The Victorian celebration of death / James Stevens Curl.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

The Victorian period was one of remarkable urban development, industrial expansion, and population growth, with all the attendant problems. The mortality rate was high, with epidemics, poor hygiene and a lack of clean water largely to blame. Disposal of the dead was therefore a problem. This little known side of reform in Victorian Britain is documented here as a vast achievment in the civilizing of urban man. The author takes into account religious, social, architectural, monumental, and landscaping facets. Along the way, he describes some major Victorian funerals (notably that of the Duke of Windsor) and ends with the Queen's own funeral in 1901, an awe-inspiring occasion in which representatives of many nations and peoples took part.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• List of Illustrations (p. ix)
• Acknowledgements (p. xii)
• Preface (p. xv)
• Introductory Remarks
• The Victorian Age
• Afterword
• 1 The Genesis of Victorian Attitudes to Death (p. 1)
• Introduction: the 'Graveyard Poets'
• The Essence of Night Thoughts
• The International Significance of Night Thoughts
• Narcissa's Burial
• The Arcadian Landscape and the Tomb
• Ermenonville and Burial in Gardens
• The Cemetery Emerges
• The Indian Influence
• Some Early Cemeteries
• 2 The First Great Private Cemeteries in Britain (p. 37)
• Introduction
• Early Nineteenth-Century Provision for Burial in Britain
• Liverpool
• Carden and London
• Glasgow
• The General Cemetery of All Souls, Kensal Green
• Afterword
• 3 The Garden-Cemetery Flourishes (p. 69)
• Introduction: the first American 'Rural' Cemetery
• Progeny
• More London Cemeteries
• Highgate and Nunhead
• Brompton Cemetery
• Some Contemporary British Provincial Cemeteries
• Abney Park Cemetery: the Congregationalists' Valhalla and Educational Arboretum
• 4 Crisis, Uncertainty, and Change (p. 109)
• High-Density Burial
• Agitation and Controversy: 'Graveyard' Walker and his Colleagues
• Thomas Southwood Smith and Edwin Chadwick
• A Supplementary Report on the Results of a Special Inquiry into the Practice of Interment in Towns and its Aftermath
• Loudon, The Builder, More Agitation, and Counter-Attack
• Cemeteries in the Late 1840s
• Further Legislation
• Epilogue
• 5 More Private and a Selection of Public Cemeteries (p. 140)
• The Eclipse of Chadwick
• The London Necropolis and National Mausoleum Company
• Other Cemeteries Served by Train
• Public Cemeteries in London
• Public Cemeteries Outside London
• Other Cemeteries
• Conclusion
• 6 The Rise of Cremation (p. 176)
• Introduction: the Closing and Clearing of Burial-Grounds
• The Cremation Movement
• William Robinson
• The Design of Crematoria
• 7 Funerals, Ephemera, and Mourning (p. 194)
• Introduction
• Mourning and Ephemera
• Funerals
• State Funerals
• Epilogue
• 8 Royal Funerals (p. 222)
• Introduction
• The Death of the Prince Consort
• The Funeral and Entombment of Albert, Prince Consort
• Memorials to the Prince Consort
• Other Royal Funerals
• 9 The End of the Victorian Era (p. 249)
• The Funeral of the Queen-Empress
• A Retrospect
• Epilogue
• Notes (p. 269)
• Select Bibliography (p. 283)
• Index (p. 304)

Author notes provided by Syndetics