"supposed suicide" but no RCE.....

[Jo G]

I have a death certificate from 1858 which states cause of death as "supposed to be suicide by drowning. Body seen by xxx Wallace" and in the "Where & When" column it says "found dead at 4am in the River Tay at the Friarton". The Informant info is "registered on the information of John McLean, Procurator Fiscal". I'm not sure what the indications of an RCE would look like but there's nothing to say that there was any further enquiry made and I know it's unlikely that the PF's records will be available. Wasn't it usual to have some sort of investigation? Surely they must have had an inkling of something being amiss to write "supposed suicide" instead of just plain "drowning"?

Any comments or input gratefully received!

Jo

[StewL]

Hello Jo

I have a drowning death of my ggrandmother Mary McLean (Davidson) nee Downie in 1908 in the Monkland Canal.

The certificate does have an RCE notation on the left column of her entry, but I have not seen it as yet.

If there is an RCE it should be noted on the column just before the entry number.

[DavidWW]

I have a death certificate from 1858 which states cause of death as "supposed to be suicide by drowning. Body seen by xxx Wallace" and in the "Where & When" column it says "found dead at 4am in the River Tay at the Friarton". The Informant info is "registered on the information of John McLean, Procurator Fiscal". I'm not sure what the indications of an RCE would look like but there's nothing to say that there was any further enquiry made and I know it's unlikely that the PF's records will be available. Wasn't it usual to have some sort of investigation? Surely they must have had an inkling of something being amiss to write "supposed suicide" instead of just plain "drowning"?

Any comments or input gratefully received!

Jo

Jo

This is a neat example of an exception to the RCE process!

Since it was the PF himself who provided the info for the registration, there was no need for the process of a referring a registration to the PF on the basis of whose investigation the registrar then made the relevant record in the RCE !!

In other words the PF would have carried out the investigation before the act of registration. "Supposed" probably on the basis of information on the deceased's state of mind in the days leading to their death.

David

[Jo G]

Stewie & David

Thanks for your replies - I guess there's nothing further to investigate except the local paper at the time.

That Monkland Canal's a dangerous place - my g g g granny drowned at the Sheppard Locks (spelling?) and no RCE there either so must have been plain old drowning!

Many thanks and Merry Christmas to everyone!

Jo