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Between 1837 and 1901, Queen Victoria reigned over England. After the death of her beloved Prince Albert, she adopted an enduring state of mourning, wearing black constantly and never remarrying. She raised their children alone. This public display of grief was viewed as both tragic and romantic by the English public, leading them to admire her.
Death became a fashionable obsession, and mourning the passing of loved ones became increasingly dramatic. This cultural preoccupation with death took root, influencing society in numerous ways. The Victorian era saw people collecting various items tied to mourning and death.
10. Opulent Last Wishes
While most young individuals today don't dwell on their own mortality, the Victorians were obsessed with the idea of death. People would draft wills and letters outlining their final wishes, even when they were perfectly healthy. Knowing these documents would be preserved by their families for generations, they crafted them with the flourish of a poet writing a masterpiece.
A woman named Mary Drew nearly wrote an entire manual for what to do after her passing. Having suffered a miscarriage and being near death in the hospital, her last will and testament spanned 56 pages. During the Victorian era, it was common to cherish mementos from the deceased. Mary’s gifts to her female friends were mostly jewelry, while the men received books. For those left without valuable items, she ensured that locks of her hair were cut and given as keepsakes.
9. Hair Jewelry
Queen Victoria wore a locket containing a lock of her late husband Prince Albert's hair every day. This practice became quite popular, with many people preserving locks of hair from deceased loved ones. Women, inspired by Queen Victoria, chose to carry a part of their beloved ones with them constantly, turning the hair into jewelry.
As time passed, people became more inventive with their hair jewelry. They began braiding and weaving the hair into elaborate designs on brooches, earrings, and necklaces. Some even created wreaths from the hair collected from several deceased loved ones. Hair’s natural resistance to decay made it an ideal material to preserve, and many of these pieces of jewelry remain in excellent condition in museums today.
8. Mourning Rings
While hair jewelry could be created even if a loved one’s death was sudden and unanticipated, for some, it wasn’t enough. Those who knew their death was imminent often commissioned special jewelry to mark the occasion.
One notable example is Ada Lovelace, who was diagnosed with cancer in 1852. At that time, it was considered a certain death sentence. She left instructions for custom rings to be made for her husband and oldest daughter. On her husband’s ring, she expressed her hope that their souls would remain eternally connected. Despite a strained relationship with her daughter, she acknowledged her 'sincerity.' For her two youngest sons, she left money, requesting they purchase rings in her memory.
Mrs. Lovelace was not the only one to commission mourning rings. Diaries and documents from the Victorian era reveal stories of these personalized rings that were worn as daily reminders of the departed.
7. Mourning Dress
Whenever someone passed away, it was a societal expectation for the family to wear all black every day for a designated mourning period. This attire, known as 'mourning dress,' signaled to the world that the wearer was grieving and should be left undisturbed. Those who had recently lost a loved one were expected to avoid social gatherings. If a mourner appeared in public wearing bright or cheerful clothing, it was considered highly disrespectful. This created significant pressure for wives in families to ensure that everyone had suitable black clothing, especially as children outgrew their clothes quickly.
In 1875, Keith Norman MacDonald published a pamphlet criticizing the tradition of mourning dress, calling it silly and even embarrassing. Despite growing awareness, the practice continued for several more decades.
6. Mourning Lingerie
During the Victorian era, mourning attire wasn’t limited to outerwear—women wore black down to their lingerie. Death had become a symbol of beauty, and women were encouraged to take arsenic and opium to achieve a pale, near-death look, as women suffering from tuberculosis were thought to be more attractive. Combining this deathly pale skin with black lingerie created a striking look that captivated many men.
Victorian society was outwardly restrained but secretly indulgent in its private life. White lingerie was considered innocent and typically reserved for a woman’s wedding night. However, after the Victorian era, sexual expression became more open, and in movies, pinup girls and bombshell blondes were often portrayed in black lingerie, as it was considered far more erotic and bold than any other color.
