Find Ancestors

Having looked for hours through the death indexes on ancestry.co.uk for my grandfathers death details the only link I could come up with was a david hearne who died 16th april 1948 aged 57 in Nottingham.
My late fathers family originate from Acton in middlesex, so I initially overlooked the nottingham link, thinking it could not be.
Until it got to the stage where it was too obvious to me anyway that this must be him.
So I paid the £7 fee and waited with baited breath for the certificate to arrive.
While I was waiting I was expecting the usual cause of death such as heart failure etc;
Plus hopefully some address to investigate.
The certificate arrived and I opened to look, cause of death was " body found dead in river trent nottingham "
The address was listed as " 700 Hucknall road Nottingham "
It was listed that an inquest and post mortem were held.

Further investigation has discovered that the address used to be an old hospital address that may have been used as an address when the deceased was of no fixed abode, which according to what one of my family were told is what became of my late grandfather.
Contacting the coroners officer proved fruitless in that they no longer have the records, nor do the local archive.
Contacting the registry office was of some use in that I was told that he was buried in a public grave in northern cemetery in nottingham, I asked if this was what would be known as a paupers grave and was told yes.
I have been told by the nottingham archives that they have the station diary and telephone sypnosis? of calls during that time, but cannot guarantee that they may contain information regarding my search.
I get the feeling that nothing short of divine intervention is going to get this brick wall out of the way.
Even looking through the local papers of the time proved fruitless which really surprised me.
Any advice anyone?

What is it you are now looking for?
Den*

n

Sorry Den, what do you mean?

Hi,I mean what else are you looking for advice wise?

I am wondering if there is any other facility I have not used that could finally conclude the matter for me, I am hoping to get a day off next week so I can take a trip down to the archives in nottingham to look at the station diaries and other stuff they say they have to see if that sheds any more light on my research.
Thanks Den.

It might be worth looking in the local papers that cover the time frame of his death and subsequent inquest - so look at the date of death and the date the death was registered and look for any news articles in the local papers that might have reported the inquest.

Most coroners records do not survive, but inquests are often reported in the local paper so what you dont find in coroners reports might be in the paper!

Good luck!

Thanks for that Alexandra very much appreciated :-)

How about trying local radio stations,may have records.
Den*

You may find that there is more than 1 paper covering the area.
G Grandad's death reached the local weekly paper but not the area's evening paper. I found copies of the weekly local at the library. No change to lookup on their microfilm reader & 10p a copy of anything I wanted.

I have tried local radio stations den, not even had as much as an acknowledgement from them, but I do know where you are coming from :-)
I was of the thinking that if a local popular station mentioned the case on one of their daytime slots somebody listening may have remembered from the time the tragedy happened, I know it is nearly 60 years ago but there has to be hope that someone remembers something,but there you go :-) will wait and hope someting comes up when I go the archives in nottingham.
Claire in wales thankyou :-)
I did look at the papers at angel row in nottingham, the main library in the area, I have even sent numerous emails to other local libraries in the hope that the story would have turned up in one of their papers, but to no avail.
In the words of Gerry Marsden " Walk on " :-)

Thanks again.

Hello William,
You seem to have exhausted any obvious lines of enquiry, so here are two real longshots that might be worth trying (?)
Hospital / NHS records - I think they are generally closed and I do not know when in 1948 the NHS started, but I am thinking that any admissions register may have useful details and any medical notes would have had to have been closed down, doctor removing him from the records etc. I have no idea what survives and what access restrictions there are, but you could contact the Hospital Records Project at the National Archives at Kew. Another query which I ponder (without knowing any answers!) is what happens to National Insurance records, would they have been updated with his death, particularly if he was unemployed?
Just longshots I know, but they may help to confirm if the death relates to your grandfather ??
Good luck,
Jeff

Thanks for that Jeff, may be worthwhile doing that.
I was hoping that the post mortem records had survived because I had found his army record from the 1st ww, which has details about his height, weight, hair colour, eye colour, scars and other visible marks.
With that I was going to send the coroner them details and ask if in any way it tallied up with the description on the post mortem.
I am very curious as to how they knew it was him without anyone coming forward to claim him, because surely that would be the only time you would be buried as a pauper?
The whole thing points to it being him, but without any more evidence I am no more near solving it.
Thanks Jeff.

William


Was he an Army pensioner?

If you know his proper date of birth and full name you could also apply to APC Glasgow for his file, if he was drawing a military pension then they would have had to have been informed of his death.

Nicki

It may be that he had some form of identification on him and they may have made announcements for his next of kin to get in touch but perhaps they never did get in touch and then he was buried in a paupers grave?

I know in an extended part of my family the wife of my great grandmother's brother was dying of Spanish Flu in 1918 and they put an announcement over the radio for her loved ones to get in touch before she died. They heard it and came to be with her. However I only know this from family memories - I doubt the radio would have any record of doing it though!

Hi Wiliam

This is no help with your search but the info might be useful.

When my ggg grandfather committed suicide in Nottingham in 1842 he was taken to the workhouse on York St Nottingham. 700 Hucknall Road was the Bagworth Hospital which was formally a workhouse. Not sure when it changed over. It is now The City Hospital. Nottingham.

I have also had a few inquests and have managed to find them all in the Nottingham Evening Post or Journal (I think?) at the library at Angel Row. My latest one was 1929.

Lin

Nicola thanks.
I have a copy of his birth certificate, he was actually quite young when he was basically invalided out of the army back home, reading between the lines of his ww1 record card it would appear that he had suffered from chest pains etc and he was examined and found to be " unfit for service " that is the basics as far as I see.
What exact information would APC Glasgow have if he was not awarded a pension?
Do you know the contact details for APC Nicki?
Thankyou very much.

http://www.army.mod.uk/contacts/divisions/index.htm

His short service papers from Ancestry might be the most information you can get - but you can always ask the APC what other information you would be likely to find before you make a proper enquiry.

Hi, if you are wanting to know about his army record you need to write to Disclosures Section, APC, Kentigern House, 65 Brown Street, Glasgow G2 8EX. There is a £30.00 charge for this service and a long wait.

Nicki

Linda hello, the death certificate states dead body found sixteenth April 1948 River Trent.
Gives his name as David Hearne 57 Years.
Under the column " Occupation " it says " Of 700 hucknall Road Nottigham " and just after this but in the same column is written what looks to me like " no a - "
Cause of death is listed as " Found drowned in the River Trent PM "
Under the " Signature description and residence of informant " it states " Certificate received from W S ? Rothera, Coroner for Nottingham, Inquest held 19th 28th April 1948 "
Whether that means From the 19th April to 28th April or just the two days I do not know.
Thanks again Linda.