War year death registration help needed

[CarolB08]

Hi all, I recently sent this email to the GRO web site and got zero helpful information back, they did not address the question of death registration and certification during the War years of 1939-1945.
I know this man died in this incident, I know where he was living thanks to the entry in the civilians died in the war, I know how close the two roads are thanks to a helpful person on another forum who pointed me in the direction of the web site bombsight.org, I have searched the online indexes for two years after the event to no avail, so I am turning to you wonderful people for help. I have added dthe information for him in the hope you can help.
Many thanks
Carol


"I wonder if you can help me? I am trying to find the death reference for Cecil Harold Dale who died April 1941 as a result of an Air Raid shelter in Lambeth, London that was hit by a bomb during the Blitz . I am unable to find his entry in the online index on the GRO web site or on any of the other similar sites. I know his date of death and place of death from the register of civilian deaths on Ancestry.co.uk but was hoping to get a death certificate for him, or at least a pdf of the death certificate.
How were such deaths registered during the war and were death certificates as we know them today actually issued?
Many thanks in advance,"

 

[Heather]

Hi Carol, this is a bit of a mystery, on FreeBMD there is an entry for June qtr 1941 Lambeth 1d 281 for a Charles H Dale age 43, I know that this is not the correct name BUT if I enter these details into the search on GRO nothing is found which makes me think there is an error somewhere in the system. If I enter another name from the same page on GRO that produces a result, so I have contacted the GRO to report what I presume is an error and I will let you know what they come up with.

 

[CarolB08]

Many thanks Heather as I said I did contact them and while they gave me many reasons why he may not show up, none of them rally helped me get closer to the entry I want. Waiting for their response with baited breath

 

[Rhian]

Checking the original GRO index page the name is clearly Charles and it seems he was the only Dale registered as dying in Lambeth in 1941. As the entry is typed and not hand written there is less chance of a transcription error but it might be worthwhile trying to find the original Lambeth entry rather than the GRO copy.

It is also possible that he was commonly know as Charles by the person who registered the death. If all else fails then obtaining a copy of the certificate might help clear up the problem, the cause of death might be consistent to start with.

 

[CarolB08]

Hi Rhian, that is an interesting thought, he was definitely baptised as Cecil Harold, although I have not sent off for his birth certificate yet so that must be my next step I think.

 

[CarolB08]

Looked up Cecil's birth ref and he is listed as Cecil Harold Dale, Mothers maiden name Burton in the June quarter 1897 in West Ham district he was also baptised with this name to, in June 1897 in Leyton, Essex. I have been unable to find him in the 1939 Register as yet although I did find his Father and second wife.

 

[Bob Spiers]

I see his death registration (FMP) 1941 records him as Cecil Harold Dale a civilian of 8 Hayles St, Southwark, son of William Dale and that he died at Dante Road Shelter. Sorry if you already have this information.

 

[CarolB08]

Thank you Bob but I do already have this information, its the reference to order his death certificate I want.

 

[CarolB08]

Hello all, update on my search, I recently emailed the Southwark registrar office with my problem and this was their kind reply;

"We have had a look for Cecil in our records and have been unsuccessful.
I suspect that given the time and way he died, he wasn’t registered. He may have been presumed dead but no formal registration was made.
We have not been able to find a record of him on any of the ancestry websites we use either which further adds to my suspicion that he was never registered.
This was common during the war as the volume of deaths needing to be registered was so high and if they were unable to find a body, they would have presumed him dead.
Please accept our apologies that we were not able to assist you further with this and please let us know if we can be of any further assistance."

So I think I have to accept that it was known he was in the shelter, hence his name on the memorial, but perhaps it was not possible to identify his remains so no death certificate was issued.
I wonder if any of the others on that memorial show up in the death registers?