Was he really dead or legally on that date?

[Jamjar]

Wonder if it was a case of no body found so no death recorded on BDM?

Jamjar

[Rosinish]

JJ,

Not for the 1st time either I must add!

I need to brush up on my geography as there are so many place names in other Countries & me being British, assume the British names without thinking.

I remember someone I know telling me they had lived in a different part of Fife (Scotland) many yrs ago & her hubby was looking for a job within the Fife area. He was offered a job in Newcastle which had them up in arms. There was a Newcastle area in the "New Town" (recently built at the time), Glenrothes, which was not far from where they actually lived but they thought it was Newcastle, England.

Annie

[Rosinish]

JJ,

I think the OP said a relative (his sister) had been informed of his suicide as she was down as nok?

Annie

[Rosinish]

I'm beginning to wonder if he got someone to inform his sister of his death & did a runner to somewhere but where?

Annie

[majm]

I wonder ...  (and I mention that my puter's anti-virus software won't let me access NSW State Records at the moment for any bankruptcy files etc ....    unsecured site etc warnings errr !, tried again, this time it is that old favourite  a 404 error ... I will leave it to other RChatters to see if there's a file for that bankruptcy and if it may advance this quest ... )

18 Feb 1930 Bankruptcy for a chap listed as Donald Macgregor
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/16626752 SMH

19 Feb 1930 Bankruptcy hearing for Donald Macgregor re-examined, and declared concluded.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/28045401 SMH


24 Nov 1933 He was missing for three years or more when this notice appeared
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/17026685  SMH

The index with that Tumut death displays the informant driven given names of the deceased parents.... perhaps it may be the AIF chap.

Official transcription of NSW BDM death registrations should have same info as real deal certificate and arrive as email attachment.  Cheaper option, and already transcribed. 

JM

[Jamjar]

JJ,

I think the OP said a relative (his sister) had been informed of his suicide as she was down as nok?

Annie

Yes, but that doesn't mean a body was found. Could have been a note, items left at a certain point.

An ancestor of my was presumed dead when his horse and items were found but no body. No death was recorded on BDM.

Jamjar

[Jamjar]

I'm beginning to wonder if he got someone to inform his sister of his death & did a runner to somewhere but where?

Annie

Possible, unless it was police who informed her.

Jamjar

[majm]

JJ,

I think the OP said a relative (his sister) had been informed of his suicide as she was down as nok?

Annie

One story handed down was:

“Aunty Nell [his sister] said he died by suicide in the early 1930s at somewhere in the Riverina; she was notified, as the only identity he had was his army pay book, in which she had been entered as his next of kin. ‘It was during the depression and he had separated from his wife, I think she may have gone back to Scotland.’”

JM

[cando]

I think the story may be typical verbal history - a mixture of fact and supposition, a bit misunderstood or lost here, a bit added there. (Would he still be carrying his army pay book around 17 years after being discharged? And it was not the early 1930s - although that was when he first deserted his wife.)

I also wonder why Nellie, his sister, was noted as NOK in his expired Army pay book.  According to his service file his NOK was initially his father John and then his wife Effie.  No mention of a sister.

I have checked a couple of my resources for the Riverina area of NSW.  Not a mention of a Donald MACGREGOR.

Cando