Records of the Coroner for the Stroud Division

These Inquests were held under two Coroners, John Garlick Ball, and his son, Alfred J. Martin Ball. J.G. Ball was appointed in 1831; In 1871 he wrote to a fellow Coroner, William Gaisford, "I am forty years a Coroner this day, may you be so some day if you wish" (COI/N/17/B/32). From 1875 A.J. Martin Ball began to deputise regularly for his father and succeeded him as Coroner in April 1878.

The surviving records are incomplete, some verdicts were missing or in disorder and almost all the supporting papers have disappeared. Unless otherwise stated the only document to survive is the inquest. Where original numbers exist these have been used as far as possible; in those cases where different catalogue numbers have been assigned the original numbers are noted in square brackets.

The parish stated is the place of residence of the deceased person. As the century progressed, inquests were not always held in the parish where death occurred, but tended to take place in the larger centres, e.g. Stroud, Cirencester, Stonehouse, Painswick. A few of the inquests were held outside the Coroner's district. He regularly deputised for William Gaisford, the Berkeley Coroner, and also for the Cheltenham Coroner.

In the case of females, unless an occupation or their widowhood is recorded, those aged over 20 were married.

The verdicts recorded are taken from the inquest document; they were not necessarily recorded in full. During the series, the phrase "natural causes" replaced the phrase "visitation of God". The first recorded verdict of "suicide" occurs in 1880. Comments in brackets after the verdict are extracted from the inquest document.

Abbreviations:

V - Inquest Document

E - Witness Information

J - Jury List

S - Jury Summons

W - Witness List

C - Correspondence

(Acc. 17)

deposited by the Coroner, 28 October 1936