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 58
Page 4
... language of the commercial cemetery broke from a religious and reverential vocabulary to speak unashamedly in consumerist terms that not only reflected social 12 13 J. Morgan , ' The Burial Question in Leeds in the Eighteenth and ...
... language of the commercial cemetery broke from a religious and reverential vocabulary to speak unashamedly in consumerist terms that not only reflected social 12 13 J. Morgan , ' The Burial Question in Leeds in the Eighteenth and ...
Page 10
... Vincent , Bread , Knowledge and Freedom : A Study of Working - Class Autobiography ( London : Europa , 1981 ) , 39–61 . addressed , the authors ' grasp of language tends to 10 Death , Grief and Poverty in Britain , 1870–1914.
... Vincent , Bread , Knowledge and Freedom : A Study of Working - Class Autobiography ( London : Europa , 1981 ) , 39–61 . addressed , the authors ' grasp of language tends to 10 Death , Grief and Poverty in Britain , 1870–1914.
Page 11
Julie-Marie Strange. addressed , the authors ' grasp of language tends to prove inadequate , encouraging the use of religious and secular clichés . Vincent suggests that many biographers felt such material was inappropriate for respect ...
Julie-Marie Strange. addressed , the authors ' grasp of language tends to prove inadequate , encouraging the use of religious and secular clichés . Vincent suggests that many biographers felt such material was inappropriate for respect ...
Page 16
... language of hope and survival , prompting some to interpret the performance of death rites as an attempt by different social groups to contain and control death . Acknowledging the importance of group and individual welfare , some early ...
... language of hope and survival , prompting some to interpret the performance of death rites as an attempt by different social groups to contain and control death . Acknowledging the importance of group and individual welfare , some early ...
Page 17
... language for repositioning the deceased into an afterlife, whether that is a spiritual world or a secular sphere ... languages of rites.65 Davies's approach allows acknowledgement of the diverse responses to death whilst retaining a ...
... language for repositioning the deceased into an afterlife, whether that is a spiritual world or a secular sphere ... languages of rites.65 Davies's approach allows acknowledgement of the diverse responses to death whilst retaining a ...
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 |
Other editions - View all
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