Who When Where

Probate record says "died near St. Mary Abbots Hospital London"
Do they mean that Bertie died in an ambulance?
Death was registered in Kensington.
The hospital was very near to the British Museum (Natural History). Or simply the Natural History Museum as we know it nowadays.
Is that the museum meant?
Sorry for asking!

Hi jonwarrn

Those fine details are what I want to know. Family legend (it happened before I was born) says he died in The British Museum but I know for a fact that place of death is where the death was certified, not necessarily where the heart stopped beating. That means he may have been taken to the hospital already unofficially dead.

The newspaper entry was just one of those stop press bits put in a corner, few details, just filling a space but I’d like to see it. I’ve asked the BM and the ES for help - might be lucky. My mum, now in her late 80s, is the only one alive around at the time and her memory isn’t brilliant so fact checking is both essential and likely to upset her ( it might be the Natural History Museum!) so fingers crossed.

Can I update with some new info?

I’ve been in touch with the British Museum and have discovered that jonwarrn was correct when suggesting the Natural History Museum and we had been confused by the BM reference. I hadn’t considered the reference to the hospital as significant. Thanks, jonwarrn

It seems Bertie Daniel worked as a furniture Porter for the Ministry of Works at the NHM - I’m not sure what that actually means - but it is recorded he died on site after falling ill (probably a stroke).

I’ve known the legend for decades but it shows that digging a bit deeper can be very interesting. It doesn’t always reveal extra useful info but that mustn’t put us off trying.

After the war, the Ministry of Works had responsibility for the maintenance and preservation of national museums and galleries.
According to Wikipedia: "A detailed history of offices and staff remains to be written: the work of the almost completely anonymous civil servants who worked for this very large government department is largely absent from published or online sources unless these manifold official activities impinge on current specialized research on the military, archaeological or architectural links".

Thanks Mo. I had a vague idea about the Ministry of Works but it would be nice to find out a bit more.

Could your chap have been involved with this expansion operation at the NHM: "Between 1935 and 1938 an entomological block was built on the west side, and between 1949 and 1952 it was extended by W. Kendall of the Ministry of Works to meet the new spirit museum (which was also extended westward in the same period)".

If it involved Labour then he could have been involved. He was a coal porter for the majority of his working life but was about 68 when he died so perhaps this, whatever it was, was a lighter option for him. Until today I’d assumed (never make an assumption!) he was a room attendant. Fingers cross the NHM can dig up his staff records.

Norfolk Nan wrote: ↑25 Jan 2021, 17:01 Fingers cross the NHM can dig up his staff records.

As he was employed by the Ministry of Works I doubt the NHM would have those staff records. Have you obtained his death certificate?

The MoWs is now defunct/superseded so I hold out no hope from that route. The BM staff member seemed to expect there’d be some staff record for him at the NHM, if it survives, so it’s worth a try. They can only say no

Any records for the Ministry of Works may be at The National Archives but staff records are generally destroyed by departments, if I recall deaths five years after the event but it is worth checking TNA's catalogue.