Genealogy Chat

Hiya.

Can someone please tell me when deaths were legally required to be registered?

I have a death that occured some time between the 1841 and 1851 but can't find on FreeBMD and not on FamilySearch.

Thanks. Jill

Theoretically, deaths will be registered from 1 July 1937 onwards, under the Births and Deaths Registration Act 1836.

An extract from http://www.1837.com/civil-registration/ provides some background:

"As far as deaths are concerned, the original Act of 1836 required a death certificate before a burial took place, but some clergy were willing to go ahead with a burial without one. Perhaps it was difficult for the widow to get to the registrar in the local town or maybe the minister took the view that the state shouldn't interfere in what they saw as church matters. Occasionally, you will find a burial in parish register taking place some days or even weeks before the 'official' date of death on the certificate. The 1874 Act stipulated that deaths had to be registered within 5 days, usually by a relative ,and required a doctor's certificate. If the death was referred to a coroner, a post mortem was performed or an inquest took place, then registration could be delayed."

Also, deaths are registered where they occurred, which may be a long way from where the individual was living - which may mean that the deceased name was not known to anyone where they died?

Even if the name was known, there may have been errors in recording the surname from the spoken name, and errors in transcribing the record from the local registrar to the registrar general to the indexes and in the extraction from the microfilmed printed indexes.

Thanks for this Ivy. I thought it must have been a requirement. I've got a married couple in 1841 and a widow in 1851. Will just have to keep trying alternatives now I know that in theory, his death should be noted. Mind you, the penny dropped a couple of minutes ago that his wife, can't be the mother of some of his numerous children. I've been working on this family for days now and each generation presents even more mysteries.

Thanks again.

xJ

Jill


always be suspicious if you find one spouse as widow/widower but you cannot find the death.


Marriages broke up just as often then as now, but divorces were all but unobtainable.

so the partners split

the wife, particularly, might move away, and then describe herself as widow.


They may each then form new partnerships, even marrying.




sylvia

I have a g/g/ aunt who when marrying for the 2nd time descibed herself as a widow. And the two witnesses were her mother and one of her sisters.

However, her husband was alive and well, living just a few streets away with his sisters family.

Both husbands came from the same town in Suffolk and worked in Camberwell for the same brewery as dreymen and horsemen!

The 1st daughter from the 2nd marriage was given the first husbands surname as a middle name.

Now I think that the 1st husband was badly wounded in WW1 and gave her his blessing to find someone who could be a 'real' husband to her.

As said before divorce was an expensive and messy process to go through and a women had to prove far more heinous deeds by the husband than the other way round (will not go into gory details, just google). So often a mutual split would occur as in my family.

And many man if doing work travelling round the country would have a 'wife and family' in many a town. :-D

Hi Sylvia. Hi Piglet.

Brilliant advice as ever. But I have to confess to a very stupid mistake and I do so on the off-chance that someone else might learn from it. :-(

The death reg was there, exactly where it was supposed to be. If I could be allowed to use the excuse of brain tired and fried and I obviously need to get my act together.

I had noticed just how many very young children had died but no adults were registered within the time period :-S :-S and I was looking for a male in his 40s or 50s.

Hangs head in shame.......... I was looking at Volume numbers and not death ages at all :-0 :-( :-0 :-( :-0 :-( :-0 :-( :-| :-| :-| :-|

Age at death wasn't included in the GRO index until the late 1860's

I know that Reggie; that's the trouble :-D

Was just having a 'me' moment :-S :-S :-S :-S :-S :-S

Unfortunately, not all deaths were registered. I know for a fact that the death of my great-grandfather was not registered; this has been verified by the local registrar. Fortunately for me, his burial was recorded in the parish register.