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Hi,

Please could someone help me find any information on David Rowland Hill born in Luton, Bedfordshire on 13 January 1945. He is my uncle but there's something not right about the story my mum was told by her family. She was told that he was in the Merchant Navy and in 1965 whilst in Costa Rica he fell overboard a row boat having been drunk and died.

They story is that he drowned and was buried in Costa Rica. I cannot find his name in any UK Merchant Navy registers, no UK death cert (presuming someone here had to register his death in the UK) and no info about anything in Costa Rica.

It all sounds a bit suspect to me. Any help or advice would be much appreciated. His mother was Kathleen May Hill nee Fairfax and his father was Rowland Hill. I have David's birth cert and I'm applying for a marriage cert to Margaret A George but my mum said he never married as far as she knew.

Thanks

David

A death certificate would have been issued by Costa Rica if the story is true.

Have you looked at the probate register (UK) as either probate of letters of administration may be relevant.

Hi nameslessone,

Thanks for your reply. I have done a search of probate but there is no info.

Just a guess, but I think the David R Hill who married Margaret George in 1962 may have been David Robert Hill, born 1944.

A man named David R Hill (born approx 1945) was with a Margaret Anne Hill on the 2002 ER for East Sussex - Brighton area.

Margaret Anne was listed at the same address 2002-2019.

?? The man's death:

HILL, DAVID ROBERT 1944
GRO Reference: DOR Q1/2009 in BRIGHTON AND HOVE (4521A) Reg 1A014 Entry Number 501549087

????

David Hill
Death • Costa Rica, Civil Registration, 1823-2023
David Hill person details
Name David Hill
Sex Male
Death Date 4 October 1965
Event Type Death Registration
Event Place Guanacaste, Costa Rica
Entry Number 700
Page Number 350
Volume 69


No further details given. No indication of age or other identifying info.

@ArgyllGran

Is this a UK entry? It's the best info I've seen yet. <3

You can find it on FamilySearch (free to search, though you'll need to register) , where there's an image of a page of the Costa Rica Death Record Indexes Dec 30, 1963–Dec 30, 1965

https://tinyurl.com/y79tfmdm

You say, ""I cannot find his name in any UK Merchant Navy registers."

Does that include the National Archives and National Maritime Museum ? - though as you see below, many crew lists no longer survive.


1951-1994

After 1972 only two 10% samples of crew lists and agreements have been preserved. One sample is held by The National Archives and the other by the National Maritime Museum. The rest, up to 1989, have been destroyed.

Search for crew lists and agreements from 1951 to 1994 at:

The National Archives – search our 10% sample by ship’s number in BT 99.

The National Maritime Museum – holds 10% of agreements and crew lists for 1951-1976. The records held are for years ending with five (1955, 1965, and so on).https://www.rmg.co.uk/collections/research-guides/research-guide-c12-merchant-navy-ship-registration-custom-house-records

Maritime History Archive – holds approximately 70% of the crew lists and agreements for 1951-1976, but the records have not yet been indexed so contact them directly for search advice."
https://tinyurl.com/546xkzma

@ArgyllGran

Thank you for all your help. I will check these links and see what I can find and I'm going to try and order a certificate of death from Costa Rica.

I really appreciate all your hard work on this.

It does lok as thought is is possible to get a certificate but most of the sites are in Spanish.

The local English Languge newspaper is The Tico times. Maybe they have back numbers.

@nameslessone

Thanks for your help also. I'll take a look at the paper and I speak some Spanish which would help.