Reactions to tragedy: familial and community memorials to sudden deaths in Britain and Ireland

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Burial, Space, and Memory of Unusual Death" session, at the 2019 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Investment in memorials to those who died in tragic circumstances fits within the contemporary commemorative traditions of the time, but also often shows distinct difference in reaction and investment. This paper examines commemoration of deaths from 19th- and early 20th- century occupational accidents to understand the ways in which grieving individuals, families, and communities used material culture in their bereavement coping strategies, and the degree to which these reactions that are either accepting of the situation or that they formed part of campaign for change in attitudes to safety and to working conditions. Commemoration can be at the burial location, place of the accident, an appropriate community location, or on portable material culture; sometimes combinations of locales were used. It is notable that different workplace contexts tend to lead to particular forms of commemorative response, and reasons for this variation will be explored.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2019   •
• Burial, Space, and Memory of Unusual Death

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Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 349