Category: Archaeology

Prior to the Capital Punishment Amendment Act 1868, executions of criminals were public affairs. After the introduction of this act, executions were carried out within the walls of the prison, away from the prying eyes of the general public. In the Victorian era, hanging could attract thousands of spectators- with the events usually advertised prior and reported on in local broadsheets. Prior to 1861 around 222 crimes were considered capital offences until this was rectified by the Criminal Law Consolidation Act. The act meant four crimes were considered a hanging offence, these included murder, arson in a royal dockyard, violent piracy and treason.
The introduction of the ‘long drop’ during this period allowed for a more successful attempt at an instantaneous death. Prior to this strangulation was the only means by which death occurred when hanged. With this new ‘improved method’, the hanged would likely die from dislocated vertebrae or a rupture of the jugular vein. It is likely the accused I discuss below were not on the receiving end of this method, as it was only being introduced into England by William Marwood in the 1870’s after the concept had been developed in Ireland after the autopsy of a hanging at Galway Gaol in 1853.
The examples of the executions I have chosen for this blog post dated prior to 1868 (except for one part of the discussion), before the introduction of the act. From 1874 more measures to ensure quicker methods of hanging were introduced and the accused were treated more humanely. It is through the victims of execution that we get insights into societal attitudes to execution as spectacle, i.e. how they were treated and what remains of them in the archaeological and historical record.

William Burke: Executed in 1829, Edinburgh.
Perhaps the most infamous murderers of the 19th century, Burke and Hare are thought to have killed upwards of 16 people for the price of seven to ten pounds per body. The victims were killed for dissection and paid for by for the well-known anatomy professor, Robert Knox. The duo is most associated with the term ‘body snatchers’ and had a part to play in the introduction of the 1832 Anatomy Act that allowed legal cadaver donation to medical science to stop the illicit cadaver trade. Burke was hanged in front of a crowd of 25,000 and his body was put on public display before being donated to medical science. The famous Professor Alexander Monro tertius carried out the public dissection of Burke’s corpse. This shows that, even after the execution had been carried out, the bodies of criminals were still used as public entertainment. Hare escaped across the border into England after testifying against Burke, and his whereabouts became unknown shortly after that. Anatomy students are thought to have taken Burke’s skin to use as book binding and as other ‘souvenirs’. His death mask and skeleton are still on display in the Surgeons Hall museum Edinburgh and at University of Edinburgh, as well as a pocketbook made from his skin. The keeping of such ‘curiosities’ emphasises the fascination society had, and still has, on criminals of violent crimes. I myself have visited Surgeons Hall museum to view these types of specimens.

Maria Manning: Executed with her husband, Fredrick, in 1849, London.
Maria was born in Switzerland in 1821 and moved to London to work as a maid to Lady Blantyre. Blantyre was a wealthy woman, and the daughter of the Duchess of Sunderland. After having been proposed to by two men- Fredrick Manning and Patrick O Connor- Maria chose to marry Fredrick, a decision she came to regret as O Connor had been the wealthier of the two men. She lured O Connor to her home for dinner, under the pretence she would provide sexual favours, and shot him in the back of the head. The shot did not kill him, with Fredrick finished him off with a crowbar. The murder was motivated by money and jealously, with O Connors body being discovered under the couple’s flagstones by police. Up to 50,000 people are thought to have attended the hangings, with Charles Dickens attending the execution himself. Maria was considered ‘the star of the show’, with her black satin dress she was executed in sold for profit and her death mask was included in Madame Tussaud’s Chamber of Horrors. The Wellcome Trust has the copy of the lithograph entitled ‘The death mask of Maria Manning, the murdered: three views’ by John Lane, created in attempt to assist Tussaud with the likeness. The sexual motivations for the murder and the dominance of the female in the marriage both intrigued and disgusted Victorians. Maria was sensationalised as glamorous, and with the executions of women being particularly rare it’s no wonder her execution caused such an interest. The couple were apparently the first couple to be hanged together since 1700. The broadsheet printed on the execution is held by the British Library, these sheets were cheaply produced and sold on the streets to the masses. It is thought the Manning broadsheet printed around 2.5 million copies.

