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LIFE AND DEATH IN DULVERTON 1766—1812
Dulverton burial registers for much of this period are remarkable in that they record the cause
of death, possibly because there was at least one resident doctor in the parish. Analysis reveals
obvious traits such as that winter killed babies and the elderly. Old age or decay, a disease
confined to the over 80s, and infancy, being less that 1 year old, were usually the major killers
although they were sometimes overtaken by consumption. Many people lived to a great age
including a centenarian lady buried in 1772 and a pauper whose poverty did not stop him
reaching 96 in 1787. In a good year such as 1778 even with infant mortality the average age at
death was 63. There were occasional deaths from accident, drowning, and suicide. Smallpox
was a scourge until the late 18th century but it does not occur as a cause of death after 1800.
Table 1. Cause of death 1793—7
Consumption
16
Old age and decay [aged 80-97]
11
Fever
7
Infancy
6
Dropsy
3
Suffocation [under 5]
2
Bedridden for years
1
Childbed
1
Convulsive fits [infant]
1
Gout
1
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Inflamed bowel
1
Rupture
1
Suddenly
1
Ulcerated leg
1
Not stated [2 aged 2, 4 over 70]
8
The average number of burials was 18 a year, the best year was 1805 with only 10 and
the worst 1809 with 31, probably owing to a disease of children because 12 children under ten
died between January and early April, mainly boys. A similar outbreak, described as fever
struck in the winter of 1812—13 but this time pairs of siblings, including two-year-old twins
died. In 1801 when the population numbered 1,049 there were 18 deaths.
The 19th-century entries are incomplete except for 1812 when of 23 burials, 12 died of
fever, two of dropsy, and one was an infant. The main recorded cause of death was decline,
probably consumption, which affected both sexes in young adulthood. Dropsy and cancer
mainly affected the over 50s, and fever the under 20s. One man was killed by a horse, another
drowned, and two boys died of measles. As might be expected males were more likely to die
under one year of age but thereafter their life expectancy was better than females. Surprisingly
twice as many girls as boys died between the ages of one and twenty, and women were more
likely to die in their 50s. However, the sexes had roughly equal chances of surviving past 80.
Table 2 Age at death 1800—12 inclusive
AGE
FEMALE
MALE
Under 1
12
19
1—5
26
19*
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6—20
12
6
21—50
20
20
51—80
42
26
80—102
18
16
Totals
130
106
* 13 of these died in 2 outbreaks 1809 and 1812
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