Records of the Coroner for the Lower Division

The files commence in May 1855 when William Gaisford was Deputy Coroner. He became Coroner in July 1855. William Gaisford appointed W. Scott as Deputy Coroner during the period 1872-74 and thereafter the filing of inquests, correspondence and notices of death is more haphazard: the inquest files for the third quarter of 1872, the whole of 1873 and the first three quarters of 1874 are missing and the notice of death files for 1874 are also defective; the 'D' bundle includes both inquests and notices and has accordingly been referenced IN. In 1872 and 1873 Scott noted some 74 inquests in a notebook

The files comprise three series

I Inquests

N Notices of death where an inquest was considered unnecessary

M Miscellaneous papers, mainly concerning election of coroners and the coroners society

Within each sequence the files were usually kept in quarterly bundles, in this calendar distinguished by the letters A-D. Papers in the earliest inquest file were unnumbered; thereafter files were numbered within each quarter. The date, given in this calendar entirely in figures, is the date endorsed on the file, i.e. in the case of inquests the hearing date. Comments in brackets after the verdict provide a modern interpretation of cause of death. The following abbreviations indicate the nature of the papers in each file

V Inquest Documents

J Jury List

S Jury Summons

E Witness Information

C Correspondence

W Witness List

M Surgeons Report

N Notice of Death

D Other Publications (newspaper cutting, poster, etc.)

The Jury Summons which is an official printed form, frequently has handwritten notes, e.g. 'summon the surgeon', or the date and place of inquest, etc

(Acc. 1291)

Deposited by Messrs. Scott & Fowler, Berkeley, 7 December 1975, calendared by Dr. Ann Bailey 1982-84