Hello Rhian
Coroner's records/inquests
The office of coroner was established in 1194.
Coroners hold inquests into suspicious or sudden
deaths, they also decide on whether valuable finds are
treasure trove.
An inquest into a death would be heard by a jury which
consisted of between 12 and 23 people up until 1926,
but between 7 and 11 after that. Coroners
traditionally had jurisdiction over a county, some
boroughs had their own, but in 1888 counties were
divided into districts and a coroner was thereafter
appointed by the local authority. Coroners became
salaried from 1860.
Many coroners' records have been lost or destroyed,
any surviving from before 1875 are now officially
preserved but records over 15 years old can be
destroyed apart from those relating to treasure trove
and any deemed to be in the public interest, those
being transferred to local public Archives. Any
surviving records are to be found at the PRO, there is
a Gibson Guide to Coroners' Records published by the
FFHS and this should be consulted before starting a
detailed search. These records are generally only open
to public access after 75 years, unless especially
authorised by a coroner. The actual records should
include the depositions of witnesses, minute details
of events leading up to the death, the name, age,
address, and cause of death of the deceased, details
of evidence presented, and of course the inquest
court's verdict.
Given the fact that many coroners' records are not
extant , or closed by time, it is potentially very
useful that many inquest verdicts since the C18 were
reported by local newspapers, often in great detail.
The County Archives or main local reference Libraries
are the most likely source of extant newspapers and
indeed some have been indexed.
Some early records have been published, early records
are generally in Latin and rarely calendered.
A death certificate should record whether a coroner's
inquest was held on the death concerned, the burial
register should also show this fact even pre 1837.
Since 1837 a certificate is required from a Registrar
or the coroner before a body can be buried or
cremated.
In modern times the coroner is advised by the
registrar if the deceased had not been seen by a
doctor within two weeks of the death; or had suffered
a recent accident, violence, industrial disease or
medical operation failure. Still births might also be
referred to the coroner by the Registrar in
circumstances where there is a suspicion that the
child was alive when born.
Until 1926 coroner's jury was obliged to actually view
the corpse, the coroner still had to do so right up
until 1980.
Gareth
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