Post-mortem records - Genealogists' Forum

Shona · #1 24-01-13, 18:42

I've discovered that Catherine Scott (my FFFMM) was 'found dead on the hill of the farm of High Glenramskill.' This is is Argyll in Scotland.

The record of her death says that a post-mortem examination of the body was carried out.

Also some of the miners in my Fife branch died in fatal accidents in the pits. Once again there were post-mortems.

Does anyone know if it is possible to access port-mortem records?

Phoenix · #2 24-01-13, 18:45

Don't know about Scotland, but I would think their survival would be very rare. (And do you really want to know how much her brain and her liver weighed?)

Shona · #3 24-01-13, 19:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phoenix

Don't know about Scotland, but I would think their survival would be very rare. (And do you really want to know how much her brain and her liver weighed?)

Shona · #4 24-01-13, 19:22

Great timing, Phoenix - just off to feed the OH! I'm not at all squeamish, though.

Uncle John · #5 24-01-13, 20:17

If you have found the death record on ScotlandsPeople, you may be lucky and find an entry in the RCE (Register of Corrected Entries) giving a report from the Procurator Fiscal.

Shona · #6 24-01-13, 21:45

I've seen RCE written in the margin of some of those records. Will follow up. Thank you, UJ.

Olde Crone · #7 24-01-13, 22:02

I think you may mean inquest records? A post mortem is, as Phoenix describes, a medical examination of the body to try to determine the medical cause of death. Post mortem records belong to the doctor who performs the examination and are not public records. If the cause of death is unclear, or suspicious, there will then be an inquest, which may survive as a newspaper report.

OC

Nell · #8 26-01-13, 12:19

I did do a look up for someone many years ago at the LMA which was an Inquest report and included the post-mortem. It was a bit gruesome and also very difficult to decipher (doctor's handwriting!). But in England the survival and accessibility of inquest reports is a bit hit and miss.

Do let us know if you find out more.

ElizabethHerts · #9 26-01-13, 13:23

When my great-great-grandfather, John Quintrell, died in 1906 by an accident in his house there was an inquest. Unfortunately the inquest papers no longer survive and I had to glean what details I could from the newpaper reports.

Shona, don't give up, you never know what you might find.

We hit lucky a couple of years ago when we were trying to establish what happened to OH's 4x great-grandfather Charles Lamb of Whitby. It turned out he died of cholera in London in 1832 and OH's cousin had the shock of his life when he found Charles Lamb's gory death described in great detail in a medical journal:

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=A...tby%22&f=false