For many in Victorian Britain, a funeral was their last chance to show their worth on earth. As important as a memorializing funeral was to the upper classes, it was even more important to the lower. A family too poor to afford a funeral doomed their loved one to a burial “on the Parish”. A pauper’s burial was the lowest disgrace a Victorian could face. No coffin tastefully obscured covered by a pall. Only a linen shroud covered the corpse. No procession of pallbearers and solemn service. Instead, they laid the deceased into a massed grave with no headstone on undesirable land. Worse still, these uncared and unnoticed cadavers were a banquet for anatomists desiring to procure corpses cheaply and legally for dissection.
To avoid this ignominious departure, many among the working poor of England scraped out enough weekly savings for membership in a burial club. Burial clubs (or more grandly “burial societies”) provided a subscription service, similar to insurance, guaranteeing to pay funeral costs no matter how long the deceased had been a member. Many burial clubs were run independently by entrepreneurs. Quite a few headquartered in the neighborhood pub or some other public gathering place key to local life.
Costs varied based on the desired quality of the funeral. Most plans paid out £2- £10 for an adult and £1-£4 for a child. The more expensive plans paid out for more expensive funerals. An average £5 funeral for a monthly two pence subscription looks a bit like this:
-One fine elm coffin decorated with black nails, a metal nameplate, flower embellishment, and four handles,
-One velvet pall to cover the coffin
-Three black cloaks, three black hat bands, three black scarves, and six pairs of gloves
-Two porters to help at the funeral
-One man to attend the funeral in mourning dress
Further luxuries such as brass nameplates, crepe paper banners, mourning jewelry, additional hired mourners, a hearse, and black feathers for the hearse increased the cost of the Burial Club’s premiums.
The bigger burial clubs were part of Friendly Societies, broader benevolent organizations. For a small monthly fee, friendly societies also covered injury, illness, and pensions. Some even worked as saving and investment groups on behalf of their subscribers. They ranged from small clubs consisting of a single village to massive organizations with chapters all across Briton. The biggest and oldest friendly societies functioned similarly to a fraternal order right down to official regalia and ceremonies. Almost all friendship societies are grouped by a common vocation, such as the Gardeners’ Royal Benevolent Institution or the Railway Guards’ Universal Friendly Society.
Membership in these organizations grew every year. In 1815, almost a million working men subscribed to a Friendly Society. By 1870, these organizations had over 4 million confirmed members. For those unable to afford insurance, paying a few pence to a Burial Club or Friendly Society bought peace of mind knowing their funeral would not burden their families, and disgrace themselves.
Example Names of Benevolent Societies:
Benevolent Society of St. Patrick
The Burial Institution
Friends’ Provident Institution
Governesses’ Benevolent Institution
London Friendly Institution
Loyal Order of Ancient Shepherds
Provident Association of Warehousemen, Travelers, and Clerks
Stock Exchange Clerks’ Provident Fund
Wesleyan Methodist Local Preachers’ Mutual Aid Association
That’s enough of the basic facts. Next week, we’ll start examining the shady side of combining financial gains with death by talking about fraud in Burial Clubs.
No comments:
Post a Comment