being prosecuted for neglect, it seems as though it was accepted as being an accident. One can only wonder at how difficult it must have been for the parents to come to terms with the loss of a child Dee xx By the way Joy, I was wondering about chemical warfare. I did a thread about people who died from disease during wartime, and it got me thinking of those who died of chemicals, and have suffered from the side effects of the 'jabs' they have been given to protect them from such attack Dee x

Dee For me that would depend on whether you'd count doing your National Service as a job. Dad served as a Peacekeeper after the Korean War. Years later he developed a disease called Alveolitis which killed him. The only thing the hospital doctor could think of for a cause was doing that. He'd done no other job that dangerous. Apparently there were some nasty chemicals and other stuff floating about in the air in Korea. Joy

Nell's right about London - my not very well off Islington ancestors all died of illnesses (often long term ones) connected to the chest and lungs. My Grandad's uncle died of painter's cholic (sp?) according to my great aunt, when he was 35 in 1910. I assume that paint had a lot of unpleasant things in that they no longer have.

I remember seeing in one of the Scottish Parish Records that the Minister had buried five of his six children, two before Christmas and three after. I cant remember if it was cholera of typhus.....poor people how did they carry on?

It is very sobering to reflect on how bad people's health was in past times. Firstly, if you lived in London (or any other industrial town) you would be more likely to have chest problems - bronchitis, emphysema, TB, due to the smoky atmosphere. Most poor folk in towns would be living in cramped living conditions, sharing stairwells, water supply and toilets with many other households. You wouldn't have much idea about how germs spread. Your diet would be poor and not include much in the way of fresh fruit and veg. Any illness would make you weaker and more prone to other diseases. There would be no antibiotics and you wouldn't be able to afford them if there were. My London ancestors were much poorlier than my country cousins. My Norfolk grandfather was one of 10 children, of whom only one died before reaching adulthood. He married a London woman who had 3 brothers that died in infancy. Her own father died at the age of 40. nell

Grandfathers, one at age 48, Scottish Coal miners. Acute bronchitis, myocarditis,nephritis,uremia,scilicosis. Uncle in his early 40's coal miner, cancer of lung.

perhaps it was someone elses oxtail soup and he took it very badly or maybe he'd not removed the tail from the ox before he tried to start making soup from it

A local author has just published the findings of the Nottingham Coroner during the early 1800's - one cause of death was really strange 'Death from drinking Oxtail Soup'. Perhaps a bone was left in??? Jacqui

Grandfather died of 'black lung' thru working in the coalmines all his life. Had one g g uncle killed in the coal mines through injury, the poor man was crushed in a tub where according to the inquest 'he had no right to be' Very harsh in those days and I think most individuals were found to be at fault and not the company as they would have been liable to pay the widows.

In Wycombe it was 'loss of fingers' due to all the furniture making and lack of safety guards.

In the 1880’s women employed as ‘match girls’ by Bryant and May were dying from the side effects of working with phosphorous. More recently I have been aware of people whose health has, allegedly, been affected by working at Chatham Dockyard. Have any of your ancestors been affected by an industrial disease or injury? Dee x

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