Research Catalog

Title

Melancholy madness : a coroner's casebook / Michelle McGoff-McCann.

Author

McGoff-McCann, Michelle, 1968-

Publication

Cork : Mercier, 2003.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Description

374 p. : ill.; 22 cm.

Summary

"Melancholy Madness investigates life, death and the duties and responsibilities of the coroner in post-famine Ireland through the inquests recorded in the coroner's casebook. The actual facts of people institutionalised, the dysfunctional dynamic within families, the hardships of daily tasks and rural life and the state in which a body was found is offered along with the testimony of family members, relatives and other witnesses." "The reports are unique - they are one of the only complete collections of their kind in Ireland covering a 20-year time period. They were never lodged in the National Archives and have not been referred to or published anywhere. This is the first time they appear in any publication."--Jacket.

Subject

• 1800-1899
• Cause of Death > history > Ireland
• Coroners > Ireland > History > 19th century
• Coroners and Medical Examiners > history > Ireland
• Death > Causes
• History, 19th Century > Ireland
• Ireland
• Ireland > Social conditions > 19th century
• Mental Disorders > history > Ireland
• Suicide > history > Ireland
• Waddell, William Charles, 1798-1878

Genre/Form

History

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. 358-373).

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

• Acknowledgements. p. 7.
• Foreword. p. 9.
• Introduction. p. 12.
• Ch. 1. Coroner and his Casebook: Inquests, Investigations and Autopsies. p. 15.
• Ch. 2. Infanticide: Child Murder in Monaghan. p. 70.
• Ch. 3. Mansions of Despair: Suicide and the Asylum. p. 109.
• Ch. 4. Behind Closed Doors: Dangers in the Home. p. 139.
• Ch. 5. Death by Misadventure: True Tales of Bad Luck and Strange and Unusual Death. p. 187.
• Ch. 6. Death in the Workplace: Risking Lives for Employment. p. 213.
• Ch. 7. With Intent to Kill: Cold-Blooded Murder?. p. 251.
• Ch. 8. Matters of Life and Death: Cures and Remedies and Last Moments on Earth. p. 313.
• App. 1. Coroner's Reports held at the National Archives. p. 333.
• App. 2. Recording Death During the Famine. p. 335.
• App. 3: Listing of Doctors. p. 340.
• App. 4: A List of the Dead. p. 341.
• Notes. p. 358.

ISBN

• 1856354245
• 9781856354240

LCCN

^^2004401274

OCLC

56532708

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library