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Portsmouth Obituaries 1917

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Hayley

Hayley Report 14 Sep 2008 13:21

Can anyone suggest a (hopefully free!) site where I can look up obituaries published in Portsmouth UK or Portsea Island newspapers in 1917?
Failing that, is there anyone out there from Portsmouth who could tell me the names of the papers at that time. Every time I try a google search I keep getting details of the current newspapers which are not much help.

Since I have been researching my family tree my grandmother keeps asking me to find out about the death of her brother, Denis SCARLETT, b. March 1916, d. Dec 1917. This death occured nearly 10 years before she was born and family stories say he was drowned.
She is not sure whether he drowned in the home or elsewhere and now regrets never asking her parents. A death cert is not going to be a lot of use to me as surely it will just say he drowned and not the circumstances.
Bit of a needle in the haystack I know especially as I am not sure if this type of thing would have been newsworthy in 1917.

All help gratefully received, sorry if it takes a while to acknowledge but nearly time for Sunday lunch!
Hayley

Gwyn in Kent

Gwyn in Kent Report 14 Sep 2008 22:05

I think the paper then was The Evening News.

I believe it is the same paper group today , but the daily paper now is called The News.

You can contact them by e mail and they'd at least be able to tell you whether that was the right name and where the old copies can be seen.

Gwyn

Hayley

Hayley Report 15 Sep 2008 12:31

Thanks both for the advice I'll try getting in touch with the News and take some advice from them.

Regards,
Hayley

Poppybat

Poppybat Report 17 Sep 2008 00:27

Hi. Portsmouth Central Library have a large local history collection, and keep copies of old newspapers on microfiche. I would suggest emailing the library, they are very helpful. They have a website at www.portsmouth.gov.uk/learning/1042.html

If you don't have any luck with that, let me know and I'll go in there for you. It would be helpful to narrow down the date a bit though - a three month trawl of papers could be very time-consuming!
I have ordered death certs before which have given quite a bit of detail about the circumstances involved, two of which have led me to inquest reports in newspapers. The cert will usually give the date of the inquest and name of the coroner, so that would help too.

Paula x

Hayley

Hayley Report 17 Sep 2008 19:58

Thanks very much Poppybat. I will get in touch with the library now, but the general view from both yourself & other experienced researchers is that it is worth getting the death cert, so I will do that.

Thanks very much for the offer I will pm you if I want to take advantage of you but I will get the death cert first so that it's not such a terrible search.

Hayley x