Genealogy Chat

on the death indices? I wish they would do it (retrospectively for all years)

The indexes for deaths are similar to those for births and marriages. The information given is name, district in which the person died (not necessarily the same district in which they lived or were buried) and after 1866, the age of the person when they died.
After 1969 the date of birth was given instead of the age at death. You must be careful when using either the date of birth or the age at death as the informant of the death may not have known the correct details. As with the birth and marriage indexes you may have to search the following quarter to find the relevant entry.

From:-
http://www.dorsetforyou.com/index.jsp?articleid=388468

Thanks Keith, I appreciate your swift response.

I'll try and remember it :)

One thing I have done in ordering certificates is to add a 'checking point' that the deceased would be over the age of 'XX'. Making the age 'over' about 5 years younger than I would expect.

This wont always work but it saves receiving certs for young children when I want one for someone aged 60.

This no longer applies to applications made to the GRO, as they don't do 'checking points' but as far as I know local Register Offices are still flexible when searching.

And when using local offices I find adding extra info such as 'Widow/Wife of XXX' sometimes pays dividends.....Worked for my Lucy Smith with two dying in the same registration district in the same quarter.

Chris

http://www.devon.gov.uk/index/councildemocracy/record_office/family_history_3/civil_registration.htm
Early death indexes - those from July 1837 to March 1866 - record the name of the deceased only. Indexes from March 1866 to March 1969 also give the deceased's age at death, and indexes from March 1969 also give the date of birth, if it was known by the informant who registered the death.

Thanks Chris, I didn't realise that the registrar offices would still do that. Thanks :)

Thanks Joy :)

You're welcome :-)

Yes, certainly some register office staff really go the extra mile, in my experience.

Of course, what you find in the GRO index isn't always what you find in a local RO index:

Lancashire Death indexes for the years: 1837
Surname Forename(s) Age Sub-District Registers At Reference
ABBATT Richard 64 Eastern Bolton Bolton EB/1/132
ABBOT James 55 Lancaster Preston LAN/1/5
ABBOTT Alexander 1 Blackburn Blackburn B/1/35
ABBOTT Hannah 71 Wigan Wigan & Leigh WIG/1/50

Thanks for that!!!!!!

unfortunately for the area that I'm looking at, they haven't transcribed the deaths yet but it hadn't occurred to me that ages may show at a local level.

You've given me some hope :)

>>>Smacks Forehead<<<

As MGNV points outs... Always look for a local index as there may be more info there than available on the GRO index.

A good place to start....http://www.ukbmd.org.uk/

And another for pointers to specific areas for research...http://www.genuki.org.uk/

Chris