Genealogy Chat

If a widow dies, is her death registered as her married name or maiden name or could it be either? thanks

The ones I have come across all seem to be registered in the married name at the time of death. The reason I say that is that my mother married again after my father died, and her death was registered in her second married name. Converselym, I would suppose that it would depend on the name being used at the time. Paul

Siobhan From Elaine Prennell-Shawcross's thread Widowed with maiden name ?? an answer for those who have asked! During the last week or so, I noticed someone asking how a person could be widowed on a census if she died with her maiden name ? ANSWER: When a woman marries, she does NOT automatically take the mans name. IF she wishes to take the mans surname, she has to change her name on documents providing the marriage cert (or proof of marriage) ie Passport, Bank Account etc etc. IF she does nothing ... her name legally remains the same as before. Bearing this in mind ... Women who are possibly "Widowed" but die with the maiden name .. may have opted to remain as maiden even after marriage. This is not common practice, as most woman elect to take the man's surname ... especially today, with joint bank accounts etc ... it makes for an easier life. I, until yesterday, always assumed that you automatically became Mr & Mrs Joe Bloggs ... but apparently NOT ! There is nothing legally binding to say you take the man's surname. Hope this helps. Elaine :-) So the answer is it could be either! Lou

Thanks the reason i asked was the death i am looking for i cannot find under her married name, not entirely sure of her maiden name, but I know she definately took her husbands name when she married.

Her death would have had to have been registered in order for her to be buried (or so the theory goes - during a mass outbreak of disease people were less stringent, for example). If you've only looked at the GRO index then she may be one of the thousands whose details were accidently left off, so it may be worth contacting the local Register Office or getting an NBI look-up. If she was a widow who lived alone, it's possible there was no-one around to identify her and she has ended up listed as 'unknown'. It's more likely that her name has been mistranscribed.

I have found her death now. I had been given the wrong year of death, but have had it confirmed and found her.. thanks for all your help.

What's an NBI lookup please? M

National Burial Index - 13 million burial records. Stan

I know that in Scotland a womans death will be indexed under both her married and maiden name which is great when searching for an ancestor. I have searched for many ancestors by their maiden name and lo and behold I find it even though her death registration gives her married name (with maiden underneath of course) Shaz x

Big Shaz, that is quite useful to know. I didn't realise that. regards, Siobhan