death cert

[Jenny Savory]

hi
please could some one help
 I have my grandfathers death certificate and on it says "causing the body to be buried" ,I found out that he was buried in a paupers grave, would this have anything to do with the wording on the cert
regards jenny

[Newfloridian]

This is a reasonable overview of what might appear in each of the columns of a death certificate:

http://www.dixons.clara.co.uk/Certificates/deaths.htm

Cheers Alan

[dawnsh]

Hi Jenny

You haven't mentioned when or where he died but the informant was most likely not to be a family member which is why the wording says 'causing the body etc'.

There is also a lot of confusion surrounding the 'paupers grave' terminology.

He is most likely buried in a 'common grave' with several unrelated people.

Although the grave is not owned by the family, his funeral would have been paid for (coffin, service, flowers), just not including the full price of the burial plot.

Our ancestors would be horrified to think of being buried in a true 'paupers grave' (one where today the state pays for everything - usually a completely no-frills cremation), they would have scrimped and saved to get the money together for a decent funeral but the cost of the plot was and still can be out of the financial reach of many families even today.

Dawn

[Jenny Savory]

hi Dawn
thank you very much for your reply,

you were right the informant was his landlady and she signed the death certificate.
I found out that he was buried at Hendon cemetery in 1962
and was told by the receptionist there, that he was in a paupers grave (luckily on his own) because there was no known relatives found at the time of his death.
I thought this might have been the reason for the wording

jenny