Search for content in message boards

Death Registration in the UK 1880's

Death Registration in the UK 1880's

Posted: 15 Jul 2015 5:28PM GMT
Classification: Query
Edited: 15 Jul 2015 5:29PM GMT
Surnames: Cann
So, there is a family story that my great, great, great grandparents(George and Mary Ann Cann) died in a buggy accident. Their kids were placed in an orphanage and an uncle took the family wealth.

In searching for the death dates for my relatives who died in the accident, I have hit a bit of a roadblock.

I know they lived in Devon (Northam, Bideford, Appledore). The only information I can find on their deaths consist of Death Registrations.

There is a death registration for Mary Ann in 1883. Her death age is listed as 30

There is a death registration for a George Cann in 1886. His death age is listed as 50 (he would have been 50 in 1883).

I suspect that both died in 1883, but have been unable to find any other documentation.

SO, my question is, the year the death is REGISTERED, does not necessarily indicate that the death happened in that particular year, right? Is it possible that the death was not registered for a few years?
Attachments:

Re: Death Registration in the UK 1880's

Posted: 15 Jul 2015 5:37PM GMT
Classification: Query
Natural deaths had/have to be registered within five days. In cases of accidental death, the coroner would have to be informed and an inquest held. This would have taken only a matter of days, so the only way the registration would take place in a different year would be if the accident took place at the very end of one year and the registration at the very beginning of the next.

The death certificates will show the precise date and place of the deaths, as well as their cause. Make sure you buy them direct from the GRO (www.gro.gov.uk). Third parties will try and rip you off for considerably more than the statutory £9.25 fee.

Caroline

Re: Death Registration in the UK 1880's

Posted: 15 Jul 2015 7:59PM GMT
Classification: Query
Thank you for your response!
It seems I have more digging to do. I may have the wrong death dates or people!

Re: Death Registration in the UK 1880's

Posted: 16 Jul 2015 6:18PM GMT
Classification: Query
Accidental and unnatural deaths would have been reported in detail in the local newspapers in this period. There may be up to three reports: an account of the accident; a report of the evidence heard by, and the verdict reached by the Coroner's Court; and a report of the funeral.

If the Coroner's papers survive, they are most likely to be held by the county record office.

In the case of accidental and unnatural deaths, the verdict given by the Coroner's Court was usually given as the cause of death. I have found ancestors who died in various accidents (run over by train; died in roof fall in mine; accidentally drowned, etc) had the cause of death on the death certificate as simply "accidental death", "accidentally drowned", etc, with no details of the cause of death, as the Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages was legally obliged to record the cause of death in precisely the words of the Coroner's Court's verdict. In one or two instances however, the Registrar added additional detail - technically against guidelines but very useful for family historians.

Only a small fraction of the UK's local newspapers are digitised and online. Search for a weblink to the Newsplan England website (there is a similar resource for Wales within the National Library of Wales website). This lists every newspaper ever published in England, by title and location, with dates, and states where surviving sets may be consulted, both in hard copy originals, and on microfilm. Generally, sets will be found in the British Newspaper Library (part of the British Library), and in county record offices and sometimes in large local libraries.

You need to find very local newspapers as county or wider regional newspapers would have been less likely to have reported an accident in great detail. If you have a pretty close date for the accident, county record office staff or local library staff may search for you for a fee. Alternatively, they may recommend a list of professional researchers who for a rather larger fee would search for you.

Hope these notes are useful: good luck with your search!

Re: Death Registration in the UK 1880's

Posted: 16 Jul 2015 6:54PM GMT
Classification: Query
Thank you for all of your information! I did try searching online newspapers, without luck. I unfortunately live in Canada, so accessing British newspaper archives isnt a possibility for now.

I did order the death certificates for these relatives. Hopefully they are for the correct people. If they turn out to be right, I will look into someone in the UK researching newspapers for me.

I really appreciate all of this help! I am quite new to genealogy and all these little hints help me so much!
per page

Find a board about a specific topic