From: Roger Mills <watt.tyler@gmail.com> > > Have you seen that there is a death in the GRO death indexes (FreeBMD and > > Findmypast) in the June quarter of 1865 at Peterborough of a WOOLLEY > Female (unnamed) , vol 3b page 143? Could it just possibly be that this was your > > Dinah? > > > > Gretton is not far from Peterborough and Peterborough registration > district probably came fairly close to Gretton. The fact that this female who died > was unnamed suggests she may have died either in hospital or a workhouse and > nobody knew her full name. Perhaps she had left her husband? > > > > I note her daughter Phoebe was born in 1863 but not baptised until 1868. > The fact that the baptismal record didn't say her mother was deceased is not > proof that she wasn't. > > > > I think I might just be tempted to get that death certificate but it's up > to you. > > > It's possible. I've tended to think of "unamed" as referring to a new > baby who hadn't been given a name. Pity they didn't record the age at > death in those days! Are there any statistics which show what proportion > of "unnameds" are *not* young babies?> Of course I considered the possibility that it might have been a child and, since posting, I have taken another look at the FreeBMD indexes and, in fact, there is the birth of an unnamed female child at Peterborough in the same June quarter of 1865, so that is very likely the explanation of the death and Roger is right. I find it rather curious that this woman's death cannot be found. It is more common not to be able to find a birth or a marriage, but an unfound death is rarer for there would have to be legal paperwork and a burial somewhere. I am drawn to the possibility that Dinah Woolley left her husband and died somewhere away from the area, perhaps in Scotland, Ireland or abroad. Another possibility is that she changed her name and remarried in another name. As I pointed out yesterday, the fact that Matthew Woolley said he was a widower when he remarried is NOT proof that he was! If his wife had gone he might well have thought she was dead. -- Roy Stockdill Genealogical researcher, writer & lecturer Famous family trees blog: http://blog.findmypast.co.uk/tag/roy-stockdill/ "There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about." OSCAR WILDE