The Nineteenth-Century Coroner in England and Wales : Volume III: Causes of Death

Volume III provides documents relating to causes of death, looking at examples of of papers from inquests, pro-forma verdicts from coroners’ manuals, official inquiry materials and newspaper reports.

This set comprises primary sources on the coroner, the inquest, and the role of the coroner, in (broadly) the nineteenth century. The coroner was (and is in many respects) a peculiarly English and Welsh office. The coroner was a judge who lived and worked in his local community and his actions had potential for far reaching effects on those he served. His judicial work was usually carried out alongside his occupation, as a solicitor or medical practitioner (or, in the early nineteenth century, a tradesman or businessman). The verdicts of his court sat at a junction between the criminal courts - where a coroner’s jury acted as a grand jury and could pronounce on homicide - and a civil jurisdiction for the completion of a death certificate that contributed to central government statistics. Volume III provides documents relating to causes of death, looking at examples of of papers from inquests, pro-forma verdicts from coroners’ manuals, official inquiry materials and newspaper reports. It will be of interest to scholars of British 19th century history, legal historians, social historians, historical criminologists and medical historians.