Apparently, the first recorded death by the Birmingham (that is the original Birmingham in the UK, OK?) Registry office was a prostitute whose death was notified by the master of the workhouse.
This fascinating fact comes form our local council’s paper, Forward, always has a feature known as ‘Bygone Brum’ written by Birmingham Post columnist, writer and local historian, Chris Upton. Over the months, these articles have covered some interesting stuff about our old city.
Another interesting fact from the article is that many of Birmingham’s famous sons and daughters such as Joseph Chamberlain did not have their genealogical events – births, deaths and marriages, recorded in Birmingham. This is because initially the Registarion districts were based on Poor Law Districts and there were separate offices from what are now Birmingham places. Our registry office is on the move again to new plush offices on Holliday Wharf.
Am I going any where with this? Not really, just musing on some fascinating facts.
Cheers