Developing the history of unintentional injury: the use of coroners' records in early modern England

• coroners' records
• history of unintentional injury

27 August 1578. Peasmarsh, Hastings coroner:

“About 7am on 12 August when Edmund Pette, aged over 8 months, was in a water-mill at Peasmarsh with Helen Pette, Helen went outside to shut “le fludegate” of the mill, leaving Edmund sitting in the mill near the watercourse. While Helen was outside, by misadventure Edmund fell into the watercourse and was drowned, dying immediately”.

(Hunnisett 1996: Record 215).1

A tragic event, recorded by a coroner's inquest in Sussex, England, over 400 years ago. But why should this type of historical evidence be of any concern to researchers in the injury field today? First, there is the value of providing an historical perspective in any subject. Too often, the distant past is seen as a provider of the curious and the unusual; at best a distant echo of something we recognise today. Yet history is far more than that. The perspective of time provides depth and understanding that comes from seeing phenomena in continuous and constant change. It helps us sort out the essential elements of the subject from the transitory and we can see more clearly the dynamics of change and continuity. In some eras circumstances undergo rapid transformation, in others the pace of change is slow. Injury prevention however, lacks this perspective. Indeed, Cooter and Luckin have recently pointed out that “there is hardly a comparable subject in which historical investigation has been so meagre”.2

Our second concern is to illustrate the value of using coroners' records in historical studies of injury. The above quotation reveals many of the essential elements that any researcher needs to understand a modern injury occurrence. As with any modern study, a fuller understanding comes from placing the event within the wider social, cultural, economic, political, and environmental context. We believe that coroners' inquests …