Publications
Sussex Coroners, by E. Risdon, published 1865 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 17, notes & queries, pp.247-248) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2102] & The Keep [LIB/500236] & S.A.S. library View Online
The Persistent Coroner, by L. F. Salzman, published August 1950 in Sussex Notes & Queries (vol. XIII no. 3, article, pp.54-55) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 8231] & The Keep [LIB/500215] & S.A.S. library
The Medieval Coroner, 1194-1487, with special reference to the County of Sussex, by R. F. Hunnisett, 1956 at Oxford University (Ph.D. thesis)
Sussex Coroners in the Middle Ages. Part 1, by Roy F. Hunnisett, published 1957 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 95, article, pp.42-58) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2180] & The Keep [LIB/500334] & S.A.S. library
Sussex Coroners in the Middle Ages. Part ll, by Roy F. Hunnisett, published 1958 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 96, article, pp.1-8) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2181] & The Keep [LIB/500333] & S.A.S. library
Sussex Coroners in the Middle Ages. Part 3, by Roy F. Hunnisett, published 1960 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 98, article, pp.44-70) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2183] & The Keep [LIB/500331] & S.A.S. library
The Medieval Coroner, by R. F. Hunnisett, published 1961 (Cambridge University Press) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 3029] & West Sussex Libraries
Review by G. D. J. [G. D. Johnston] in Sussex Notes and Queries, May 1962:The Author is known to our Society from his Articles on the subject of Coroners in our Collections and his contributions to Sussex Notes and Queries. This is a very thorough and carefully prepared work embracing every aspect of the Coroner's activities and, though suited rather to the initiated yet can be read with pleasure and profit by anyone with only a rudimentary acquaintance with the subject. As the name implies it deals with the Office of Coroner from its inception in 1194 down to the beginning of the Tudor regime - after which the "decline and fall" set in, though it seems that the Coroner may still have to empanel a jury if the Sheriff is personally concerned. It might be useful in a future edition to give a specimen Writ de coronatore eligendo with alternative forms as to the vacancy. The Glossary gives the impression that it is a stock form for the Series and might be made more applicable to the particular Work.
A Mediaeval Battle Coroner, by R. F. Hunnisett, published May 1963 in Sussex Notes & Queries (vol. XVI no. 1, note, pp.28-29) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 8234] & The Keep [LIB/500218] & S.A.S. library
Some Rye Coroner's Records, published June 1983 in Sussex Genealogist and Family Historian (vol. 5 no. 1, article, pp.13-15) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 9173] & The Keep [LIB/501191] & CD SXGS from S.F.H.G.
Sussex Coroners' Inquests, 1485-1558, by Roy F. Hunnisett, published 1985 (vol. 74, 256 pp., Sussex Record Society, ISBN-10: 1873162537 & ISBN-13: 9781873162538) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 9515][Lib 11643] & The Keep [LIB/500451][Lib/507877] & West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries
Abstract:This volume contains all the coroners' inquests so far discovered which were held in Sussex between the accession of Henry VII in August 1485 and the death of Mary Tudor in November 1558. The jurors' verdicts ranged from murder, manslaughter and suicide, through accidental homicide and homicide committed in self defence, to misadventure and natural death.
One of the deaths became a cause celebre. It occurred in 1541 during a poaching expedition led by Thomas Fiennes, Lord Dacre of the South, who was convicted of murder before the Lord High Steward and hanged at Tyburn. Although the case is well known, the inquest is printed here for the first time. The others are not of comparable note, but contain a wealth of detail about sixteenth-century life as well as death. A number of homicides involved aliens-Frenchmen, Brabantines and Flemings - who were often found to have killed fellow countrymen. The vicar of West Tarring and his servant committed a murder aided and abetted by a chaplain. Incest resulted in another murder and a subsequent suicide; and a fatal accident led to the suicide of a close relative. Other inquests show that child battering is not a purely modern phenomenon nor child labour exclusively Victorian; that Tudor roads were every bit as dangerous as those of today and city walls more so; and that treatment for syphilis could be particularly crude and ineffective. In short, there is much for those interested in law, administration, criminology, medicine, and social and economic history, as well as for Sussex genealogists and local historians.
