Genealogy Chat

I'm trying to find out how 2 people died. All help welcomed. Family stories say it happened on Christmas day 1951 in the Craster area of Northumberland. Ralph Smailes senior age approx 76 and Ralph Smailes junior aged approx 46. Have checked deaths register and they are entered in the Oct/Nov.Dec volume so it could be Christmas Day. I thought of newspaper archives, any ideas? Sue

You could try local papers - but if you are really 'dying' to know - then order the certs!

Although possible, it seems unlikely that the deaths could happen on Christmas day and be registered that quarter unless the deaths were straight forward and there was no need for an inquest. Gwyn

Order the certificates .................... that will tell you what they died of, if there was an inquest, who the coroner was, and what the reslt of the inquest was. THEN you can start looking at newspaper reports, archives, etc if they still seem 'mysterious'. Each certificate will cost £7 from www.gro.gov.uk. ...... you need to check in the death index and get the GRO numbers.

this is only a guess, Craster is a big fishing community off the Northumberland coast -famous for their Crabs & Kippers. I wondered if as most of the fishing villages father and son where a family business and went out fishing together, the North Sea is pretty rough in winter. Maybe they where out fishing and the ship went down. As previously mentioned if you have found the death then only buying the certificates will confirm. There is a Craster website: http://crasteronline*co*uk/index.htm replace * with . you could maybe email them and see if they may have some info - it being a small village may know something about the deaths.

no problem Tracey I think I was updating my thread as you posted yours!!

Hi Sue, I've not been able to find anything obvious on Google about the mystery deaths but I did find something else which might interest you. It is a website all about Craster's Living History and contains all sorts of wonderful stuff about the locals' lives in the 20th century. If you have an in-browser search-bar like the Google toolbar, and type in Smailes, it will highlight all the references to the Smailes on that web page. Looks like the place was dripping with Smailes! The project even has a contact page and I suppose you could enquire there if they have archives for the 1951 Xmas deaths. http://www.crasterhistory(.)co(.)uk/ remove brackets to geta t the web address! Hope this helps, Tracey

Oops Jane, great minds and all that! Tracey

It is such an interesting site I got caught up in reading it while typing the reply at the same time :-)

Craster is a lovely village - you can sit in the pub overlooking the Harbour and watch the North Sea at its worst and as you walk round you can smell the kipper's being smoked. It is definatley worth a visit if you are in Northumerland.

Just found something else for Sue - though it is a good century earlier. http://home.freeuk.net/craster/html/odds___ends(.)html Halfway down the page is a photo of a memorial plaque to William Smailes and his sons William and Thomas Smailes who all died in 1864. The 2 sons both drowned on April 14th while their father had died earlier in January. Tracey

another reference site http://www*bbc*co*uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/50/a1955450*shtml

Here are the 2 deaths. Ralph Smailes 1950 dec qt Gateshead district gro ref 1a 829. Age 76. Ralph Smailes 1950 dec qt Gateshead gro ref 1a 829. Age 43. Both registered in Gateshead so not died in Craster since Gateshead is the wrong registration area. Margaret

If the deaths were recorded in Gateshead, then the ship may have been in the Tyne, so not a fishing accident. Gateshead is too far inalnd for a fishing accident. If there was a an accident or coronors inquest there may be a report in the local Evening Chronicle. Anne