"This Rash Act"
Suicide across the Life Cycle in the Victorian City

What made some 700 men and women in the Yorkshire town of Kingston-upon-Hull, in the years 1837 to 1900, decide to suffer no longer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune and take their own lives? In this study, the author seeks to uncover the experiences that drove people to suicide.

Through the testimony of relatives, neighbors, friends, and even the deceased (by means of suicide notes), the author has been able to get closer to the experience of suicide and its social construction than has been possible in any previous study.

Introduction
Part I. Suicide and the Social Historian: 1. Durkeim and beyond
Part II. Interpreting the Coroners' Inquest: 2. 'Crowner's quest law'
3. Suicide verdicts
Part III. The Urban Life Cycle: 4. The urban life cycle in Victorian England
5. Kingston upon Hull: economy, society, ecology
Part IV. Statistics: 6. The incidence of suicide
Part V. Suicide Across the Life Cycle: 7. Early-life transitions
8. The prime of life
9. Early old age
10. Late old age
Epilogue: Durkheim redivvius
Notes
Bibliography
Index.