Cause of Death Child Birth 8 hours?

[Guest]

Death Cert arrived today I had already guessed she died having a baby
it says Cause of Death
Child Birth 8 Hours Exhaustion would this mean she was in Labour 8 Hours or had the baby 8 hours earlier ??? and would there be a birth or death cert for the baby ???
Thanks

[Anne in Carlisle]

Poor soul :(

Its a bit vague isn't it, but I would assume she had been in labour 8 hours and died of exhaustion. The baby may not even have been born :(

However if the baby was born and IF it lived even for a few minutes there is supposed to be a birth and death certificate for it.

Anne

[Darksecretz]

I would think that it did mean she was in labour 8 hours and exhausted, have you had a look to see if there was a birth/death for the child? it possibly might have been a stillborn though.

what year was this Val?

[Gwyn in Kent]

I have a death cert for my GG grandmother who died on 4th October after giving birth on 1st October 1876.
Her cert. says cause was
Atrophy of the Heart,..some years
Exhaustion from labour 4 days....certified by ( etc )

Her baby survived into adulthood.

I will be interested in your replies, because I too have never been quite sure what to read into this.

[Guest]

Hi and thanks for your replies I cried when I read it
She died in April 1852 in Marylebone so have been looking for a birth or death besides hers the baby is not with her husband on the next census and he has remarried within 2 years didnt hang about did they ?

[Mary from Italy]

2 years is plenty! Several of my widowers remarried within 3 months.

[Guest]

really ??? I think thats disrespectful it wasnt as if they had any children for him to worry about .
But maybe I'm too soft?

[Mary from Italy]

I think it was a case of having to.

If a woman was widowed and left with children, she would probably need to marry as soon as possible to have someone to support them.

A man who was left with small children would need to find someone to look after them while he was out at work, and marrying was probably a cheaper option than hiring a housekeeper.

I was a bit shocked to find recently that when my grandfather's sister died of cancer in the 1930s, her husband remarried during the next quarter. They weren't separated or anything - according to the death cert he was present at the death. Their children were grown up, so I guess he just wanted the company (he was in his 50s).

[kylejustin]

my great grandmother died in chilbirth in 1931. my aunt and pop were taken in by the maternal grandma, because if she didnt, the state would take them. apparently men werent allowed to raise theyre own children by themselves in the 1930's, but im not too sure if this is correct. maybe it was social stigma for a man to raise children on his own.

[Olde Crone Holden]

I have one or two marrying in the quarter after the wife's death - as Mary said, much cheaper option than a housekeeper and a matter of urgency to keep the children together.

Several more within the year, again for the same reasons.

As for the death certificate...the time refers to how long the condition which caused the death existed, so in this case I would say that it was the exhaustion which lasted eight hours - the labour may have been over, or not, and may have lasted a lot longer than eight hours.

OC

[Guest]

I dont seem able to find a birth or death in the right time span so maybe she died without giving birth?? how awful .

[Mary from Italy]

The baby may have been stillborn, in which case there wouldn't be a birth or death cert.

[Little Nell]

Well she was dead anyway Val so it didn't make any difference to her. The baby might have died too or been already dead - no way of telling now. But if the baby was born it might have been buried with her.

[Guest]

mm might try to find out about her burial then thanks everyone

[Penelope]

8 hours in labour wouldn't be at all unusual, so I'd imagine that might mean 8 hours in the final stage before delivery? (Second stage if I remember the books correctly!) )A stillborn death was not certifiable til after 1926, I think? Am not even sure in the 19thC there was a firm definition of stillbirth v. spontaneous abortion (miscarriage), as there is now? So child birth 8 hours may have been a miscarriage or a stillbirth?

[Guest]

I did wonder that too Penelope some women go a lot longer than that , I wonder if it is more likely the baby was breech or something and she could not deliver it ?? what would happen in those cases would there have been any medical help available ??

[Mary from Italy]

There would probably have been a midwife in attendance, even if the birth was at home.

Stillborns aren't registered in the BMD index, but you do often find them in cemetery indexes.

[Guest]

would there I did wonder about that ??? thanks again