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
... working-class attitudes towards death. This is not to 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 ...
... working-class attitudes towards death. This is not to 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 ...
Page 4
... and Religion Since 1700 (London: Hambledon, 1993), 183–200 (185). 15 Ibid.,186. 16 Ibid.,197. See especially G. Stedman Jones, 'Working-Class Culture and Working-Class Politics 4 Death, Grief and Poverty in Britain, 1870–1914.
... and Religion Since 1700 (London: Hambledon, 1993), 183–200 (185). 15 Ibid.,186. 16 Ibid.,197. See especially G. Stedman Jones, 'Working-Class Culture and Working-Class Politics 4 Death, Grief and Poverty in Britain, 1870–1914.
Page 5
... working classes, the canny undertaker could exploit the anxieties of the bereaved concerning their position within local social and economic hierarchies. As Paul Johnson notes, the persistent financial insecurity of most working-class ...
... working classes, the canny undertaker could exploit the anxieties of the bereaved concerning their position within local social and economic hierarchies. As Paul Johnson notes, the persistent financial insecurity of most working-class ...
Page 6
... working-class culture of death. Yet respectability was (and is) a slippery concept. A term familiar to the ... working classes which operated to create separate and conflicting identities and interests.23 Even Geoffrey Best's 'brisk ...
... working-class culture of death. Yet respectability was (and is) a slippery concept. A term familiar to the ... working classes which operated to create separate and conflicting identities and interests.23 Even Geoffrey Best's 'brisk ...
Page 7
... working-class culture, but, rather, to suggest that almost glib references to the funeral as the touchstone of working-class respectability need further exploration. Definitions of the 'respectable funeral' were usually set in ...
... working-class culture, but, rather, to suggest that almost glib references to the funeral as the touchstone of working-class respectability need further exploration. Definitions of the 'respectable funeral' were usually set in ...
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
aged argued associated authorities babies BALS belief bereaved body Bolton Book born Burial Board Catholic cemetery century child claim classes coffin common concerning context corpse cost culture customs dead death deceased described desire died dying emotional especially expense experience expression families father feelings friends funeral grave grief ground History Hope hospital identity implied indicate individuals infant instance interment Jones Lancet language laying Liverpool living London loss LVRO March material meaning memory Moreover mortality mother mourning neglect neighbours noted notions observed Office Oxford parents pauper perceived perceptions poor poverty practice Reference reflected relationship relatives religious remains removal Report represented respectability responses rites rituals Roberts seems sense shared shillings sick significance social space spiritual story Street suggests Tape University Press Victorian whilst widow woman women workhouse working-class World