An obituary is the notification of a person’s death with their brief life story. The length of an obituary varies from a few lines of summary to several hundred words, and obituaries can contain fantastic detail about a person’s life and death.
Obituaries have commonly appeared in newspapers, magazines and journals since the 18th century. These originally focused on the proverbial great and the good, such as politicians and royalty. Over time, local newspapers began to print obituaries for the deceased from their own area. These were initially for people who the publishers believed would be of interest to readers, such as clergymen, notorious criminals, and villagers who managed to live to an advanced age. Editors came to realise that printing obituaries was a good way for them to make revenue, charging people by the word or line to tell the story of their loved ones. So you can find obituaries for ancestors from all backgrounds, particularly from the late 19th century onwards.
The detail contained in an obituary varies. Information may include the deceased’s name, occupation, age at death, cause of death, place of death, name of spouse and children, and details of the funeral. There may be additional family members named such as siblings and grandchildren; sometimes the deceased’s parents or grandparents may be named if this was deemed noteworthy. If the deceased was well known due to their occupation, whether that was a politician, actor or soldier for example, there tends to be good detail about their working life. Their place of birth may be given, as well
as any parish moves and notable achievements.
It is exciting to come across an obituary for a forebear. They often describe elements of a person’s life or character that we otherwise would not have known, such as their charitable work, sunny disposition or hobbies.
However, obituaries are not always as trustworthy as they first seem, and care needs to be taken to corroborate any facts with another source where possible. Just as an age can be inaccurate on a death certificate, so it can in an obituary. Similarly, where a place of birth is often incorrect on a census record so it may be in an obituary. It all depends on who wrote the article, and what they believed to be true. Obituaries also tend to be unbalanced, focusing much more on good points. Where a fact is provided, ensure you back this up where possible with another source. There are even rare cases where an obituary has been mistakenly published before someone died. Additionally, then as now, no publication is immune to editorial errors.
Military officers often had obituaries published in regimental journals; some are on regimental websites. Magazines and journals that featured obituaries include The Gentleman’s Magazine, published between 1731 and 1922, and the British Medical Journal, which launched in 1852 and is still published today as The BMJ. Issues of The Gentleman’s Magazine can be viewed for free at the digital library HathiTrust, while issues of the British Medical Journal can be searched and viewed online, also for free. These are just two examples of many.
Most family historians will need to peruse local newspapers for their ancestors’ obituaries. This is most likely to involve the massive British Library collection online at the British Newspaper Archive, which is also available to anyone with an ‘Everything’ level subscription to Findmypast, while the focus of the Ancestry-owned website Newspapers.com is more international. A simple search for your forebear’s name may bring up a positive result; however, at other times you may need to change your search term or refine the results. First names are not always given with people recorded as “Mr D Roberts”, and wives often referred to by their husband’s name such as “Mrs David Roberts”. You may find it best to search the local paper for their surname alone in the month or two after they died.
If you’re struggling to find a relation’s obituary, try searching using all possible variations of their name, and check back again in the future since more articles are being digitised every week. When you find the right obituary, note down the title of the magazine or newspaper plus the volume/issue number and publication date so you can refer back to it; you should also download the image of the article or full page if you can, and add it to your online tree.