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I have just received a death cert of a child aged 8 years old cause of death Smallpox without previous vaccination,not certified no medical attendant what does the not certified mean this is the first one I have got with this on the year was 1846 thanks Sues.

It would mean that no doctor attended to confirm death or cause thereof formally. In the case of smallpox the cause would be obvious anyway, especially as usually there would be other current sufferers in the household or vicinity.

At some point, I don't know when, certification by a doctor became necessary prior to any burial or cremation.

Rex

The requirement to have either a doctor's certificate of death by natural causes or a coroner's order for burial was introduced in 1926.

Legal changes before that were:
1538- to Births & Deaths Registration Act 1836, a parish-based system

1836: No burial without a registrar's certificate or coroner's order for burial. However this only applied to deceased people who had been baptised within the Church of England (so therefore not unbaptised infants or people of other reigious faiths/ denominations). It did require a certificate from a medical practitioner but didn't specify that they must have immediate knowledge of the deceased's final illness, or be registered/ qualified practitioners. Medical certificates were therefore issued by midwives, pharmacists, local healers (and probably the odd witch doctor).

1874: Law changed to specify that the medical certificate be issued by a person registered with the General Medical Council

1881: Section11 Burials Act 1881 (as explained by S2 Burials Act 1881):
where the deceased was attended during their last illness by a registered medical practitioner the person registering the death had to provide a medical certificate of the cause of death when registering the death. If there was no such medical attendance, the registrar had to accept the informant's explanation of the cause of death.

In 1885 the law was changed to require registrars to report uncertified deaths to the coroner but the requirement was not universally observed.
The law was changed again in 1926 to make it illegal to register a death without a doctor's certificate of death by natural causes or a coroner's order for burial.

They don't call me portia for nothing!

Thanks to Rex and Portia for your reply I have looked at other Family members but smallpox only caused the death of one family member so they were lucky.
Sues