Free standard shipping on all orders
  • Visa
  • Master Card
  • American Express
  • Apple Pay
  • Google Pay
  • JCB

The Nineteenth-Century Coroner in England and Wales: Volume II: The Coroners book cover

1st Edition

The Nineteenth-Century Coroner in England and Wales Volume II: The Coroners

Edited By Anne B. Rodrick Copyright 2026
275 Pages
by Routledge

This set comprises primary sources on the coroner, the inquest, and the role of the coroner, in (broadly) the nineteenth century. The coroner was (and is in many respects) a peculiarly English and Welsh office. The coroner was a judge who lived and worked in his local community and his actions had potential for far reaching effects on those he served. His judicial work was usually carried out... Read more

Volume II: The Coroners

 

Acknowledgements 

Chronology

Table of Statutes and Cases

General Introduction

Volume II Introduction

 

Part 1: The People’s Judge: Thomas Wakley and the Middlesex Coroners

1. J. Grant, ‘Mr Jervis’, in The Bench and the Bar (London: Henry Colburn, 1837), pp. 123–130.

2. Sketch of an Inquest by Edward G. Dalziel. Wood engraving. ‘Then Dropped upon her knees before us, with Protestations that we were right’ from Charles Dickens ‘Some Recollections of Mortality,’ The Uncommercial Traveller (London: Chapman and Hall 1877) p. 92.

3. ‘The Coronership of Middlesex’, The Times, 17 June 1862, p. 12

4. ‘Candidates for the Middlesex Coronership’, Unnamed Newspaper, 1862 (from scrapbook in The Story, Durham D/X797/1-7)

5. W. Baker, The Memorial of William Baker Esq., One of the Coroners of the County of Middlesex (London: J. T. Norris, 1840)

6. W. B. Ryan and R. J. Churchill, Infanticide: Its Law, Prevalence, Prevention, and History (London, 1862), pp 77-79

7. ‘The Coroner’s Court and Dr Lankester’s Second Report’, Medical Times and Gazette, 29 April 1865, p. 443

8. ‘Obituary of Thomas Wakley’, Illustrated London News, 14 June 1862, p. 23

9. ‘Obituary: Edwin Lankester’, British Medical Journal, 2:723 (1874), p. 603

10. W. Hardwicke, On the Office and Duties of Coroner: With Suggestions for Parliamentary Inquiry, Proposed Legislation, and Reform of the Office (London: The Coroner’s Office, 1879) (extracts)

11. S. S. Sprigge, The Life and Times of Thomas Wakley (London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1897), pp. 353–368

12. W. W. Westcott, ‘Twelve Years' Experiences of a London Coroner’ (London: Bailliere, Tindall and Cox, 1907) (extracts)

 

Part 2 Provincial Coroners

13. Return of the Names of all Coroners in England and Wales, with the Date of their Appointment, Manner of Election, Number of Miles Travelled, and Sums Received, 1829-1831. House of Commons Parliamentary Paper No. 703, Return of Appointment of Coroners in England and Wales, Parliament Paper Series 703, vol. 44, p. 105 (extracts)

14. E. Herford, 'The Coroner and the City Council', letter to the Mayor of Manchester dated 1 September 1874. Reprinted from the Manchester Examiner and Times of 2 September 1874.

15. Letter from the Office of the Medical Directories Including a List of Coroners for Counties and Boroughs in England and Wales (London: John Churchill, 1861)

16. E. Herford, Abuse of the Registration System [reprinted from The Manchester Guardian], 27 October 1869

17. ‘Men You Know XIX: John Theodore Hoyle’, The Newcastle Critic, 1 August 1874, p. 60

18. Photograph of John Birt Davies M.D., Coroner of Birmingham 1840-1875 (c1875)

19. John Taylor and James Clegg, Autobiography of a Lancashire Lawyer: Being the Life and Recollections of John Taylor (Bolton: The Daily Chronicle, 1883), pp. 90–102

