Unrecorded death

[floristofdean]

George Henry Dean who was born in Birkenhead in1874 must be dead but I cannot find any mention of his death. I have tried variations of his Christian names to no avail. He lived in Liverpool and was married to Catherine (whose death I am also searching for). They seem to have dodged both the 1901 and the 1911 census, but surely their deaths must have been registered. Is there anywhere else to look? Is it possible that the age at death could be incorrect on the indexes? There was no problem finding the deaths of his parents.

[MarkJ]

Possibly emigrated? Especially if no sign in censuses and no record of a death....

Incorrectly transcribed death record?

Remember if using FreeBMD that the records are not complete.

As you say, age may be incorrect - remember that the age of death is given by the person who registers the death and they may not know the persons age.

Mark

[floristofdean]

Thanks for that. I was using freebmd. I had not considered emigration. George Henry was a dock labourer, they lived in a court, and one of their children had been sent to an Industrial School in Liverpool untill 1915. George Henry was definitely living in Liverpool in 1909 which is why I thought they were census dodgers. To me they seemed unlikely emigrants, but I could be wrong.

[MarkJ]

If you know they were around in 1909, then they perhaps avoided the census for some reason of course

FreeBMD is fairly incomplete from around the 1930s onwards and in some parts before that - so that could perhaps account for the death not being found as yet. The pay sites have a more complete record - but I don't use those myself so I cannot comment on how good or bad they are. You *could* trawl through the images on FreeBMD - which are not yet transcribed - but it would be a horrendous task as you don't have a rough date for any death.

Although I would agree they don't sound like emigrant material, they presumably lived near the docks and must have seen people leaving for hopefully better lives abroad and they might have taken the plunge themselves... It would be worth a look around the various emigration records if the death continues to elude you.

Mark

[floristofdean]

Just been having a look at an emigration site, though I think this one is a bit dodgy as I found a record and then could not retrieve it again although I was using the same search criteria. I found a George H. Dean of the right age serving as a fireman and trimmer on the manifest of the Ortega in 1920. On his sons marriage certificate, 17/1/22, he is described as Henry Dean (deceased) occupation Mariner. As I had not been able to find a record of his death I had wondered if Mariner was just a guess at his occupation. Maybe he died in a foreign port. Henry was still a dock labourer in 1909 if this is the same person he seems to have left it a bit late to run away to sea. I suppose it is possible that Catherine remarried. Unless of course she died and that is why Henry went to sea. The hunt continues.

[Peter Goodey]

On his sons marriage certificate, 17/1/22, he is described as Henry Dean (deceased) occupation Mariner

Why not investigate Merchant Navy records?

https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/c...sLeafletID=128