tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5022318990784415929.post8570129571318521952..comments2023-10-20T11:17:47.246-04:00Comments on Two Nerdy History Girls: Lord Rivers Drowns in the Serpentine—Was It an Accident?Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5022318990784415929.post-83432833187533498842018-03-20T07:50:27.132-04:002018-03-20T07:50:27.132-04:00I think it was after 1822 that suicides were no lo...I think it was after 1822 that suicides were no longer buried naked at the crossroads. There had been a number of suicides of prominent men from Sir Samuel Romilly in 1818 to Castlereagh in 1822 which were passed off as irrational acts under disturbance of the mind. The men were given funerals suitable for their place in society as judge and member of the government. When a carpenter died by his own hand and was buried at the crossroads there was a public outcry and parliament , for once, acted swiftly, and allowed the burial of suicides elsewhere.<br />Harriet Shelley was pulled from the Serpentine as well.. her death was thought to be suicide because she was pregnant but her husband had run off with Mary Godwin. One author believes Shelley was the father of her child because he had been around.<br />One of the penalties for denoting a death as suicide was that the money and income for a year was forfeit to the crown. Don't know when that stopped. As if the families of men who lost fortunes at the gaming tables didn't have enough problems, that forfeiture was very unjust and one reason juries tried to find a verdict of accident. <br />Today many believe that gambling is an addiction and a disease but for many in the days of the first three decades of the century, I think it was boredom. Society ruined young men by turning up the collective nose at work.Regencyresearcherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10828749339318882968noreply@blogger.com