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Death certificate but no body?

Death certificate but no body?

Posted: 8 Feb 2015 5:56PM GMT
Classification: Query
Would anyone be able to tell me if a family would've been issued a death certificate without a body in 1915? My Great great Grandfather died on board the Lusitania but his body was never recovered.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Regards,
Sarah

Re: Death certificate but no body?

Posted: 10 Feb 2015 3:51AM GMT
Classification: Query
In the absence of a body, issuance of a death certificate would require a court order or executive order. His family could have applied for one in the state where he lived, so you should check there. And since the Lusitania was registered in Britain, it is also possible a death certificate was issued there, so you could check with the UK General Record Office to see if they have a death record.

Steve

Re: Death certificate but no body?

Posted: 4 May 2015 6:38PM GMT
Classification: Query
Edited: 4 May 2015 6:47PM GMT
That's really two questions.

Was there a death certificate ?,...yes there definitely was, or at least there was a death registration made with the UK General Register Office,...via a death notification which would have been forwarded to the UK GRO via the UK Board of Trade, which was responsible for the administration of civilian shipping matters.

Based on that registration, a death certificate could have, and would have, been created if required, and it could have been applied for back then by his family, and can still be applied for by anyone today.

A U.K. death registration for anyone who died or who dies on board a British registered vessel was and is a mandatory legal requirement.

No U.K. court application or procedure would be required in order to prove the death, and no body would be required, in the case of someone who dies on board a British registered vessel whilst at sea or in harbour and who is either buried at sea or who's body is not recovered due to the sinking of the vessel, the mere fact of that person being listed in the relevant records as having been on board that vessel at the relevant time is sufficient to prove their death.

Their death would be registered by the UK GRO as a maritime death, the register for which is separate from the registrations for land based deaths.

The second part of the question is...would his relatives have been issued with a copy of the death certificate ?,...if you mean issued, as in automatically issued, I don't know, but they could certainly have applied for a copy and if they had done so then they would have been issued with a copy, and they would need to produce a copy of the death certificate as proof of death for any future legal or financial purposes.

You can apply for a copy here if you want to, and it costs about £10...
http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/

Given the circumstances of his death you probably won't need the exact details of the death registration, but if you wish to list his name, someone on here can probably provide you with that, and his age, if known, might be helpful, in case he has a similar name to anyone else who was lost on board that ship.

Re: Death certificate but no body?

Posted: 14 May 2015 9:58AM GMT
Classification: Query
If he was one of the 128 Americans aboard then his death was registered with the U.S. State Dept. All US citizens births and deaths occurring outside the USA are filed there and Certificates issued by the State Dept. Copies of Certificates can be obtained from them.
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