Sarah Lloyd: Executed in 1800, Bury St Edmonds.
Sarah Lloyd was no more than 22 years of age when she was executed. Her story is tragic and emphasises the importance put upon obedience in female servants at the time. An illiterate servant, Sarah was enlisted by a man called Joseph Clarke to steal from her mistress, after which he attempted to set the house on fire. Clarke never admitted to any crime, and the judge decided Sarah would be made an example of. He sentenced her to death despite numerous outcries. The local Rev Drummond petitioned for Sarah as he recognised her as a ‘helpless instrument’ who had fallen under Clarke’s spell. Clarke did not receive any punishment for his crimes. Sarah was executed in front of a weeping crowd on the 23rd April 1800, she highlighted the type of person that was the most likely to be executed – a person of lower class and with little education (Sarah wasn’t even sure of her own age, she may have been only 19 years old when executed). Her gravestone states ‘May my example be a warning to thousands’- her reported last words as she stood on the gallows. Archaeologically, this seems to be all that remains of her execution, perhaps echoing how unimportant she was deemed in society. The last woman to be hanged in Britain was Ruth Ellis, who was executed in 1955. Like Lloyd, there was a large public outcry when Ellis was sentenced. She was a mother of two who had shot an abusive partner, David Blakely, thought to have induced a miscarriage shortly before the murder. Ellis had been to hospital multiple times for treatment of injuries inflicted by Blakely. Another woman by the name of Sarah Lloyd had murdered her elderly neighbour in 1955 by hitting her with a shovel and pouring boiling water on her- she had been sentenced to death but did not hang, even though no one petitioned for her. Ellis was not given the same treatment. As with the 1800 case of Sarah Lloyd, Ruth Ellis was not given any leniency because of her background – she was thought to provide sexual favours for men and liked to drink. Both hangings caused public outrage (though Ellis committed premeditated murder), even though they were over 150 years apart. Although Ellis does not fit with the 19th century timeline (her execution was carried out privately), her execution is a good example of how the public narrative was similar in much earlier cases towards certain accused.

Public execution: entertainment for the masses, or a warning to others?
Archaeological material associated with victims of public execution in 19th century Britain can be interpreted in several ways. The material, whether that was the body itself or newspaper clippings etc., show that the public reaction towards the gruesome spectacle was very much based on the crime committed and the person who committed them. Hangings weren’t all we assume they were- a crowd of the poor population shouting obscenities at the accused. As with the case of Sarah Lloyd, the public did not want her hanged, and often the educated, more wealthier classes would also attend the hangings. The input of mathematicians and medical doctors in developing the more humane long drop method in the second half of the 19th century also comments on the changing attitudes towards the accused. The suffered during and prior to the execution became a concern where it hadn’t before – perhaps due to outcries from the general public and medical community alike? The keeping of ‘mementos’ from the hanged (particularly in the case of Burke) also highlights the celebrity status that could accompany the criminals. The fascination we still have with these artefacts can only comment on our own fascination with these executions- but the important question to ask is do we view them as victims or simply as criminals?

Sources
http://vcp.e2bn.org/justice/page11359-types-of-punishment-hanging.html
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Vict/31-32/24
http://www.bl.uk/learning/histcitizen/victorians/crime/broadsides/hangings.html
https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofScotland/Burke-Hare-infamous-murderers-graverobbers/
https://museum.rcsed.ac.uk/the-collection/key-collections/key-object-page?objID=1225&page=2
https://www.ed.ac.uk/biomedical-sciences/anatomy/anatomical-museum/collection/people/burke
https://www.capitalpunishmentuk.org/mannings.html
https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/a-broadside-on-the-execution-of-the-mannings
http://oldoperatingtheatre.com/blog/there-together-be-suspended
https://wellcomecollection.org/works/jjfvanve
https://www.europeana.eu/en/item/9200579/nm2chxqu
Moore, J., (2018) Murder by Numbers: Fascinating Figures Behind the Worlds Worst Crimes. The History Press: UK.
https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/The-Art-of-Hanging/
https://www.naomiclifford.com/sarah-lloyd/
Ballinger, A., (2019) Dead Woman Walking: Executed Women in England and Wales, 1900-55. Routledge.
http://www.capitalpunishmentuk.org/child.html
https://www.flickr.com/photos/brizzlebornandbred/6314035695
http://www.rowdiva.com/Lloyd.html
http://www.britishexecutions.co.uk/execution-content.php?key=2265&termRef=Sarah%20Lloyd
http://www.capitalpunishmentuk.org/lloyd.html
https://www.pressreader.com/uk/bbc-history-magazine/20180125/281651075515787
https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/art-and-design/visual-art/ruth-ellis-the-model-who-smiled-at-her-executioner-1.3690704
http://www.capitalpunishmentuk.org/longdrop.html
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/real-life-stories/ruth-ellis-last-woman-britain-12176921

