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I am of the opinion that death certificates are worth their weight in gold and have those of all of my main lines. I have several that have given information that I didn't know of, such as people and addresses that still need to be investigated. Burial records are even more useful as bodies you never knew about turn up in graves, in particular children who died young or married relatives you didn't know of.
The place of death may not be the place as reported. My mother died in a care home in Buxton, but the death was not confirmed until her arrival at hospital in a different county.
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Another thing to be aware of is Place of Death.
On old certificates it is probably correct, but in more recent times,the place of a death and place of confirmation by a doctor or similar, might not be the same.
I was told that my great grandfather collapsed and died while gardening for a fellow villager so I bought the death certificate, but it showed his home address....where the good folk had carried him home to his wife before the doctor confirmed his death.
Gwyn
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Someone described as "witness" in the informant's column is more likely to be a witness of the informant's signature of "X" than of the death.
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Thankyou all for your time
sue
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And following on from Brian..
The 'wrong' certificate can sometimes actually be helpful.
I bought, what I thought was, my 4xGGrandfather's death certficate and was disappointed at initial glance that it was for an 8 year old child.
However the registrar had written that the informant was the child's Grandfather and it didn't take long to establish that it was my 4xGGrandfather registering a Grandson's death. That then helped me locate the correct reference for his own death.
Chris
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"Killing them off" with certificates can be most rewarding.
On a certificate obtained several months ago the informant was a daughter of whom I had no knowledge.
That led to a mistress who became a second wife over 15 years later when the first wife died and descendants whom I have contacted and met two of.
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Who could register a death varied over time.
From Babara Dixon's website, certificate tutorials.
http://home.clara.net/dixons/Certificates/indexbd.htm
'Column 7 is the signature, description and residence of the informant and can be one of the most useful parts of a death certificate for family historians.
The signature could be made by the informant if they could write their name or it could be a mark. A large "X" and the words "the mark of ............" will be familiar to most of you.
The description of the informant has varied with time. In the early days, the informant was one of the following
someone present at the death
someone in attendance
the occupier of a house
the master or keeper of an institution
The person present at the death or in attendance (which meant they had been nursing the deceased or in close contact with them during their illness) was also usually a relative, but the early registrations do not give the relationship of the informant to the deceased.
It is always worth remembering with registrations before 1875 that an informant "present at the death", with a name you might not recognise, could be a married daughter that you have had no information on since she left home, or a granddaughter or grandson, son-in-law or any other relative likely to have a different surname from the deceased .
By 1875 the relationship of the informant to the deceased was given - together with additional qualifications such as "present at the death" or "in attendance". People not related to the deceased but present at the death still qualified, but only "present at the death" would be shown.
The occupier (usually the owner) of a house or institution (usually the master of the workhouse) still qualified but in addition the following had been added
a person who found the body
inmate of a house or institution - this was a person living at the same address who knew of the event
person causing the burial
person in charge of the body
A relative of the deceased includes any relation by blood or by marriage so that - apart from the widow(er) of the deceased - daughters and sons, grandchildren, cousins, sons- or daughters-in-law, brothers- or sisters-in-law, second cousins, uncles, aunts, nephews and nieces, stepchildren and stepparents all qualify. The early registration will make no distinction between relatives by blood or by marriage so eg it will say brother whether it is a blood brother or a brother- in-law.
A common-law wife or husband has no status in law for registration purposes and would be unable to register a death of a partner unless they qualified in some other way such as being present at the death. That doesn't stop people lying about their marital status of course! Nor are godchildren or godparents qualified to register.
Someone present at the death could simply have been the person who made a living by sitting with the dying and laying them out after death, or a close friend or neighbour and is not necessarily a relative.
The more remote the relationship to the deceased, the less likely it is that the information they have given is accurate. This is even more true when the master of the workhouse has registered a death as the occupier of the institution where the death took place.
Note that someone whose qualification is "causing the burial or cremation....." is NOT the undertaker. This is the person who is giving the instructions to the undertaker - or in the past - was doing the funeral arrangements themselves. Note also that the executor of a will does not qualify to register unless they are the ones making the funeral arrangements.
When an inquest has taken place then the informant will be the coroner and there will be no signature as such. The column will read something on the lines of "Information received from Thomas Griffin Coroner for the City of Westminster". Later on the date of the Inquest might be given.
The residence of the informant will vary from just a town or village name in the early registrations to a fuller address. If you think you have a married daughter or sister or other long lost relative doing a registration you should have a name and address - enough to look on a census, or to look for a marriage. We found a sister of the main line registering the death of her 90 year old mother in 1872 - 60 years after the only other time we had found her at her baptism. So once you have the main tree established - don't neglect your death certificates - they can lead to all sorts of further good family history material.'
Of course what was required by law wasn't always what happened in practice. As the examples given in previous postings show!
Chris
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Probably not. It might be the person who found the body, or maybe somebody else found the body and rushed round to find a relative.
I got my great grandfather's death cert, he died in 1934. It said "notified by Lewellyn Platt, present at the death". Llewellyn was my grandad. I told my mum this. She said "What a load of rubbish. My dad was down the pub when grandad died, I was sent to tell him".
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Do you mean the person registering the death?
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If it says on a death certificate witnessed by a certain person does that mean they were actually there when the person died?
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