Death certificates - ages

[Jillie42]

Just a general warning really when looking for death certificates. I finally managed to obtain my great grandfather's death certificate, only thing is his age on the certificate is 61 and I know he was 70

This made it very difficult to order the correct certificate and I just had to hope that because the location was correct I had indeed got the right bloke. Fortunately, the the person who registered his death was my great aunt and I recognised her name.

He was a widower by then and I can only conclude that his kids never actually knew his true age.

[suttontrust]

it's a problem you learn to make allowances for.  No one carried ID and often people didn't know their real age - and if they did, the person giving the information might not know.  It happens right into modern times. 

[Nick Carver]

Agreed. Only two years ago, when my brother was registering the death of my dad, he didn't know his place of birth. If my mum had not been around (I was abroad at the time), the wrong information might have gone on the certificate. In my childhood, it was considered rude to talk about the ages of adults. I'm sure these factors contribute to what you have found. I am anxiously awaiting a death certificate of my 4xg grandfather, whose name and age match a birth record on IGI that is linked to a host of other data. If the death certificate confirms the link, bingo, otherwise back to square 1. Just to think that the data on the certificate might be wrong makes me nervous, so I know how you feel.