20. R. Archer, Printed Letter to the County Council of the County of Northumberland (Alnwick: NP, 1890)

21. E. L. Hussey, Coroner’s Report II (Oxford: NP, 1890)

22. ‘Dr E. M. Grace, Coroner and Cricketer’, Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 20 November 1883, p. 8

23. W. Lewin, James Clarke Aspinall: A Biography (London: Edward W. Allen, 1893), pp. 135–139

24. W. E. Adams, Memoirs of a Social Atom (London: Hutcheson & Co., 1903), p. 485 

 

Part 3: The Coroners’ Society

25. W. Payne, Letter to Coroners of England and Wales Suggesting Establishing a Coroners’ Society (January 1846)

26. The Minutes of the First Meeting of the Coroners’ Society, 4 February 1846 (London: Coroners’ Society, 1846)

27. The Rules and Regulations for the Government of the Coroners’ Society (London: Coroners’ Society, 1846)

28. List of Members of the Coroners’ Society (London: Coroners’ Society, 1848)

29. ‘The Essex Poisoners’, The Times, 1 September 1848

30. W. Payne letter, The Times, 6 September 1848

31. Printed and Circulated Minutes Noting Desire to Extend Reach of Coroners’ Society Beyond the Metropolitan Coroners and Naming Provincial Coroners for the Committee (London: Coroners’ Society, 1854)

32. Minutes of the Coroners Society for 1868 (London: Coroners’ Society, 1868)

33. Report of the Coroners’ Society, October 1873 (London: Coroners’ Society, 1873)

34. Resolution on the Bill to Amend the Condition of Coroners (London: Coroners’ Society, 1876)

35. Frederick Mead, Legal Opinion on the Form of Recording Inquest Verdicts in Cases of Temporary Insanity, dated 25 June 1885 (London: Coroners’ Society, 1885)

36. Circular: Proposed Alteration in the Law as to the View of the Body (London: Coroners’ Society, 1894)

37. Letter to the Coroners’ Society from Mr Finnigan, the Coroner for Belfast (July 1894)

38. Letter to the Coroners of England and Wales (London: Coroners’ Society, 1895) 

 

Part 4: Medicine and the Law

39. G. E. Male, Elements of Juridical or Forensic Medicine; For the Use of Medical Men, Coroners and Barristers (London: E. Cox and Son and Henry Butterworth, 1818), pp. 19–31

40. J. Chitty, Practical Treatise on Medical Jurisprudence (London: Henry Butterworth, 1834), p. x

41. The Medical Witnesses Act 1836, 'An Act to Provide for the Attendance and Remuneration of Medical Witnesses at Coroners' Inquests’ sometimes referred to as the Coroners Act 1836.

42. ‘A Physician’, Manuscripts from the Diary of a Physician (London: E. Loyd, 1847) (extracts)

43. ‘Election of a Medical Coroner at Birmingham, By a Ten-Fold Majority!’, The Lancet, 32:821 (1839), pp. 346–347

44. ‘Breach of Medical Etiquette at Newcastle’, The Lancet, 51:1293 (1848), p. 649

45. E. Herford, Circular Including Reprint of ‘Professor A. S. Taylor’s Attack on the Office of Coroner’ (London: Coroners' Society, 1862)

46. ‘Medical Fees for Post Mortem Examinations’, Widnes Weekly News and District Reporter, 4 April 1885, p. 3

47. Concerning the Right of the Medical Officer of Canterbury Prison to be Paid Fees by the Coroner for Attending Inquests on Prisoners (Canterbury: Gibbs and Sons, 1888)

48. ‘Performing the analysis,’ 1856 Dr. Alfred Swaine Taylor and a colleague, performing the Marsh test on samples taken from the body of John Parsons Cook. London, Wood engraving 1856 (National Library of Medicine).

Glossary 

Index

Biography

Dr Helen J. Rutherford is Associate Professor in Law at Northumbria University Law School, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom.

Add to Cart