No body found - death certificate?

[Leona5329]

I have an incidence of two ancestors drowning in 1874 - a mother and son. Witnesses saw the mother jump into a freezing river to rescue her son. The child's body was washed up a few days later downstream but the mother's body was never found. There was a newspaper article with the story, hence how I found out the details. There was an inquest and death by drowning was the cause of death for the 8 year old boy.

My question is - would there be a death certificate issued for the mother? Is there a 'presumption of death' as there is now and would it be the same period of time - I believe it is 7 years at this time?

Thanks,
Leona

 

[peter]

My question is - would there be a death certificate issued for the mother? Is there a 'presumption of death' as there is now and would it be the same period of time - I believe it is 7 years at this time?

A death certificate is only issued when there is a body. In England there is no automatic presumption of death after a certain period, but since 2014 it has been possible to apply to the court after 7 years, or earlier if there is evidence that the person has died - you'll find more information here.

 

[Leona5329]

From the link then I can assume there will be no death certificate for her. Luckily the inquest gives me enough detail for the family tree.