Death certificates

[Roy Evans]

When a civilian dies a copy of their death certificate is lodged the registry office for the area in which the death took place.

Could someone please tell me what is the title/number of the official document which recorded the death of a WW1 man K.I.A and what document would be used for a man D.O.W after being repatriated to the UK?

Roy

[j.r.f]

Pal

The burnt records of the P.R.O.sometimes contain death certifcates.Would be worth a look if you can get there.

Cheers.

JOHN.

[Tom Morgan]

You can buy a copy of a soldier's death certificate just as you can for civilians. There isn't as much information on an army one though.

Last time I ordered one was in 1990 and the address then was

Office of Pupulation, Vrnsuses and Surveys

General Register Office

Smedley Hydro

Southport

Merseyside

PR8 2HH

Tom

[Jonathan Saunders]

If I remember rightly there is an index for the War Deaths (also other service deaths) held on the open shelves at the Family Records Centre at the Angel, Islington. Normal cause of death for kia is given on actual certificate as "on war service", and presumably something along lines of "died of wounds" if appropriate.

[Guest lesley]

There is also an index for service deaths at the PRO, in a seperate section to the main GRO index. This will give you the reference number which you need to quote when ordering the certificate from Southport.

Many main libraries will also carry a copy of the index, although you need to specify you are looking for servicemen and need the seperate index otherwise they tend to direct you to the main index.

[Tom Morgan]

Normal cause of death for kia is given on actual certificate as "on war service", and presumably something along lines of "died of wounds" if appropriate.

Signals - I've only have one, but in the Cause of Death column, it says, "Killed in Action". Would this be an exception rather than the rule?

(I have seen another one which has: "Shot by sentence of FGCM for 'Desertion'". I realise this would be very much the exception.)

Tom

[Jonathan Saunders]

Tom,

Well you have caught me out here. I have only seen two myself and these were both to men lost when HMS VANGUARD exploded. Cause of death was given as "on war service" in both cases and I presumed (now unwisely) this to be the norm, but thinking about it, the ship exploded so they were not technically killed in action.

Apologies for misleading you, although I am sure cause of death was not likely to be more specific than a general category ie. they would not state "died of gsw neck" or "died of wasting disease caused by gas" etc ... although I am sure if more precise causes do exist on these certificates then someone on this Forum will know about it !!

Sigs

[Tom Morgan]

No problem Sigs

[Terry Denham]

Try this site for details of the GRO index. Scroll down to the 'Overseas' section.

You can buy copies for yourself if you have the cash.

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/registration/...al_register.asp

[Guest Anni]

There is also an excellent ongoing volunteer project at freebmd.rootsweb.com

where they are rapidly including the years post 1902.

If you find the reference number there and are resident in the UK you can now order the certificates online through: http:www.col.statistics.gov.uk where I found the service to be excellent.

The death certificate I have says cause of death is "died of wounds".

[Roy Evans]

Thanks to everyone for their replies.

Roy

[BeppoSapone]

The death certificate I have says cause of death is "died of wounds".

I have seen the death certificates of three civilians killed in the blitz in WW2. All just say something like "Due to enemy operations" for the cause of death.

[Guest Simon Bull]

I have death certificates for all of the men on my local memorial. In my experience the information that they provide is very variable. Two interesting ones that I have say, in one case, that a man died for wounds and the effects of gas, and, in the other, that he died whilst a prisoner in Germany (which is at variance with other information I have, about which I shall soon be posting).

Usually there is just a bland statement that the man was killed in action.

Also interesting are the death certificates of men who died in UK which are much more precise - e.g. in one of my cases a man's cause of death is recorded as "paraplegia" caused by a shell splinter. The medically qualified among us may correct me, but I would not have thought that paraplegia could, of itself, be a cause of death - rather the effects of paraplegia.

Simon Bull