Finding English death record

[Mamabear04]

How do I go about trying to find a death record in England of someone who I'm not sure where they died?

When (roughly) did they die? And do you know their age at death, or approximate age?

If it was before 1990, a quick search on FreeBMD Home Page should find it.

If it was later than that, or you want to order a death certificate, go to Order a birth, death, marriage or civil partnership certificate - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

If you know their age at death, and they didn't have a very common name, you should be able to find the right one. If the name was John Smith and you don't know the age, it will be more difficult.

Death certificates are also available online as downloads for £2.50 from GRO

So I don't know when or if of where they have died but they were born in 1921 so I'm guessing that they have died and I suspect it could have been in England.

@HonoriaLucastaDelagardie no luck on your search site! Thanks for the tip

If they were born in 1921, they very likely lived until after 1990. You'll need to try the gov.uk site, in that case. FreeBMD is quicker for an initial search, if the event was within the dates covered.

Try https://www.familysearch.org/en/united-kingdom/ it is a bit like ancestry but free

I found his military records but can't find birth or death certificates. Is there a knack to searching the site?

Family search won't give you birth and death certificates. But it should be able to give you enough information to order them.
Use the filters in search to look for just one variable at a time. If just one of those search things on the right is grey, it is easier to find when someone was born or died.
Screen shot of made up person's birth search.

That's helpful but he has a very common name so that's why I'm struggling to find out when and if and where he died...

If you log back into Family Search tomorrow it may give you hints. If someone else has searched for him and added him to their tree he will be easier to find.

Create a tree, link his military records to it and hope.
It is very inconvenient when people have common names.

If you are able to narrow down the area the person may have been living in, then you could possibly search death notices in local newpapers.

You could also try and search the register of wills. I've never done it so don't know how to go about it but someone should be able to help.

did you find his death?

if not try searching in probate, as the indexes give slightly more information, and often a wife or Childs name, along with an address. This can be helpful if you are unsure on a common name

@MikeRafone thanks for this! Still have not found him. Will try this today!

Happy to have a look on Ancestry if you want to PM some details.

Thanks @MissAmbrosia that's so kind of you. My mum is actually on ancestry and has been looking for him. After WW2 military records we can't find anything after that. He just seems to dissappear from 1960 onwards. I'm not sure where to go from here...

@sixteenfurryfeet I have no idea where he might have died. It's most probably Scotland/London/Lake District but really could have been anywhere. No death records showing up in Scotland and English records are coming in at a dead in. There is a very very slim chance he might still be alive but he would be incredibly old so doubt it. Can't think of other possible options other than he might have left the country?

@MikeRafone it won't let me search as I don't know the year of death...

As far as I'm aware, many search engines allow you to put in a year and then do a search for +/- a number of years either side as well. So for instance, you could put in 1965, and search the 5 years either side, then try again with 1975 and so on. Also remember, that whoever registers a death may not know someone's exact date of birth, or their full names. If someone was John Joseph Smith, for instance, he might have been known all his life as Joe Smith, so people would assume his first name was Joseph, not John.

I'm happy to do look ups as well if you PM me details. I'm on FindMyPast as well as Ancestry and FMP has access to millions of newspapers which can be very useful.
Have you looked at electoral registers? Again, harder if you don't know where he lived.
Do you know who he could have been living with or close family member who could provide a link?
There's also the possibility that he emigrated. This was very common in the 50s to 70s, the era of the £10 Pom. If somebody just disappears, emigration is often the reason. You can access shipping records on the genealogy websites and Australia publishes immigration records for some years.

Also, was he born before the 1921 census? If so this might give you information on the family.
Do you need a birth certificate or simply confirmation of his birth which could be found from various sources.

Some links for AUS and NZ records. Canada seems to only pu
blish for earlier dates.

https://www.naa.gov.au/explore-collection/immigration-and-citizenship/passenger-arrival-records

https://www.archives.govt.nz/research-guidance/research-guides/citizenship-and-migration/searching-passenger-lists#s0--the-passenger-lists

@mateysmum that's so kind of you. Would the shipping/newspaper etc be included in a general search for a name? My Mum has been searching on ancestry but we've only found military records and then he disappears after that.

He was born in 1921 but it must have been after the census because he doesn't appear on it whereas his parents and older sibling do. I have a record of his birth certificate but we are trying to find him post 1960s

@sixteenfurryfeet do they not have to register the death records with a formal name that appears on the person's birth certificate? In that case it seems like it might take me x64738838484 years to get through all the variations!

Yes the shipping and newspaper references should appear in a normal search. Ancestry is better for shipping records and FMP better for newspapers.
Re death certificates, these are not necessarily in the same name as the person's birth certificate. This is because the death may be recorded by someone other than a close family member - for instance a man was given the name James but was always known as Jim or possibly known by a middle name. Sadly there are many elderly people who die without a close family or long term friends. There is no official system for comparing birth and death records.
If somebody simply disappears from the UK record mid century, then there really are only a few possibilities:

• They have died and been recorded under a different name - deliberately or accidentally.
• They have made deliberate efforts to disguise their whereabouts and identity- a complete change of name perhaps.
• They emigrated.
• The death record has been misplaced/not registered correctly by the GRO. (unlikely)

Were there events in this person's life that might lead them to "disappear"? Who might have disappeared with them and can they be traced?
Have you found him on the 1939 register and does this give any clues?

At this stage in a search, it's a question of thinking laterally to find the trail of breadcrumbs! I spent years looking for somebody born in 1863. Turns out she lied about her place of birth, her marriage (or rather the lack of it), the father of her first child, her mother's circumstances - all to cover up the fact that she was born illegitimate and in great poverty. I found her because her son gave her as next of kin in WW1 and gave her mother's maiden name as her middle name (another fib).

My offer of help is genuine by the way, I don't know how experienced you and your mother are at this racket!

pop in the year 2023 and the details - then when you get to the results page - I put in Ann smith (not other details ) and got 69 results - once on the results page you can search the year 2023 then if you look on the right side near the top it gives search previous year - so push that button and you'll go back to 2022 and can search that year without having to input all the information again.

do they not have to register the death records with a formal name that appears on the person's birth certificate? In that case it seems like it might take me x64738838484 years to get through all the variations!

No, the person registering the death will verbally give the details and if they are incorrect then that is what is recorded.

I've had a man searching for his mothers birth certificate and unable to find it - then when we widened the search by 10 years - we found her birth, ordered the certificate and it was deff her. The thing was her husband registered the death with her age as 10 years less.... its what he had been told. Her age was a lie as she didn't want her dp to know she was 10 years older and 7 years older than him - well that was our guess.

If the person registering the death doesn't have the deceased's birth certificate, then no. The death will be registered the same as on the note certifying death provided by the doctor or hospital that you produce to the registrar. An ancestor of mine's birth was registered as Annie but was known as Anne all her life, including on her marriage certificate.