Victorian Lives : Funeral

Victorian era parents posing with their deceased daughter. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

English: Slum in Glasgow, 1871 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Victorians were obsessed with death because it was so much part of their daily lives. Victorian photographers many times specialized in certain areas of family photography; including post-mortem daguerreotypes. These pictures taken after a loved one had died. It was not memorial photography, that might post a small picture of a love one in life on a grave stone. These pictures were taken mostly of children. These post mortem pictures of deceased children survive in large numbers and are sought after collector's items for those with sentiment yet possibly slightly morose taste.

The young subjects of these photographs were laid out if asleep perhaps in a cradle or in the arms of the grieving parents, Many times they were also posed with their surviving siblings. Sometimes the deceased child was part of the only family portrait ever taken. In times of epidemic when there were large numbers of children succumbing to the same ailments; local photographers only took pictures of the deceased. If there were no death certificates or birth certificates issued during the period of time the child passed the death photo may have been the only record, besides the cemetery record, of the child's existence.

Changing social attitudes were reflected in death photography during the Victorian era. Pictures of children in a sentimental sleeping state were later replaced by pictures of children in coffins. This reflected the Victorians increasing obsession with the outward appearance of things associated with funeral rituals such as coffins, flowers, and grave stones. This was more evident in the late 19^th century when memorial photography with a portrait of the child while living becomes a permanent fixture on gravestones.

While we may think of the practice of Victorian death photography as morbid, Victorians had a different viewpoint .Since few photographs of most children were taken over their growing years, these photographs were often the only visual reminders grieving parents had of how their children looked at the times of their death. These pictures were not hidden away in family photo albums, but left out in parlor so all could be reminded of the family's loss and continuing love of a child that passed.

Death photography today of still born infants and those who die shortly after birth is still somewhat controversial. While some find it odd that parents would want such a reminder of their grief, others take great comfort in having pictures of a child that they were only able to see for such a short time.

Victorian death photography, especially of children has a sad, strangely positive unusual effect on those who look at the pictures today. Children that passed over a hundred years ago, project the angelic qualities that still bring tears to the eyes of those who view the pictures today.

English: Funeral procession

The funeral cortege of Edward the Confessor, from the Bayeux Tapestry (Photo credit: Wikipedia) The funeral procession has been around for centuries in Westren Culture

Trauerschmuck, Brosche, Glas, 19. Jahrh. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)Example of Victorian Mourning Jewelry

English: Advertisement for Victorian mourning garb. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Victorian Funerals

Victorians were fond of the gothic and melodramatic .Death was common place and unlike most weddings of the time, they were conducted with great pomp and circumstance. If a man was wretchedly poor in life his grandest moment of social participation may have been so in death.

It was common for many lower class families to have put aside funds and for the burial of their offspring as childhood mortality was high during the Victorian era (1837-1901). The quality of life for living children suffered so that a fine funeral could be provided the dead.

The mark of any proper Victorian funeral was the funeral procession. In England the processions were much more of a spectacle than they were in the United States. It was grand procession in both countries with pall bears that sometimes had batons, pages, and men dressed in gowns that carried wands. These professions many times became drunken parades as the men waited long periods of time in the cold and drank gin to stay warm. A wealthy family might suffer great social embarrassment if the procession ended up looking like a circus parade; because their hired mourners drank too much.

The first vehicle in the funeral procession was the hearse drawn by six black horses. In the United Kingdom it was customary for the horses to sport dark colored feathered plumes on their heads. The hearse was gilded with gold and silver, and the coffin could be seen in a glass car. Some hearses sported a canopy of black ostrich feathers. Coffins were highly polished and sported silver handles and plates. If cloth covering were used on the coffin; they were attached with brass nails. Colors that were acceptable for funeral cloths were rich purples or greens. Gone were the simple sheer cotton shrouds that had graced the body of the deceased in earlier times.

The other carriages the followed contained the mourners and celery in order of their relation to the deceased. Men wore dark suits and women wore black gowns made of black crape and full black veils. Fashion dictated female family members of the departed use black gloves and black fans. Only mourners outside of the family wore fine black silk as less ostentatious black dress was expected of family members.

Only black jet jewelry was worn by mourners and by female family members for up to two years while the family was officially in the state of mourning. Society dictated that Victorian widow wear full and deep veils for up to two years and only black kid gloves for up to six months. All black dress was worn by the relations of the deceased for at least three months. Crepe was the fabric of choice for most women in morning. Younger women could get away with wearing half morning clothes of purple after a few months as long as they were not a widow.

Most widows avoided social events for 18 months after the death of their husband. Children generally were in muted colors, but not full morning garb three to six months after the death of a sibling or parent. Widowers only avoided polite society for a year after the death of their wife. It is unlikely rural farm families had the time or money to follow these strict Victorian customs too closely.

Victorian wakes were held at the home of the debased and might include friends and family not present at the funeral. Invitations might invite visitors to view the corpse with the family sitting in mourning in the next room. Notes of condolence were sent to the family within ten days after the funeral. Calling cards of a common social nature were left but not expected to be acknowledged by the grieving family for at least three months.

The wake tended to be a large meal provided by the relatives but not the immediate family of the departed. In poor homes food would be brought in by relatives and neighbors to spare the mourning family the chore of preparing food for the wake. In wealthier homes footman and servants were expected to wear simple mourning garb until their master's family stopped official deep mourning. Those who attended the wake may have been given elaborate cards commemorating the death.

Those invited specifically to a 'private "funeral were given even more elaborate cards they would keep in books or in special holders in their pillars. Death announcements on printed cards of black edged paper were sent to distant friends and relatives or out to the community in general if their paper did not print death notices.

Many times Victorian women made wreaths of the hair of the departed that might be displayed at the wake or funeral. Some were wreaths that were keep as funeral mementos and had the braided hair of several family members that passed. Some locks were worn as a sort of morning jewelry in the form of woven chokers or bracelets.

When photography became less expensive, many times photos were taken of the deceased in the casket or posed as if they were sleeping. Pictures of children and infants were especially cherished and might be even printed on funeral cards if the the family could bear the expense. Poetic verse and scripture appeared with at least drawings of angels and other religious symbols on most furneral cards.

When the casket was laid to rest in the cemetery it was thought to be too of a traumatic event to be witnessed by the if witnessed by the female members of the family or children of the newly departed. Only older male members of the family stayed to watch the casket are laid to rest in the ground.