Obtaining death certificate

[Pam Downes]

Hi

Have you checked out the following death?

William Warren March Qtr 1844 Loddon Reg District Vol 13 Page 164

Whilst Loddon is in Norfolk it looks like Beccles is right on the county boundary and the boundary is the river. If William died just across the river from Beccles he would have died in the Loddon Reg District.

Andy

Meanie! That was going to be my next suggestion if a search of the local registers came up 'not found'.
The only reason I didn't also suggest it in my first post was because the newspaper article said the death was 'at Beccles'. Though I suppose it depends on how 'elastic' the boundaries of Beccles were at the time.
It's also possible that the death was registered by a son/daughter/relative who lived across the river in the Loddon registration district, and the registrars weren't quite as precise about district boundaries as they would be today.

Pam

[Waitabit]

Also to Pams,.. people were at times deceased away from home while at work, about their business or just checking out the wares in another place etc. so Registered.!

[Dargie]

Thanks everyone! As far as I know there were no relatives living in Norfolk. Mary Ann ws 10 and Harry, my great grandfather, only 2. All William's brothers were in Suffolk or Essex. However nothing would surprise me and I will do some more thinking about that.
I did think maybe a hospital in Gillingham or close by? Not sure if there was one in Beccles.
I am quite sure he could have been at work, on a buying trip or similar across the river.
At time of death he left a half finished Gig with cushions etc so he may have been off seeking materials for that.
As his children were so young I doubt he would have left for more than a day unless of course he was in a hospital.
Thanks so much for a new road to follow. I ordered the certificate tonight so will let you know!
Also emailed the record office.

[Mutley]

As regard the cause of death, I have a certificate which states how the person took his own life. Obviously it does not state why.
There was an inquest but those records have not survived. The death took place in a hospital and they registered it in the normal way.

[Dargie]

Thanks Mutley
I have no real evidence that he did take his own life just the fact that I cannot any documentation. Also the fact of his personal situation after his wife's death.
Hopefully hs death certificate will turn up eventually and I can get some answers.

[Dargie]

A small update.

I am still waiting for the death certificate registered in Loddon to arrive, however I have discovered that prior to 1837 Hannah and William buried two small children in the graveyard adjacent to the Beccles Baptist Church.
So it would seem likely that I should search there for the burial of Hannah and William and possibly find a solution.
The Suffolk Family History Society hs been very helpful and searched the transcriptions of headstones etc.
The sad and quite distressing story is that the graveyard next to the now Grace Baptist Church in Beccles has been converted into a car park.
I can understand the need for car parks but apprently when the car park was made the headstones were ripped out of the ground and thrown into a corner. As a consequence most are broken and in many pieces making them impossible to transcribe.
This wilful destruction of a graveyard and its headstones is beyond my comprehension especially as the gentle folk buried in that space were the founders of the present day church.
I would have expected a greater amount of respect and sympathetic handling of these headstones from a church but that is my opinion.
Whilst "Time Team" nurture and care for graveyards from ancient times others are permitted to do things such as this.
Now I have let off some steam but will never cease to wonder how this could happen.
Marj.

[Dargie]

I want to thank the kind folk who suggested that I send away for the death registration in March qtr 1844 in Loddon, Norfolk

The certificate arrived today and I was so very pleased to find it to be the correct one for my great great grandfather. Right name, occupation and age!
Unfortunately the cause of death was "äccidental drowning". The river which separates Suffolk from Norfolk was indeed a factor.
I am unfortunately still left with a doubt as to the real cause of the drowning.
I have sent away for a possible Coroner's report to be found at Norwich Records Office however I am not sure that will produce anything further if accidental drowning was the decision.
I would have thought there would be a newspaper report but as yet have been unsuccessful as the Chronicle is not online. Hopefuly I can pay for a search.
The informant was actually the Coroner and it did not take place until the 27th March although death took place on 19th January.
The fact that the newspaper article, submitted by his brother, mentioned that he died in Beccles only makes me still wonder if there was some attempt by the family to keep silent on the real cause. I would have thought that the newspaper would have said drowning tragedy if it was indeed accidental.


Thank you once again for excellent lateral thinking and help!

[Waitabit]

Marj, so glad your search has ended if not your questions, we all have so many of them but for the most part must be content with the little we have to learn from.

Dear God, must our predecessors fib about where they came from or didn't they really know?
Baptisms- well, who decides on what name the child will bear? Father, Mother, Curate, Registrar, or whoever transcribes the whole jolly mess.!!

[Pam Downes]

I want to thank the kind folk who suggested that I send away for the death registration in March qtr 1844 in Loddon, Norfolk

The certificate arrived today and I was so very pleased to find it to be the correct one for my great great grandfather. Right name, occupation and age!
Unfortunately the cause of death was "äccidental drowning". The river which separates Suffolk from Norfolk was indeed a factor.
I am unfortunately still left with a doubt as to the real cause of the drowning.
I have sent away for a possible Coroner's report to be found at Norwich Records Office however I am not sure that will produce anything further if accidental drowning was the decision.
I would have thought there would be a newspaper report but as yet have been unsuccessful as the Chronicle is not online. Hopefuly I can pay for a search.

The Norfolk Chronicle is online. Either via the British Newspaper Archive stand-alone site, or through Findmypast.
Ditto the Ipswich Journal and the Bury and Norwich Post.
Coromandel has already found the basic notice of death, plus a couple of other bits (post # 8). (All, IIRC, in the Ipswich Journal.)
Plus I've now found notice of the auction date - 3 April 1844 - in an edition of the Ipswich Journal dated Saturday 30 March 1844. (Top of the left-hand column, to save you searching for it. )

The informant was actually the Coroner and it did not take place until the 27th March although death took place on 19th January.
The fact that the newspaper article, submitted by his brother, mentioned that he died in Beccles only makes me still wonder if there was some attempt by the family to keep silent on the real cause. I would have thought that the newspaper would have said drowning tragedy if it was indeed accidental.

Thank you once again for excellent lateral thinking and help!

Am i missing something, or have you found a further newspaper article, in addition to the ones already found by coromandel?
The sentence about William's death in the January paper I would have thought unlikely to have been submitted by his brother, as it's not a 'formal' family annoucement.
There is the possibility that William went into the water in Beccles, but his body was found on the north bank of the river, hence the death being registered in Loddon district.

Pam

[Pam Downes]

The Norfolk Chronicle is online. Either via the British Newspaper Archive stand-alone site, or through Findmypast.

Pam

Even though I knew that the BNA, in addition to continuing as a stand-alone site, was going to be part of the Findmypast subscription at some stage, I was still a little surprised to find the newspapers on FMP when I checked for Marj's query earlier today as I hadn't seen any announcement.
Seems that that the newspapers have been added in the last couple of days.

(Though according to Lost Cousins they're currently only available through the FMP co.uk site.)

Pam