The Diary of Nathaniel Bryceson Revisited

[deb usa]

We can only hope that Matthew was the informant to her death ...unless she did die in the infirmary! She was very ill ... If your latest cert does not pan out ...I'll order the St Pancras one.

Other than that ...we may have to list all Mary Ward deaths in Dec q 1847 and maybe go through a proces of elimination.

Fingers crossed !!!!

deb

[Ruskie]

I am hoping that under the heading "Occupation" it may say "wife of Matthew Ward". As she was married, I believe this is what generally happened.   [http://www.dixons.clara.co.uk/Certificates/deaths.htm]

Of course this would depend on whether or not the informant knew she was the wife of Matthew Ward. 

If she died at the infirmary or elsewhere the informant would not be Matthew I suppose, unless he happened to be present.

I suppose it is possible that now the GRO will not issue the certificate if the occupation column is blank? We could miss out of the correct certificate! Panic!

We'll just have to wait and see, and keep our fingers crossed.

[deb usa]

Of course this would depend on whether or not the informant knew she was the wife of Matthew Ward. 

If she died at the infirmary or elsewhere the informant would not be Matthew I suppose, unless he happened to be present.

I suppose it is possible that now the GRO will not issue the certificate if the occupation column is blank? We could miss out of the correct certificate! Panic!

eeekkkkk.... Angst and panic!

[Colin Cruddace]

The GRO will only refuse to send a certificate if any given details conflict with what is recorded. If she is not recorded as wife of Matthew you should still receive it, but if it states eg. wife or widow of James then it would fail.

It is a dilemma, the more information you give then the more likely it is that the required certificate is refused, and the least information could lead to obtaining many certificates.

Happy Hunting,
Colin

[Ruskie]

Thanks for clarifying that Colin. In that case, I suppose it could happen that there may be more than one possible death which fits my criteria? I wonder what would happen then?

I really think the GRO should give us a chance to add additional details which may save them a lot of work. For example, they will search for all deaths registered for all Mary Wards in Middlesex in 1846, 1847 and 1848. If there had been the option, I could easily have saved them a huge amount of wasted time by telling them that Mary was buried on the 29th of October 1847. That would help. 

Oh well, there may be a reason that I haven't considered as to why they don't do this.

[Colin Cruddace]

Hi Ruskie,

As I've never ordered a certificate from the GRO, I'm not the best person to ask about how or why they do things their way. I always use the local Register Offices where you can actually talk to people to discuss any problems. Perhaps this would be the best way forward for Mary Ward's certificate.

I had a quick look on FreeBMD at those registered in the last quarter of 1847 and saw 4 entries that could fit, but there could be others as I'm not too familiar with the area covered. Two cert's are now held by Westminster and the other two held by Camden. Following through the FreeBMD entries by clicking on the District Name, brings up a page giving a brief description of the area it covers and a link to further information. Part of the information is where certificates are now held and clicking on that will bring up the contact details such as postal address, telephone number, email address and possibly a website.

Hope this helps.
Colin

[Ruskie]

Thanks Colin - yes, I did know about how to see the areas covered by the various districts. Mongibello has checked the death registrations held by Westminster Archives and couldn't find our Mary. (I think he is going to have another look).

Of course the difficulty is that we are not sure where Mary died. We know her home address and burial place, but she may have died elsewhere. I was not issued a certificate when I specified that the address should be Richmond Buildings, so this time if they can't find a Mary with husband Matthew Ward, I will have to broaden the search even more.

Her death may have slipped through the cracks somehow ....

[Colin Cruddace]

I'm a bit confused as to what Mongibello is checking. 

Death certificates are held and preserved by Superintendent Registrars, and copies are sent to the Registrar General (GRO) for their quarterly returns. Neither sets of certificates are available to view by the general public, so I suspect that he is checking the local Index of their registrations, and probably paying for each session 

Local Registrars are more flexible than the GRO in finding certificates (my own personal opinion, so don't quote me  ) a couple of emails to probable register offices might be the way to go.

Colin

[Ruskie]

Mongibello will check the burial register to see if he can find any clues presumably regarding date and place of death.