I know that my grandmother's headstone doesn't agree with her death certificate by one day. She died overnight at a care home and my grandfather disagreed with the exact date ... was it evening of one day or early morning of the next? It's hard to tell. Heather On 23/06/2011 12:14, Chris Howes wrote: > Has anyone any thoughts on a date discrepancy, as to why it might occur or > which should be taken as the more accurate? > > I have a record of a death of Archie Dunkley in Long Hanborough. The death > certificate states 3 August 1918, informant his daughter on the 5th; he died > of cancer at only 46. The gravestone and probate both state that he died on > 4 August. I'm taking a guess that the gravestone is most likely to be > correct, backed up by the probate record, though of course the death > certificate I guess should be the definitive record but I can see where a > mistake might be made. Informant a 14 year old daughter named Lillian, a > registrar in Witney making a mistake ... > > Would this have required travel by Lillian to Witney? What was required to > register a death in those days; the doctor pronouncing death helping? > Someone came to you, you sent a letter, what? > > Thanks for any thoughts. > > Chris Howes >

In my many years experience as a registrar, I would say that the informant told the registrar that she disagreed with the doctor's certificate (this often happened particularly with deaths around midnight, but also because doctor's are quite likely to be wrong when writing out the medical certificate and the registrar would take the information from the informant. The informant had another chance to amend the date when asked to read the entry and confirm its accuracy before signing. All good wishes Catherine ----- Original Message ----- From: "The Quineys" <ftree@quineyclan.force9.co.uk> To: <oxfordshire@rootsweb.com> Sent: Thursday, June 23, 2011 5:56 PM Subject: Re: [OXF] Date discrepancy > > I know that my grandmother's headstone doesn't agree with her death > certificate by one day. She died overnight at a care home and my > grandfather disagreed with the exact date ... was it evening of one day > or early morning of the next? It's hard to tell. > Heather > > > > On 23/06/2011 12:14, Chris Howes wrote: >> Has anyone any thoughts on a date discrepancy, as to why it might occur >> or >> which should be taken as the more accurate? >> >> I have a record of a death of Archie Dunkley in Long Hanborough. The >> death >> certificate states 3 August 1918, informant his daughter on the 5th; he >> died >> of cancer at only 46. The gravestone and probate both state that he died >> on >> 4 August. I'm taking a guess that the gravestone is most likely to be >> correct, backed up by the probate record, though of course the death >> certificate I guess should be the definitive record but I can see where a >> mistake might be made. Informant a 14 year old daughter named Lillian, a >> registrar in Witney making a mistake ... >> >> Would this have required travel by Lillian to Witney? What was required >> to >> register a death in those days; the doctor pronouncing death helping? >> Someone came to you, you sent a letter, what? >> >> Thanks for any thoughts. >> >> Chris Howes >> > > _____________________________________________ > > Oxfordshire Surname Interest list - www.oxsil.org.uk Have you entered your > names of interest? > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > OXFORDSHIRE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message