uncertified death cartificate

[pejay]

hi, can anyone please explain to me why a death certificate would state uncertified on it, was it because they knew the person was going to die? I have a death certificate from 1851 that states cause of death as 'general debility from been immersed in the sea by his boat and fish netting 19 weeks previously,' and underneath it clearly states uncertified.also how long would a person have to register a death? this one wasn't registerd until 22 days later!
would it be possible to have a person buried those days without a death certificate?

[busyglen]

Pejay, what was the date of the death....was it given as the day it was registered? I'm not too sure from your description as to whether he `drowned' from being caught up in his fish netting. Could it be that he drowned and wasn't discovered until the day he was registered? Usually, if there was a problem with a death, the entry in the burial register would show `Coroner' as he would have had to agree the burial under strange circumstances.

I may be wrong, but perhaps someone else will correct me if this is so.

Glenys

[Pam Downes]

http://www.dixons.clara.co.uk/Certificates/indexbd.htm
will, I think, give you a reasoned answer.

Pam Downes

[Geoffers]

I have a death certificate from 1851 that states cause of death as 'general debility from been immersed in the sea by his boat and fish netting 19 weeks previously,' and underneath it clearly states uncertified.

For a doctor to sign a death certificate, he had to be able to say what was the cause of death. Thinking of the general sensibilities of readers, I wouldn't really want to go into detail of what a body may be like after 19 weeks underwater (worst I've seen is one under for 6 weeks...not nice).

Cause of death was probably therefore inferred from the attending circumstances - e.g. weather, boat reported lost, body found trapped inside nets; but could not be certified for definite.

also how long would a person have to register a death? this one wasn't registered until 22 days later!

I can understand 22 days in the circumstances.

would it be possible to have a person buried those days without a death certificate?

Not lawfully.

Geoffers

[Mythology]

pejay: would it be possible to have a person buried those days without a death certificate?

Geoffers: Not lawfully.

Quite right, but, as it's a quiet Saturday night and I feel like confusing things out of sheer devilment .....

The certificate required for a burial was (maybe still is?) not the same as the "normal" (for want of a better word) death certificate - its specific purpose was to authorize the burial, and it had very little detail.

I won't try and do small caps for "GULIELMI", I'll probably only make a mess of it, so you'll have to live with big ones, but here's an example, written bits in italic:

CERTIFICATE OF REGISTRY OF DEATH,
Pursuant to the Act of 6 & 7 GULIELMI IV., c. 86, to be delivered by the Registrar, without fee or reward, to the Undertaker or other Person having charge of the Funeral.

I Richard Lewis Registrar of Births and Deaths in the District of Ingatestone in the
County of Essex do hereby certify, That the Death of Margaret Janet Poulter was duly registered by me
on the 13th day of May 1847

Witness my hand this 13th day of May 1847

R Lewis Registrar.

N.B. The Undertaker or other Person receiving this Certificate must deliver it to the Minister or Officiating Person who shall be required to bury or to perform any religious service for the burial of the Dead Body.

[Mythology]

Looking through my little collection (and I do mean "little" - I only have five of these!), the later ones issued under the Births and Deaths Registration Act, 1874, have slightly different wording, and they do show the age of the deceased, but that's the only extra detail.

[pejay]

hi, and thankyou for replying to my query. a very good website on bmd certificates, i am sure i will be refering to it regularly. the death took place on 6th august 1851 and was registered on 28th august by his wife who was present at the death.on the 18th march 1851 there was a fishing accident due to inclement weather and several people died. it became known apparently as the curse of 18th march as exactly 60 years down the line - exact to the date several more people lost their lives in a fishing accident involving several small fishing boats.he was involved in the accident but did not drown and was rescued but died nearly 5 months later, it definately states uncertified on the death certificate and it does not mention an inquest. i am assuming if there was one it would have taken place before august.