Kent Coroner's Inquests

[Drew1918]

Would some kind soul please be kind enough to do a look up, or give me some advice? I am currently in Japan, so cannot get down to the Kent History & Library Centre myself.
I recently got a death certificate for someone who I believe to be one of my great-great-grandfather's siblings. Its for an Elizabeth Elston, who died aged 1 on the 12th February 1863, in Deptford. The death certificate says that there was an Inquest held on the 16th February 1863, by the coroner for Kent. I was just wondering if I could get hold of this inquest, as it may give me more information about my family then.
I understand that not many inquests have necessarily have survived, but if anybody could give me any help it would be much appreciated.
Many thanks,

[Zacktyr]

Hi Drew1918,

Coroner's papers were considered the private property of the coroner and as such after 20 years were allowed to be destroyed.  Consequently, not many of the original inquest documents, affidavits, witnesses depositions, et cetera survive.  Most of the coroner's records do not begin until the early 1900s.  Also you would have to know the name of the coroner and the area for which he acted as coroner so that you could search for a file of his papers at the archives.

Your best bet is to scour newspapers of the time for some small snippet that might mention a 1-year old child's death - at that time it could have been due to scalding in the kitchen, clothes catching fire near a fireplace, unnoticed or very swift influenza and so on. 

Try http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk to see if you can find some mention of the event.  You will have to sign up for an account if you do not have one and it is a pay-as-go site.  I have no financial interest in the site but do use it from time to time.

I hope this helps.

Sincerely
Susan

[Drew1918]

Hello Susan,
Thanks so much for your advice. On the death certificate it says that coroner for Kent performed the post-mortem and that his name was Charles Joseph Crutten (the surname is hard to read and I am not sure of the spelling). It does not state that he was the coroner for a particular area of Kent, just that he was 'the coroner for Kent'. I'll have a look and try to find out a bit more about him.
I have had a quick look at the newspaper site, and although I could not find anything about the inquest, it did help me to find other information about the family, so thanks very much indeed for that! Very kind of you to post.

Chris

[Zacktyr]

Hello Chris,

I've checked my book of Coroner's Records (Gibson and Rogers) and as I suspected there is almost nothing in that mid-1860's time frame filed for Deptford.  You can search the catalogue for coroners' records and for Charles Joseph Crutten at the Kent Archives and Libraries at

http://www.kentarchives.org.uk/CalmView/Overview.aspx?s=coroner

but you will see that there are only 18 results for coroners' records and those are focused on areas other than the northwest of Kent.

In addition to the newspaper search, if you suspect that the child's death was anything other than accident or illness you might want to try a search of assize records for the time period.  The documents and orders filed during a trial might be the only recourse in the absence of the coroner's record.  Otherwise, I'm afraid it's one of those things that may be lost to the mists of time unless and until someone steps forward with Mr. Crutten's private files.

Good luck.  Coroners just didn't seem to realize the importance that their files would carry 100 years or so into the future.

Sincerely,
Susan

[Drew1918]

Found out that the coroner's name was actually Charles Joseph Carttar, a solicitor from Greenwich, and that his area was West Kent. Got this info from the newspaper site you showed me.
Many thanks once again for all your kind help and advice. Seems I might just have to let this one go.

Chris