Looking for records of a coroner's inquest

• What do I need to know before I start?

  • Try to find out:

    • the name of the person for whom the inquest took place 
    • the date the coroner's inquest took place
    • the county in which the inquest took place

• What records can I see online?

  • There are no records of coroners' inquests available to view online.

• What records can I find at The National Archives at Kew?

  • Rolls and files (1128-1426)

    Browse Discovery, our cataloguea search tool with descriptions of tens of millions of documents from the UK central government, law courts, and other national bodies, for entries of inquests from coroners who presented their rolls to the court of the King's Bench in JUST 1, JUST 2 and JUST 3.

  • Indictment files (1487-1926)

    Browse indictment files which may contain inquests in KB 9, KB 11, KB 12, KB 13, KB 14 and KB 140.

  • London and Middlesex indictments (1675-1845)

    Look in KB 10 for any inquests which may be found among the London and Middlesex indictments.

  • Coroners' records from other courts (1339-1896)

    Browse coroners' records collected by other courts in CHES 18, CHES17/13, DL 46, PL 26/285-295, ASSI 66, ASSI 47/24-73, PL 26/285-295, PCOM 2/165, C 260 or HCA 1.

  • Assize court files (1554-1971)

    Refer to the table in Assizes: key to series for criminal trials to find out what type of trial records for different counties are held in the department code ASSI. It is possible to find inquests related to murder and manslaughter cases and returns from coroners for accidental deaths among the indictment records.

• What records can I find in other archives and organisations?

  • Records held locally

    Search for trial records of quarter sessions in local archivesregional archives, libraries, and museums. Find out where records are held by searching Access to Archives (A2A) and the National Register of Archives (NRA).

  • Local coroners' offices

    Search for contact details in telephone directories or on the website of the relevant local authority.

• What other resources will help me find information?

  • Newspapers

    Locate newspapers held at local libraries or the British Library Newspaper Collections which may provide details of an unexpected, sudden or suspicious death. From the 19th century onwards, a newspaper report may be the only surviving account.

  • Books

    Read Coroners' records in England and Wales, by J Gibson and C Rogers (The Family History Partnership, 2009).

    Read R F Hunnisett, The Medieval Coroner (Cambridge, 1961).
    

• The National Archives is not responsible for the content of external websites.

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