In the introduction the editor discusses the archival history and survival of the written inquests; the many coroners and their complex areas of jurisdiction; the jurors; and selected aspects of the inquests themselves.
One of the deaths became a cause celebre. It occurred in 1541 during a poaching expedition led by Thomas Fiennes, Lord Dacre of the South, who was convicted of murder before the Lord High Steward and hanged at Tyburn. Although the case is well known, the inquest is printed here for the first time. The others are not of comparable note, but contain a wealth of detail about sixteenth-century life as well as death. A number of homicides involved aliens-Frenchmen, Brabantines and Flemings - who were often found to have killed fellow countrymen. The vicar of West Tarring and his servant committed a murder aided and abetted by a chaplain. Incest resulted in another murder and a subsequent suicide; and a fatal accident led to the suicide of a close relative. Other inquests show that child battering is not a purely modern phenomenon nor child labour exclusively Victorian; that Tudor roads were every bit as dangerous as those of today and city walls more so; and that treatment for syphilis could be particularly crude and ineffective. In short, there is much for those interested in law, administration, criminology, medicine, and social and economic history, as well as for Sussex genealogists and local historians.
In the introduction the editor discusses the archival history and survival of the written inquests; the many coroners and their complex areas of jurisdiction; the jurors; and selected aspects of the inquests themselves.
Sussex Coroners' Inquests, 1558-1603, by R. F. Hunnisett, published 1 May 1996 (216 pp., PRO Publications, ISBN-10: 1873162286 & ISBN-13: 9781873162286) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 13180] & The Keep [LIB/502142][Lib/507878] & West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries
Sussex Coroners' Inquests, 1603-1688, by R. F. Hunnisett, published September 1998 (256 pp., PRO Publications, ISBN-10: 1873162537 & ISBN-13: 9781873162538) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 13874] & The Keep [LIB/502143][Lib/507879] & West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries
She had no Chattles of her Own, by Thea Valentine, published December 1999 in Midhurst Magazine (Volume 12 Number 2, article, pp.27-29, Winter 1999) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 15969]
Abstract:Tragic stories of accidents and suicides taken from Sussex Record society publication, 'Sussex Coroners' Inquests 1485-1558'.
East Sussex Coroners' Records 1688-1838, edited by Roy F. Hunnisett, published 1 January 2005 (vol. 89, xlviii + 300 pp., Sussex Record Society, ISBN-10: 0854450688 & ISBN-13: 9780854450688) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 15363] & The Keep [LIB/500466][Lib/507872] & West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries View Online
Abstract:The text of this volume is in three parts. The first consists of all the extant bills submitted by the coroners of East Sussex to claim the expenses to which they became entitled in 1752 for holding inquests and travelling to venues. They contain summaries of 3,620 inquests held between 1752 and 1838. The second part contains 142 inquests from between 1688 and 1838, with four earlier ones which have recently come to light. All the East Sussex inquests known to exist from 1194 to 1838 are therefore now in print with the exception of those held after 1688 in the Cinque Ports confederation, there being too many from Rye, Winchelsea, Hastings, Pevensey and Seaford to be included here. East Sussex before 1838 comprised the whole of the rapes of Hastings, Pevensey and Lewes. The East Sussex county coroners also officiated in the eastern part of Bramber rape which was part of the archdeaconry of Lewes and also held occasional inquests in other parts of West Sussex when there was no West Sussex coroner or he was incapacitated. Thirdly, there is in an appendix a series of documents concerning the prosecution of Thomas William Wheeler, a county coroner, for offences committed in the course of his duties.
The records illustrate many aspects of the life of the period. Some are concerned with smuggling, many more result from the large number of regular soldiers and militia stationed along the Channel coast or nearby during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars, and others reflect the growth of seaside towns, especially Brighton. Among noteworthy individual deaths are the first Brighton trunk murder and the murder of a man by his wife whose trial was the last Sussex case of petty treason.
The records illustrate many aspects of the life of the period. Some are concerned with smuggling, many more result from the large number of regular soldiers and militia stationed along the Channel coast or nearby during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars, and others reflect the growth of seaside towns, especially Brighton. Among noteworthy individual deaths are the first Brighton trunk murder and the murder of a man by his wife whose trial was the last Sussex case of petty treason.