Grief is a personal experience, but it can be largely influenced by societal norms, cultural background and it is very much a product of the era in which the death occurred. Grieving practices in one society can seem completely alien to another- I myself have experienced this in the UK when I discuss rural, Irish, Catholic death and grieving practices with friends and colleagues. It seems incomprehensible to many I spoke with that we would have our deceased loved one in our family home as part of the mourning associated with an Irish wake, just as it seems alien to me that their loved one would stay in the funeral home, often for weeks, before the funeral.
Even before I started training with an embalmer, I was always comfortable in seeing a dead body as the first time I saw one was when I was eight years old. It was my grandfather, and he was ‘waked’ traditionally at home. Since then, I have seen the deceased body of numerous loved ones- including both of my parents who died young, cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents. Although the sadness at each of their wakes was profound, it should be said that these wakes assisted in the grieving process. With sadness, there also came laughing about good times, reminiscing and family bonding. Wakes weren’t all a bad experience, and I can totally understand why someone who isn’t used to such grieving practices would find that confusing. This is something we should bear in mind as I discuss Victorian grieving. What may seem odd and confusing by today’s standards, was probably a source of comfort for those who mourned in that era. To discuss Victorian death and grieving practices I have selected four archaeological items I feel best illustrate a narrative of the 19th century for the reader. It has been suggested that the almost obsessive nature of grieving in this period was partly fuelled by Queen Victoria and her mourning for her husband Prince Albert. Victorians became obsessed with the etiquette associated with mourning and would spend a great deal of money on giving their loved one a ‘good death’. Death was frequent in society, and there was always an open conversation about arrangements and practices (by today’s standards we would probably call this a ‘morbid fascination’)- some women even included their own shrouds to wear when they passed away in their wedding dowry. The intricacies of Victorian grief and mourning could be discussed for hours on end with hundreds of objects at our disposal, but below are the objects I have chosen for this blog post for a snapshot into Victorian grief.

1. Death Photography, often referred to as ‘Memento Mori’
   Artefact: 19th Century image of a little girl with her deceased sister.

With the emergence of photography as an everyday practice in the 19th century, it is no wonder the emerging Victorian middle class adapted the practice in their grieving. Photography was a quicker and cheaper option than portrait painting, thanks to the introduction of daguerreotype images in the 1830s. The examples of the images of this type from the time are all posed and well-staged. Some of the images show the living loved ones slightly blurred from movement during exposure, whilst their deceased love one is shown with a crisper image. Children were particularly used as subjects, as the mortality rate was so high, with families often wanting to capture all their family before burial. Children often posed with their dead siblings, as we can see from the example seen below of two young sisters. This would seem an awful thing to ask of a child to do today, to pose with their dead sibling- but children of the time were well acquainted with death and grew up with it. BBC news wrote an article on the topic of Victorian death photography- calling it upsetting, but how are/ were these images upsetting? Are they upsetting us as we view death today? These images certainly didn’t upset the people who took them, on the contrary- they helped them mourn healthily by their own standards.

2. Mourning Jewellery, also referred to as ‘Memento Mori’
   Artefact: Mourning onyx earrings with blond hair, c. 1860-70.

Mourning jewellery was particularly popular amongst Victorian women, with hair often used in ornaments such as lockets. However, within the first year of ‘deep mourning’, no ornaments were to be worn except for dark stones such as jet or onyx. Photographs as well as the hair of a loved one was often worn around the neck, something which many people still do today (myself included, I have a gold locket with an image of my mother and a small piece of her hair). These ornaments became a strong part of Victorian grieving traditions, and many examples can still be found in museums and antique stores. They are often collected by private collectors today, continuing the trend of ‘morbid fascination’. There are even examples of mourning jewellery made from glass eyes and teeth. Many also were inscribed with Latin inscriptions and images of skeletons.

3. Death Masks
   Artefact: 19th Century death masks from University College London.

Death masks were plaster casts made of the deceased face upon their death. Many casts were made of loved ones for families to keep after their burial- however, many were taken of criminals and the executed, used for studies such as that of emerging phrenology at the time. Death masks were often displayed in the home, with Queen Victoria having had a bust made of Prince Albert that was displayed in many of the family photographs after his death. Instead of a photograph, death masks were more of a 3D remembrance of a loved one – the mask was usually cast very soon after death so that post-mortem bloating did not compromise accuracy. The cast was usually filled with wax or metal to create the finished likeness. A grease of some sort was applied to the face before plaster bandages were used to prevent facial hair from sticking to the mixture. The examples shown below are from University College London, whilst some of them are criminals some of them are loved ones requested to be set in plaster by their family – we even see an example of a child. The child is thought to be a young musical genius and was chosen for phrenology as to try and map his traits and personality.

