Inquest Records

[lesleymatt]

Evening all,

I have just received the birth and death certificates for my Great Great Grandfather.  His cause of death is shown as 'Suicide by hanging'.  In the informant box it reads 'Certificate received from E.W. Norris, Coroner for the Honour of Pontefract. Inquest held 15th January 1921'.  His address at the time of death was in Siddal, Yorkshire.

Does anyone know if inquest records were kept and archived, and if so where?

Many thanks

[stanmapstone]

Under the Home Office Circular 250/1967, a schedule of destruction of coroners records is laid down. While they are within the definition of public records and open to the public after 75 years many will not have survived those 75 years. Once 15 years old the records can be weeded,' that is destroyed or sampled by the individual coroner concerned.
See http://www.kcl.ac.uk/depsta/law/research/coroners/records.html


Stan

[stanmapstone]

There are exceptions to the 15 year destruction, and apparently it is not compulsory so some coroners choose not to destroy them. Therefore individual Coroners decide what happens to the papers, but very many of them were destroyed by the coroner anyway, hence there are regional variations in survival. It is a simple enough matter to enquire at the appropriate county record office, which will almost certainly know what is available and where it is.
A newspaper report is probably your best bet.
Stan

[lesleymatt]

Thanks Stan,  Will have to try and find out what local newspaper were around in 1921.

Thanks again

[LindaJ1959]

Lesley, I've found reference librarians very helpful in this situation. If you contact the reference library for the area in which the death occurred, give them the name and address of the deceased, and the dates of the death and the inquest, they will probably come up with the goods for you. You may have to pay a small charge for the photocopying and postage, or they may e-mail you a scan.

Good luck!

Linda

[lesleymatt]

Thanks Linda,

My father lives in West Riding Yorkshire and I live in Kent.

He is going to the reference library on Monday armed with relevant information.  He tends to do the Archives and cemetery stalking bit and I do the internet, cross referencing and certificate bit.  He has been to the library so often now, he is on first name terms with the staff 

I agree with you, they are very helpful and are always willing to help my dad with research and queries.  They will often phone him to say that they have come across bits and pices we maybe interested in.

Thanks again

[Jeuel]

Inquest records are hit and miss.  Sometimes they are destroyed, sometimes they are kept by the Coroner's office and sometimes archived in the county records office/archives.

I was also able to look at a 1936 inquest at the London Metropolitan Archives despite being told by someone it wasn't legal - the archivist said the rules had changed.

But newspaper reports are usually traceable.  If you're lucky it might make The Times, which is available online - most public libraries have a sub to it.  If not, a local studies centre, library or archive might be able to help.  Since you have the exact date of the inquest, searching isn't a major task and shouldn't take too much time.