It has been assumed that the poor in Victorian and Edwardian Britain did not mourn their dead because of high mortality rates. Contesting this approach, Julie-Marie Strange studies the expression of grief among the working class, demonstrating that poverty increased--rather than deadened--it. She illustrates the mourning practices of the working classes through chapters addressing care of the corpse, the funeral, the cemetery, commemoration, and high infant mortality rates. The book draws upon fiction, journalism, and official reports as well as personal testimony.

It has been assumed that the poor in Victorian and Edwardian Britain did not mourn their dead because of high mortality rates. Contesting this approach, Julie-Marie Strange studies the expression of grief among the working class, demonstrating that poverty increased--rather than deadened--it. She illustrates the mourning practices of the working classes through chapters addressing care of the corpse, the funeral, the cemetery, commemoration, and high infant mortality rates. The book draws upon fiction, journalism, and official reports as well as personal testimony.

A pioneering study of Victorian and Edwardian fatherhood, investigating what being, and having, a father meant to working-class people. Based on working-class autobiography, the book challenges dominant assumptions about absent or 'feckless' fathers, and reintegrates the paternal figure within the emotional life of families. Locating autobiography within broader social and cultural commentary, Julie-Marie Strange considers material culture, everyday practice, obligation, duty and comedy as sites for the development and expression of complex emotional lives. Emphasising the importance of...