Genealogy Chat

I received my great great grandfather, James Rutherford's death certificate few weeks ago. It was from WH Whitehouse coroner for London inquest held 26th January 1926. He lived in Woolwich. Although I am from Australia and I could not go to London to find a copy of the inquest. How do I get a copy of the inquest? Will there any websites? I hope to find any of his relatives. Regards, Steven.

I think its unlikely you will get a copy of the inquest - most are destroyed after 50 years I believe. I couldnt get one for my GGF for 1912. There will not be any websites for this sort of info. In the end I was very lucky in someone found a newspaper article reporting the inquest. This may be your best way forward. I should think Woolwich will be covered by the South London press. Colindale is where all newspapers are kept - every newspaper edition has to be supplied to the British Library to be kept on record.

If he lived in Woolwich the City of London DEFINITELY won't have records. You could try the London Metropolitan Archives - google for their webaddress. Whether or not coroner's records survive is a bit hit and miss, but there would probably be a record in the local paper. The death cert should give the date of the inquest so its likely if you e-mail the relevant records office or library (not sure which London borough Woolwich is in - prob. Greenwich - they can send you a photocopy of the report). nell

I tried that with mine Nell, (Southwark) they just redirected me to LMA who said they didnt have any records. I was very pleased when SKS found the newspaper article at Colindale.

I went to the LMA looking for inquest reports on my grt grandad who died in 1907 as result of injuries in the London Docks. Plus for his wife who died suddenly in Woolwich in 1919.I was told nothing kept before 1929 & then only about 10% after that. So I think your out of luck too. The only thing you might find is it reported in a local newspaper.

Shirley, just a quick word - I found out recently that Dock accidents are kept at Kew. My dad had a terrible industrial accident in about 1953 at London docks which left him blinded in one eye. I shall one day get around to going to Kew to see what its has there.

Ohh thanks Heather. weve spoken before about our docker rellies. Thanks .i will look at the national archives website to see if available online,otherwise it will be on my list for my next visit there whenever that will be!! Shirley

No I dont think its online or Id have downloaded it. Its part of the dock board health and safety stuff.

Hi everyone, many thanks for helping me. I have emailed to LMA to find out about it. My gg grandfather's occupation was a dock labourer. I think it was at Woolwich dock. Was it? He died of natural causes. I did not know about Colindale. It is new to me. I will try to ask someone to look it up for me.