London question

[Lynn the Forest Fan]

Whilst looking for wills, I found one for my great great uncle Charles Clarke in 1895. He lived in Battersea but died in St George's hospital Hyde Park, which doesn't seem particularly close by. He was a train driver and only 51 when he died and I have a vague idea that he was died as a result of an accident, although I am not sure where I got the idea from. So, would Hyde Park be the nearest hospital to Battersea? I have had a look for a newspaper report, but not found anything.

Thanks

[Phoenix]

St Thomas' would be closer. But if it was an accident, that might not have happened in Battersea.
Also, it's possible that there was a hospital used by railway staff that everyone went to. Or he may have paid into some sort of hospital insurance scheme.

Does the death certificate suggest anything about cause of death?

[Lynn the Forest Fan]

I was thinking more along the lines of if he had just been ill, he would have been in a hospital closer to home. I don't have the death cert.

[Uncle John]

Run over by a bus at Hyde Park Corner perhaps? You'd need the d.c. My sister trained at St George's, which is now an extremely posh hotel. The hospital migrated to Tooting.

[Lynn the Forest Fan]

I was thinking more a train accident, since he was a train driver. Unfortunately, getting the death cert is out of the question, since I have discovered they are now £11! I thought you could get a cheap pdf version :(

[Merry]

Copied from the GRO site:

What records are available as a PDF?
PDFs are available for historical digitised civil registration records held by GRO (i.e. birth entries from 1837 - 1918 and death entries from 1837 - 1957). A GRO index reference is required to be provided with the application. You can find the GRO index references by logging on to the GRO online ordering service and accessing the GRO online indexes. A PDF will cost £7.00 each.

[Lynn the Forest Fan]

Thanks Merry, I knew I had heard about it, but couldn't see any mention of it.

[Merry]

When you place your order the pdf bit is on the same page as where you enter the registration details such as district, volume and page number. The next bit says:

Please choose the item type, service and delivery method you require:

and the pdf option is the last one (because they want you to pay £11??!!)

[Ann from Sussex]

My great aunt lived in rural Kent but died in St George's Hospital, Hyde Park just before WW1 began. She died of cancer and I assumed she was in St George's, despite living so far away, because it was a specialist treatment hospital....if they had such things in those days. Maybe your great great uncle needed specialist care for whatever was wrong with him.

[ElizabethHerts]

My grandfather died in St Thomas's Hospital in London despite living in Guildford. He had stomach cancer and the treatment was probably better than at a local hospital. In addition, his daughter (my aunt) was a doctor there at the beginning of her career, and she was the informant.

[Lynn the Forest Fan]

That is an interesting idea, I will probably order the pdf, as it is so much cheaper.

[Lynn the Forest Fan]

Got the cert yesterday, no exciting train related death though, he died of kidney disease. It would seem to have been a sudden death, as there was an inquest on 11th September 1895 at Westminster. Is it likely that this would have been in a newpaper? I did try and look on FMP but his name (Charles Clarke) is fairly common and it brought up thousands of possibles. Is there any easy way to see if there was a report?

[Ann from Sussex]

If he died of an illness rather than some sort of accident or misadventure, I doubt if it would have made the papers, except as an obituary maybe. I have found Westminster Archives helpful in the past; I'm wondering if they may have the inquest report? It wouldn't hurt to ask and if they don't have it they may be able to point you towards where you could find it.

[Lynn the Forest Fan]

You are probably right Ann.

[Merry]

Is it likely that this would have been in a newpaper? I did try and look on FMP but his name (Charles Clarke) is fairly common and it brought up thousands of possibles. Is there any easy way to see if there was a report?

You could try including bits of his address in your search as well as his name. If there is anything there about his death (and I think the chances of a report of the inquest is very unlikely) then it's probable that his address, or at least the street name, would be reported.

[Lynn the Forest Fan]

Thanks Merry