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 9
... context . This is not to suggest that we cannot write about grief , but , rather , to note that the words and deeds of those in the past are not inevitably a reflection of an innermost life , as the inner life is only accessible when ...
... context . This is not to suggest that we cannot write about grief , but , rather , to note that the words and deeds of those in the past are not inevitably a reflection of an innermost life , as the inner life is only accessible when ...
Page 10
... context , was not only an exercise in snobbery and an excuse for a party , but it also provided an adequate forum for the expression of mourning : grief was contained within the rituals surrounding death . Once those rituals were ...
... context , was not only an exercise in snobbery and an excuse for a party , but it also provided an adequate forum for the expression of mourning : grief was contained within the rituals surrounding death . Once those rituals were ...
Page 11
... and recovery in an experiential context . Approached from a different perspective , it could be argued , as this book does , that silence speaks volumes . Pioneering in its attempt to approach the interpersonal dynamics of Introduction 11.
... and recovery in an experiential context . Approached from a different perspective , it could be argued , as this book does , that silence speaks volumes . Pioneering in its attempt to approach the interpersonal dynamics of Introduction 11.
Page 15
... context . Similarly , Paul Rosenblatt urges that ' culture is such a crucial part of the context that it is often impossible to separate an individual's grief from culturally required mourning ' . " Indeed , recent cross - disciplinary ...
... context . Similarly , Paul Rosenblatt urges that ' culture is such a crucial part of the context that it is often impossible to separate an individual's grief from culturally required mourning ' . " Indeed , recent cross - disciplinary ...
Page 16
... context , there is an assumption that some form of mourning ritual is universal : dealing with the death of community members overwhelmingly takes place within the context of verbal and symbolic social rituals which acknowledge ...
... context , there is an assumption that some form of mourning ritual is universal : dealing with the death of community members overwhelmingly takes place within the context of verbal and symbolic social rituals which acknowledge ...
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