Abergwynfi Suicide

[joshuadwilliams]

My great x2 grandfather was David Thomas born about 1872 in Llanelly, from 1901 onwards he lived in Abergwynfi, Glam. His last child was born in 1918, and I know he committed suicide, but im not sure when, it could be from this time onwards into the 1920s and possibly the 1930s. So would anyone know if this kind of event would be in a newspaper, and if so, which newspaper would have covered the area during this time, and where would these papers be kept?

Regards, Josh.

[halfasheep]

Hi there Josh, very likely to be in a paper, but I'm not sure which one exactly. Abergwynfi is under Neath Port Talbot, so there may be details in Swansea archives, but you are also possibly going to find reports in the papers in the Bridgend records offices as they cover a lot of Glamorgan - probably depends where you live.

No idea where he may have been buried at all? May be easier to find a burial record than a death cert with that name.

Another question is whether you have the death certificate for his wife, of a marriage certificate for any of his children - one may mention that he was deceased or that his wife was a widow at the time of her death - would help you scale down the dates a bit anyway.

I'm in Bridgend tomorrow doing some digging of my own, so if I get a chance, I'll keep an eye out. As morbid as it sounds, any idea of the method of suicide? It may be mentioned in a headline so it would be easy to spot and disregard non-matches

Chris

[joshuadwilliams]

Hi chris, well the nearest cemetery to Abergwynfi would be Cymmer, so perhaps that would be the best bet to find if he was buried there.

And in answer to your 2nd question, no I do not have a death certificate for his wife (mary ann thomas), its such a common name and too many records come up for the BMDs, so without a narrower date it'd be a lot of money. As with a marriage certificate, i have as of yet, not ordered one, so another route to follow there to help with the dating.

And the only other piece of information i could give you, is that he had 11 children and the story is that he could not afford to look after them or something along those lines, im not too sure how he did it though.

Regards, Josh.

[Romilly]

Hi Josh,

Most common method seems to have been throat cutting:-(

I guess that cut-throat razors would have been readily available as it were...

My late Uncle committed suicide by cutting his throat in Swansea in 1930, and it was certainly in the papers then.

Worth having a look through 'The South Wales Post' I would have thought.

Best Wishes, Romilly.

[halfasheep]

I'll have a look at the burial records for this area and see if any possible matches come back.

Romilly, suspect you're right as have seen a lot of that type around that time - very odd.

Will see if I can locate anythng

[Morganllan]

Hello 

If you think that David was still living at the same address as he was in 1911, you may be able to get access to Coroner's records at West Glamorgan Archives:

http://www.swansea.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=33275

but you will need to narrow down the year of search.

Kind Regards
Morgan

[Romilly]

Hello 
If you think that David was still living at the same address as he was in 1911, you may be able to get access to Coroner's records at West Glamorgan Archives:
http://www.swansea.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=33275
but you will need to narrow down the year of search.
Kind Regards
Morgan

Sadly, a lot of the Coroner's Records for Swansea were destroyed after flooding in the 1970's:-(

I know this because I tried to trace the ones concerning my late Uncle, - after reading about the Inquest in 'The South Wales Post.

Romilly.'

[Treetective]

I visit Swansea Archives every Tuesday afternoon.

I do know that the Library holds newspapers from 1906 onwards and the Archives office have the newspapers on film reel before 1906

PM me if you need a lookup at the Library as that is in the same building.

Regards

Jim

[joshuadwilliams]

Oh right, thankyou everyone, I guess my next avenue is to narrow down the year to which he died.

Cutting your own throat seems a nasty way to end it

Regards, Josh