A long search?

[BearPear]

Hi everyone, I have a new question following on from all the help I have received in a previous post (which solved a family mystery about my grandfather's sister, thanks guys).

I am now looking for the records of a baby born to my grandma when my mum was about 2 so the year was around 1950- 51. The baby was born in a maternity home, a good weight and full term, but died after around 3 days. My grandma never saw her and she knows nothing about whether or not she was named, or who registerred the birth & death. She knows that there was an inquest into her death as the accusation was that the nursing staff had administerred too much medication which led to the baby's death.

I want to know if it will be a long job going through the fiches at the library, or if indeed I am likely to find records at all? And am I likely to be able to get hold of the inquest details at the library as well? I understand that records are not kept beyond 15 years unless some clever person donated them to the local archive service. Bradford Central Library has a branch of West Yorkshire Archives in site, so they might be worth a chat with?

My grandma is a JOWETT maiden name INGLE, the baby was born in Bradford, West Yorks.

[Geoffers]

Coroners records (Inquests) are kept but remain closed for 75 years. I don't know if you could claim access under The Freedom of Information Act.

You may have better luck looking through local newspapers to see if the inquest was reported.

You may try searching the GRO index of births and deaths to see if you can find an entry.

[BearPear]

Thanks for the confirmation, Geoffers. I had half expected that the records would be gone by now. I'll need to track down the dates before I can start the search of the newspaper archive.

The freedom of info route is interesting...and costly, I expect!

[Jan1954]

The freedom of info route is interesting...and costly, I expect!

Not necessarily. Everyone has the right to request information held by public sector organisations under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, which came into force in January 2005. The FOI gives you the right to ask any public body for all the information they have on any subject you choose. Also, unless there’s a good reason, the organisation must provide the information within a month. You can also ask for all the personal information they hold on you.

Scotland has its own Freedom of Information Act, which is very similar to the England, Wales and Northern Ireland Act. If the public authority you want to make a request to operates only in Scotland then your request will be handled under the Scottish Act instead

More information may be found here:
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/RightsAndResponsibilities/DG_4003239

[BearPear]

I think that I will pursue the FoI route, once I get more concrete information about the dates of birth & death.

Thanks for your advice.

[ChrisKelly]

There is this death recorded in the GRO indexes that could well be your grandma's baby:
Andrew S. Jowett (age 0) / 1952 / Q4 / Bradford / 2b / 165
The death certificate should indicate whether or not a post-mortem (PM) was carried out, which presumably it must have been, and maybe other details.

There don't appear to be any other deaths in 1951-52 apart from a Carole Jowett who died in nearby Burnley.

[Jan1954]

There is this death recorded in the GRO indexes that could well be your grandma's baby:
Andrew S. Jowett (age 0) / 1952 / Q4 / Bradford / 2b / 165


Chris,

I checked the birth records for Andrew and found him in the same quarter, but the mother's maiden name was Kilburn. (2b, 225)

There was another Jowett baby who died in Bradford, but in 1950. David B was born Jan to Mar, 2b/113 but the mother's maiden name was Hollingdrake. He died same quarter 2b/157

[Jan1954]

Betty JOWETT was born Bradford, Oct to Dec 1950, vol 2b, page 118, mother's maiden name INGLE.

Betty's death is recorded in the same quarter, vol 2b, page 55

At least now you could order the birth/death certificate to find out the official cause of death and you have the time span to check in the local papers.

Good luck with this and let us know how you get on

[ChrisKelly]

Chris,

I checked the birth records for Andrew and found him in the same quarter, but the mother's maiden name was Kilburn. (2b, 225)

There was another Jowett baby who died in Bradford, but in 1950. David B was born Jan to Mar, 2b/113 but the mother's maiden name was Hollingdrake. He died same quarter 2b/157

Well checked Jan. I didn't have time earlier to be more thorough.
:)

[BearPear]

Thank you so much Jan, I have ordered the certificates from the registrar and I collect them tomorrow (a big thumbs-up to Bradford Register Office who are always helpful). Luckily I work quite near so can go at lunch time.

Also, by coincidence I walk past my mum's work so I have arranged to call in to see her when I have the certificates so that she can see the information about the baby who would have been her younger sister.

I definately want to take this further and find out as much as I can about the baby's death - but I guess it could turn out to be just "one of those things" and the story about there being an inquest may not be accurate. My Grandma (Betty) has always insisted that the staff at the maternity home killed her baby, so we shall see. It is sad that she never got to hold her baby, even though she lived for around 3 days, she didn't name her either so whoever registerred the birth chose to name her after her mother which is touching. I don't know who registerred the birth, it was either my Grandad or my Great-Gran, but I will find all this out tomorrow!

[Jan1954]

I'm pleased to have been of help. |hug|

Please let us know what you find out, if possible, and pass on all of our best wishes to your mum.

[*bunty*]

Let us know the details of the certificate. Your poor gran :(.

[BearPear]

OK, got the certificates and it was my grandad who registerred both events - on different days. The cause of death was bronco-pneumonia and there was a post mortem, I guess they were waiting for the result of that before they could register the death, otherwise he could have done both together.

My grandma was telling me yesterday that when she delivered they administerred Ether via a cloth held to her mouth. She says they gave her such a lot that the whole room smelt strongly. She thinks that the baby must have inhaled the fumes too and that caused her to fall ill. I am not so sure because I thought that pneumonia was a virus?

Anyway, we are all pleased to have found out the details of the baby - that she had been given a name and who registerred her. I wonder what happened to her after she died, it is possible that the maternity home or coroner disposed of her body, but these days bodies are returned to the family by the coroner. Nobody told my grandma about the details of the registration, she didn't know about the post-mortem, and she doesn't know anything about what happened afterwards with the body.

It must have been awful, and she has clearly blocked some things from her mind, she couldn't recall the exact year, never mind the date. As a mum of 2 myself, I think something like this would be etched upon my memory, but maybe it was a way of coping.

Thanks you all for your help, this has been quite a cathartic experience for me, my mum and her sister, and my grandma!

[Jan1954]

Thanks for letting us know. It's nice that your grandad named the baby after your grandma.

According to NetDoctor:
Pneumonia means that there is an infection or inflammation in the lung tissue. It can be caused by a lot of different micro-organisms - viruses, bacteria, fungi and parasites that are too small to see - but it can also be caused by corrosive chemicals breathed into the stomach or toxic gases from a fire.

So, with regard to the last part, maybe there was something in the story from your grandma about the ether.