Q&A
Judith Flanders explains some of the rituals and rites performed by and important to the Victorians
How did people in the Victorian era care for the dying?
Obviously, there were as many ways of caring for the dying in the 19th century as there are today. The main difference, perhaps, was that for the great bulk of the population, dying happened at home. Hospitals restricted their care to a small number of diseases, and were not considered good places to be, so if you had money, you were looked after at home by your family and by servants; if you didn’t have money, you couldn’t afford the hospitals, and so you too were looked after at home by your family.
Dying could also be a very prolonged process. If you had, say, tuberculosis, you might well be bedridden for months, possibly years. You knew you weren’t going to be cured, everyone around you knew you weren’t going to be cured, and so you just waited for that final day.
In what ways were Victorian deaths public affairs?
Deaths were public in two ways. With people being looked after at home, dying, too, took place at home. Child mortality was terrifyingly high: the great majority of children grew up in households where one or more of their siblings died before their fifth birthday. In fact, more children died than old people, making death ever-present. And then after death, funeral processions could also be public affairs. A prosperous middle-class funeral included two ‘mutes’ – men who stood outside the front door holding staffs swathed with black fabric – until the coffin came out. The horses were
decorated with black plumed feathers, and if the money could be spared, a ‘featherman’ walked in front carrying a tray with more black feathers, with the carriages of the mourners lined up behind as they were watched by passersby in the street.
What were death tokens and what omens did Victorians look out for that foretold death?
Death tokens were omens, and were generally considered to be the superstitions of uneducated, country people – although many more probably half-believed them too. They varied from region to region, and decade to decade, but almost anything could portend death. If a cradle was set to rocking before a baby was laid in it for the first Victorians, particularly those in the first half of the 19th century, was their elaborate natu
