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You need to contact the local Council of the place he was living at the time of his death, they have the responsibility trying to locate relatives, and  of clearing his accommodation and disposing of his effects, along with arranging his funeral. They should be able to tell his next of kin all the necessary information.

Jebber

Thanks Jebber - I'll contact them and if they don't want to speak to me then I can tell his daughter/grandson to try it as they would surely qualify as NOK

It's a shame as they must have searched for them but were unsuccessful.  Admittedly his descendants were not in the same country but he had siblings still living in England at the time he died and they must not have found them either.

Hi dawnsh - thanks for the help.

Ok I'll have a search for local crematoria in Birmingham.  I don't know anything about the Birmingham area but there can't be that many so worth sending a message out to them just in case.  It was 24 years ago too but you never know.

Yes I've thought of trying to contact neighbours but I'm struggling to find the address still in existence!  I think it may have been a nursing home of some kind but I can't be sure.

Do you know how I would go about searching Birmingham electoral registers for 1950-1991?  They are accessible at the Library of Birmingham but not sure if there is another way as I'm not local.

Thanks!

Hi Rootschatters - I am researching a man whose family lost touch with him in the 1950s for a friend, his descendant, and really would love to know what became of him.  I have now tracked down his death certificate but it seems the authorities didn't know he had any family and they weren't informed of his death.  He died in England in 1991 and the person who registered the death was a worker at the hospital in which he died.  That is all the information I can get from the death certificate other than the cause, of course, and his usual residence.  It also informs me that he was cremated but I don't know if his name will be left anywhere from that since it's likely the local authorities took care of it by the look of things.  Even his occupation was left blank on the certificate so the person registering his death must have known little about him.

I have searched the wills/probate register for him but there is nothing.  Surely even if he had relatively little his possessions must have gone somewhere    I was hoping a probate record would tell me more.

I was really hoping to find his death was registered by a family member or family friend and I could find out more about his life and what became of him after the 1950s from them but I'm now not sure where else to search.  I have traced his siblings too - all of them are also dead now but I have spoken to some of their children and it seems he lost touch with his siblings a long time ago too and their children knew very little.  He's such a mystery!

Any suggestions on if there's anything more I can do or if I'll need to make do with finding his death gratefully received!  Thanks.