Help finding death, please? .....

catbug · Post by **catbug** » Wed Oct 19, 2005 5:56 pm

Hello,

For years I had been looking for the death of a Robert Caithness on the SP site and was very perplexed when I couldn't find it. I discovered a few months ago that after his first wife died he moved to County Durham with his new wife and raised his 'new' children there, leaving the older children in Dundee where they all previously lived (found the info through the 1881 census). I think I have found his death on the freebmd site, but can't be sure, however this has no other information other than the name, age and the fact that it was registered between October and December 1891 in Sunderland. It also has a volume number and page beside the name, etc and wondered if anyone could tell me if it is possible to obtain any more details from this information. I was considering using the 1837 site but have been told (altohugh not from a very reliable source) that this only has the same information as the freebmd site. I have also heard that English records aren't as good as Scottish records, but I thought they would have more information than that mentioned before. Can anyone help me with this or tell me if the 1837 website is actually any good?

Any help at all would be appreciated!

Thanks,

Catriona

Post by **AnneM** » Wed Oct 19, 2005 6:59 pm

Hi

The 1837online site won't give you any more than you have now. The only way forward would be to send for the DC but my understanding is that English DCs don't have a lot of information on them.

If I am wrong on this then I'm sure someone will correct me.

Having said that if you're sure it's him in Durham on the census I would think the death is likely to be him too as there can't be many Robert Caithnesses down there.

Anne

DavidWW · Post by **DavidWW** » Wed Oct 19, 2005 7:08 pm

AnneM wrote:Hi

The 1837online site won't give you any more than you have now. The only way forward would be to send for the DC but my understanding is that English DCs don't have a lot of information on them.

If I am wrong on this then I'm sure someone will correct me.

Having said that if you're sure it's him in Durham on the census I would think the death is likely to be him too as there can't be many Robert Caithnesses down there.

Anne

Correct!, - sadly, - no info at all on the parents of the deceased.

It's only info such as the name and relationship of the informant, and other aspects such as occupation that can prove a link.

In this particular case I'd tend to agree with AnneM's logic in terms of the unusual nature of the name "Robert CAITHNESS"............

David

catbug · Post by **catbug** » Wed Oct 19, 2005 9:46 pm

Hello Anne and David,

Thanks for such quick replies

. I am as sure as I can be that it's him on the census as he married for the second time before he moved there and luckily I found the marriage certificate on the SP site which had the name of his first wife who died, so I know I have the right marriage certificate. His second wife's name and the name of their child born in Scotland all fit and, as you both said, Caithness is not a very common name down there so I'm inclined to believe that it's them on the census and therefore the right death. As I have his second marriage entry (his first one was pre 1855) I know his parent's names, etc but it would've been nice to know the actual date of his death and the cause, etc. I suppose it's lucky that he married before he left Dundee otherwise I'd be well and truly stuck! I'm considering sending away for the DC (which I assume would have the actual date, though I could be wrong?) but I believe it costs about £12, which seems like an awful lot when I could get 60 credits for that price on SP, but that's probably just my inner stinginess talking! Makes you appreciate how good Scottish records actually are though

.

Thanks again for your help!

Catriona

LesleyB · Post by **LesleyB** » Wed Oct 19, 2005 10:40 pm

Hi Catriona

The English death cert. will give you the actual date, place and cause.

It should also only cost you £7, not £12 - stil not as good as SP but less than you'd thought!

You can order on-line at:
http://www.gro.gov.uk

Best wishes
Lesley

Rab · Post by **Rab** » Thu Oct 20, 2005 12:03 am

I was informed previously on another forum to contact the local registrar by email concerning some certificates I was not sure about. In my case it was Liverpool and the registrar was extremely helpful. I was able to set out criteria that and if the certificate did not match then I did not need to purchase the certificate. This saved me alot of money and alot of waste. It might be worth trying. It was also still £7 a pop.

I too was disappointed not to find the parent details on the DC as this is what I was looking for. His wife's name should appear on the DC though which could be used as the criteria and also confirm it is the person you are looking for.

Rab

LesleyB · Post by **LesleyB** » Thu Oct 20, 2005 10:51 am

Hi Rab

His wife's name should appear on the DC though

You must have been lucky! I have two English death certs. for married men from 1921 & 1928, one in Oxfordshire and one in Yorkshire and neither of them mention the wife at all.

Best wishes
Lesley

DavidWW · Post by **DavidWW** » Thu Oct 20, 2005 12:15 pm

Rab wrote:.....snipped........... His wife's name should appear on the DC though which could be used as the criteria and also confirm it is the person you are looking for.

Rab

Only if she was the informant!

David

Rab · Post by **Rab** » Thu Oct 20, 2005 2:09 pm

lbathgate wrote:Hi Rab

You must have been lucky! I have two English death certs. for married men from 1921 & 1928, one in Oxfordshire and one in Yorkshire and neither of them mention the wife at all.

Best wishes
Lesley

Apologies for that. I was presuming the male and female were the same. The death certificate I have for Liverpool in 1894 has "Wife of..." in the RANK OR PROFESSION column. For the two child deaths I have they "Son of..." and "Daughter of..." are recorded in these columns. I take it then this does not apply in the death of a male. That is a real shame.

DavidWW wrote: Only if she was the informant!

David

I see that now David. In the case of the two children the mother was the informant and recorded as such in the informant column.

DavidWW · Post by **DavidWW** » Thu Oct 20, 2005 2:28 pm

Rab wrote:Apologies for that. I was presuming the male and female were the same. The death certificate I have for Liverpool in 1894 has "Wife of..." in the RANK OR PROFESSION column. For the two child deaths I have they "Son of..." and "Daughter of..." are recorded in these columns. I take it then this does not apply in the death of a male. That is a real shame.

No apologies necessary. To be honest, I'm not sure, not having seen that many English certificates. In the few that I have seen there was no relationship info in the RANK OR PROFESSION column.

It could help others to post images here.

David