Genealogy Chat

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Received today two death certificates for the same person. Same name, age, address, date of death but they differ in other particulars. In each case the death is 1st Nov 1843. The first one is registered on 2nd Nov 'natural death after a short illness' (!) and the second registered on the 28th Nov by a coroner. Has anyone come across this before?

Hi Ness, did you order the two certs or do you think that because they refer to the same person that the office thought you had to have the both. I've heard of BOGOF but that is fantastic ! Joan

Yes, I did order them both! It's a very unusual name so I was puzzled. Even more so now....

Ness, I would be tempted to ring the register office of the area it was registered, they may be able to shed some light on why there are two certs for the same death. Is there anything in a newspaper at the time (was it an unusual death) ? Good luck, Joan

It suggests that after the death was registered the first time, somebody suspected the cause was not natural and so there had to be an inquest? If you can get somebody to look in the local paper around that date there may well be something about it. Kate.

How odd. I'd be inclined to contact the General Register Office and enquire. 1843 is early days for the system - maybe they hadn't ironed out their procedures in the event of there being an inquest. More to the point did you have to pay for both!?

Yes, it's interesting. Presumably an inquest was carried out after the death had been registered, and then the death registered again. But surely this was not a normal procedure! I shall investigate a possible report in the press at the time.

It wasn't until the 1860's that a death had to be registered by a doctor (a death certificate is actually the bit of paper the doctor writes out when he has confirmed the person has died, not the registrars document we talk about all the time!), so you could pop down the register office and register a death without any supporting paperwork. Then someone realised this could cause problems....what if you wanted a pay out on that insurance policy for your rellie?? Just pop down to the registrars.....tell them uncle Fred had died....you could then get a death cert and cash in the policy!! So, for this death in the 1840's I expect an innocent rellie just did what he/she thought was right and went and registered the death.....then someone started asking questions and an inquest was held. Is the cause of death the same on both certs? Merry

Thank you all for the replies. The first is natural death after a short illness, the second natural effusion on the brain. So obviously nothing suspicious was found! It's odd, though, that the first informant is described as Inmate. The deceased was the publican of The Royal Oak in Paddington so I can only presume the informant was staying there but it seems an odd term to use.

I have a death registered twice and I still haven't found out why. Thomas SAYERS died 1 Nov 1910 Registered (1) 2 Nov 1910 at Egton RD by J Sayers Registered (2) 5 Dec 1910 at Hutton Mulgrave RD by Thomas W Sayers Both the informants were sons. The certificates are identical other than the date and place of registration. I can only think that the powers that be decided that they had registered the death in the wrong district but then forgot to cancel the first entry. Has anyone got any other ideas? I've already asked the local registrar and she hasn't got a clue! Jill

Jill, at last someone else has the same situation! Was beginning to think that my two death certs were unique. Looks like it's fairly rare anyway. Although I'm pretty sure that Merry's idea is right in my case, but yours are a lot later. Extremely interesting, anyway...although we have paid an extra £7!

Hi Ness, What I would do is try the district coroner, although information seem quite scarce; I tried without success, I didn't have any luck with the local newspapers either, but its worth trying. Jill, Maybe each son registered the death without the knowledge that the other son had. I dont know if registrations in two different areas are linked in any way. Kind Regards to you both Kathleen

Yes, but you can't just register a death in whatever district you like - it has to be where the death occurred! So as was suggested, it could be that the first registration took place in the wrong place (I'm talking about Jill's one, not the original case.) Kate.

How odd that the two examples of double certification of a death were for deaths that occurred on 1 November - although 67 years separated them. Victoria Canberra ACT

I have 2 death certificates for the same person, I THINK!! Basically Maud's daughter Emily left home in 1928 to work in London. A young girls body was found drowned at the River Thames in 1937. After a 3 month nationwide search to help identify the body, Maud goes to London and does indeed identify the body as that of her daughter. She identified scars she had! Since then I have found out that the daughter married in 1933 and had 2 children, the last born 2 months before the drowning. Maud knew nothing of this family and so the death cert has her maiden name on it. Now I have found the death cert of the married daughter in 1975 and this has been verified by someone who knew her and her husband and children!!
I've got a horrible feeling that the first body was misidentified and has been hushed up!!! How can this have happened?