Inspector Of Seamen's Wills

Collection in 5 parts: Register of Certificates Issued for Payment Without Probate or Letters of Administration of the Naval Assets of Deceased Seamen and Mariners (Ratings) 15 April 1914-1 July 1959; ii) Alphabetical index to i); iii) Registers of Certificates Issued for Deceased Officers & Civilians 7 Feb 1923-21 March 1958; iv) Alphabetical index to iii); v) Register of Deaths (Naval Ratings) 3 September 1939-30 June 1948.

Administrative / biographical background
These records consist of five series of volumes recording Naval personnel (Ratings and Officers) and civilians who died in service from 1910-1959. i) ISW/1/1-ISW/1/59 Register of Deceased Seamen & Mariners (Ratings), 1914 - 191959. Recorded are the number of case and certificate, the date the case was registered, name of the deceased and who the administration was awarded to. ISW/1/58 and ISW/1/59 also include the full name and address of the person to whom the administration was awarded. ii) ISW/2/1-ISW/2/20 (1910-1958) is an alphabetical index to ISW/1. Recorded are the date the case was registered, the name of the deceased, the number of case and certificate, the name of the ship on which the deceased served and the date of death. To use the index, find the seaman alphabetically (within the appropriate date range), take the case number and the year in which it was registered from the Index, and look it up in the appropriate register. iii) ISW/3/1-ISW/3/8 Registers of certificates issued for Deceased officers and civilians (7 Feb 1923-24 March 1958). Recorded are the number of case and certificate, the date the case was registered, the name of the deceased, who the administration was awarded to, the date the certificate was issued and to whom. ISW/3/6, ISW/3/7 and ISW/3/8 also include the full name and address of the person to whom the administration was awarded. iv) ISW/4/1-ISW/4/14 (1900-1958) is an alphabetical index to ISW/3. Recorded are the number of the case and certificate, the name of the deceased, the quality (ie rank or profession) and the date of death. To use the Index, find the seaman alphabetically (within the appropriate date range), take the case number and the year in which it was registered from the Index, and look it up in the appropriate register. v) ISW/5/1-ISW/5/8 (1939-1948) Register of Deaths of Naval Ratings. Recorded are the name of the Deceased, Port Division and Official Number, Branch of Service, Rating, Ship or Unit, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death, Cause of Death, Place of Death and Decorations (if any). On the death of a seaman or officer a file would have been opened to hold various documents and correspondence dealt with at the time. For Navy cases the files were forwarded at the conclusion of the case to Hayes and it is sometimes possible to obtain the original file by requesting it from Hayes. To do so it is necessary to first look up the name of the deseased in the Alphabetical Index Book of the year of death and obtain the DNR/WILLS File No, if a seaman, or the registered file no if an officer. The application for the file should be addressed to CS(R)2(Navy), Bourne Avenue, Hayes providing details of the case number and the deceased's service particulars. The procedures followed by the Navy are aligned to the Seamen and Mariners Property Act 1865.