Memorialisation then and Now

1
Memorialisation then and Now

• This slide show looks at some of the ways people
  have remembered those who have died in times past
  and the ways these practices and customs have
  changed over time.

• Many of the practices we have today can be
  attributed to the practices of the past.

2
Queen Victoria memorialisation

• After the death of Prince Albert in 1861 from
  typhoid fever Queen Victoria wore black and went
  into deep mourning for him for the rest of her
  long life.

• The death of Prince Albert had a marked
  impression on the ways mourning and grief for the
  dead were respectably managed.

• To mourn the death of a family member by wearing
  black attire and keeping mementoes of the
  deceased such as locks of hair in mourning
  jewellery became very fashionable in Victorian
  society.

Photo by Alexander Bessano of Queen Victoria of
England / Empress Victoria of India, London,
1887. Wikipedia Commons
3
Queen Victoria memorialisation
There are probably more statues of Queen Victoria
around the World than any other person.
This statue in Queens Gardens Dunedin
commemorates Queen Victoria.
The Queen is flanked by two women. The women
represent the virtues of Justice and Wisdom.
Justice is represented on the left holding scales
and a sword and Wisdom is on the right. She
wears a broach featuring a tiny owl.
4
Queen Victoria memorialisation

• Alongside these everyday customs there developed
  a style of architecture and literature that today
  we call Gothic Revival It was a style that
  proliferated around the world.

The Albert Memorial

• The Albert Memorial in Kenningston Gardens
  London was commissioned by Queen Victoria and
  opened in 1871.

Larnachs Tomb

• Many early New Zealand buildings and funerary
  memorials are built in this style. Compare the
  style of the inserted photo of Larnachs tomb in
  Dunedin with the Albert Memorial in London.

5
In memoriam cards

• In memoriam cards were printed and sent out to
  friends and relatives to let them know of the
  death.

• This card is for Augusina Taylor, a young
  machinist, who lived in Caversham Dunedin. She is
  buried in Dunedins Southern Cemetery .

• In memoriam cards feature many of the same
  motifs and epitaphs that we find on Victorian and
  Edwardian headstones.

6
In memoriam cards - 2

• The in-memoriam card featured here commemorates
  Mr Hugh Walker who was interred in Palmerston
  (South) Cemetery in 1916.

• This card, like the gravesite headstone, features
  only simple decoration, and begins to show the
  changes that were occurring by 1916 in attitudes
  towards memorialisation.

• Notice the narrow black borders around the card
  and photo. All letter and cards from the family
  in mourning would have had this black border
  added in paint or crayon.

7
In memoriam cards - 3

• This in-memoriam card for Madeline Robinson
  (interred at the West Taieri Cemetery, Otago)
  features an arrangement of pansies as well as an
  epitaph.

• In the language of flowers of the time, pansies
  symbolised thoughts. They are not normally
  featured alone on headstones but in combination
  with other flowers.

8
Gravesite Immortelles

• Immortelles are everlasting flower arrangements
  that can be left permanently on the gravesite.

• Older immortelles were made of parian-ware (a
  ceramic material) and protected by glass domes
  and sometimes by wire cages.

• These immortelles feature clasped hands, a dove,
  and many of the flowers that also feature on the
  headstones.

In this old photograph immortelles cover the
concreted surface of the McKewen gravesite in
Dunedins Southern Cemetery. (Otago Witness, May
13, 1914, p.40).
9
Memorial Jewellery

• Memorial jewellery was also very popular.
  Memorial broaches had removable glass backs that
  allowed the bereaved to insert some of the hair
  of the deceased, and wear it close to the heart.
  The hair was usually plaited but was also
  sometimes arranged into               
     beautiful designs.

• Lockets, broaches, rings and pendants functioned
  as tangible reminders of the deceased.

10
Changing Beliefs practices

• The First World War, followed by the 1918
  influenza epidemic brought an end to the
  elaborate Victorian and Edwardian style funeral.

