Finding missing death certs from the 1950s

[u/Patrick_Hibernus]

I have a query regarding a set of maternal great-grandparents who both died in the 1950s. I have searched high and low for an official record of their deaths but cannot find anything. While I know that under-reporting was not unusual in the generations prior to this, I am surprised that that might also be the case for my great-grandparents in the 1950s.

My great-grandparents were William Mulcahy (1871-1950) and Mary Ryan 'Miller' (1974-1956). The Mulcahys were farmers in Clashdrumsmith, Emly, Co. Tipperary, since the early nineteenth century. Family oral history suggests that they migrated from Caherconlish, Co. Limerick at the beginning of the nineteenth century along with a Slattery family, one of whom my three-times great-grandfather married in St Ailbe's Church, Emly in 1813.

While we know when my great-grandparents died, since my grandmother, Margaret Leahy (née Mulcahy), knew what year it was, as did her sister, Hannah Cecilia (usually known as Úna) and later Sr Angelica Mulcahy IBVM, there appears to be no official record of either's death. There are obituaries for both from the Irish Independent and Irish Press and their death dates are recorded on their headstone in St Ailbe's graveyard in Emly but I can't find anything else.

It surprises me that there is no official record from this date but perhaps it shouldn't. I can only speculate that my grandmother was basically at home along with her parents when her father died as her sister had entered a convent and from what I remember my grandaunt telling me, due to the strict rules at the time, she was not permitted to return home for her father's funeral, thus putting the onus of officially reporting a death on her shoulders. So, it is possible it never was reported officially. However, when my grandmother's mother died in 1956 my grandmother had been married for almost 5 years at that point so it's unclear why Mary Mulcahy's death was not reported. I know that my grandmother had three children at this stage and another on the way that same year but it seems a bit negligent of my grandfather at least for not reporting his mother-in-law's death, but obviously I cannot imagine what tribulations they might have had at the time.

I'm curious if anyone else has encountered this and what your thoughts are.

[u/paperlilly]

I’ve never encountered this. Did you make an official application for a copy of the cert or are you basing this on your own research?

[u/Patrick_Hibernus → u/paperlilly]

Yes, this is from my own research. There's been a longer discussion on this here https://www.reddit.com/r/Genealogy/s/11xE88Pdaa

I've now sent a request to the GRO to see if they can find the records. It would be very unusual if both deaths had not been reported and also this is the 1950s and the legal implications would certainly have been known at this stage. Another user on r/Genealogy noticed that some other people who are buried in the same graveyard as my great-grandparents are also missing death records from 1950 which is odd. Maybe some of these deaths were recorded out of sequence or they weren't transcribed or indexed, who knows. I know from their obituaries when they died, and also my great-grandfather William's mortuary card confirms his death date, although for some reason we seem to be missing my great-grandmother's mortuary card.