Genealogy Chat

Help, does anyone know if coroners reports are available to view/purchase and if so how I go about finding one

I have been fortunate to have obtained copies of reports from the Ipswich records office for two of my ancestors. They make fascinating reading, especially, I found, to see the actual signatures of the jurors, some of whom were relatives of mine.

I managed to obtain a newspaper report of an inquest which gave the coroner's findings by approaching the reference library for the area concerned - following advice from people on genes reunited. That was for an event in 1903.
Might be a helpful start.

Jane

Hi
I is very difficult to obtain a coroners report as many have been destroyed. There is also a 75 year closure on post mortems.
The best way to find out about a death where there was an inquest is to find out if there are any surviving newspapers that cover the area where the death occured. Newspapers regulary publish the results of inquests in to deaths along with details about the past life of the deceased.
You will sometimes find some very interesting information about the person that you are looking for in the reports.
Some record offices will also hold reports on patients who died in hospitals. If you are lucky enough to find one of these, you might need to write to the relevent health authority for permission to view the records. The staff at the records office would be able to give you advice on this matter. Not all hospital records are held by record offices. You will be very lucky to find records by this method.

I was lucky with one person who died in a mental asylum.
I was able to read the patients records, the post mortem result and I was able to see two photograph of my ancestor.

Regards
Andrew