Death & Burial

[clearly]

Gossypium's idea appeals to me. I have the death certificates issued in 1881 of a man and wife but I cannot find where they are buried. They were born and died in the same parish and I have trawled through 40-odd parish and cemetery records in the immediate vicinity but cannot find them.

I will certainly write to my MP about inserting the extra box. After all, I believe that the 1911 census publication was brought forward because of the pressure exerted by genealogists.

It is part of our democracy that every individual can have access to his MP and ask for a change in the law. We pay MPs to represent us and nowadays they have plenty of secretarial help.

[Gossypium]

Clearly, my MP already wrote to H M Passport Office which oversees civil registration of births marriages and deaths and received some rather unhelpful responses from the civil servants who find reasons to do nothing!  So I have asked that my MP to write to Amber Rudd who is the Secretary of State about this showing what they do in the USA, Canada and Australia.

If you tell me the names and dates and places of death of the persons whose graves you are trying to locate, I may be able to help as I am quite experienced in finding graves by now!  No promises, however.

[stanmapstone]

Just to add that the Births and Deaths Registration Act, 1926, came into force on the 1st July 1927.

Stan

[Gossypium]

Think of all of the burials and cremations since 1 July 1927 of which Registrars were informed but they  subsequently destroyed the records instead of the information being captured permanently on death certificates!

[CarolA3]

I have 4 direct-blood relatives without a  "cause" of death. Is there anyway to find out cause in English records aside from buying the death certificates? I only want cause, nothing more. For example, other countries include cause in various documents: South Africa (hospital); Canada (provincial to 1977); US (open Archive details digitalized soon after death).
For anyone's interest here are the four:
Joseph Wickens, 1806-1893, [3 Laburnum Rd, Chertsey, Surrey]
Mary Ann Keep Wickens, 1809-1892, [same]
Elizabeth Pickard Wickens 1847-1902, [30 Rochester St., Southampton]
Martha Young Roworth, 1849-1935, [98 Thanet St. Clay Cross, Derbyshire]

Well, I guess that answers my question. Cause of death seems not officially recorded. But some record somewhere must have it. I am afraid that I have no MP to ask. My only ancestor MP died in 1913 and I live over 6,000 miles away from Westminster.
Thanks anyway. JIM

What a shame, boscoe, that your enquiry has been swamped by other matters and not dealt with. 

The answer, as ever, has to be 'It depends ........'

There may be something in local newspapers, especially in cases of homicide or accidental death, or epidemical disease.  I've also seen occasional notes as to manner of death in burial registers.

I have some transcripts of English hospital records showing patients' cause(s) of death - sadly not from your places of interest, but it shows that local history groups and/or family history societies are working in this area as well as the usual parish records.  I obtained a full copy of an ancestor's hospital records from the relevant county record office.

Unfortunately most of these paths to knowledge require some outlay, but if you're familiar with the GRO's online certificate ordering system, you might want to order PDF copies of the death entries at £6 (instead of £9.25 for a paper cert).  Be quick though, as this is a trial system and might end at any moment

Hope some of this helps

Carol

[ribbo39]

Hi Gossypium,

I wonder if I can take up your kind offer for the burial place of my GGgrandfather.

If you tell me the names and dates and places of death of the persons whose graves you are trying to locate, I may be able to help as I am quite experienced in finding graves by now!  No promises, however.


I can let you have  a copy of his death cert. but no one has ever been able to locate his burial location.

If you prefer I can send a PM with details.

I have searched thru many parish burial transcripts etc all to no avail.

Alan

[Gossypium]

I have sent a PM to Alan

[CarolA3]

Re the issue of including 'disposal' information on death certificates, this could be helpful for future researchers but not in every case.

Three of my grandparents and both parents were cremated at the same crematorium.  The grandparents' ashes remain there with plaques on a wall and well-kept rose bushes.  My parents' ashes were taken to their village church and interred in the churchyard later - over a year later in Mum's case.

If later generations visited the crematorium, how would they know that two of those five ancestors are resting miles away and in a different county?  Would future records be amended in such cases?

Apart from that, I don't know why changing the format of death records should be any harder than, say, adding mothers' names to marriage records.  If only some genius had thought to propose both changes at the same time, and ideally without being supercilious about it.

Carol

[Gossypium]

Hi Alan

I have located the burial of your ancestor in 1904.  I have sent you a PM with my email address so that I can forward the image of the burial record to you.

Nick