Genealogy Chat

Hi all,

My Gr Gr Grandmother died two days after child birth in 1885 in Cardiff aged only 26 years and it says on the death certificate that there was a coroners inquest.
Does this mean there were suspicious circumstances and how do I go about trying to get a copy of the coroners report if that's at all possible?

Any help and advice would be most appreciated,

Thanks
Claire :-)

Any sudden death has to be investigated by the coroner.
Presumably there wasn´t a doctor in attendance at the birth so therefore the cause of death would have to have been investigated.
It doesn´t necessarily indicate anything suspicious.

Your best bet would probably be the local paper at the time.

An inquest is always held if the death is unexpected, so there might not be anything suspicious about it.

Wisechild is correct.

What you could do is see if the Coroners report was recorded in any of the local newspapers. It will be highly likely, these and local trials were the meat and veg of the local press.

It will have been in the paper either that evening or the following day. This will give a short but concise report of the inquest and the verdict.

I even found record of one of mine, which was held in Westminster, reported somewhere up North!!!!



:-)

The inquest will have been held to establish the cause of death - as has been stated, she probably hadn't seen a doctor within the previous couple of weeks (or whatever the requirement was back then). Obviously in that case the death could not be certified.
Jan

A coroners inquest doesn't necessarily mean suspicious circumstances,

Mostly it because the death was unexpected and could not be registered as a death without the coroners authority which also meant the body could not be released for burial

Although their has been some changes over the years hear is a list of reasons for a coroners inquest.

When is a death reported to a coroner? Registrars of Births and Deaths, doctors or the police report deaths to a coroner in certain circumstances. These include where it appears that:

no doctor attended the deceased during his or her last illness;

although a doctor attended during the last illness the deceased was not seen either within fourteen days before death nor after death;

the cause of death appears to be unknown;

the death occurred during an operation or before recovery from the effects of an anaesthetic;

the death occurred at work or was due to industrial disease or poisoning;

the death was sudden or unexpected;

the death was unnatural;

the death was due to violence or neglect;

the death was in other suspicious circumstances; or

the death occurred in prison, police custody or other state detention.

From http://www.justice.gov.uk/downloads/burials-and-coroners/guide-charter-coroner.pdf

Roy

Thanks very much for all your posts, I am much clearer on it now. It looks like my best bet is to go to Cardiff library and search for a newspaper report on the death.

All the help very much appreciated :-)

Try searching the British Newspaper Archive on this site.

If you spot an entry on the free search preview which might be relevant, post what you see. Someone with a sub which covers access can check it out for you

You can obtain a written report from the Coroners Office. in your area.

Visit the offices or phone and ask for the necessary request form,you will need to tell them your reason for this,have as much info as possible...usually takes about 10 days from application due to the required archival search.

I have done this recently regarding my grandfather's death,can't remember the actual cost,but not expensive.

Good luck

As it was in 1885, its probably been destroyed - they don't often keep them for very long. Still, nothing ventured, nothing gained!