Contextualising Victorian Monuments

Although I introduced my research in my first post, I did not go into great detail about why exactly I am looking at the Victorian era. I intend to provide a more thorough background to my interest in Victorian era burials,as well as a bit of history on Victorian funerals in this post. In this way, I can be clear about why I am so interested in doing this research, as well as provide a contextual base to enhance understanding of Victorian attitudes about death.

In my introduction I stated why I am interested in working at St. Stephen's Church and how this project idea came about. However, I have yet to explain why I am so interested Victorian era burial trends. Ever since I was a child, history has been one of my favourite subjects, and thus anything historical has always caught my attention. Cemeteries often have attracted me as they often provide a breadth of historical information with personal anecdotes, names, and motifs written or carved on the monuments. One of the first experiences I had with a cemetery was one behind a friend's house on an acreage they were renting. This particular acreage had a very old farmhouse on it, and the cemetery behind it was an old family cemetery. Almost all of the monuments dated to the mid 19th century to the early 20th century. Most of the monuments were rather ornate and our imaginations began to run wild imagining the lives that the people described must have lived in her house. As I grew up, I noticed that monuments dating around the Victorian era tended to be more ornate and varied. This pattern was explained somewhat when I began to learn about Victorian attitudes about death. Since then, this era has been particularly interesting to me. When I discovered that the child burial patterns in Ross Bay conformed to Victorian era trends, it made me wonder what other trends were present in that period.

The Angel of Grief monument erected by William Story for his wife in 1894. The link below provides the full story.  A quick Google search reveals the popularity of this monument in the era.
http://wallacestudy.blogspot.ca/2013/03/the-angel-of-grief.html

Here are some links that will hopefully provide easy access to contextual information about Victorian era funerals and mourning. Not all of these touch on monuments, but it does provide a good idea of the attitudes that may help to explain the types of monuments found in the Victorian Era. The gist of many of the articles is that funerals tended to be an extravagant affair in the Victorian era. People would forgo the necessities of life in order to ensure proper funerals. Mourning for widows was extended over a long period of time, and for the first year they were required to wear all black. Length and extent of mourning depended on how close a person was to the deceased (i.e. the more distantly related, the less mourning was required). Many people in the Victorian era had many superstitions about death, and thus small rituals would be followed such as stopping all the clocks in a house and covering mirrors once someone has died. Victorian era obsession with death was often exemplified in poetry and prose, and a favourite pastime of Victorians was picnicking in cemeteries.

Mourning in the Victorian Era by Heather Rothman: This article provides a brief description of appropriate behaviour and dress around mourning as well as external sources.

Victorian Funeral Customs and Superstitions: This is a post on a blog for Oak Grove Cemetery, which is a Victorian era cemetery in Fall River, Massachusetts. This particular post touches on fears many Victorians had surrounding death and being buried (or being buried alive, a real but rare occurrence). If you look to the right and scroll down, you can find a section called categories where other interesting posts about the cemetery and Victorian era practices are listed.  There is an interesting post entitled "Arches, gates, and doors" that provides information on the symbolism of these types of monuments.

Funeral Practices in the Victorian Era: This article provides an in depth overview of what a Victorian era funeral would look like, what kind of funeral money could buy, and even touches on types of monuments that were popular.

So this explains the deep rooted interest in the Victorian era that has sustained my interest in researching trends in this period. I have also attempted to provide a few resources that will help contextualise some of the attitudes surrounding death and funerals in the Victorian era.