Genealogy Chat

Thank you very much sylvia, i will give this a try, you seem to be right about the war years though, dubious if i will ever uncover anything but, i will keep trying. :-)

I wanted to know details of my gt grandfather's death .......... and contacted the Local Study Centre and Archives, by email

I gave them the date of death, the date of inquest, and asked for a search of the papers in their archives for a 1 or 2 months period around those dates.


It turned out that they held copies of a much greater number of newspapers than I had ever believed had existed in that town .... many of them lasting only a very short time.


A volunteer searched, found the report of the inquest, copied the 2 pages, then sent it airmail to me .... and they refused to accept any money


I found the name and email address of the Local Study Centre by googling the town name, and then searching the index on that site.




Now, one problem with your grandfather could possibly be the fact that it occurred during war time


There was certainly censorship of what was published during those war years ............ and I am not sure what sort of civilian information might have been included in that.




sylvia

the date of inquest is given on the death cert as18th august 1944, this is also the date given for my grandfathers death, i dont know if this is maybe a mistake?

thanks for replying kay, i feel i have exhausted libraries archives and newspapers, living in scotland, i dont have any knowledge of the area concerned and have been trying invain to source something online

regards
arlene

Inquests are usaully reported after conclusion in a local paper to the location of death, these could be held at a large library or local history centre lots have local newspapers put on flim now..

try the nearest local history centre.

if a coroner wasnt satisfied that there was more than death by accident I'm sure an inquest wouldnt have taken place so soon after death,?

apart from libraries and archives does anybody know of any other sources which might hold this information?

many thanks to irene and jan for their help

regards
arlene

hi Irene, i did try libraries a while back, it was them who put me on to the archives.

thanks
arlene

thanks for all your help brummiejan, i will certainly take another look at the archives ( coroners records) I do remember that the national archives ran a name search for me and didnt come up with anything, as this was the case they advised against an advanced search which, probably would have proved pointless :-(

yes i have brummiejan, i have even made phone calls to different branches eg. south yorkshire, wakefield and leeds, if i remember rightly nobody seemed to be able to help and each passed me on to the other.
i think west riding is covered by them all depending on the area in question.

Have you looked on the national archives site? It says:

Coroners' records more than 75 years are normally open. Records held by the coroner which are less than 30 years old are open only at the discretion of the coroner. Apply to the coroner in the first instance. This includes records held at local archives but not formally transferred under s.4(1) of the 1958 Public Records Act.

Records deposited under s.4(1) with local archives (normally, but not always, over 30 years old) and less than 75 years old may be accessible on written application under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act. Applications should be made to the local archive in the first instance. The application will be judged on a case by case basis against possible exemptions. Matters for consideration might include the age of the records, living friends and family of the deceased, and the nature of the content of the records. It is possible that some information may be released under FOI, and some withheld, the right is not necessarily one of access to the original record.

hi there brummiejan, i have not seen the inquest report, accident report or any other relevant source of information relating to this incident, i only hold the death certificate, i cannot find any other information regarding my grandfathers death.

I believe that my grandfathers death may not have been accidental, it may have been voluntary, my grandfathers brother (deceased) told my dad this several years ago and, as my dad has now passed away i have no way of knowing the truth.

arlene

I should think if you telephoned the library nearest to the area
and you have a date of death they make look in the local newspaper
for you for that time. Good luck Irene

You seem to have explored every avenue! What makes you think the death cert is inaccurate? Have you seen the inquest report?
Jan

oops,i copied and pasted this from another geneology site i looked at earlier, i have not just joined GR, i have been a member for at least 2 years

regards
arlene

Hi everyone,
my grandfather died in august 1944 as a result of an accident at work,he was 41
years old.
I have joined this site in the hope that somebody may be able to help me obtain
any information portraying to the circumstances surrounding my grandfathers
death.

my grandfather John c mckellar worked as a motor driver at an opencast coal
getting site near to rainborough, address given: rh?on lodges Brampton Bierlow Road, west riding, yorkshire


I have taken any information i have directly from my grandfathers death
certificate which contains a brief account of his accident but,
i have reason to believe that this may not have been accurate and unfortunately
anybody within the family who may have known differently has since passed away.

named on the death certificate was: alan.p.lockwood, coroner for west riding of
yorkshire (rotherham devision). An inquest was held on the 18th august 1944.

I have performed countless searches of newspaper reports, accident
reports/inquests, opencast coal sites,records offices etc and each time i find
myself up against a brick wall :-(


I would be most grateful to anybody who could help point me in the right
direction

regards to all
arlene