Inquests - KEIR, Alva

[Jang]

I have two death certificates for a husband and wife, both in Alva - for both the cause of death was suicide. There are references on both - I think to inquests:

See Reg of Enq. Vol 1 Page 69, December 16th 1880 - John KEIR
See Register of Cor Inq Vol 1 Folio 92, 13 March 1889 - Janet KEIR, nee KIRKWOOD

Where/how can I obtain copies of these? What sort of information do they contain?

Many thanks
Jan

[RJ_Paton]

These entries would refer to register of corrected entries.

In Scotland we do not have Coroners or Inquests ..... the Procurator Fiscal in each Sheriffdom has overall responsibility and may refer a reported death to the Sheriff Court for a Fatal Accident Inquiry although in the case of a suicide this is not normally done. The RCE is not  online and the only way to obtain an entry is yo apply for an extract (I believe GROS)
Information from Scotlands People

RCE’s
You may occasionally come across a statutory image with a note in the margin ‘RCE’ and a reference number. RCE stands for Register of Corrected Entries. If, after an entry in a register had been completed, an error was discovered or some other amendment was required as a result of new information, the original entry could not be altered. Instead, each registrar kept a register of corrected entries in which such amendments were written, originally after they had been approved by a sheriff. Corrections to birth entries might be to name, residence, identity, or as a result of a sheriff’s finding in a paternity case, with the father’s name being added as directed by the sheriff, or as a result of an illegitimate child being legitimated by its parents’ subsequent marriage. Corrections to marriage entries may relate to name, residence or identity, bigamy or divorce. Corrections to death entries may relate to sudden or accidental death.

Images of RCEs are not yet available, though this is planned. In the interim, to find out the effect of an RCE, you will need to order an extract of the entry concerned. The extract will reflect the amendments recorded in the RCE.
 

[RJ_Paton]

As an afterthought ...... double suicides are not all that common and given the different references it is possible that you may have a murder/suicide .... but again this would only become clear by applying for the extract.

If this is the case then the documents referring to the Fiscal's enquiries would be lodged with the Records office in Edinburgh.

[Jang]

Thanks for the info. The 1880 death was by hanging, the 1889 was by drowning. I guess another avenue of info would be a writeup in the local paper?

[ibi]

Jan

The legislation introducing Fatal Accident Inquiries in Scotland didn't come into effect until 1895, and was mainly aimed at industrial accidents.

These deaths would automatically have been referred to the procurator fiscal (think Crown Prosecution Service in England: District Attorney in the USA) who would have investigated the circumstances.  Most likely, all that will be contained in the RCEs is the confirmation of the date, time, place and cause of death as certified by the PF's doctor, a so-called precognition, which was then sent to the registrar who made an appropriate entry on the RCE connected to the death register entries concerned.

Only in exceptional circumstances would the PF have seen any need for further action.

In your case it's much more likely that the local newspaper may have had a couple of column inches with, perhaps, a wee bit more information.  It's just possible that The Scotsman could have picked up on a local newspaper report and repeated it.

In the Scottish registration process, any death where there had not been a regular "medical attendant" in the period immediately before the death was supposed to be referred to the PF, but in practice, in many cases where the cause of death was very obvious, - perhaps there was an informal conversation between the PF and the registrar!, - this didn't happen.

ibi

[Jang]

Hi Ibi,
Thanks for the explanation - it's different from the the sort of information an inquest in Australia would contain. There was no medical attendant in either case so that fits with the deaths being referred to the PF.
Regards
Jan