Selections from Macdonald's records LMA/MJ/SP/C/NE

[Dave O]

Here are a few documents from the records the London Metropolitan Archives holds, the six boxes of material that cover the North East coroner's district for the period 1888-1892. After March 1889, only records from Tottenham and Wood Green are there as records for the other parishes in the district went to the County of London and were presumably destroyed.

Up until that the point though, the records reflect nearly all of the inquests that Macdonald held from the time of his election up until the creation of the London County Council (with the exception of one that's missing, plus a folder or two that are empty. The records are numbered in two different ways: 1) the cover of each folder was numbered in a rotation on a roughly monthly basis, I believe related to when vouchers were turned in for expenses 2) the LMA has also numbered each document consecutively.

For the most part, I thought the records were in good shape. Also the staff at at the LMA were incredibly helpful and accommodating. Many thanks to John Savage for coming down to London and taking me on a tour of parts of London and the East End on my last day there (and more than one pub). A pleasure to have finally met him!

These are just some of the items that I personally find interesting. I haven't gotten around to transcribing most of them yet.

Dave

[Dave O]

Chivers

After Macdonald's election, Thomas Curtain Chivers carried on acting as coroner's officer in Bow for about a month or so (then you find Thomas Hammond carrying on).

Here's one of Chivers' requests for an inquest warrant (Box 1, Case 19).

There are a great many of these in the file from all the officers. The officer would investigate the death, sometimes offering opinions on whether there should be an inquest or postmortem or not, set the venue for the inquest, summon the jury, etc, passing the information on to the coroner.

Dave

[Dave O]

Police as officers

Several of Macdonald's officers appear connected to the parish (Thomas Hammond appears connected to Macdonald). However, in Tottenham and Wood Green, the officers are police, which I found to be a surprise as I thought they didn't begin serving in the county until the 1890s. Awhile back on another thread, Stewart Evans had told me that he'd seen something similar in one of the boroughs so here's a nod to you if you see this, Stewart.

This is the first example of Sgt. Frank Doxey (or Dorey) appearing in the records--here he's asking for permission to continue, which he did. Also you have an example of the expenses of this particular inquest, as well as a bit of procedure involving the identity of the deceased (Box 1, No. 54).

[Dave O]

Box 1 Case 79: Three constables from H Division testifying (cause of death was fracture of the skull). Sorry I haven't transcribed this yet.

[Dave O]

Anonymous communication to the police that was passed on to Macdonald. The witness was called. This is from the Abraham Wrigley case, who shot himself with a revolver (Box 1 Case 8).

[Dave O]

A confidential tip--this person feared being fired. The question about the number of hours worked was asked of the deceased's relative at the inquest (Box 3, No. 78). Hodgkinson was Macdonald's deputy coroner.

[Dave O]

Apologies for screwing up the framing of the thread. I halved the size of the photos, but if I add more in the future I'll make them smaller.

Dave

[Dave O]

Sorry, one last one. Doctor's excuse for absent witness, Box 3 No. 55 (Henry Elliott who shot himself and someone else).

[Dave O]

Medical evidence, including postmortem results, for a girl found drowned in the Regents Canal, Bethnal Green (Box 5, Case No. 62 inquest for Mary Ann David). The verdict was "suffocation from drowning how not proved".

[Dave O]

Also from the Mary Ann David case, duplicate copies of testimony for the deceased's father, Samuel David. His evidence is given at the top of the first photograph--again, sorry I haven't gotten around to transcribing these.

This case was adjourned from 23 February to 4 March 1889. You can see by the dates referenced that this is a duplication and not an example of the witness being recalled on the 4th and giving similar evidence.

[Dave O]

The missing persons notice for Mary Ann that her father had distributed. The spot where she was pulled from the canal was close to their home.

[Phil Carter]

Hello Dave,

Thank you greatly for presenting these for our perusal. Fascinating stuff! As you know, and as we have talked of previously, I have an interest in the Coroner's angle in JTR.

If you ever do find that cache of Wynne Baxter material.. do count me in to come along with my spectacles and pen at the ready to help transcribe!

my best wishes

Phil

[Dave O]

No problem, Phil. If some of Wynne Baxter's records are ever found, I very much doubt it will be me doing the finding Hope you're on the mend.

Dave

[Phil Carter]

No problem, Phil. If some of Wynne Baxter's records are ever found, I very much doubt it will be me doing the finding Hope you're on the mend.

Dave

Hello Dave,

Thank you, getting there. Apart from a small accident recently leaving me on crutches.. I'm pretty well thanks! Hope you are well?

kindly

Phil

[Dave O]

Living the dream