Cause of death look up please

[rob123]

Hi all

I was wondering if someone could look up or tell me where to get the cause of death from my granddad Harry Sidwell died in 1938 in the Royal chesterfield Hospital. As far as I know he was involved in a mining accident approx. 1 year before his death and was in hospital for that duration. I have cehcked a mining web site which lists accidents etc and there is no list for him, very limited to any direct relations I can ask, any help greatfully received. thanks in anticipation.

[Elaine ..Spain]

Unless there was an inquest, in which case you might find a report in a local newspaper, then I would have thought the best thing to do is to purchase the death certificate.

[Jill on the A272]

The reference for which is

Harry Sidwell, 40, Chesterfield, 7b 360

[Meridian Line]

Hi Rob,
The death certificate would give you the exact date of death, but I think for someone in hospital that length of time, the cause of death on the certificate would possibly not be directly related to the accident. For instance the doctor may have put cause of death as pneunomia, but he may have been in hospital after being crushed by a roof fall. I think local newspaper reports will be the only way forward. If you get the date of death, there was probably a news report or announcement made in the paper, which may give reference to the accident, then you could look up any reports of the accident in the papers. Local newsapers are often available on microfilm, at the local library. If you don't live nearby, but have a date, they will often do a search for you if you contact them.
Hope this helps.

[Chrissie Smiff]

I think it was more likely to have been a pit accident, rather than a mining disaster. I have just looked through the reports of the mining diasters between 1935 and 1938, where it lists all miners killed or injured and I couldn't find a Harry Sidwell.

http://www.cmhrc.co.uk/site/disasters/

[Vicky the Viking]

chrissie, that website can be v useful but is not a comprehensive list by all means. I know of a couple of names that are missing and one that is wrong (incorrect first name), which does beg the question as to where he got the information from. The one with the incorrect first name was reported with the correct name in the local paper, and its also registered under the correct name.

I agree with getting the death cert & also go looking for newspaper reports. I'd get the death cert first, because if there was any hint of it being directly or indirectly attributable to a mining accident then there would have been a report to the coroner & possibly then an inquest (if so its recorded on the death certificate). If the accident was "fairly" minor then it might have merited only a couple of lines (if anything) in the paper at the time it happened. I don't mean to trivialise this, but if he was the only person injured then it might not have made it into the paper at all.

[rob123]

Thanls everyone that does give me some pointers, off work next week so will start digging around then.