Drowned in the English Channel on FreeBMD?

[barryd]

So the Armed Forces took the responsibility of recording his death and not the civilians despite the fact that his body was washed ashore on the English Coast.

[Girl Guide]

The reason it is not registered as a civilian death is because he died whilst serving in the Forces during the Second World War.

Despite the fact that his body was washed ashore it is still as stated above.

The information from my first post was from the CWGC website and gives his parents names. You will note that he was awarded the Victoria Cross and the Distinguished Service Order.

Here is a snippet from Wikipedia re his VC:-

Lieutenant Commander Eugene Esmonde, VC, DSO (1 March 1909 – 12 February 1942) was a distinguished British pilot who was a posthumous recipient of the Victoria Cross (VC), the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy awarded to members of Commonwealth forces. Esmonde earned this award while in command of a British Fleet Air Arm torpedo bomber squadron in the Second World War.

[stanmapstone]

Not unless the widow went to court after 7 years to have legally declared dead.

Until 1 October 2014 when the Presumption of Death Act 2013 came into force, if someone disappeared it could be difficult or impossible to obtain a death certificate.  The Act enables an application to be made to the High Court for a declaration that a missing person, who is thought to have died or who has not been known to be alive for at least seven years, is presumed dead.

From "The Marriage Law of England" James T. Hammick; Secretary of the Registrar General's Office Somerset House; 1873.
"With respect to a person whose husband or wife has been continuously absent for the last seven years, and the fact of whose existence has been unknown to such person during that time, the presumption is that the former consort is no longer living, and that such person is a widower or a widow. As the law allows a person under these circumstances to marry again with impunity, a clergyman would be justified in putting up the banns and celebrating a second marriage.....................At the same time it should always be remembered that a second marriage, while the husband or wife of the first marriage is living is void, and in the event of the return of the absent spouse the ceremony is a mere nullity."



Stan