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  1. #1
    Brock
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    Default How to learn more about a death...

    Hello all,
    The death certificate of Elizabeth Dowell shows that she died on 5th Nov 1854 in Upper Gornal, Sedgley, Staffs. She was a 70 year old widow & her cause of death was burning accident.
    Her death wasn't registered until 27th Dec 1854 & was done so by the deputy coroner of Wolverhampton.
    The death certificate doesn't state that there was an inquest but I find the details shown puzzling.
    Can anyone possibly help me please by pointing me in the right direction as to learning more about Elizabeth's death.
    Thank you.

  2. #2
    Super Moderator - Completely bonkers and will never change.
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    Local newspapers are your best bet.

    Try the British Newspaper Archives first. The vast majority of their pages are also available on Findmypast if you have a subscription to that.

    If no luck there, you may have to resort to the local archive office to hold the newspapers. This might be the local library. In these days of budget restraints you usually have to pay for look-ups but unless you live only a bus ride away it's usually cheaper than travel costs. You also have the advantage of having precise dates so it's not as if the look-up should take very long.

    Pam
    Vulcan XH558 - “Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened.”

  3. #3
    Brock
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    Quote Originally Posted by Pam Downes View Post
    Local newspapers are your best bet.

    Try the British Newspaper Archives first. The vast majority of their pages are also available on Findmypast if you have a subscription to that.

    If no luck there, you may have to resort to the local archive office to hold the newspapers. This might be the local library. In these days of budget restraints you usually have to pay for look-ups but unless you live only a bus ride away it's usually cheaper than travel costs. You also have the advantage of having precise dates so it's not as if the look-up should take very long.

    Pam
    Thank you Pam for your great advice. I will look into what will be my best route to check out any newspaper reports.

  4. #4

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    What puzzles you about the details? Just the dates?

  5. #5
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    There may not have been an inquest, perhaps only a post mortem. If someone dies unexpectedly, without any recent contact with a doctor or other medical agency, the coroner is usually informed and a post mortem ordered to determine cause of death, which may prove to be a "normal" medical condition. An inquest would only follow if there were any suspicious or unexplained circumstances.

  6. #6
    Brock
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lesley Robertson View Post
    What puzzles you about the details? Just the dates?
    I find genealogy fascinating & over time have learned a fair amount but there is a great deal that I do not know & when puzzled I ask those who are more knowledgeable. This is what I did & was told that if an inquest was held that fact is always recorded on a death registration along with the date of the inquest. In this case an inquest was not mentioned at all & I was puzzled as to why therefore the death was registered by the coroner with it not taking place until 52 days after death.

  7. #7
    Brock
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    Quote Originally Posted by brentor boy View Post
    There may not have been an inquest, perhaps only a post mortem. If someone dies unexpectedly, without any recent contact with a doctor or other medical agency, the coroner is usually informed and a post mortem ordered to determine cause of death, which may prove to be a "normal" medical condition. An inquest would only follow if there were any suspicious or unexplained circumstances.
    Ah, very interesting.
    Thank you so much.

  8. #8
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    On the death certificate, in the "cause of death" section, is there an annotation "after pm", "no p m" or similar? (p m = post mortem).

    In a certificate I have there was no post mortem - he was a miner caught in a coal cutting machine, but the coroner, as the informant, gave the date of the inquest.

  9. #9
    Brock
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    Quote Originally Posted by brentor boy View Post
    On the death certificate, in the "cause of death" section, is there an annotation "after pm", "no p m" or similar? (p m = post mortem).

    In a certificate I have there was no post mortem - he was a miner caught in a coal cutting machine, but the coroner, as the informant, gave the date of the inquest.
    No, in the cause of death the details stated that she died from burns caused through an accident but nowhere did it make mention of an inquest or a post mortem. It seems a very long time between the date of death & the registration which raises suspicions especially as the death was registered by the deputy coroner of Wolverhampton but it only states his name & position with no mention of an inquest or date.
    I shall have to try to make a visit to search for a newspaper report.

  10. #10
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    Death by accident would have been referred to the coroner, not necessarily to establish the cause of death, which might be apparent, but to determine the cause of the accident.

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