Unconfigured Ad Widget

Collapse

Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Burial before death registered?

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Burial before death registered?

    Am I right in thinking that a death is normally registered before the burial can take place?

    I have the following death (from FreeBMD):

    Deaths Jun 1852
    Screaton James Barrow upon Soar 7a 105

    But he was buried in Rothley (in the Barrow reg. district) on 12th March 1852, at the age of 36.

    As the death was registered in the 2nd quarter, it must have been registered at least 3 weeks after the death. Does this suggest that there was an inquest?

    I hadn't been intending to send for this cert, because James is my GG-grandmother's first husband, and I'm descended from the second husband, but I'm beginning to think there's something a bit fishy about this family.

    Mary's father was a William Parkinson, who also died in the first quarter of 1852. In 1851 he was a beadsman in an almshouse, so I assumed he died in poverty. However, I've just discovered that in 1822 he was left £7000 in a nephew's will. The nephew, Thomas Parkinson, who died very young, left a lot of money to the Baptist church.

    The Parkinsons (from Quorn, Leicestershire and Sawley, Derbyshire), seem to have been quite wealthy landowners. Most of them converted to the Baptist religion, and were pillars of their local churches. The most prominent members of the family have lengthy obituaries in the Baptist magazines (found with Google book search) and at least a short death notice in the Derby Mercury.

    However, despite his generous legacies to the Baptist church, I haven't found any obituary or death notice for Thomas. I did wonder if there might have been some kind of fraud, but his executors were a Baptist minister and his aunt's husband, so it seems unlikely.

    Mary Screaton had an illegitimate child (my great-grandfather William) in 1854, and four years later married her second husband William Wood North (who acknowledged William as his natural son). It seems very odd that Mary and William Wood North didn't marry before William Screaton's birth, because they were both free to marry, and both born into Baptist families in a very small village.

    I have James' will, and he left his estate to Mary for her lifetime or until her remarriage, and thereafter to their three children.

    I've now sent off for the three death certs (William Parkinson, his daughter Mary and her first husband James), to see if they cast any light on the matter. I'm hoping James died from natural causes...
    Last edited by Mary from Italy; 28-11-08, 13:26.

  • #2
    I think until deaths had to be certified by a Dr (1860) it wasn't absolutely necessary to register a death at all, though most were. I have seen other cases where the death cert has been an afterthought. The trouble is, a suspicious death could easily be covered up before certification, so even if there was something dodgy you might not have anything to prove that.

    Comment


    • #3
      Ah, right, I thought it was earlier than 1860.

      Still puzzled about what happened to William's £7000. Granted he had 30 years to spend it, but even so...

      Is anyone likely to be visiting a probate registry in the near future? I should be interested in finding out the value of his estate and James Screaton's.

      Comment


      • #4
        Agree with Merry, death registration was not compulsory and where registration appears to be an afterthought, it was usually because there was some pecuniary advantage, as in this case.

        OC

        Comment


        • #5
          Redacted

          Comment


          • #6
            Ah, that's interesting, Penelope, thanks.

            Comment


            • #7
              So was it compulsory to register a death in the 1880 10 1900


              Margaret

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by Mary from Italy View Post
                Is anyone likely to be visiting a probate registry in the near future? I should be interested in finding out the value of his estate and James Screaton's.
                Mary, if they died in 1852 then it won't be in the National Probate Calendar.
                KiteRunner

                Every five years or so I look back on my life and I have a good... laugh"
                (Indigo Girls, "Watershed")

                Comment


                • #9
                  Aagh, how stupid of me :(

                  Is there any way of finding out the value of the estate? I found one of the wills at the Leic. Records Office, and the other on the TNA site; they show the date of probate and the names of the executors, but not the value of the estate.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    I think the actual death duties register entry (at TNA) would tell you, but the index to death duties register which is on findmypast doesn't always give you the amount, though sometimes it does.
                    KiteRunner

                    Every five years or so I look back on my life and I have a good... laugh"
                    (Indigo Girls, "Watershed")

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Oh, I don't think I've ever seen an amount given on FMP, so I'll check that.

                      Neither of the wills comes up as a death duty entry on TNA. I've never really understood how that part of the site works. You seem to get either the transcription of a will or a death duty entry which summarises the will, but not both.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        I think the only death duty register entries they have online on the TNA site are from the late 18th century and the first few years of the 19th century, but I think they do have the rest of them at the actual place, just not online. I wonder if you can order a digital copy or something?
                        KiteRunner

                        Every five years or so I look back on my life and I have a good... laugh"
                        (Indigo Girls, "Watershed")

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          I don't suppose you can order a digital copy unless it actually shows up on a search. It's something to bear in mind if I ever manage to get to Kew, though - thanks

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            This page has some info:
                            Family history | Death Duty registers

                            So it would be on microfilm, at least.

                            It annoys me that they only put the entries up to 1811 online - I wonder if they are ever going to do the rest.
                            KiteRunner

                            Every five years or so I look back on my life and I have a good... laugh"
                            (Indigo Girls, "Watershed")

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Ah, thanks, I'd missed that page. It is odd they stopped in 1811 - fingers crossed that they'll add more eventually.

                              Comment


                              • #16
                                Mary - James' estate easily found on FMP.

                                Screaton James Rothey Leicester - Executor Edward Spencer same place - PC 4 (actually ditto marks) 995


                                Sorry - should have read all the posts, you have them. *blushes*
                                Elizabeth
                                Research Interests:
                                England:Purkis, Stilwell, Quintrell, White (Surrey - Guildford), Jeffcoat, Bond, Alexander, Lamb, Newton (Lincolnshire, Stalybridge, London)
                                Scotland:Richardson (Banffshire), Wishart (Kincardineshire), Johnston (Kincardineshire)

                                Comment

                                Working...
                                X