| Description | The coroner was an officer of the crown, however, some of the Warwickshire coroners filed their inquistion papers with the Warwickshire Quarter Sessions, hence some of this material can be found within the collection under reference QS 8. For the most part, inquest papers form part of other collections, which we have noted under the relevant section. Records generated or required by Quarter Session officials, such as coroner appointments, expenses etc can also be found in this section.
Under an act 7 of 8 Vict.c.92 [1844] and Orders in Council of 1847,1878 and 1914, Warwickshire was divided into three coroners' districts, Northern, Central and Southern. Coventry which had had its own coroner from medieval times until 1842, was included in the new Northern District in 1847, but Birmingham had appointed its own coroner under the Municipal Corporations Act of 1835, and there were separate coroners for Warwick and Sutton Coldfield also.
Under an Order in Council of 16th March 1932, the District boundaries were re-drawn and the Southern District was re-named the South Western District. This boundary change (which took effect from 1st April 1932) was consequent upon the appointment of a separate coroner for Coventry which had extended its boundaries under the Coventry Corporation (Boundary Extension) Act of 1931.Coventry inquests are held by Coventry City Record Office up to 1983.
On the 1st October 1951, the borough of Warwick became a Coroner's District; on 1st August 1966, this district became amalgamated with the Central District. On the 31st March 1974 , the Central and South-Western Districts ceased to exist and on 1st April 1974 Warwickshire was divided into two districts, Northern and Southern. The Southern District comprised the former S.W. District (from which the county borough of Solihull had already been removed) and the Central District, with the exception of Rugby Borough and most of the parishes in that area which now became part of the Northern District. In 1979, the whole County was united under one coroner, but the records continued to be kept separately until 1986. |