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 3
... suggest that all accounts of death and burial have been reduced to a crude dichotomy, but, rather, that such literature fails to grapple with the cathartic effects of the funeral and the use of ritual as a forum for the creation and ...
... suggest that all accounts of death and burial have been reduced to a crude dichotomy, but, rather, that such literature fails to grapple with the cathartic effects of the funeral and the use of ritual as a forum for the creation and ...
Page 4
... suggesting that the organisation of the dead in commercial burial space was inextricable from conceptions of the city as a body needing careful regulation to maintain healthiness . 13 Focusing exclusively on the commercialisation of ...
... suggesting that the organisation of the dead in commercial burial space was inextricable from conceptions of the city as a body needing careful regulation to maintain healthiness . 13 Focusing exclusively on the commercialisation of ...
Page 8
... suggests that Victorian cultures of grief can best be characterised by the Evangelical ideal of the 'good death', characterised by persistent faith, humility and submission to the will of God in the face of loss. In this model ...
... suggests that Victorian cultures of grief can best be characterised by the Evangelical ideal of the 'good death', characterised by persistent faith, humility and submission to the will of God in the face of loss. In this model ...
Page 9
... 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 mediated through multiple ...
... 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 mediated through multiple ...
Page 11
... suggests that many biographers felt such material was inappropriate for respect- able narratives concerned with the development of moral , political and intellectual personalities . Assessing these silences , Vincent warns against the ...
... suggests that many biographers felt such material was inappropriate for respect- able narratives concerned with the development of moral , political and intellectual personalities . Assessing these silences , Vincent warns against the ...
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