Death, Grief and Poverty in Britain, 1870–1914Cambridge University Press, 2005 M07 25 - 294 pages With high mortality rates, it has been assumed that the poor in Victorian and Edwardian Britain did not mourn their dead. Contesting this approach, Julie-Marie Strange studies the expression of grief among the working class, demonstrating that poverty increased - rather than deadened - it. She illustrates the mourning practices of the working classes through chapters addressing care of the corpse, the funeral, the cemetery, commemoration, and high infant mortality rates. The book draws on a broad range of sources to analyse the feelings and behaviours of the labouring poor, using not only personal testimony but also fiction, journalism, and official reports. It concludes that poor people did not only use spoken or written words to express their grief, but also complex symbols, actions and, significantly, silence. This book will be an invaluable contribution to an important and neglected area of social and cultural history. |
From inside the book
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Page 5
... bereaved concerning their position within local social and economic hierarchies . As Paul Johnson notes , the persistent financial insecurity of most working - class families fostered a culture of saving for extraordinary expenditure ...
... bereaved concerning their position within local social and economic hierarchies . As Paul Johnson notes , the persistent financial insecurity of most working - class families fostered a culture of saving for extraordinary expenditure ...
Page 10
... bereaved . Vincent's analysis starts , therefore , from an assumption that death was not a shattering experience for the majority of working - class families in nineteenth - century England . Unlike Jalland , however , Vincent readily ...
... bereaved . Vincent's analysis starts , therefore , from an assumption that death was not a shattering experience for the majority of working - class families in nineteenth - century England . Unlike Jalland , however , Vincent readily ...
Page 15
... bereaved are usually defined as those who knew the deceased with a degree of intimacy . Despite the pathologising tendencies of Western medicine , grief and bereavement are increasingly defined as unique experiences : ' Grief is not a ...
... bereaved are usually defined as those who knew the deceased with a degree of intimacy . Despite the pathologising tendencies of Western medicine , grief and bereavement are increasingly defined as unique experiences : ' Grief is not a ...
Page 16
... bereaved with reintegra- tion into the world of the living . " Interpreted within a Durkheimian framework , the performance of such rites is fundamental to the main- tenance of social order and the incorporation of individuals within ...
... bereaved with reintegra- tion into the world of the living . " Interpreted within a Durkheimian framework , the performance of such rites is fundamental to the main- tenance of social order and the incorporation of individuals within ...
Page 17
... bereaved to survive the trauma of loss.61 More recently, Maurice Bloch has returned to the concept of liminality to suggest that individuals use the transitional period between the separa- tion occasioned by death and the ...
... bereaved to survive the trauma of loss.61 More recently, Maurice Bloch has returned to the concept of liminality to suggest that individuals use the transitional period between the separa- tion occasioned by death and the ...
Contents
1 | |
2 Life sickness and death | 27 |
3 Caring for the corpse | 66 |
4 The funeral | 98 |
reassessing the pauper burial | 131 |
the cemetery as a landscape for grief | 163 |
7 Loss memory and the management of feeling | 194 |
8 Grieving for dead children | 230 |
death grief and the Great War | 263 |
Bibliography | 274 |
Index | 290 |
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Common terms and phrases
Anfield Cemetery argued Asylum babies BALS ABZ belief bereaved body BOHT Bolton Bolton Burial Board burial ground burial insurance burial service burial space cadaver Cambridge Catholic cemetery child Childhood classes coffin commemoration common grave concerning context corpse culture of death customs Cwmardy D. H. Lawrence dead deceased died dying Edwardian emotional emphasised exhumation expression father funeral Gissing grave deeds grave owners grave space grief guardians Haslingden headstone highlights History Ibid identity implied infant interment Jalland Jones Lancashire Lancet Liverpool Daily Post living London loss LVRO 352 HEA Manchester Maud Pember Reeves memory mortality mother mourning neighbours noted notions OH Transcript Oxford parents parish pauper burial pauper grave perceived perceptions post-mortem poverty private grave public grave Ragged Trousered Philanthropists Reeves relatives represented respectability rites rituals sense sick significance social spiritual stillbirth story suggests Tape University Press Victorian whilst widow woman women workhouse working-class culture