Suicide in pre‐industrial England

Celebrity Suicide of a Pre-World War I Spy

“…There is clearly a lack of understanding regarding the role that the media played in the past. Importantly, suicide became a mass phenomenon in many countries during the nineteenth century, including many European countries, as indicated by a dramatic increase in suicide rates (Durkheim, 1897; Kuttelwascher, 1912; Ortmayr, 1990; Thomas & Gunnell, 2010; Zell, 1986). For example, in the geographic region of the present state of Austria, a first dramatic increase occurred within a period of approximately two decades between 1860 and 1880; a second strong increase occurred during the pre-World War I period (Kuttelwascher, 1912; Ortmayr, 1990).…”

Weavers’ Family Organisation and Suicides in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana: A Sociological Analysis

“…In this context, it may be noted that incidents of suicide were not uncommon in Europe in the early nineteenth century, which were explained as consequences of the declining strength of traditional religious sanctions or the result of advancing industrialisation and urbanisation or some combination of these factors (Zell, 1986). Sociologists and historians have attempted to construct the sociological explanations of suicide on the basis of official suicide statistics.…”

“Reported to Be Distracted”: The Suicide of Puritan Entrepreneur Peter Cole

“…Very few wealthy men and women in Stuart England were identified as suicides; either they rarely took their own lives or, if they did, the deed was concealed. 86 Coroners' juries consis-tently associated poverty with suicide and had difficulty believing that any sane person who had an adequate living would do himself in, wealth and happiness being so closely coupled in their minds. Cole's contemporaries frequently expressed astonishment at the apparent suicides of the rich; if anyone's selfmurder was perplexing, the suicide of a man with money was incomprehensible and therefore an insane act emanating from some affliction.…”