4. Black Clothing
   Artefact: Photograph of the five daughters of Prince Albert in mourning dress, 1861.

Today the practice of wearing black for funerals is still widespread in western grieving traditions- usually just at the funeral of a loved one. However, in the Victorian era, this was practiced in the first year after death but often extended to two- two and a half years after death. In the case of Queen Victoria, she wore black clothing in the forty years after her husband’s death until her own death in 1901- explaining why the tradition became stricter in the second half of the 19th century. Most photographs we see of the queen in the historical record show her dressed heavily in black and dark colours such as purple or grey. Women, especially widows, were expected to wear the heavy black dress and veil, also referred to as widow’s weeds. Those who couldn’t afford new mourning clothing usually dyed old garments black, with even jewellery and buttons strictly meant to be black as well. Usually the amount of black worn was lessened as time went on (the amount of time depended on the relationship with the deceased). However, in a time where death was so commonplace it was often that women spent years in black attire, as one mourning period ran into the next. The only exception to wearing black attire was when the death of a young girl occurred. Many people would wear white in the form of silk ribbons, hat bands or hoods to represent the purity of the deceased girl.
This was the only exception however, with black the most commonplace colour. Most mourning images of the time show ladies in black dress, many often have their faces concealed with a long black veil called a ‘weeping veil’. These veils were usually made of a silk fabric called crape, and often the dye could cause skin irritations and other health problems.

Have Victorian customs shaped our grieving today?
It is fair to say that the Victorians were comfortable with the prospect of their own death or the death of a loved one. Their regimented grieving practices show a society comfortable with losing loved ones, with daily lives focused around death and its inevitability. As emphasised in the archaeological material, Victorian society were strict in their grieving and were not afraid to show aspects of their bereavement. One can question how ‘healthy’ an approach this is, but it should be said that this illustrates a variety in the way society grieved that was deemed appropriate. Echoes of the era survive today in the way we say goodbye to loved ones. Black is still worn in Western Christian funerals, open coffins are common, as is types of mourning jewellery. What we deemed strange in past and a ‘morbid curiosity’ has in fact diluted down to our present- and remains the bones of how we grieve in society today.

Sources
https://www.ranker.com/list/victorian-mourning-customs/lisa-waugh
https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/understanding-grief/201812/death-and-mourning-practices-in-the-victorian-age
http://www.angelpig.net/victorian/mourning.html
https://theconversation.com/memento-mori-remember-that-you-have-to-die-42823
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-36389581
https://www.nationaljeweler.com/independents/2058-the-history-behind-victorian-mourning-jewelry
https://victorianmonsters.wordpress.com/victorian-funerary-practices/
https://io9.gizmodo.com/love-after-death-the-beautiful-macabre-world-of-mourn-1498829544
https://www.tchevalier.com/fallingangels/bckgrnd/mourning/
https://www.buzzfeed.com/hayleycampbell/death-masks-and-skull-amnesty
https://missmementomori.wordpress.com/tag/death-mask/
https://avintagevault.wordpress.com/tag/victorian-death-masks/
https://www.historicmysteries.com/death-masks/
https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/death-masks/index.html
https://www.thevintagenews.com/2018/09/16/mourning-fashion/
http://www.katetattersall.com/mourning-dress-victorian/
https://www.racked.com/2018/3/29/17156818/19th-century-mourning-veil

For those interested in all thing’s death related and want to explore the topic further, whether that be funerary archaeology or modern dissection techniques, it can be hard to know which books to start with. The complexity of death as viewed by modern society and the intricacies associated with the treatment of the dead in the past have been a hot topic of many authors, with some focusing on one aspect more than another depending on their professional background and interests. Death is a vast topic with so many branches in different academic fields, and it is difficult to locate a ‘one size fits all’ narrative. So, I have selected five books that discuss numerous death related topics- from cadaver related research to osteology- all these books have something for everyone and are excellently written.

1. Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: And Other Lessons from the Crematory by Caitlin Doughty.
   Caitlin Doughty is quite well known in the funeral industry. Born in Hawaii, Doughty started her career in the death industry as a crematory assistant at Westwind Cremation in San Francisco before attending mortuary school. Her first book, Smoke Gets in Your Eyes (later she wrote From Here to Eternity which is worth a read if you are interested in world cultures and death) documents her personal encounters with death in a manner that is humorous as well as professional. The book focuses mainly on her time spent at Westwind and her early interactions with corpses and grieving families. Heart-breaking and heart-warming, Doughty tells tales about her time spent processing cremated remains, assisting the embalmer, picking up corpses and her general duties surrounding her handling of the dead. She is a huge advocate for ‘death positive’ attitudes having set up the organisation The Order of the Good Death which promotes natural burial and tries to decrease the real anxieties we all have about dying. She encourages her readers to talk about death openly with their loved ones to eliminate fear surrounding the subject. This is a must read for anyone interested in the funeral industry of today and what the job entails at crematoriums and funeral homes alike.

2. Past Mortems: Life and Death Behind Mortuary Doors by Carla Valentine.
   Carla Valentine is the current technical curator of the St Bart’s pathology museum in London and has worked for years as an anatomical pathology technologist. She also studied Forensic Anthropology and Archaeology, having taken part in plague grave excavations and WW1 grave excavations. Valentine has the best of both worlds, with an interest in both pathology and specimens of the past. Her book, Past Mortems, is great for those interested in modern anatomy and autopsies. Valentine discusses decomposition, dissection and death in detail in a way that is both personal and factual. Like Doughty, Valentine encourages discussions about death and encourages positive attitudes when talking about mortality. Her compassion for the bereaved is also evident, particularly when she discusses helping identify the victims of the 2005 London bombings. This book is a must read for those with a fascination for pathology and mortuary practice.

3. All That Remains: A Life in Death by Dame Professor Sue Black.
   For those interested in the field of forensic anthropology and bioarchaeology, the name, Sue Black, will be particularly well known. Sue Black was Professor of Anatomy and Forensic Anthropology at the University of Dundee between 2005 and 2018, where she was head of the Centre for Anatomy and Human Identification at the University of Dundee (CAHID). Prof Black has also assisted police in criminal investigations and has authored/ co- authored numerous academic publications, as well as starred on BBC Two’s History Cold Case. All That Remains allows Black to discuss her remarkable career as a forensic anthropologist. She talks about human remains from numerous contexts, including archaeological burials, crimes, war zones and labs. Pairing these accounts with her personal encounters with death growing up in a strict, Scottish, Presbyterian family, Prof Black manages to fully engage with the reader and allow them to learn something from beginning to end. This book should be required reading for those studying forensic anthropology or other similar fields.

4. The American Way of Death by Jessica Mitford.
   Funeral industry fanatics will have heard of Jessica Mitford. Born into an aristocratic English family, Mitford’s political ideologies were extreme in comparison to her upbringing. She placed herself firmly in the far-left wing of politics and joined the American Communist Party with her second husband, whom she also worked closely with as a civil rights activist. Having joined the Communist Party during the era of McCarthyism, Mitford was a woman who was not afraid to speak her mind. Her book The American Way of Death is a social commentary on the American funeral home industry. Now a Classic, the book researched the commercialised aspect of death in 1960’s America and the expense of sentimentality for grieving American families. Mitford strongly criticised the industry and accuses funeral directors of taking advantage of families at difficult times in their lives, with added expenses for funerals seen as unnecessary and extortionate. Even the updated version from the late 1990’s still seems shocking and critical today. This book is a classic on social attitudes towards death and funerals and is well worth a read whether you agree with Mitford’s criticisms or not.

5. Stiff: The Curious Lives of Cadavers by Mary Roach.
   Mary Roach did a fantastic Ted Talk a few years back entitled 10 things you didn’t know about orgasm. It’s clear from this talk that Roach has a fantastic, humorous way of storytelling. Her first book Stiff dates to 2003 but still seems relevant today. The book discusses Roach’s encounters with cadavers and a history of how cadavers have contributed to scientific research. The topics of the book range from body snatching, to body farms, to crash test cadavers. All together she has published seven books, but Stiff is the book for those with an interest in anatomy, forensics and death history. Stiff also discusses the ethical issues raised in using cadavers for experimentation, with Roach questioning whether family members truly understand what their loved one has left their remains. Like the other authors in this list, Roach still manages to find a healthy balance of humour, science and compassion in her writing style.