Co

Records of the Coroner - ALL RECORDS LIKELY TO BE SUBJECT TO 75 YEAR CLOSURE PERIOD AT DISCRETION OF CORONER.

The whole of the Coroner's Archives were recatalogued in 1992. Extensive consultation was made as to the 'then' current practice and experience in dealing with and appraising Inquest & Inquiry files of which substantial runs were already deposited. These included contact with the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine, the Coroner's Society and representatives of the Society for the Social History of Medicine. Sampling exercises in February 1992 involving staff of both Divisions, resulted in production of written guidelines for appraisal subsequently discussed and agreed with the Coroner. Minor alterations led to subsequent issues of the guidelines, and the latest up to date edition was Edition Four dated 12 January 1993. Note: According to a note in the old catalogue, Inquest Papers dated 1927-1938 and Accounts dated 1919-1936 were destroyed in 1955 under the P.R.O schedule for destruction of Coroner's records 1921. Inquest papers for the period 1941-1952 are presumed to have been destroyed. This in part accounts for the absence of earlier records. Many of the Inquest and Inquiry files appraised under the guidelines had already been substantially weeded before their deposit in the Record Office, presumably by the Coroner himself.

fonds