TOUCHING ON DEATH

A Medical History of Early Auckland Based on the First 384 Inquests.

By Laurie GLUCKMAN, Edited by Ann GLUCKMAN and Mike WAGG.

Published in 2000 by Doppelganger, Southern Publishing Group, Auckland.

ISBN 0-9582104-2-X

No index was included in this book. The record of inquests contained within come from four leather-bound volumes owned by Dr Gluckman, which contains copies of the inquest findings. The originals of these inquests conducted between 1841 and 1864 have been lost, apart from a few dating to 1854, now held by National Archives. The Gluckmans chose not to include all details of the inquests and have left out names of many witnesses and jury members. The difficulties in interpreting old and faded handwriting, and the inconsistencies in spelling in the mid-1800s, means that some of the names may be incorrectly interpreted. Note that one or two of the inquests concerned fires and did not involve any named person, hence these numbers are missing from the inquests indexed below.

This index is in two parts; the first is an index of the names in the inquests, including that of the deceased, named witnesses and those accused of murder. The second (separate) index is of medical personnel named in the book. The spellings are as recorded in Touching on Death.

Of interest are the large numbers of drownings, particularly those of children in wells, and the significant numbers of suicides. Many deaths were highly suspicious of murder or manslaughter but the inquest returned a different finding. It would be interesting to speculate on the reasons for this.