List of women who died in childbirth
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- Revisions and sourced additions are welcome.
Contents |
[edit] Famous women
[edit] Austria
- Maria Anna of Austria, Arduchess of Austria (1718-1744)
- Isabella Maria of Parma, (1741-1763), wife of Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor
- Maria Leopoldina, Archduchess of Austria (1797-1826), mother of Maria II of Portugal and Emperor Pedro II of Brazil
[edit] Bohemia
- Guta von Habsburg (1271-97), Queen of Bohemia
[edit] Egypt
[edit] France
- Alix of Thouars (1221), Duchess of Brittany
- Émilie du Châtelet (1749), mathematician, physicist, and author.
[edit] Germany
- Anna von Schweidnitz (1362), second wife of Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor
- Johanna Osthoff (1809), first wife of the mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss
- Paula Modersohn-Becker (1907), artist
- Grete Planck (1917) and Emma Planck (1919), twin daughters of physicist Max Planck.
[edit] Italy
- Julia (54 BC), daughter of Julius Caesar
- Tullia (45 BC), daughter of Cicero.
- Galla (d. 394), wife of Theodosius I.
- Marietta Robusti (1590), 16th century artist and daughter of the artist Jacopo Tintoretto
- Gianna Beretta Molla (1962), pediatrician who was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 2004.
[edit] India
- Mumtaz Mahal (1631), wife of Mughal emperor Shah Jahan. Her memorial is the Taj Mahal
- Smita Patil (1986), an Indian actress and wife of Raj Babbar
[edit] Israel
[edit] Montenegro
- Princess Zorka of Montenegro (1890), mother of King Alexander I of Yugoslavia
[edit] Norway
- Margaret of Scotland (Queen of Norway) (1283) after giving birth to Margaret, Maid of Norway
[edit] Poland
- Jadwiga of Poland (1399), monarch of Poland
[edit] Portugal
- Queen Maria II of Portugal (1819-1853)
- Isabella of Asturias (1470-1498), married Afonso of Portugal and Manuel I of Portugal
[edit] Russia
- Anna Petrovna of Russia, (1728) - daughter of Catherine I of Russia and mother of Peter III of Russia
- Anna Leopoldovna, (1746), regent of Russia and mother of Ivan VI of Russia
- Alexandra Georgievna of Greece and Denmark, (1891) wife of Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich of Russia
[edit] Spain
- Blanca de Navarra (d. 1156), wife of the future King Sancho III of Castile
- Maria Manuela of Portugal (1545), wife of future Philip II of Spain
[edit] UK
- Eleanor de Montfort (1282), the princess of Wales and Lady of Snowdon
- Isabella of Mar (1296), first wife of Robert I of Scotland, after delivering Marjorie Bruce, who also died in childbirth
- Marjorie Bruce (1316), after delivering the future Robert II of Scotland
- Mary de Bohun (1394), first wife of Henry IV of England and mother of Henry V
- Elizabeth of York (1503), queen of Henry VII of England and mother of Henry VIII
- Jane Seymour (1537), third wife of Henry VIII of England and mother of Edward VI
- Catherine Parr (1548), sixth Wife Henry VIII of England
- Mary Powell (1652), first wife of writer John Milton
- Katherine Woodcock (1658), second wife of writer John Milton
- Mary Wollstonecraft (1797), author of Vindication of the Rights of Women and mother of Mary Shelley
- Princess Charlotte Augusta of Wales (1796-1817), only legitimate child of the future King George IV of the United Kingdom. The obstetrician later committed suicide.
- Isabella Beeton (1865), author of Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management
[edit] US
- Kalanipauahi (about 1804-1826), Hawaiian queen consort/princesss and a member of the House of Kamehameha
- Sarah Lincoln Girgsby (1807-1828), sister of Abraham Lincoln
- Alice Hathaway Lee Roosevelt (1861-1884), first wife of Theodore Roosevelt
- Cecilia Mettler (1909-1943), medical historian
- Nadine Shamir (1972-2004), singer/songwriter
- Martina von Trapp-Dupiere (1921-1951), member of the Trappy Family like her father George von Trapp and her stepmother Maria Augusta von Trapp, married with Jean Dupiere, died on complications after childbirth, her daughter was stillborn. Martina's stillborn daughter's name is Notburga.
[edit] Mothers of famous people
- Mother of Leon Czolgosz, the assassin of U.S. President William McKinley (Died giving birth to her last child when her son Leon Czolgosz was twelve years old.)
- Frederica of Hesse-Darmstadt, mother of Queen Louise of Prussia. (Died giving birth to her last child when Louise was six years old.)
- Julia Neale Jackson, mother of Stonewall Jackson, Confederate general. (Died giving birth to Jackson's half-brother William when Stonewall was seven years old.)
- Mother of Roy Harper, musician.
- Mary Wollstonecraft, mother of Mary Shelley, writer.
- Jaqueline Robespierre, mother of Maximilien Robespierre. (Died giving birth to her fifth child, who also died.)
[edit] Wives of famous people
- Elinor Junkin (1854), first wife of Civil war Confederate general Stonewall Jackson.
- Nettie Dorsey (1932), first wife of Gospel musician Thomas A. Dorsey.
- Virginia Patton (1930), wife of blues musician Robert Johnson.
