Dear Karen, You may rest assured that, if the GRO Death Certificate you hold for Walter Thomas BLAXALL states the cause of death to be Tuberculosis, then that is the truth of the matter, as the Registrar was, and still is, required by Law to quote the cause of death as certified by at least one qualified Medical Practitioner. There can be no question whatsoever of a possible "cover-up" by the Authorities, indeed, such a lynching would be of immense propaganda value in helping to break the strike. In any case, the term "blackleg" is a noun, not a verb. In American terminology a "blackleg" is a cheat or cardsharp. In English terminology a strike-breaker or attempted strike-breaker. In both cases one becomes a "blackleg" by one's own actions (or lack of them), one cannot become "blacklegged" by others. I suspect your aunt is confusing being "blacklegged" with being "blackballed". This is a process whereby someone applying for membership of a club, or society that operates in this fashion, is voted upon by the existing members, not by a show of hands or by ballot paper, but by secretly putting a small coloured ball into a closed box for scrutiny by officials after all members have had the opportunity to cast their vote. Provided all the balls in the box are white, then the candidate is deemed elected to membership. However, if there is at least one black ball, then the application is rejected. The same procedure is sometimes followed on questions of discipline, indiscretion or alleged misbehaviour by existing members. The phrase "He was blackballed from the Club" had a dramatic effect on one's social life in Victorian and Edwardian times ! Bless your aunt for a good story though !! Geoff Blaxall