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 2
... 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 manifest , they were ...
... 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 manifest , they were ...
Page 3
... notions of respectability and pauperism. Images of rampant commercialism and the horror of the pauper grave have attributed the Victorian celebration of death with a sense of unique- ness. To a point, of course, this is deserved ...
... notions of respectability and pauperism. Images of rampant commercialism and the horror of the pauper grave have attributed the Victorian celebration of death with a sense of unique- ness. To a point, of course, this is deserved ...
Page 6
... notions of decency has dominated historical discussion of the working - class culture of death . Yet respectability ... notion of respectability ( the aspiration to be a gentleman ) acknowledged the adoption of the ' respectable front ...
... notions of decency has dominated historical discussion of the working - class culture of death . Yet respectability ... notion of respectability ( the aspiration to be a gentleman ) acknowledged the adoption of the ' respectable front ...
Page 12
... notions of respectability. The approach adopted throughout the book is best illustrated with refer- ence to George Gissing's novel The Nether World (1889). There are three major funeral or deathbed scenes in the novel, each of which ...
... notions of respectability. The approach adopted throughout the book is best illustrated with refer- ence to George Gissing's novel The Nether World (1889). There are three major funeral or deathbed scenes in the novel, each of which ...
Page 13
... notions of dignity . The second major death scene in the novel provides a stark contrast to the Peckover sham , focusing exclusively on despair . The character John Hewett is dogged by poverty and misfortune . He is a well - intentioned ...
... notions of dignity . The second major death scene in the novel provides a stark contrast to the Peckover sham , focusing exclusively on despair . The character John Hewett is dogged by poverty and misfortune . He is a well - intentioned ...
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