funerals
funerals are rituals which enable relatives and friends of the dead person to express their feelings and enable mourners to show their grief. The forms of such ceremonies have varied according to the beliefs, religious or other, and the status of the deceased and the wishes of the principal mourners.
Most funerals in Britain before the 19th cent. followed rituals prescribed by Christian churches and varied according to the social standing of the deceased. Before the Reformation, when Britain formed part of catholic Christendom, the funeral included a requiem mass. When a wealthy person died, the funeral ceremonies followed the terms of the will. Often money was left to pay for special clothes for mourners and for distributions of food, drink, clothing, and even money to the poor of the locality, so that the departed soul might benefit from the prayers of those who received charity. Wills often included arrangements for trustees to take income from property in order to build a chantry chapel and to make charitable gifts such as almshouses, schools, church buildings, and even bridges to the community. Priests received a fee to celebrate a memorial mass in the chantry and further alms were given to those who attended the service.
After the Reformation many wealthy protestants continued earlier traditions by making bequests to support good works such as almshouses and schools. Some left money to buy funeral clothes for mourners, especially servants, although some puritans regarded special clothing as inappropriate.
Before and after the Reformation the families of the deceased commemorated them by erecting tombs bearing brasses or sculptures or placed elaborate gravestones in churchyards. Large numbers of such memorials survive.
State funerals for sovereigns were arranged by the earl marshal. Outstanding statesmen and military commanders were sometimes honoured by a state funeral. For less exalted people funerals were arranged according to local and family traditions. Many people turned to an undertaker, or funeral director, although these terms were not commonly used until the later 19th cent. In most towns and villages a clergyman conducted the religious service including the burial of the body. The sexton had the task of digging the grave in the churchyard. From 1667 until 1814 the law required that bodies should be buried in a woollen shroud. However, fashion and greater affluence made coffins increasingly popular. In the case of pauper deaths, the Poor Law authority paid for a simple funeral.
The accuracy of the records of those buried in the churchyard depended on the diligence of the parish clerk in keeping the parish register and the burial of those with unorthodox religious or social views often went unrecorded. The registration of deaths became a legal obligation only in 1837.
During the 19th cent. many nonconformists held funerals in their own places of worship and, rather than pay fees to be buried in the parish churchyard, established their own burial grounds. Concurrently, many growing towns with overcrowded churchyards took advantage of the Act of 1853 which permitted ratepayers to elect a board with powers to buy land for a cemetery. Land in these burial grounds was divided according to denomination and plots could be purchased for a fixed period or in perpetuity. The costs of funerals were such that poorer people often took out special insurance to meet the bills and saved so that mourners could have an appropriate ‘wake’. One of the original provisions of the ‘welfare state’ established in the 1940s was a burial grant to help meet the cost of a funeral.
General interest in the practice of disposing of the dead by cremation, which was already established amongst groups such as gypsies who believed that the dead and their worldly goods should be burned, grew in the 19th cent. Cremation became legal in 1885 and funerals took place in crematoria which were built by local authorities. Funerals involving cremation of the deceased became more frequent, increasingly without a religious service, during the 20th cent. Since the First World War, there has also been a decline in the elaborate rituals of mourning. With the exception of state funerals, most modern funerals do not involve special clothing or arrangements. Regardless of social standing, mourning has become much more private and the expression of grief more personal.
Most funerals in Britain before the 19th cent. followed rituals prescribed by Christian churches and varied according to the social standing of the deceased. Before the Reformation, when Britain formed part of catholic Christendom, the funeral included a requiem mass. When a wealthy person died, the funeral ceremonies followed the terms of the will. Often money was left to pay for special clothes for mourners and for distributions of food, drink, clothing, and even money to the poor of the locality, so that the departed soul might benefit from the prayers of those who received charity. Wills often included arrangements for trustees to take income from property in order to build a chantry chapel and to make charitable gifts such as almshouses, schools, church buildings, and even bridges to the community. Priests received a fee to celebrate a memorial mass in the chantry and further alms were given to those who attended the service.
After the Reformation many wealthy protestants continued earlier traditions by making bequests to support good works such as almshouses and schools. Some left money to buy funeral clothes for mourners, especially servants, although some puritans regarded special clothing as inappropriate.
Before and after the Reformation the families of the deceased commemorated them by erecting tombs bearing brasses or sculptures or placed elaborate gravestones in churchyards. Large numbers of such memorials survive.
State funerals for sovereigns were arranged by the earl marshal. Outstanding statesmen and military commanders were sometimes honoured by a state funeral. For less exalted people funerals were arranged according to local and family traditions. Many people turned to an undertaker, or funeral director, although these terms were not commonly used until the later 19th cent. In most towns and villages a clergyman conducted the religious service including the burial of the body. The sexton had the task of digging the grave in the churchyard. From 1667 until 1814 the law required that bodies should be buried in a woollen shroud. However, fashion and greater affluence made coffins increasingly popular. In the case of pauper deaths, the Poor Law authority paid for a simple funeral.
The accuracy of the records of those buried in the churchyard depended on the diligence of the parish clerk in keeping the parish register and the burial of those with unorthodox religious or social views often went unrecorded. The registration of deaths became a legal obligation only in 1837.
During the 19th cent. many nonconformists held funerals in their own places of worship and, rather than pay fees to be buried in the parish churchyard, established their own burial grounds. Concurrently, many growing towns with overcrowded churchyards took advantage of the Act of 1853 which permitted ratepayers to elect a board with powers to buy land for a cemetery. Land in these burial grounds was divided according to denomination and plots could be purchased for a fixed period or in perpetuity. The costs of funerals were such that poorer people often took out special insurance to meet the bills and saved so that mourners could have an appropriate ‘wake’. One of the original provisions of the ‘welfare state’ established in the 1940s was a burial grant to help meet the cost of a funeral.
General interest in the practice of disposing of the dead by cremation, which was already established amongst groups such as gypsies who believed that the dead and their worldly goods should be burned, grew in the 19th cent. Cremation became legal in 1885 and funerals took place in crematoria which were built by local authorities. Funerals involving cremation of the deceased became more frequent, increasingly without a religious service, during the 20th cent. Since the First World War, there has also been a decline in the elaborate rituals of mourning. With the exception of state funerals, most modern funerals do not involve special clothing or arrangements. Regardless of social standing, mourning has become much more private and the expression of grief more personal.
Ian John Ernest Keil
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funerals