Victorian Death and Mourning
OCTOBER 1 - November 1
Last half of the 1800s brought widespread changes to Victorian life. Rapid industrialization and urbanization resulted in fast-paced, constant change which, in turn, fostered a spectrum of social and economic problems that permeated every aspect of Victorian life. Among these were deplorable working conditions, poverty, alcoholism, rise of crime, widespread disease. There was one constant in Victorian life: Death.
In London during the middle of the 19th century, the average lifespan for the middle to upper class males was only 44 years, for tradesmen 25 years, for laborers a mere 22 years as conditions such as quality of life, quality of health care, difficulty of work diminished proportionally with a descent in economic class. The grime toll was even higher on children. A staggering three out of every five children born to working class families died by the age of 5, mostly from childhood diseases like typhoid, measles, diphtheria, scarlet fever, and rubella.
Death was so commonplace that it permeated every aspect of Victorian life and led to a morbid fascination with the macabre and elaborate rituals to commemorate the dead. In many ways, coping with death became an art form.
Hearthstone’s exploration of Victorian ideas on death and mourning is part of its month-long exhibit with the entire house decorated according to Victorian norms (draped windows and mirrors, stopped clocks, overturned photos, and a casket in the parlor) and exhibits of Victorian memento mori (items made to remind the living of the dead) on loan from the Loomis Family Collection which includes jewelry made from the departed loved one’s hair as well funereal items. Mourning clothing, which was highly regimented, is also on display.
Victorian Death and Mourning is included on all regular daytime tours of Hearthstone and serves as a backdrop for special daytime tours Horrors of the Household and evening theatrical performances of Sequential Killers of the Victorian Age - Season Nine (please refer to the events section for details on both).