Genealogy Chat

I've recently received two certificates (one from 1944 & one from 1998) where the informant is not a relative or neighbour as in the previous certs I have already got.
One is "causing the body to be buried" & the other "causing the body to be cremated."
Does this mean there are no family members or next of kin?
Both men were married so can I assume that their wives had already died?

It may be that any relatives lived at too great a distance to be able to register the death, but it could be as you suggest that they were the sole surviving family member.
You can't assume that their wife had died, although it is likely. She could be in a hospital or otherwise too frail to register the death.

Was the 1944 one as a result of wartime?
If so, the person might be listed on the Commonwealth War Graves site.

Gwyn

No, you can't assume that there were no family members or next of kin.

The qualification "person causing the burial" , later amended to include "person causing the cremation' was originally introduced in 1875. It refers to the person who was responsible for giving instructions to the undertaker. Sometimes this person was the executor of the will but could easily have been a close relative.

For more information on all matters relating to BMD's , you can do no better than look at this site

http://home.clara.net/dixons/Certificates/indexbd.htm

Hi Gwyn
That's a good point - I hadn't thought that one or other wife might also be ill.
No the 1944 one died in the Royal Free Hospital - it looks like as a complication of surgery. He had a post mortem.


Thank you :-)

Thank you for that link,Inspector.

It's quite useful when the informant is family as it often fills in another bit of the puzzle so I suppose I was clutching at straws by wondering if it meant their wives predeceased them!

Rosemary

I was disappointed when I got my gt. grandfather's death certificate. No family member was mentioned even though his wife was living and he had brothers still living. The person who registered the death was his farm manager. Mind you, he did become a family member a few years later when he married the widow.

That's interesting, Margee - and also firmly scuppers my theory that the other members of the family are already dead then!!

Back to the drawing board.....!

I have a certificate from around 1850 .... the informant is a neighbour ("mark of") who was present at the death.

The husband was still alive, and married again 2 or 3 years later.




so, no, you can't assume anything from a death certificate!



sylvia

It can be worth investigating the family of an informant who appears to be unrelated. I found that one was the widow of a cousin of the deceased and that helped me to go back a generation further in my own tree.

Hello Sylvia & KSE

Sorry not to have replied before - out all day yesterday.

Now I look again both informants have given their addresses as well so I might be able to find out a bit more.
And I'll keep looking for their wives - dead or alive!

Thank you both for your comments

Rosemary