Genealogy Chat

I have the death certificate of my 2XGreat Grandfather, Thomas Quinlan, a sheet iron stretcher. Date of death 24 May 1888 in Ancoats Manchester, he was aged 54.

Cause of death is recorded as “He died suddenly from natural causes”. Under signature, description and residence of informant it says Certificate received from Sydney Smelt, Deputy Coroner, from Manchester. Inquest held 25 May 1888.

The majority of my tree are Scots so this English diversion is new to me. I would like to know how I would go about getting a copy/ transcript of this Coroner’s Inquest. Thanks in advance!

I think very few inquest reports survive so most people look at newspaper reports from the time when an inquest has been held after a death from an accident but I don't know whether the newspapers would report on a sudden death where it was from natural causes.

Kath. x

As Kath said; and it is worth contacting the local records office to ask if they can find a copy of the inquest.

If he died from natural causes, the inquest would have been a formality, held because he died unexpectedly and was not receiving any medical treatment from a doctor/hospital at the time.

I have the privilege of having copies of coroner's reports for three ancestors, all of whom died of natural causes. If you would like to see one I can send it in an attachment to you, hopefully.

Thank you for the prompt and full replies.

JKM please do send an example, do you need my e-mail address, how do I get that to you?

In Scottish genealogy we have RCEs for this kind of thing, which are stored with the death certificate. Record of Corrected Entries (RCE) would be the report of procurator fiscals investigation into a suspicious or unusual death.

Kind regards

I shall send a message to you with my email address :)