Historical cause of death 1830s-1900s
What did Bright's disease mean on a death certificate?
On a death record, Bright's disease meant chronic disease of the kidneys, diagnosed by dropsy and albumin in the urine. In modern terms it usually pointed to chronic nephritis or kidney failure. Richard Bright described it in 1827, so the phrase dates a record after the 1830s; earlier kidney deaths hide under dropsy. Expect it on records mostly 1830s-1900s.
Also written on records as: disease of the kidneys, albuminuria, granular kidney.
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Related terms
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FAQs
What is Bright's disease called today?+
Chronic nephritis or kidney failure, broadly speaking. Doctors of the period diagnosed without laboratory tests, so one label often covered several conditions we would now separate. This page explains historical record language and is not medical advice.
How was Bright's disease written on death records?+
Clerks and doctors also wrote disease of the kidneys, albuminuria, and granular kidney. Spelling wandered from register to register, so check every variant before you decide a record is missing or wrong.
Where do these definitions come from?+
They are drawn from period dictionaries, government archive glossaries, and standard genealogy references, cross-checked against each other; provenance is documented with the dataset. Inside AncestorIQ, Deep Research reads the record itself and explains terms like this in context, against your ancestor's own document.
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