The digitisation of these records was generously funded by the Medical College of St Bartholomew's Hospital Trust. These records are held by Barts Health NHS Trust Archives. For more information about their collections, browse and search the catalogue. For enquiries and information regarding access to non-digitised records, please contact barts.archives@nhs.net.
The Registers include name, age, sex, address or last place of abode, date and place of death, date (and sometimes hour) and method of acquisition, cause of death and date of burial.
In the earlier volumes the geographical source of bodies was mainly local (Shoreditch, St Giles, Holborn, Clerkenwell, St Pancras) however by the mid-20th century they came from a range of places in the City of London, Greater London and the Home Counties. Place of death (mainly St Bartholomew's and St Giles' hospitals in E/12/1-3) and sources of bodies indicated in the 19th century volumes are mainly workhouses and infirmaries/hospitals. In SBHB/E/12/1-3 the last place of abode is often noted as 'Unknown'. In the 19th century volumes the bodies came occasionally from prisons. Volumes SBHMS/E/12/5 indicates a number of bodies for dissection were from asylums, notably Claybury Asylum.
The most common causes of death in the 19th century volumes are phthisis, consumption/tuberculosis, asthma, bronchitis and other lung diseases and conditions; fevers are also common sometimes specified as typhoid fever. The cause of death of the elderly is often stated as 'old age' or 'natural decay'. In the 20th century the volumes generally include more cases of heart disease and carcinoma.
To view these digitised records, please use the drop down menus below. Please note that, due to the size of some of the PDF files, download times may take up to 30-60 seconds.