5. Postmortem Photographs
With photography becoming more accessible to the middle class during the Victorian era, people felt the need to preserve the memory of their loved ones before they were buried. Since long exposure times required subjects to remain completely still, most individuals in old photos appear either frowning or with a neutral expression. Photographing the deceased, however, was simpler, as they wouldn’t move, preventing the blurring typical of live subjects.
Another trend during this period was 'spirit photography,' where images of ghosts or ethereal figures would appear alongside or in front of the subject. Even Queen Victoria’s son, Arthur, had a spirit photograph taken. During the exposure, his nanny leaned into the frame to adjust his clothing, resulting in her semi-transparent appearance in the photo.
Occult enthusiasts believed that ghosts could manifest themselves in photographs. The National Science and Media Museum houses a collection of spirit photographs from the Victorian era. By the end of the 1800s, people had figured out that these were not actual ghosts, but they still enjoyed creating their own playful ghost images.
4. Sketches
Not every family could afford to have a photograph taken of their deceased loved one, and some still preferred the timeless charm of hand-drawn or painted portraits.
An artist named John Callcott Horsley volunteered his time to visit a morgue and sketch the faces of children who had recently passed away. Many families were too poor to afford photographs or professional portraits. Upon hearing of a child's death, Horsley would rush to the scene while the child’s facial muscles remained relaxed, capturing an image that made them appear as though they were peacefully sleeping. Horsley wrote in his diary, 'I had a duty to do it. Indeed, had I not done it, it would not have been done.' When John’s own father passed away, his immediate reaction was to grab a sketchbook.
Other artists would create sketches of family members while they were still alive, particularly if they had contracted tuberculosis or another illness considered a death sentence.
3. Mourning Stationery and Memorial Cards
During the Victorian era, if a person received a letter in a white envelope bordered with black, they immediately knew it was a sign of death. This unique mourning stationery is prominently featured in the novels of Charlotte Brontë and Charles Dickens, where it's used whenever a character learns of someone's passing. The black borders signaled the unfortunate news, giving the reader time to prepare for it privately.
Inside these black-bordered envelopes, there was often more than just a letter. Many families opted to include elaborate 'memoriam cards' that featured intricate filigree or resembled lace doilies. If a child passed away, these cards were printed on white paper to symbolize the loss of innocence, while the passing of an adult was marked by black paper.
Over time, people began to view the purchase of special mourning stationery as an unnecessary luxury, particularly as many households already had regular stationery that could be repurposed for such occasions.
2. Funeral Dolls
At a traditional wake, the open casket allows mourners to see their loved one one last time. However, the sight of a deceased baby was often too overwhelming for some. To cope with this, families created wax dolls that resembled their children, even using real hair. In cases of stillbirth, miscarriage, or when a child died outside the home, these wax figures were sometimes buried in place of the actual body.
Death was far more prevalent in the Victorian era, meaning children were exposed to it more frequently than today. In the late 1800s, the University of Wisconsin published a book titled A Study of Dolls, which revealed that a significant number of children in their study held mock funerals for their dolls and even buried them in their backyards. A smaller group of children would later dig the doll up to see if the dead truly went to Heaven.
1. Effigies and Death Masks
When Prince Albert, Queen Victoria's beloved husband, passed away, she commissioned a black marble effigy of him, which was placed in the Frogmore Mausoleum. Queen Victoria was pleased with the statue, saying it perfectly captured his 'sweetness and calmness.' Upon her death, she was laid to rest alongside her dear Prince Albert. The top of her grave was adorned with an effigy carved from white alabaster.
Such a task was not only time-consuming but also incredibly costly. However, Queen Victoria was not the first to do this. During her era, affluent families often commissioned alabaster effigies of their deceased loved ones. Following a person's death, photographs were often taken, which were then used as references to create statues for the family tombs. In some cases, casts were even made of the deceased's head to create more precise death masks.
