Wearing the jewelry of bereavement ………..

 Now sooner or later any study of the Victorian period comes up against those elaborate practices surrounding bereavement.

Funeral symbolism,the Foster and Pawson families in Southern Cemetery, 2014

The most obvious starting point are our grand public cemeteries and parish grave yards with those tall, and elaborate monuments which stand between rows of more simple headstones.

Urns and Angels, 2016

And amongst these, there are a few which  are heavy with symbolism, like the broken pillar, the clasped hands and the Angel.

The broken pillar signifying a life cut short, the clasped hands suggesting  either hope of reunification in the next life, or farewell, while the Angel acts as a guide, guards the tomb, and directs the living visitor to think heavenward.

Added to these are the a variety of different urns.  "The Urn with a flame indicates new life and undying remembrance, while the draped Urn [stands for] death.*

And in the same way there was an elaborate set of practices around which the period of mourning was conducted. 

“There were three distinct mourning periods: deep mourning or full mourning, second mourning, and half-mourning. 

The length of time for each period would depend on the relationship with the deceased. 

For example, women were to be in deep mourning for two years after their husband’s death, essentially keeping them from being comforted by others”.*

Bereavement jewellry, 2021

During the first year the only jewelry permitted was a wedding ring and there after some could be worn but it had to be black or white, and tended to be made from Whitby jet, Irish bog oak, and artificial French jet or vulcanite.**

And it was examples of this “bereavement jewelry” which I came across in The Mercer Art Gallery in Harrogate.  I had read about them and seen pictures, but there was something quite moving about looking at them in a cabinet and reflecting on the link with a real person who had mourned a loved one.***

Jet funeral art, 2021

Of course there is nothing unique about the story, and I must confess that some of the details have been culled  from others research, but none the less there is something very powerful about coming across your own bit of “bereavement art”.

Location, Southern Cemetery, Manchester, and The Mercer Art Gallery, Harrogate

Pictures;  the monument to the Foster and Pawson families in Southern Cemetery, 2014, and Victorian Mourning Jewelery, The Mercer Art Gallery, 2021, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

*The Symbolism of Victorian Funerary Art, Undercliffe Cemetery Trust, Bradford,  https://www.undercliffecemetery.co.uk/gallery/funerary-art/

** Death and Mourning Practices in the Victorian Age, Victorian rules for the end of life, Marilyn A. Mendoza Ph.D., Psychology Today 2018, https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/understanding-grief/201812/death-and-mourning-practices-in-the-victorian-age

***The Mercer Art Gallery, Harrogate