Lincoln embalming

[Linda Anderson]

There are differing opinions on the cause of Charlotte's death in March 1855, nine months after her marriage to Arthur Bell Nichols, Mr. Bronte's curate.

"Her death certificate gives the cause of death as phthisis, but many biographers[who?] suggest she may have died from dehydration and malnourishment, caused by excessive vomiting from severe morning sickness or hyperemesis gravidarum."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlotte_Bront%C3%AB

But Lyndall Gordon in Charlotte Bronte: A Passionate Life, suggests that Charlotte may have caught a "digestive-tract infection, possibly typhoid," from Tabby, the family servant. Tabby died in February 1855.

The Babbage Report gives a detailed account of the terrible sanitary conditions in Haworth in 1850.

http://www.kdfhs.org.uk/index.php?option...Itemid=102