• Funeral reform movements grew. There was a
  movement towards cheaper funerals helped by
  economic changes that were in the wind. Families
  struggling under the hard financial times that
  existed after the war, and that deepened with the
  depression of the early 1930s were happy to forgo
  the expensive funeral and accompanying memorials.

• Beliefs and philosophies relating to life and
  death also changed along with medical changes
  bringing longer life expectancy. By the 1980s and
  1990s life centred funerals, had become the norm.

11
Memorialisation Now

• Today the look of the cemetery has changed.
  Burial remains a preference for many for personal
  reasons but todays cemeteries are smaller and
  not so statuesque. Headstones increasingly
  incorporate symbols and artwork that can be
  associated with peoples lives.

• Cemeteries are not the only places were people
  can find their final resting places. Cremation
  allowed for the scattering of ashes and many
  chose personally significant places to do this.
  Ashes burials are also a popular option with
  some choosing their old family gravesites but
  others opting for small plaques in wall or ashes
  beams.

12
Princess Diana Memorialisation

• The death of Princess Dianna in 1997 lead to a
  public outpouring of grief and sympathy that was
  replicated around the world.

• Bunches of flowers, still in their decorative
  wrappings, were left in their hundreds and
  thousands outside the gates of her home at
  Kensington palace in London. The flowers were
  waist deep.

• The tragic death of Princess Diana like that of
  Prince Albert may be partly responsible for an
  upsurge in interest in memorialisation in recent
  times, and an increase in, and divergence of, the
  ways we memorialise.

For online photos see also http//www.guardian.co
.uk/news/gallery/2007/aug/30/diana?picture3306543
72 and for an aerial view of the flowers see
http//www.guardian.co.uk/news/gallery/2007/aug/30
/diana?picture330654366
13
Memorialisation Beyond the cemetery

• Memorial sites can often now to be found at the
  site especially of a tragic accident.

• This very poignant memorial is at site of a road
  fatality and has been beautifully maintained for
  a number of years.

• The immortelles have been replaced by colourful
  synthetic flowers, butterflies, angels, teddy
  bears, and other ornaments that reflect the life
  of the deceased.

14
Service celebration Sheets changing memorial
Forms
Sheila Mary Taylor1926 - 1998
Sheila Mary Taylor1926 - 1998

• Ashes burials are now in long concrete beams
  and walls rather than plots

15
Jewish Customs Grave Pebbles

• All cultures have ways of memorialising the dead
  by leaving something at the grave-side.

• One of the most interesting is the Jewish
  practice of leaving pebbles on and around the
  tombstone.

• The custom has become so well established that
  small stones are often picked up on the travels
  of individuals visiting and placed on the
  tombstone.

• Above At a recent family reunion, the
  descendents left a row of small white pebbles on
  the tombstone.

• Left Pebbles are sometimes picked up in the
  cemetery itself.

16
Maori Customs Grave Pebbles

• Maori also have a practice of leaving painted
  pebbles on and around the tombstone or covering
  the plot itself.

• As well as painted or coloured stones, food,
  plants, and shells and beer are also left for the
  deceased.

17
Memorial jewellery out of Fashion? Well no -
not quite!

• It is now possible to create gemstones from
  carbon that's captured during the cremation of
  human remains.

• There are several international companies that
  are finding an increasing number of people
  prepared to to leave family members a lasting
  memento of themselves.

• Diamonds from people? How does the process work?
  Carbon is released during cremation and is
  captured as a dark powder, which is then heated
  to produce graphite. The graphite is then
  synthesized into fancy coloured diamonds in
  shades of blue, red, colourless, green or yellow.
  Dozens of stones can be made from one individual
  or even a pet!

Photo Wikipedia Commons
18
Internet Memorial Sites

• Websites allow individuals to construct virtual
  memorials especially for separated family
  members.

• In addition to having guest books most allow
  people to leave virtual flowers or candles.

http//wayne-bland.gonetoosoon.co.uk/my_index.php