Victorian Funeral and Mourning Customs

About

Steve Person, a retired funeral director, presents this program on many of the Victorian funeral and mourning customs.

It was during the Victorian Era that the ritual of death became increasingly sophisticated and this period saw the development of the modern cemetery, morticians and public funeral complete with floral arrangements and the hearse for transportation of the deceased.

The “Undertaker” of the Victorian Era was the forerunner of today’s funeral director. Many of the traditions that are observed in our funeral process today came to be from superstitions of the 1800s.

Mortuary and embalming equipment and instruments from this era are also a part of the display that is shared during this presentation of “The Victorian Undertaker”.