Death cert

[catherine1]

Hi Everyone
I have not been on here for awhile i have restarted my family history..

I have a death cert for John Willoughby Russell he died May 1857..on the Signature and resident informant it say William Payne Coroner Brunswick Square..
I would like to know if this means his death was suspicious
Regards
Cathy.

[nanny jan]

Hi,

It means the death was unexpected , so could be suspicious.  I have a couple of death certs from a Coroner.   One for a gt. uncle (aged 24) who collapsed at  home, the other for a gt. aunt who died as a child.


Nanny Jan

[catherine1]

Hi Nanny Jan.
Thank you for your reply that has helped ..
Cathy.

[Jeuel]

If the death cert says there was an inquest you can look in local newspapers (in the relevant local history centre/archives) to see a report of the proceedings.

[catherine1]

Hi
It Just says coronor so he must have just had a pm.it gives the death has chest infection.Thanks for your reply.
Cath.

[carol8353]

My father died in 1970 aged 46 of a heart attack and his death cert was signed by the coroner. The reason for this was that he had not been ill nor visited our GP in the 14 days before his death.

Carol

[behindthefrogs]

As Carol says many deaths are refered to the coroner but very few of these references result in a post mortem or an inquest.  The registrar will refer any death to the coroner where there was no medical attendance prior to the death.  In the two such cases where I have been involved, the coroner's office came to the conclusion that no further action was necessary in a matter of minutes and then issued their certificate to proceed.

Presumably back in the 19th century similar procedures applied.

[LizzieW]

My dad's death was referred to a coroner as he (my dad) was in a nursing home that he had been transferred to from hospital about 4-5 weeks prior to his death.  However, despite being registered with a local doctor (by the home), and the doctor only having his surgery across the road from the home, he had never visited either my dad or any other of the residents.  He just prescribed drugs over the 'phone. (And got paid extra for having these residents on his list).

Fortunately, when I spoke to the coroner (who had rung the nursing home whilst I was there), and gave him the facts about my dad's illness and hospital stays, he decided he would just contact the hospital and dad's previous GP to confirm that,  not only was my father old (93) but suffering from life-threatening illnesses. Having done this he decided an inquest was not required and agreed to let the GP certify the death.

However, as the GP had never met my father, he gave the cause of death as cancer of the throat, when in fact he was suffering from cancer of the prostate.  (The hospital consultant told me she had never seen anyone suffering from so many primary cancers - he had previously also had and been cured of cancer of the bowel).  The throat cancer had been treated and cured about 10 years previously, but because my father had an artificial voice box, which I assume the staff mentioned to the GP he just "chose" a cause of death!  I suppose I could have queried the cause of death, but that would probably have meant a PM which would have upset mum, so I just left things as they were.

Lizzie

[ambers]

Hi Catherine1,

I had a newpapers search conducted because a Coroner was the Informant of my grandfathers death.
It truly was £5 well spent because I gained far more  from that than a PM report would have given me, had one been available anyway. My G uncles name and his wife's, plus their address were given, which was a bonus as the Cemetery were unable to tell me the address of my grandafther when he died in 1925 because of Data Protection

LizzieW.

Not to go off topic, but I really feel for you as similar things have happened in my family, but in times of grief we tend not to want to make any more problems for ourselves. Above all the GP should have got his cause of death correct given that he hadn't made any contact with your dad before hand

Ambers