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. |
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Page viii
... friends, old and new, who have encouraged the writing of this book at different stages. I would especially like to thank old friends Jane Collins and Heather Ware. Special thanks also go to my sister Suzanne for friendship, love, humour ...
... friends, old and new, who have encouraged the writing of this book at different stages. I would especially like to thank old friends Jane Collins and Heather Ware. Special thanks also go to my sister Suzanne for friendship, love, humour ...
Page 1
... friend. Bear softly his bones over the stones, Though a pauper, he's one whom his Maker yet owns. (Thomas Noel, c. 18391) At length the day of the funeral, pious and truthful ceremony that it was, arrived ... two mutes were at the house ...
... friend. Bear softly his bones over the stones, Though a pauper, he's one whom his Maker yet owns. (Thomas Noel, c. 18391) At length the day of the funeral, pious and truthful ceremony that it was, arrived ... two mutes were at the house ...
Page 2
... friends reinforced the notion that the disposal of the dead was a theatrical display where any concept of grief was rooted in pride and snobbery rather than the personal expression of loss . Notably , when sincere cries of sorrow were ...
... friends reinforced the notion that the disposal of the dead was a theatrical display where any concept of grief was rooted in pride and snobbery rather than the personal expression of loss . Notably , when sincere cries of sorrow were ...
Page 7
... friendship and exchange . “ 27 If respectability was so fluid , is it not possible that the concept of the respectable funeral was also subject to multiple , diverse and highly indi- vidual interpretations ? This is not to dismiss ...
... friendship and exchange . “ 27 If respectability was so fluid , is it not possible that the concept of the respectable funeral was also subject to multiple , diverse and highly indi- vidual interpretations ? This is not to dismiss ...
Page 11
... friends and relations to turn to each other within domestic time and space . Conversely , whilst depression and despondency may have been inappropriate subjects for respectable biography , there may also have been cultural taboos ...
... friends and relations to turn to each other within domestic time and space . Conversely , whilst depression and despondency may have been inappropriate subjects for respectable biography , there may also have been cultural taboos ...
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