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I found
a couple of references to his death on the internet and from
various Aston Villa books, but there was one obvious connection
with them all. Someone made a presumption of how he died and
everyone else copied the conclusion. Pneumonia was written everywhere
and it was accepted by myself until i was lucky enough to come
across his death certificate.
A relative on the Woolley side of the family got in touch with
my sister, who was creating the family tree via Genes Reunited.
A connection was made because both of their trees collided and
it was one of the biggest turning points. Not only did they have
old letters sent to Albert from Aston Villa and the F. A. but
they also had his death certificate. These treasured items were
sent through and it opened up even more about his death.
The certificate is shown on the next page and i've chopped it
up into pieces so you can zoom on each bit for more detail. Click
on each piece to view it fully.
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You have to admit even close
up this is a daunting task but having passed this around to many
people, we came up with the following conclusion.
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Where and When he died:-
Third Feb 1896. 159 Moss Lane East, Moss Side.
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Name and Surname:-
Albert Woolley |
Age
24 Years
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Occupation
Professional Footballer |
Cause of Death
Phthisis Pulmonalis (unknown third word – possible “meciter” or “neciter” or “measles”).
Certified by James G Christie
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Signature,
description and residence of informant
Samuel Woolley Brother present at the death. Lichfield Road,
Birmingham.
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When registered
Sixth of Feb. 1896
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Signature
of registrar
John Edgill. Registration |
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So the cause
of death is Phthisis Pulmonalis (unknown third word – possible “meciter” or “neciter” or “measles”).
Do you really think i found that out? Of course not, I blew up
that part of the certificate and sent the magnified image to
a Doctor who works in the same company as me.
After a period of time i had a reply which said the following:-
"The piece says "phthisis
pulmonalis" I think
the 3rd line reads "meciter", or perhaps neciter and
that means nothing to me (yet) but I will have a ferret around."
"Phthisis is coughing up
blood and pulmonalis is where it came from, the lungs. The
outstanding likelihood is that he had pulmonary TB, but that
3rd word might embellish that view a bit."
"Conversely, it is quite common,
and used to be even more common, for doctors to use posh words
just to confuse the rest of us!!"
Of course that was enough for
me but even more information was sent through later that day.
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A
second email came through from the Doctor which outlined various
conditions described from different years
Phthisis Pulmonary consumption.
It is known by emaciation, debility, cough, hectic fever, and purulent
expectoration. [Hooper1843]
In a general sense, progressive emaciation. It is usually,
however, restricted to phthisis pulmonalis. [Dunglison1874]
Pulmonary consumption, characterized by emaciation, debility,
cough, hectic fever, and purulent expectoration. [Thomas1875]
A term formerly applied (like
Consumption ) to the disease of the lung now known as Tuberculosis.
[Britannica1911]
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A
wasting or consumption of the tissues. The term was formerly applied
to many wasting diseases, but is now usually restricted to pulmonary
phthisis, or Consumption. [Webster1913]
Pulmonary Tuberculosis. Involving the lungs with progressive
wasting of the body. [Wordnet]
Phthisis is an archaic name for tuberculosis.
[Medicinenet]
The concluding comment on the email said it all
"At a pinch that third word could be "measles"
- unlikely combination but how lucky can a chap get?"
So Albert had Tuberculosis of the
lungs and possibly measles was the third element that
killed him. |
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