HATCH George Edmund Farncom

[ColTree]

George HATCH was a passenger on the ill-fated Royal Charter which was wrecked near Angelsy, Wales on 25-26 October, 1859.  The ship was returning from Australia and George had been the ships surgeon on the outgoing trip.  His death was recorded in the British Medical Journal but I have not been able to locate his "Official" death in the GRO.  Could someone suggest where else I could look?  ColTree

[miriamkinga]

Hi ColTree

have you seen this interesting article on the ship: -

www.old-merseytimes.co.uk/ROYALCHARTER.html

Best wishes

Maria

[junev]

sorry can't see it in the 'at sea' deaths however have you seen the London Gazette of 9 mar 1860 with regard to his 'estate' (he is also mentioned in 18 april 1851 edition)

www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/

Junev

[Valda]

Hi

Have you found a burial for him? Bodies that washed up on the seashore if they couldn't be identified and who would be able to identify them, would be registered in the section of the civil registration quarter as unknown and buried as unknown. This section still exists today but is relatively small in number. Back in the C19th it stretched into treble figures each quarter. If a body was washed up and identified then the death could be registered in their name. In the 1850s no body or no witness to the death and therefore known cause of death, no registration in the marine deaths or the GRO domestic index. Even today it causes issues and Coroners have to rule on it.
The local church burial register will give an indication of how many bodies were buried who were unknown. The GRO index for that quarter under unknown will indicate how many deaths were registered this way because they will all be registered in the civil registration area that covered that district. Bodies couldn't be kept and in those numbers preserved for relatives to arrive and try to identify them. So if his body was recovered his death probably is in the civil registration index but not quite where you'd expected to find it.

Regards

Valda

[ColTree]

Many thanks for the 3 replies to my request.  I will investigate the suggestions and, hopefully, get some positive results.  My main concern is trying to find out why his death hasn't been registered officially, is there something I'm not doing to locate it?  ColTree

[Pastmagic]

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/13040058

The poor widow was having a lot of problems, according to this, so maybe nobody thought to register him?

Though probably the Lost at sea section in the register is the likliest place. The old FamilySearch had an at sea section.
PM

[ColTree]

Thanks for that info. PM.  I never thought to look in "Trove" for anything on George.  His wife, Martha is my g.g. Aunt and I am very surprised to see that they were about to emigrate to Aus. Two of their children did eventually have successful lives and when Martha died, she was living with her daughter in Kent.  Thanks.
ColTree

[Valda]

Hi

No identified body with cause of death no death certificate in 1859 in his name - there are 30 unknown male deaths registered in Anglesey in that quarter. No body today and a coroner usually has to call an inquest to get the death registered.

http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/archive/2005/10/07/Bradford+District+Archive/8083222.New_inquest_into_tragedy_of_diver/

Regards

Valda

[junev]

Hi,

I thought it was only a legal requirement from 1874  - The Births and Deaths Registration Act made registration compulsory, imposing fines for late registration.
Prior to this you did not have to register which is why some cannot be found.

Junev