Any lawyers or police officers here?

[BoredZelda]

In writing a piece for school my daughter used the term “John Doe” to refer to a nameless deceased soldier being sent home, she was told it was an Americanism and to re-word it. Is there a legal equivalent in the U.K. that would be used in this situation? I know we use “Joe Bloggs” when referring to some random bloke, or “John Smith” as an exemplar standard name, but those don’t seem to fit in this type of circumstance. Is there an actual name used in UK law/Police practice or do you just refer to an unknown person?

Google says Joe bloggs

I don’t think there is an equivalent. I think the police use ‘unknown male/female’ however this is what I was told in my criminology degree 20 years ago so may have changed

The police would not use Joe bloggs

Joe Bloggs wouldn’t be used in this context.

I think unnamed soldier would be the proper term in this specific context, but I would have accepted John Doe without a second thought.

I don’t think the police or legally they actually name corpses though, like PP said it would be the victim or the deceased or unidentified male.

I would have thought that 'unknown soldier' would be appropriate. I don't think that there is a formal 'legal' convention (here or in the US), is there? It is just an informally judged thing. And since we have the very respectful idea of the 'tomb of the unknown soldier' , it would seem a ready-made expression she could use.

If Google had the answer, I wouldn’t have posted.

I think it is an American term with no British equivalent

Having worked with soldier deaths, there is no such thing as an unknown soldier nowadays.
That description belongs very much in the distant past.

I did think that would be the case. This was relating to a wartime piece she was writing. Does it just not happen?

Then you asked the wrong question!

If it's an unnamed British soldier then historically there is an alternative, that from which the British soldier's nickname derived.

Tommy Atkins.

The term would be “anonymous male or “ unidentified male”

I work in a medical setting. This doesn’t happen very often but if we need to formally document something we would either say ‘the patient’, ‘the deceased’, or ‘unidentified person/patient’ - for example “the unidentified patient was brought in in cardiac arrest and attempts to revive them were unsuccessful. Time of death was noted at 20:14. RIP. Their possessions have been transported with the deceased to the mortuary until such time as next of kin can be notified.”

I would think ‘unidentified soldier’ would be best.

In theory, yes it could have happened if during WW2.
However, soldiers did and still wear dog tags, they wear various rank, formation and role badges, as well as regimental style uniform. They work in discreet areas, with the higher rank system above them commanding what they do. If you have a certain number of each rank, it’s an easy job to work out who’s missing.
So unless their a member of special forces that may be on covert ops (and even then comms likely mean they’re in a known position) having an unknown death was and is unlikely.

These aren't used anymore by either police or other UK agencies. The term would be unidentified male.

However they would have been in WW2. My father was military police & says John Doe was commonly used. The Americans introduced it but it became widespread during the war as there was an obvious need. Otherwise Joe Bloggs.

Joe/John Smith were common names & would not have been used in order to avoid confusion.

John Doe may not be used in the context described, but it does have a British origin. It was used in legal cases and some kinds of land transactions which involved fictitious lawsuits.

I think in your daughter's case I would say call him Unknown Soldier.

Ooh, this little snippet will please her. She will be very happy to report back that it isn’t an Americanism. 😆

Glad to be of assistance ☺️