Coroners of Birmingham

[lynnehart]

I thought members may be interested to see the photographs of previous (and current) Birmingham Coroners. Photographs are all on display in the foyer of the Coroners Court. Hopefully you won't have need to visit!

 

[Astoness]

thanks lynne i certainly recognise a few names from researching death certs on ancestry..nice to put a face to the names

lyn

 

[A Sparks]

Oliver Pemberton cuts quite a figure with his boots, hat and cane!

 

[Vivienne14]

A coroner was originally a role similar to tax collector, which later developed to become the examiner of a person's death which was sudden or suspicious. John Birt Davies may have still been carrying out some fiscal duties when he first became coroner for Birmingham, although this would change as the Births Marriages and Deaths Acts came into full force.

An interesting description of the role through time in the link below:

History

www.coronersociety.org.uk

 

[Alberta]

My Dad died in 1995 on holiday in Lanzerote, the Birmingham coroner Richard Whittington wasn't happy with the paperwork ,from the Spanish
authorities, sent with his body and ordered a post mortem .
He was so kind to me on the telephone I will never forget it.

 

[Liz Gurney]

Morning! I'm not sure if any of you can help me. I'm trying to find out the background of the Birmingham coroners. I'm writing a piece on what influenced coroner's decisions when ruling suicide as a side quest to my PhD and I'd like to include how their careers etc may have influenced them, but so far the internet is letting me down! I have Angela Coulters book on John Birt Davies, but was wondering about the others. Any advice of guidance gratefully received.

 

[GMP]

I came across your request while trying to decipher a registrar’s signature, I too have found little on the internet concerning Victorian period coroners, worse, I live in Japan and internet searches appear to differ to those who live in the UK. As registrars and coroners perform both functions, I’ve formed a list of known Birmingham registrars I have come across to help recognise the cursive squiggles they left as signatures. As a suggestion for your research, I would consider signing up with British Newspaper Archive and enter Coroner Suicide into their search engine for The Birmingham Daily Post and see what comes up. (You will have to form your own conclusions on how suicide cases affected their decisions). https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk (Hawkes, Weekes, Pemberton and Ansell seemed most reported).

List of Registrars
1866 E. Hooper
1871 William Hill
1874 William Hood
1875 John Birt Davies
1876 - 89 B. Weekes
1877 - 91 H. Hawkes
1886 - 94 Joseph Ansell
1891 - 95 Oliver Pemberton
1895 E. R. Oswald
1898 J.R. Woodward
1900 A. H. Herbert
1900 Isaac Bradley
1902 J. Davis
1919 J. Armstrong
1921 G. H. Upton
1930 F. B. Quelch