Genealogy Chat

Can someone tell me if it is possible to get hold of an inquest report from 1891 and if so how?

I have the death cert of a baby (2 months old) and the cause of death was "suffocation whilst in bed with mother". There was an inquest and "accidental death" is recorded on the death cert. Whilst I understand that it was probably quite common with overcrowding etc back then, the baby was illigitimate and the address (Hackney, London) given on the cert does not appear to have any connection with known family.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

Gai

have you looked at the census returns for the address to see who was living there?

Yes, no-one I can make a connection with but you never know I guess! Could be just a friend. I would like the inquest report anyway for interest even if it doesn't yield any further clues.

G

many inquest reports were destroyed, have you looked at old newspapers to see if it was reported

Lancashire County Library and Information Service offers free access to old newspapers, you do NOT have to live or work in Lancashire to benefit. It offers free online access to the 19th Century British Library newspaper collection which has digitised copies of old local newspapers (National coverage), ideal for looking up reports of criminal proceedings, inquests ect. It also has free access to The Times Digital Archive (From 1785~1985). Both of these give access to news and events of the day via a simple search procedure.

To join visit http://www.lancashire.gov.uk/libraries/borrower/join.asp

Fill in your details and you will be given a temporary log in number. Within a few days you will receive your membership card through the post which will give you access to their resources from your home computer.

thanks to jonesey for the tip

Thanks for the tip - I shall certainly give it a go. Does that mean that the answer to my original question is - No, I can't get hold of an inquest report via record archives?

G

from London Metropolitan Archives

"Coroners’ records were regarded as the personal property of the coroner and on the death of a coroner records were liable to be destroyed. From 1921 the Public Record Office required all surviving records dating from before 1875 to be retained permanently, but advised that more recent records need only be kept for 15 years. Consequently for the Counties of London and Middlesex many coroners’ records have not survived. When original records do not survive, an alternative source of information about the inquest may be a contemporary local newspaper."

these weblinks might help you to find out if the report you are looking for still exists

http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/Corporation/LGNL_Services/Leisure_and_culture/Records_and_archives/

http://217.154.230.218/NR/rdonlyres/0D15B0CF-8A94-44D5-9966-5F3276C5C74F/0/Infono34.pdf

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/A2A/records.aspx?cat=074-cora&cid=0#0

fingers crossed for you

I managed to get an inquest report from 1865 in the city of Westminister - they are kept at Westminister Abbey( but I think this is only for westminister ) - Maybe if you contact the Archives office which keep Archives for Hackney, or maybe the local library- they may be able to help - Could be worth a phone call.. Alice

just googled Hackney archives

http://www.hackney.gov.uk/c-archives-webcat.htm