Would a man be buried under the name 'widow'?

[Ruskie]

You would probably need to look at the original document to see the word "Senr" in context, and maybe compare with other entries in the same register.

With such an early date there could even be a misinterpretIon of "S-e-n-r".

As freebmd have the word under "Notes" that doesn't tell us enough to make a judgement (I don't think). 

[JohninSussex]

This is the previous post that asked a similar question:

https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=797157.msg6541248#msg6541248

But the answer remains the same.  It is perhaps imaginable that a man might be described as a "widow" rather than a widower, as a way of saying he had a wife now deceased. 

But it is unthinkable that a man would be named "Widow".  The practice of naming a woman as "Widow Brown" derived from regarding a married woman as an appendage to her husband rather than having an existence of her own.  Society knew her as Mrs Peter Brown while he was alive and since then she is called the widow Brown.  I don't know of any circumstance where this would work in reverse.  So Widow Swettman was a woman once married to a (senior) Swettman

[arthurk]

Thanks for finding that other thread, John.

I see that I suggested there that "widow Munro" might have been used simply to distinguish this Munro from others with the same surname, and I suspect something similarly mundane is happening here with the term "Senr".

If there were two Widow Swettmans, one way to distinguish them would be by referring to them as Senior and Junior.

[spendlove]

Hi,

Agree with Arthurk, there are 2 widows named Swettman this is the burial of the senior lady.

Just to add the National Burial Register has same transcribed entry but not Senr., Knighton appears to be looking for the burial of a male Swettman about this time perhaps he could give more details?

Spendlove