GRO Index and Death Searches

[Nick29]

The information is all on the GRO site....

"A 3 year search for the index reference will be carried out."

so they will search the indexes for you, for the information you have given,

but beware the proviso.....

"provided you have sufficient information to identify the entry"

With a fairly common surname like Harris, they have too many false positives.


P.S. Have you discounted the James H Harris registered in Bodmin, Cornwall in Q1 of 1916 ?

[KGarrad]

Have you explored the possibility that he enlisted, and died, during WW1?

[Nick29]

The nearest match would seem to be a James Harris who died aged 50 in Devonport Registration District in Q2 1913.  Is there a possibility that he was known as James rather than Herbert and this death was registered by someone who didn't know him very well?

There is a probate record for this James Harris.  He was a naval pensioner who left his money to his wife Margaret.

[timebandit]

The information is all on the GRO site....

"A 3 year search for the index reference will be carried out."

so they will search the indexes for you, for the information you have given,

but beware the proviso.....

"provided you have sufficient information to identify the entry"

With a fairly common surname like Harris, they have too many false positives.


P.S. Have you discounted the James H Harris registered in Bodmin, Cornwall in Q1 of 1916 ?

So they won't really be very helpful then...

I have looked into the James H Harris that you mention and he seems to appear on the census for that area, so I think that he's a different person, unfortunately.

[timebandit]

Have you explored the possibility that he enlisted, and died, during WW1?

I have had a look but the Herbert Harris's that I've found have not been my man, as far as I can tell.  They've been too young and had different occupations.  I could have missed HJH though, as you say there are rather a lot of them   
He would have been in the region of 50 years old when WW1 was taking place, but they did accept men of that age towards the end of the war didn't they?

[timebandit]

The nearest match would seem to be a James Harris who died aged 50 in Devonport Registration District in Q2 1913.  Is there a possibility that he was known as James rather than Herbert and this death was registered by someone who didn't know him very well?

There is a probate record for this James Harris.  He was a naval pensioner who left his money to his wife Margaret.

Thanks Nick.  I don't think that this is my man.  Have you come across many people who have a death record that seems to be missing?  I'm just wondering how common this is.

[Nick29]

A death has to be legally registered in the UK before a burial can take place.  For the majority of people, the reason they can't find a death is because they are looking in the wrong place.  I had the same problem when looking for my own grandfather.  He lived in the Greenwich/Eltham area of London all his life - he was a master bricklayer in that area, but I didn't have an exact year for his death.  After obtaining my fourth (or was it the 5th ?) wrong certificate for him, I'd practically given up, then I made contact with a cousin on my dad's side that I'd not met before, and she told me that my grandfather went to live with his son in Hampstead when he became ill, and then was admitted to Hampstead Hospital, where he died.   That's why I asked you if your ancestor had any children, because he may have gone to stay with them.  Another possibility is that the death entry has been wrongly transcribed, but this is quite rare.