The ringing of a church bell in the English tradition to announce a death is called a death knell. The pattern of striking depended on the person who had died; for example in the counties of Kent and Surrey in England it was customary to ring three times three strokes for a man and three times two for a woman, with a varying usage for children. The age of the deceased was then rung out. In small settlements this could effectively identify who had just died.H B Walters, The Church bells of England. published 1912 and republished 1977 by Oxford University Press. pp156-160
