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General => The Common Room => Topic started by: jess5athome on Friday 13 September 13 21:55 BST (UK)
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Hi, my apologies if this is one of those daft questions which everyone knows the answer to except me.. :-[
I have the death of Gerardus Kempen, January 16Th 1943 at Moorends in Yorkshire, according to the "Hull Daily Mail" of January 18Th 1943 he died when he ran out of his home at Moss Terrace while he was being treat by a doctor, police were present who gave chase and Gerardus climbed over a level crossing gate and was struck by a train killing him instantly.
Given the circumstances of his death is it likely that there would have been an inquest, if so where would I look for the results?.
All help is greatly received.
Frank.
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In my limited knowledge, not all inquest records have survived; and some are locked down by privacy considerations. One route is to try to find the records - try asking the current local coroner's court for advice, or the relevant County Archives. The other route is to look for accounts of the inquest in local papers - might be quite a trawl as the inquest, if any, might have been some long time after the death. Best to ask local Archives or Library service where copies are kept.
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See http://www.kcl.ac.uk/depsta/law/research/coroners/records.html about coroner's records. Individual Coroners decide what happens to the papers very many of them were destroyed by the coroner anyway, hence there are regional variations in survival. It is a simple enough matter to enquire at the appropriate county record office, which will almost certainly know what is available and where it is. Under the Home Office Circular 250/1967, a schedule of destruction of coroners records is laid down.Once 15 years old the records can be weeded,' that is destroyed or sampled by the individual coroner concerned. There are exceptions to the 15 year destruction, and apparently it is not compulsory so some coroners choose not to destroy them. Therefore individual Coroners decide what happens to the papers, but very many of them were destroyed by the coroner anyway, hence there are regional variations in survival.
A newspaper report is the best bet,
Stan
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Hi, Graham and Stan, thank you both so much for your very quick and helpful replies I will read the link and have a look through the newspaper archives, I have his death report and his probate so at least I have some things regarding him.
Many thanks again and my very best regards.
Frank.
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Hi,
The death certificate will show if an Inquest was held; it will also show the name of the Coroner.
Nanny Jan
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Hi,
The death certificate will show if an Inquest was held; it will also show the name of the Coroner.
Nanny Jan
Hi, nanny jan, that's good to know, I ordered the death cert this afternoon,
Thank you :)
Regards, Frank.
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Hi,
I've found one Coroner's report (1902) but for one in 1914 could only find reports in local newspapers.
Nanny Jan
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Hi nanny jan, yes, it looks like it could be a long haul ::) .................... I think I basically have the "Ins And Outs" of it but if there was an inquest it would just put the finishing touches to it,
Gerardus was my G.Grandfather, family talk said he committed suicide as he was depressed and worried about his daughter who was living in London at that time during the blitz, however reading between the lines ( doctor and police present) it looks as if he was ....... shall we say, going to be "Taken Away" and did a runner, :'(
Anyway, such is family research, :)
Frank.
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I recently requested a copy of a coroners inquest from PRONI for the death of my half brother in the 60's. All the information I had to give was the date and place of death. Took a while but eventually they got back to be and unfortunately the inquest had been destroyed at some point in the past :( apparently they only keep important ones! But the man from PRONI was really helpful and sent me a scan of the entry in some file recording verdicts (misadventure) and then out of the blue a few weeks later he emailed me a copy of the post mortem! Which actually answered all my questions as it had a lot of information about the circumstances- which my father rarely would speak of -
He was nearly 11 years old, collecting birds eggs with his friends on a stretch of beach, he became separated from his friends and they began looking for him at 5pm when it was time to go home and couldn't find him. They left at 6pm and my father rang the police at 8pm. His body was found at around 8pm by a dog walker at the foot of a rocky outcrop, but the man couldnt reach him so ran for the the police who arrived and recovered him at 8.20.
Sorry for the long reply, just trying to suggest a copy of the postmortem aswell as I wouldn't have requested it!
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Hi
While this suggestion is a good one, I think that this may not be available in England & Wales, NI is a separate jurisdiction.
The death did not happen in hospital so there wouldn't be any hospital records. Even if there were, they would most probably still be closed for whatever time remains of the closure period.
The actual post-mortem would most probably have been carried out by the coroner and has already been mentioned, most probably destroyed by now.
However, it might be worth contacting Doncaster Archives (is this where Moorends is near?) to see if they can help.
http://library.doncaster.gov.uk/web/arena/coroners-records
Dawn
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Hi,
Shughes, many thanks for your input, as said NI is possibly a separate jurisdiction but I will give it a go. What a sad story regarding your half brother, children never see the dangers in things, in fact we don't see it ourselves till we get older.
dawnsh, thank you for the link, emails have been sent today to see if I can turn anything up, Moorends is indeed near Doncaster but according to the link it may have been covered by Wakefield, anyway emails have been sent to both, (no harm in giving them both something to read ;D ).
Regards always,
Frank.
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Hi, just to update the thread and to let you all know how it is going, I have today received the death certificate and it shows me everything I need to know regarding the death of Gerardus, it gives me the cause of death ( Grim Reading ) and the name of the coroner and the date of the inquest, Wakefield archives are kindly looking into the possibility that the record of the inquest is still available.
Many thanks to you all once again for your very kind input and as always my very best regards,
Frank.
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Thanks for the update; let's hope that Wakefield archives have the file.
Nanny Jan
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Hi, just to update further my search for the inquest report, ..... It's not good news.
Wakefield archives did not hold the inquest report and they advised me to contact Doncaster archives.
According to what I have been told by Doncaster archives there is a 75 year closure rule applied to the coroners records and the coroner also has the right to destroy any record after only 15 years because he has no obligation in law to keep them for longer than that time ......... Yes you've guessed it, there are no coroners records for that time because the then coroner decided in his wisdom to destroy them all ???
However, I have now been in touch with the local studies group at Doncaster central library and they tell me that they hold copies of local Doncaster newspapers for that time and also the Doncaster edition of the Yorkshire Evening Post, all on micro film so that when I get the chance I will go along and have a search through them.
Regards always,
Frank.