Online Assignment #1: Researching Victorian London

Using Lee Jackson’s “Victorian Dictionary”, I read many articles about crime in Victorian London. I was interested in how the burial of suicides was treated during this time. This particular article was part of Yale University Press in 2014. I found the parallels of these times and today’s times immediately. The man in this article (who was never named) is said to have been an unexpected target of suicide, although in hindsight, the signs were there. “It was not uncommon to hear him banging away of a night in his bedroom down below, but as there was nobody down there that he could shoot but himself, amongst several other whimsies of his, was winked at by the people of the house on account of his general good conduct”. No one worried about his use of firearms because he appeared to be a genuine person. The man was found dead in his room, by way of a guillotine that he had meticulously built. The article discussed the sixteen jurymen’s deliberation of his death. The debate began with the question of his sanity. “The last person who conversed with him found him rational and in no way excited. So far from showing symptoms on insanity, he had always appeared a very sensible man indeed.” In defense of the claim on his sanity, the jurymen spoke of his calm and calculated manner in which he had to have constructed the machine that caused his death. Once it is decided that he will be buried, the man in the article is referred to as, “it”. As if to point out the deliberate attempt to dehumanize the man and prepare for the heartless burial. The article does describe the desire of a particular man to follow the law. It is still apparent that the man has no one to care for him when a makeshift coffin is prepared and arrangements for the proper burial are overlooked. Eventually, the man is buried in a hole that was previously dug and his poor excuse for a coffin is only covered just enough to allow another coffin to be buried on top of it.

One thought on “Online Assignment #1: Researching Victorian London

  1. I thought this was really interesting. I think the U.S has way more respect for those deceased and being buried than they did in 19th century London.

Comments are closed.