CS080 Coroners Records Marlborough 1773-1835
Description
A4 softback 56 pages
An inquisition often took place on the same day as the death and the Minutes of Evidence from sworn witnesses gave vital information regarding the life and last days of the deceased person. As stated in the inquisitions "it is not necessary that the Inquisition be taken in ye very same place where the body was viewed but may adjourn to a place more convenient' which, more often than not, was a local hostelry.
Although there was a county coroner the Mayor of Marlborough performed the duties of Coroner during his term of office for all sudden and suspicious deaths that occurred within the borough. After 1835 the county coroner took over the right of performing inquests from the borough.
Between 1830 and 1832 there was a fragmented Order of Removal which may have been of some significance and this has been included as has the inquisition on a suicide at Wootton Bassett in 1816 which was also in the bundles. Burial registers for the two Marlborough parishes have been checked from 1771 to 1836 to identify burials that took place with some additional information as to age. It has also been recorded if a burial did not take place in either parish. In the event of a burial not taking place in Marlborough it is probable that the body had been taken back to the deceased's parish of settlement for burial. It was evident in many burial entries that no mention was made that a coroner's inquest had taken place. In other burial entries there were instances that a coroner's inquisition had been performed but no documentation appeared in the bundles and therefore these appear separately at the end of the inquisitions.
There appears to have been a gap between 1792 and 1798 in the bundles when some inquisitions may have been lost as it seems inconceivable that no sudden deaths occurred in the borough during these six years. It must be pointed out that Marlborough parish registers are of interest and importance as they record many travellers and strangers in the town, including soldiers and their families on the march, and these are being transcribed by the Wiltshire Family History Society Parish Register transcribing group. Marlborough Monumental Inscriptions for the two parishes are in the possession of the Wiltshire Family History Society.
Wherever possible archaic and local dialect words have been identified with their sources. For those wishing to trace local citizens, shopkeepers and the various innkeepers and hostelries, the latest publication by the Wiltshire Record Society [WRS 47] Early Trade Directories of Wiltshire edited by K.H. Rogers and indexed by J.H. Chandler should be consulted as the directories date from 1783 to 1842.
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This publication is presented in a public domain format (pdf) file which can be read by the program Adobe Acrobat Reader or any other program that will read pdf files. Searching can be undertaken by using the built in Adobe Reader search facility. Windows users can use bookmarks to drill down to individual index entries or to the nearest year for events in the transcripts. For Apple Mac users the file should open in Preview. Click the View button and select Table of Contents. The file can be copied, printed and notes added, but cannot be changed. As with any publication with transcribed or extracted data users are advised to consult the original material, which is at the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre. Please inform Wiltshire FHS of any errors or omissions, either by writing to Wiltshire FHS Publications, Unit 3, Bath Road Business Centre, Devizes SN10 1XA or emailing [email protected]
