post mortem reports

[terryharvey2005]

My Grandad died 1932 after falling into the thames while at work , his death certificate states death due to pneumonia due to inhalation of infected fluid.
accidental cause P.M. Coroner for City of London. Is there any further information to be gained from this, can post mortem reports be obtained if so is it likely to contain any other infomation. I promise to read every reply before asking another point.

regards for any help

[Mutley]

You just make sure you do|scold|

|biggrin| ;)

Have you tried the Times. It is online and there may be a report. There is a thread on this forum about the Bedfordshire Library
http://www.galaxy.bedfordshire.gov.uk/cgi-bin/vlib.sh
and instructions of how to join. It gives you access to the Times.

Regards, Mutley

[terryharvey2005]

Thank You

Just found the same service at my own library just need to get a pin number from them to to access from home.

regards

Terry

[Elly]

can post mortem reports be obtained
Terry, the coroner's files are normally closed for 75 years, so the timing on this one is a bit tight. You may have to wait a few months until 2008. Even then the documents will not necessarily have been kept, although City of London and Southwark have better survival rates than any other part of London.

Elly

[terryharvey2005]

Thanks Elly

Do I contact city of London directly or are they released to another archive source.

regards


Terry

[Elly]

The records should eventually end up at the Corporation of London Record Office (CLRO), whose real home is at Guildhall Library. But while building work is going on at Guildhall, most CLRO records are being housed at the London Metropolitan Archives (LMA). Furthermore, by the time the records you want will become available (January 2008 earliest), the LMA itself will be undergoing refurbishment, so it is anyone's guess where CLRO documents will be housed at that point in time and what will be accessible! I guess your best bet is probably to start with the LMA.

ask.lma@cityoflondon.gov.uk

Elly

[terryharvey2005]

Thank you both for your input

I have contacted LMA (waiting for reply). I have also searched the Times online archive with no luck. Are there any local London newspaper archives online or will that require a visit to the British Library or a Local East London Library.


Regards


Terry

[Elly]

Nothing online for that end of London, as far as I know. You don't say exactly where the accident happened, but if it was in the area loosely known as the east end, and on the north side of the river, Tower Hamlets Local Studies (Bancroft Library) could be useful.

http://www.towerhamlets.gov.uk/data/libraries-leisure/data/libraries/history-archive.cfm

For the south side of the river, Southwark Local Studies have an excellent collection of papers

http://www.southwark.gov.uk/DiscoverSouthwark/LocalHistoryLibrary

Or, as you say, BL Newspapers, if you can get there. Note this is not at the St Pancras site but at Colindale in north-west London.

http://www.bl.uk/collections/newspapers.html

The question is, though, whether such an accident at work, tragic though the outcome was, would be reckoned sufficiently newsworthy to be covered in the press. I guess you don't know until you look. Good luck!

Elly

[terryharvey2005]

Thanks Elly

I looked at the newspaper idea after Mutley suggested a look through the Times Archive. I have no idea where the accident took place I dont even know how long after the accident he died. I know he was a dock worker and that he was from the east end so i assume he did not travel to far to work. I thought the coroners report may give some indication. I will have to wait and see

thanks for your help

[terryharvey2005]

message from LMA

This office holds a very small sample of coroners' inquest papers for
the London Eastern District where this death occurred (rather than the
City of London district), but I regret that the records of this case
have not survived. Neither does this office hold coroners' registers for
this date. I suggest that to obtain contemporary accounts of the case
you may find it useful to contact the British Library, Newspaper
Library, Colindale Avenue, London NW9 5HE

guess a visit to British Library or Tower Hamlets archive is next on my list

[veritas]

the inhilation of fluid on the lung is now termed as aspiration pneumonia-the fluid already being infected would probably have caused local and systemic infection.as this was in the days pre-antibiotic it would have been a very serious conditin to treat/recover from.
veritas