Was there a law that all persons who died c 1900-1910 had to have a death notice? - or was a burial record enough? Thank you- Bev

On 6 Feb 2014 at 14:55, Bev wrote: > Was there a law that all persons who died c 1900-1910 had to have a death > notice? - or was a burial record enough? Thank you- Bev Remember that in that period south Africa was four different countries, each with its own laws, and for the first couple of years there was a war on. But yes, most of them did have a law that the Master of the Supreme Court was to be notified of the death of any person, and of what property they had. In practice, however, unless they had significant property, their relatives did not bother to notify the Master. So most deaths were not so recorded, only those with significant property (who were mostly white). Theoretically a lot of rural black people ought to have been recorded, but they generally did not have bank accounts, and their wealth was mainly in cattle, which were simply divided up in the family according to custom. Some whites with little or no property were recorded, mainly because they were staying in hotels and boarding houses, and the people who ran them were aware of their duty to inform the master, even if they didn't know how much poroperty the deceased possessed. In cases of people who died in hotels and boarding houses you will often find two death notices, one filled in by the landlord, and another, more informative one filled up by a relative. I don't know of any law for recording burials, though some religious bodies kept a record of funerals. -- Keep well, Steve Hayes Blog: http://hayesgreene.wordpress.com Web: http://www.khanya.org.za/famhist1.htm E-mail: [email protected]