This set of records is a transcription of what appears to be the only surviving register of deaths kept by the Municipal Council of the international settlement at Shanghai. The original volume is held in the Shanghai Municipal Archives (file U1-1-661). The Archives does not permit copying of entire files, so this register has been compiled from a partial copy and on-site transcription. As it is handwritten, it is not always easy to read, and it has not always been easy to check unclear readings. The original register is, at the time of writing, not accessible. From early 1873 onwards certification of death by a registered doctor was required before interment in Council cemeteries was permitted, but it seems that it was not compulsory to register deaths. Most foreign nationals were subject to the jurisdiction of their consuls, and should have recorded births, marriages and deaths with those, but practice could be patchy.