Mystery on Caithness Death Certificate

[AncesStory]

My Great Grandfather George Steven died in 1875 at Bower, Stemster, Caithness. There is no cause of death on the death certificate. Is this usual for Caithness at that time? I thought the new death certificates after 1855 were to show cause of death? Thanks for any help you can share re. this question.

[RJ_Paton]

The cause of death should have been recorded but as it was not compulsory for a doctor to attend a death (this came in much later) it  was sometimes only a guess by the person reporting it. Possibly in this case it was either missed or the person reporting it simply did not know.

PS I guess there was a gremlin slipped in during the typing of your message as it is not normal for any death records to be on a birth certificate.

[AncesStory]

George was aged 40, a serving policeman with the Glasgow Police, visiting the family croft at Stemster and his death was witnessed by his brother, who was present. On his certificate are two more entries - one with the cause of death, one without. Perhaps Caithness recorders were lax?

[RJ_Paton]

Given his age etc it is possible that the person registering the event simply did not know and the Registrar let them off with it. Because the attendance of a doctor was not compulsory this sometimes led to causes being listed as "visitation by God" or simply "age".

Was there any notation alongside this entry indicating there may have been a correction made and therefore an RCE record ?

PS as he served with the City of Glasgow Force it is possible that his service record survived and is now with the Mitchell Library

[AncesStory]

Thanks Falkryn - I tried the Mitchell Library route - George was a River Clyde Day Constable from 1861 to 1875, yet there are no records of him - anywhere, other than his stated occupation on the birth certificates of his kids, and the census returns.

The Resignation Book which would have his service information, did not contain any information about George, since the Mitchell Library staff told us the Resignation Book  began the year following his death. Following a visit to the police museum in Glasgow, we discovered he would have been  employed by the Clyde Navigation Trust from 1862, before this private police force was included with the reformed Glasgow City Police in 1868. He left a wife and five children, the oldest being born at Stemster, the other four at Tradeston.

 In the birth records of his children, Ann, 1863, and Thomas, 1866, his occupation is stated as "River Clyde Day Constable". In the birth records of his son George, 1871, and daughter, Jean, December 1874, his occupation is stated as "Police Constable", as it is in the 1871 Census. Sometime between 1866 and 1871, his job description changed, which would explain the River Clyde police being taken over by Glasgow Police.  Family lived at Houston St, Glasgow until December 1875.

I just wondered why there was no cause of death - maybe because he was visiting the croft and not resident there in Caithness, or because the family did not know what he had died of. Think I have hit a brick wall!