Death in the Archives

These are the accounts that contain most records of deaths via the details of burials. The origins of parish registers go back to 1538 when, as part of the Reformation changes, parish churches were required to keep registers of all persons baptised, married and buried in their parish.  Pre-1754 registers usually contain baptisms, marriages and burials in one volume – as with this example form Coberley.  They generally record the name of the deceased and the date of burial – which typically happened a few days after the death occurred. 

In 1812, parish registers came under legislation with Sir George Rose’s ‘Act for better regulating and preserving Parish and other Registers of Births, Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials in England’.  This was enacted on 28th June 1812, and it required baptisms and burials to be kept in separate pre-printed volumes with specific information recorded.  For burials, this was the date of burial, the name of deceased, their place of abode (village or address), their age and the name of the officiating minister. 

On occasion, other information was given such as the cause of death, especially if it was unusual and the minister thought it noteworthy. This entry in the Duntisbourne Rouse parish register records the burial of John Stone, son of Walter Stone of Cirencester, on the 18 April 1636.  John died after being stuck by lightening, the vicar writing that he was ‘smooten to death in the thunder & lightning’ and that this was ‘the handy worke of God’.   To emphasise it, the vicar has drawn a manicule (a ‘hand of God’) in the left-hand side of the register!

In 1666, an Act was introduced that required the dead (except plague victims and the destitute) to be buried in a woollen shroud.  One of the features of the act was that relatives had to a swear an affidavit to confirm the burial had been in woollen or otherwise face a fine of £5 – these 1733 & 1734 examples come from Hardwicke parish.  The reason was to maintain the supply of domestically produced rather than continental wool.  The law was generally ignored from the 1770s and repealed in 1814.

Graves were dug and tombstones erected by permission of the vicar and diocese.  Surprisingly, few churches have churchyard burial plans – this is the burial plan for St Paul’s Church, Parkend.  Most graveyard plans were in the head of the church’s Sexton - the official responsible for maintaining and caring for the church and its grounds, ringing bells, and sometimes digging graves!  The GFHS have an excellent online memorial inscriptions index with over 600,000 names!

The office of Coroner began in 1194, and it was the Coroner’s task – with the help of a jury of 12-23 people – to investigate any unexpected death, be it unknown cause, accident, suicide or murder.  However, the main reason wasn't to establish what had happened – it was to see if the incident had the potential benefit of revenue for the Crown!  This was because the goods and chattels of those found guilty of the crime of murder or suicide ('self-murder’) would then be forfeit to the crown, as were wrecks of the sea, fires (both fatal and non-fatal) and any discovery of buried treasure.  Before the 1844 Coroner’s Act, there were four Coroners in the county who travelled around the county to hear inquests except Gloucester and Tewkesbury, who had their own Coroners.  This is a typical inquest entry for the City of Gloucester coroner, recording the death of William Stephens – who on 15th July about 11 o’clock at night fell from a hay rick onto a hay rack and broke his neck, dying instantly.

Sadly, the survival rate of these coroners’ records is varied – mostly because many were sent for salvage during the war years.  They are generally written on part proforma forms – with enough space given for the coroner to write in the circumstances of the death and the inquest result.  Sadly – as in this example – many are written on blue paper which can hinder reading the text.  Looking at the Coroners’ records for the deaths of farmers – many fall straight into the Horrible Histories ‘Stupid Deaths’ category.  We have farmers or farm labourers who died after falling from hay ricks, being stabbed in the head with pitchforks, killed by horses, being run over by farm wagons, falling into threshing machines (surprisingly common) and cutting themselves with billhooks.  This is typical – the inquest into the death of William Iles, who died after being ‘run over by his own mowing machine’, at Fairford in September 1873. 

A coroner's burial order is a legal document issued by a coroner that gives permission for a burial to go ahead when a death has been reported to the coroner – this example is the release for burial for Gilbert Oswald Smith, who was executed at Gloucester Gaol on 26th November 1912.  The coroner and jury used to have to physically view the body before burial and if a body was buried before this happened, the coroner could order it to be exhumed.  Orders were not issued unless the coroner had held an inquest touching the death.  Today, the order (or cremation form) is typically collected from the coroner's service directly by funeral directors. 

Although wills do not deal directly with death per say they do deal with its aftermath.  The early history of wills is complex but from the mid-1500s, a will enabled a person (the testator if a man or testatrix if a woman) to specify how they wanted their property and possessions to be divided up after their death.  Gloucestershire wills were proved by the Diocese of Gloucester and they’re all on Ancestry but – unfortunately – they imaged the microfiche copies of wills, not the originals, making them tricky to read even if the handwriting is good and the language English.  Wills were often written on the testator’s death bed, they can include information about close family – spouse, children and grandchildren as well as their wider family and even friends, neighbours and servants.  They normally start with the preamble ‘In the name of God Amen…’ then typically have something along the lines of ‘I, (testator’s name), being of sound mind but weak in body…’ There’s little punctuation and so reading wills can be tricky, especially as some can be highly complicated and lengthy. 

From 1530 to 1782 every executor had to appoint three or four local men to appraise or value the deceased’s personal estate and provide the probate court with a full inventory or list of goods and their value – less any real estate (land and property).  They list items starting with the word ‘Imprimis’ or ‘Item’ and typically start with ‘Wearing apparel and money in purse…’ then go onto to list household items both large and small.  After 1782 they were not legal requirements (though an interested party could request one) which means that fewer inventories survive for the later period.