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Find My Past Blog - Ask the Expert - murder mystery

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  • Find My Past Blog - Ask the Expert - murder mystery

    Our expert Stephen Rigden, pictured right, answers your questions.

    From Charlotte Paton in King’s Lynn, Norfolk:

    ‘I am trying to trace the family of Lilian (Lillian) Alexander who was murdered in Edingthorpe in April 1901, aged 8. She was born in 1892. She had a sister Alice who gave evidence at the trial of her murderer who was born in 1890. Dad was the ‘late’ Matthew Alexander on Lilian’s death certificate.

    All of this I have found from press cuttings and Free BMD; I can find nothing on any of the censuses about the family, who Mum was etc. Can you find them and explain why I can’t please?’

    Steve says:

    ‘Many thanks for your question. I think the best way forward for you is actually the simplest - namely, to purchase the birth certificate of Lilian (which you can do online at the official government website). Her death was registered in June quarter 1901 in Smallburgh registration district; the death index gives her age as 8 years, as you say, which means that she would have been born circa 1892/93.

    Checking the birth index, you can find her birth in 1892 in Smallburgh. The birth of her sister Alice is also there in 1890. The birth certificate of Lilian should confirm the names of her parents. Once you have the certificate, you could look confidently for the marriage of the parents (to get their respective ages at marriage), after which you can search for their births, his death and so on, as well as finding them on earlier census returns.

    Of course, you could speculate that her father is the Matthew in the death index who died aged 54 years in September 1893 but it is always best to work systematically and from what you know to be correct and true, rather than guessing or gambling and taking a wrong step.

    Smallburgh is a coastal registration district and one reason why you have not been able to find Matthew in the 1891 census is that he may have been at sea, for instance if he was a fisherman or a mariner.’

    If you’d like to send your question to Steve, please register or opt to receive newsletters in My Account.



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