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
Results 1-5 of 65
Page 2
... customs of the aristocracy . The tendency of the populace to equate extravagant funerals with respectable status did little more , he suggested , than render such spectacles absurd . That they were ' highly approved ' by neighbours and ...
... customs of the aristocracy . The tendency of the populace to equate extravagant funerals with respectable status did little more , he suggested , than render such spectacles absurd . That they were ' highly approved ' by neighbours and ...
Page 5
... customs to a popular clientele.1o With the expansion of credit facilities to the working classes , the canny undertaker could exploit the anxieties of the bereaved concerning their position within local social and economic hierarchies ...
... customs to a popular clientele.1o With the expansion of credit facilities to the working classes , the canny undertaker could exploit the anxieties of the bereaved concerning their position within local social and economic hierarchies ...
Page 9
... customs asso- ciated with death and burial were appropriated to assuage personal grief : mourning rites drew on communal networks of support whilst offering consolation through the affirmation of religious belief and the articulation of ...
... customs asso- ciated with death and burial were appropriated to assuage personal grief : mourning rites drew on communal networks of support whilst offering consolation through the affirmation of religious belief and the articulation of ...
Page 17
... custom, then, is not the universal symbolism of death, but, rather, that of life.64 Davies's own model of liminality ... customs as 'words against death' depends on the degree of consonance/dissonance between inner lan- guages of grief ...
... custom, then, is not the universal symbolism of death, but, rather, that of life.64 Davies's own model of liminality ... customs as 'words against death' depends on the degree of consonance/dissonance between inner lan- guages of grief ...
Page 22
... customs relating to the care and exhibition of the corpse , arguing that these rites facilitated the renegotiation of the bereaved self in relation to the dead . In fulfilling obligations to the deceased , the bereaved asserted their ...
... customs relating to the care and exhibition of the corpse , arguing that these rites facilitated the renegotiation of the bereaved self in relation to the dead . In fulfilling obligations to the deceased , the bereaved asserted their ...
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