Dear Paul

We start this month’s edition of ‘Dear Paul’ with a challenge. Daniel (@DanielGenealogy) sent me a birth certificate he found, whilst researching for a friend, and it’s the mother’s name that’s the intriguing part:

Julia Walsh, formerly Harrington, formerly Mahony, formerly Sullivan.

Has anybody found a certificate with the word ‘formerly’ written on more times than Daniel?

Working too hard?

Next, we delve into the world of the registrar, somebody that we family historians are accustomed to dealing with and whose details we see recorded on our certificates on a routine basis. However, we can sometimes forget about the legal responsibilities associated with the role of the registrar and the certified medical professionals, who determine a cause of death. Reader Peter Edwards sent me a particularly sad, but unusual, death certificate.

Peter’s great-uncle, Robert Murray, died in 1893 at the age of 15, apparently from excessive study! The death certificate states that the cause of death was ‘simple cerebral meningitis 7 days due to excessive study and concussion of brain. Coma 15 hours’. The family story is that he died from an injury (presumably concussion) received while playing rugby at school, but the doctor did not want to mention this, because of the impact it might have on the school.

Not being an expert in this area, I consulted with ex-deputy registrar and professional genealogist Antony Marr, who was able to give some detailed information surrounding the legal requirements and definitions surrounding ‘causes of death’ that can legally be entered on death certificates.

Even today, a number of deaths get referred to the coroner to agree on a cause of death

The 1874 Births and