Genealogy Chat

I have a relative who I thought died in one place, but whose death is registered 200 miles away. Would the death normally be registered where it happened, or where they lived.

David Events are always registered where they took place, so death certs are issued in the registration district where the person died. I found this a bit confusing when I was looking for my great-grandfather. I knew he was buried in Limpenhoe churchyard in Norfolk, and from the census that he had lived there for over 50 years, so I searched for a death registered there. When I couldn't find it, I asked the archivist at Norwich records office if he could check the burial register for the date I had from the tombstone. Back came the answer - he died in Finchley. When I got the death cert, I found he had died at the house of his youngest son. But I don't know whether he went there because he was ill, or whether he lived there since my great-grandmother's death. I'm also intrigued as to how they got his coffin from North London to the Norfolk Broads during WW1 - it must have been quite expensive! nell

That was what I thought. A cousin died when 5 years old, family story is she was knocked over when she ran across a street to her uncle, outside the family home in Swansea. But my checking has found her family had moved to Sheffield by this time and her death is registered there. I suppose she could have been injured in Swansea, but didn't die until at home in Sheffield.

Yes, or your relatives may have got confused and forgot the incident happened in sheffield - a short pencil is more reliable than a long memory! The death cert should give an indication of how long the illness/injury lasted, so possibly she was in Swansea and moved back, but if the injuries were that severe I would have thought not. nell

Nowadays a death may be registered many miles from the event, I believe. My aunt died in Gloucester last winter and my cousin, the eldest blood relative, was asked to register the death. She could not go to Gloucester so was told to register the death at the Southampton office, which she could get to.