Thanks to Heather Brooks (you very kindly sent me this information more than a year ago) as well as information coincidentally provided by John White. I note that you show the name spelt BACHELOR although other information which I have shows it as BATCHELOR -common problem with how a name might have been heard at the time of baptism etc. I have this problem all the time with the name SAY. I am still at a loss as to next steps in finding a death entry for ANN SAY nee BA(T)CHELOR having exhausted every permutation that I can think of. This has included some fairly expensive searches of local Registrars records (minimum gbp 18 per attempt). Given that I have a positive identity, albeit incorrectly transcribed as LAY, of ANN SAY in the 1871 census as a widow, along with a number of her sons and no evidence of her presence in the 1881 census and a complete trawl of BMD records through to 1901 showing no entry for death or remarriage - what to do next. Any suggestions out there ??? Kind regards Mike Say

I seem to have missed the early part of this thread, so please excuse me if I am covering previously trodden ground. Being unable to find a death registration for a person between 1837 and 1874 inclusive is quite a common problem. Although Civil Registration for births and deaths was a requirement from 01 July 1837, there was no effective penalty system in place. Birth registration cost money, baptisms were free and a Birth Certificate wasn't required to enrol a child in school, so it was an added expense that most families could well do without. Death registration also cost money, but you didn't need to have a Death Certificate in order to bury a person, so why have the expense of getting one - funerals are expensive enough without paying extra for a piece of paper that nobody really needs. It was not until 1875 that an effective penalty system for non-registration was put in place and, crucially in your case, a Death Certificate had to be produced before a burial could take place. The then fairly newly created burial authorities who ran the emerging network of civil cemeteries were also more stringent in their application of the rules than the vicars and parish clerks had been when burying people in parish churchyards. So, if the lady in question died between 1871 and 1881, then her death may well have fallen into this pre-1875 period and you will have a big problem finding her burial. I have countless lines of research which are incomplete because critical burial information is missing from the list of vital events and there is no death registration for them either. The heading of your E-mail indicates that Ann SAY nee BATCHELOR may have died in Henfield? If that is the case, then her burial should have taken place in Henfield Churchyard and the burial registers have been deposited up to 1900. Have you searched them already? Although there is a civil cemetery at Henfield, it didn't open until 1885, which appears to be too late for your needs. Best wishes Marion Woolgar Bognor Regis, West Sussex