Genealogy Chat

I have a birth certificate for a relative who was murdered as a baby, but can find no trace of a death certificate. There was a murder trial and it was reported in The Times - does anyone know why tracing a death certificate should be so difficult? This happened in the 1930s.

What was the name and date?

Rose

Have you searched beyond the time of the death?

As there was a trial etc, the cert may not have been issued until it was over.............just a thought

Reg

Thanks for the reply, I have looked for a death certificate up to 12 months from the date of the trial with no success. I know the full names of the child but his death certificate seems not to exist.

Marion, I am sure we can help you. A death cert would have been issued, but not if the baby´s body hadn´t been able to be recovered. For example if at sea. Can you give us a little more info to go on?

The baby was thrown into the River Thames on 25th Sept. 1936, but his body was not recovered for a week. The trial was held in October. You can understand that this is a very sensitive matter for my family, as there are living relatives who were alive at the time, but cannot or will not shed any light on the issue, so I'm sure you'll understand why I am reluctant to give names on an open forum like this.
We have applied to the National Archives for access to trial documents, but they are sealed for 100 years, so they are considering our request.

Marion, I´ve just been looking for more info on google about death certs and further to the above what I said about deaths at sea, evidently in mass disasters such as the sinking of a ship, a death cert will be issued without a body.
I know that doesn´t apply to you but I also discovered that it wasn´t until 1960 that doctors were obliged to put "cause of death" on the certs. That surprised me. In a way you have already a lot of info about this baby, you know his age and place of death and circumstances from the newspaper cutting. Probably the death cert won´t give you much more info than you have already. And family have their reasons for not wanting to talk (tho´we dearly would love them to!) Hope you get lucky with the trial documents.

Just a thought.
In the event of a sudden death an interim death certificate may have been issued in order that the baby could be 'buried'. This is not a death certificate and so it wouldn't appear on the death index at that time.
I would imagine there would be some kind of coronial enquiry too (as well as a criminal trial) A death certificate might only be issued after a Coronial enquiry has been concluded. I would try searching for the next few years after the death of the baby.

Hi Marion as Geraldine says I would think there is a coronas report. I had two relatives who had to have coronas reports. You can view these, you have to write to the corona in the area and they are usually kept at the local records office. There is a great deal of information in these report, much more than on a death cert.Good Luck Pam

Thanks to everyone who has suggested trying to find a coroner's report. This seems a sensible idea, though one I didn't know how to go about doing. I know a death cert. prbably won't give extra info, I just want to tidy up the records. I am more hopeful of finding more information if the National Archive will release the trial transcript.

Hi

This might help explain the prodedures with a sudden death.

www.dca.gov.uk/corbur/sudden_death.pdf

Cheers Gerry

Thanks to all who have responded so far. I'd like to find out if there was a coroner's report, but I'm not sure how to go about it. The baby was killed by being thrown into the River Thames from Hammersmith Bridge, but the body was not found for a week, so does anyone have any idea about where the death would have been registered and what coroner would have been involved? Would it matter where the body was found? Sorry - this is all a bit gruesome I know, but it important to my nearest and dearest to find out what happened as exactly as we can.

Hi Marion
It's my understanding that a death is registered in the area where the death took place. If I were a gambler I'd put my monies on where the child was found... if all else fails you can check the registration district where Hammersmith Bridge is located.

Gerry