Unregistered deaths 1859 Shipwreck South Australia-Victoria

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Hi all,
While browsing through some old emails, I saw this and thought I might repost it - it comes from genforum via Debbie who gave me permission to post it back in May 2003. Hope it helps someone.
Cheers,
Di
Quote
While researching the death of my family members who died in a shipwreck I came to realise that many of the victims of the "Admella" shipwreck in 1859 had not had their deaths registered.

Perhaps it will help someone find out what happened to that missing family member.

Survivors and Victims were;

Twenty four individuals- 11 passengers and 13 crew members survived.
Crew that survived
Hugh McEwen, master
James Hutcheson, first mate
G B McNair, purser
George Hills, fore cabin steward
George Ward, cabin boy
John McDermott, second cook
David Peters, fireman
Robert Wright, trimmer
Robinson Duckering, lamp trimmer
Charles Locke, able seaman
John Welch, able seaman
Robert Knapman, able seaman
John Leach, able seaman

Passengers that survived
Cabin
Miss Ledwith, Adelaide
Benjamin Rockfort, Adelaide
Hurtle Fisher, Adelaide
James Miller, Victoria

Fore-cabin
Thomas O’Halloran
Thomas Richarson
Patrick Carrick
Michael Forrester
Hugh McInnes
Andrew, servant to Mr Rochfort
James Webb


Seventy seven people perished – 64 passengers and 13 crew perished
Crew that perished
Miss Clendinning, stewardess
Margaret Meagher, fore-cabin stewardess
Soren Holm, able seaman
J Johnson, second mate
James Hare, cabin steward
Simon Munro, first engineer
Walter Brown, second engineer
J Orr, first cook
Two assistant stewards
Three seaman

Passengers that perished
Cabin
James Margarey, Geelong
? Holbrook, Adelaide
Dr Vaux, Ship Norfork
? Whittaker, Adelaide
George Fisher, Adelaide
Miss Nugent, Adelaide
? Harris, master mariner, Adelaide

fore-cabin
Mrs Goode
Patrick Lennan
Mrs Lennan
John Watson
Mrs Watson and two children
Mrs Ramsay
Frenando Bade
George Watkins
Hester Watkins (Hester Watkins Williamson)
Charlotte Short and four children
Benjamin Baker
Mrs Coxell and child
John Battrick
Mrw Bowie
Mrs Keith and four children
Edwin Chambers
George Forrester(Foster)
Mrs Forrester(Foster)
Eliza Paul
John Tregeagle
Patrick Arthur
J Carmichael
James Davidson
J Davis
Wilhelm
Alfred French
Mrs Gold
Henry Grosse
Edward Haynes
Wilhelm Hermann
Edwin Jackson
Mrs Kerwin and three children
Richard King
Thomas Mensforth
Mr Murray
Mrs Murray
John O’Brien
William Rosewell
William Taylor
Walter Underwood, a youth
Mrs Weatherall
Mr Williamson
Mr Wood

As the book suggests, names are as reported and may be mis-spelt. Where names are in brackets I have made a correction as they were my family members and were in the SA BDM's as died Admella Shipwreck August 1859.


This book is located in South Australia at the Flinders University Central Library in their special collections area and is in quite good condition.

Mossman, Samuel (1859) Narrative of the shipwreck of the ‘Admella’, intercolonial steamer, on the southern coast of Australia/ drawn up from authentic statements furnished by the rescuers and survivors. Printed and published for the Committee of the ‘Admella’ Fund by J.H. Moulines and Co.Melbourne.Appendix A (pp103-104).
Unquote

[Valerie And George]

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[Doug Laidlaw]

Post by Valerie And George
I contacted the NSW Reg. BDM and they said even before official registrations of death there was no church record without a proper burial where a doctor had seen the body.

The rule was that a coroner's finding quoted an inquest on the body of
the person "then and there lying dead," or similar. Coroners had
juries. If there was no body, there could be no inquest. Without a
doctor's certificate or a coronial inquest, there could be no
registration of the death. This was the rule in Victoria when Harold
Holt drowned. One of my contemporaries became State Coroner for
Victoria, and wrote his own Coroners Act for the modern age.

An inquest wasn't required in every case. In one of my files, the
husband walked into the home of his ex, sat on the sofa and just died.
The autopsy showed that he was suffering from a heart condition that had
never been diagnosed. [It is well known that men avoid going to a
doctor.] The Coroner ruled that an inquest was not needed.

Doug.

[Doug Laidlaw]

Post by Doug Laidlaw

Post by Valerie And George
I contacted the NSW Reg. BDM and they said even before official
registrations of death there was no church record without a proper
burial where a doctor had seen the body.

The rule was that a coroner's finding quoted an inquest on the body of
the person "then and there lying dead," or similar.  Coroners had
juries.  If there was no body, there could be no inquest.  Without a
doctor's certificate or a coronial inquest, there could be no
registration of the death.  This was the rule in Victoria when Harold
Holt drowned.  One of my contemporaries became State Coroner for
Victoria, and wrote his own Coroners Act for the modern age.
An inquest wasn't required in every case.  In one of my files, the
husband walked into the home of his ex, sat on the sofa and just died.
The autopsy showed that he was suffering from a heart condition that had
never been diagnosed.  [It is well known that men avoid going to a
doctor.]  The Coroner ruled that an inquest was not needed.
Doug.

Having a body is a good precaution. I index deaths for the Ryerson
Index. In my early days, my paper had death notices for one individual
for several days. I indexed them all. Then the paper advised that the
man hadn't died at all! Nowadays, the paper won't publish any death
notices until they have heard from the funeral director.

Doug.