[edit] Maternal death in fiction
- In Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace, Liza Bolkonskaya, wife of Prince Andrei dies giving birth to a son called Nikolai.
- Catherine Barkley, the nurse and principal supporting character in Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms, dies in childbirth. Shortly after her son was stillborn, it had to leaving Henry to return to their hotel in the rain.
- In the Australian television series Neighbours, the mother of characters Paul, Scott, Julie and Lucy Robinson died giving birth to youngest child, Lucy.
- In Charles Dickens' novel Oliver Twist the title character's mother, Agnes, dies giving birth to him.
- Another Dickens novel A Christmas Carol, Scrooge's younger sister Fan dies in childbirth giving birth to his nephew Fred.
- Square Enix's Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest video game series mentioned maternal death. Raine of Final Fantasy VIII died giving birth to the game's protagonist Squall Leonhart. Martha, the mother of the Dragon Quest V hero, was rumored to have died in childbirth.
- Apur Sansar (The World of Apu).
- In the motion picture The Mask of Zorro, the antagonist Don Rafael Montero, enemy of Don Diego de la Vega, lied that Esperanza de la Vega died in childbirth, but Esperanza de la Vega was actually gunned down instead. Then Montero raised her daughter Elena.
- In the motion picture Contact, a woman died giving birth to the film's protagonist Eleanor Ann "Ellie" Arroway, portrayed by actress Jodie Foster. Arroway's father died when she was nine years old.
- In Lady of Avalon, Viviane's mother, Ana, dies while giving birth to her fifth child, Morgause, who's fed and raised by her older sister.
- In SNK's King of Fighters series, the Yagami bloodline is cursed with maternal death. The mothers of the Yagami clan heirs are cursed to die giving birth to the clan heirs.
- In Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, Padmé Amidala dies after the birth of her twins Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa on Polis Massa, not because of poor health, but because of the complete loss of will to live and a broken heart. Her husband Anakin Skywalker turned to the dark side of the Force and became Darth Vader.
- In an episode of House, a woman 26 weeks pregnant dies after doctors perform an emergency c-section.
- In Mi Familia/My Familia, the wife of the character played by Jimmy Smits dies while giving birth to their son.
- In the Harry Potter saga, Merope Gaunt-Riddle, the mother of the series' chief antagonist, Lord Voldemort, dies after giving birth to him, living just long enough to name him Tom Marvolo Riddle.
- In the television series Lost, the character Ben Linus's mother died while giving birth to him and his father blames him for it.
- In The Red Violin, Anna Bussotti dies after a stillbirth in the opening act, leading to the creation of the Red Violin as a tribute.
- In Gabriel García Márquez's novel One Hundred Years of Solitude, Amaranta Ursula Buendía dies while giving birth to Aureliano, the child she has with her nephew Aureliano Babilonia.
- In Barry Hughart's novel The Bridge of Birds, Li Kao's mother dies immediately after giving birth to him. She lives only long enough to ask for Kaoliang wine, which is misinterpreted by those in attendance as naming the child Li Kao.
- In Vladimir Nabokov's novel Lolita, it is mentioned in the foreword that the title character dies giving birth to a stillborn daughter.
- In the motion picture Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein's mother dies giving birth to his little brother, William. She dies of illness in the original novel.
- In the 2004 film Jersey Girl, Gertrude Steiney, the character of actress Jennifer Lopez, dies during childbirth.
- In the novel The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini the mother of the protagonist Amir dies during his birth.
- In the series one ER episode "Loves Labours Lost", Mark Greene oversees a patient who dies in childbirth. Mark is subsequently sued for negligence by her partner.
- In Thornton Wilder's play Our Town, Emily Webb dies in childbirth.
- In the 1988 film The Seventh Sign, Demi Moore's character dies as a result of giving birth to her child. Actually, she offers her soul because "she finds out that the prophecies lead up to the birth of her child who may not survive because there will be no more souls left for the newborns unless someone offers their own."
- In the 2002 film Whale Rider, the main character's mother and twin brother die while she lives.
- In the film adaptation of Interview With the Vampire, Louis' wife dies in childbirth.
- In Kevin and Kell, Wanda Woolstone, dies giving birth to Corrie Dewclaw. Her death causes the otherwise very skilled Ralph Dewclaw, Corrie's father, to lose the will to hunt, and causes him to mistakenly believe that predator-prey relationships inevitably end tragically.
- In Jade Empire, Sky's wife dies giving birth to their daughter, Pinmei, years before he meets the player.
- In R.A. Salvatore's novel The Highwayman, Sen Wi, realizing that her newborn son will die, uses a healing art to save him at the cost of her own life.
- In the soap opera spin-off General Hospital: Night Shift, HIV-positive pregnant woman Stacey Sloan dies after complications of placental abruption.
- In the Grimm Brothers' Snow White, Snow White's mother died in childbirth. Soon afterwards, the new king took a new wife (debatable) who was beautiful, but very vain, and who possessed supernatural powers of all times.
- In Patricia MacLachlan's Sarah, Plain and Tall, Anna's mother died in childbirth a day after Caleb's birth. So on, the two kids and their father write a note to an ad in the newspaper for a mail-order bride.
- In the final book of Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events book series, the character Kit Snicket dies after giving birth to her daughter (the father of whom is never revealed).
