Margaret, It is unlikely that an official record of an inquest in 1803 still exists. However a local paper may have reported the event. One of my ancestors drowned near Newport in 1865. The inquest was reported in The Isle of WIght Observer, copies of which are held in the Newport Library. That paper was not based in Newport but reported Newport news. I do not know how far back the newspaper records go. I suggest that you contact the library to ask that question. Any newspaper report would probably be within a week of the event. Good luck, George Legge On Tue, Apr 15, 2008 at 2:48 AM, Margaret <[email protected]> wrote: > I'm enjoying the snippets very much, and have been stirred into writing to > find out if inquests were held in 1803, and do records still exist on the > IoW? My g-g-g-g-grandfather was buried at Whippingham July 5 1803, and a > note added on the records show that he accidentally drowned. Can anyone > advise me where I could look for any further details. > Margaret >