Note 10 — Chapter II

It has frequently occurred to the writer, who has made a practical study of such subjects, that the conduct and methods of persons who traffic in the disposal of dead bodies should be brought into the closer cognizance of the law. A regular system of police inspection is required. The acts and omissions of the irresponsible scavengers who thrive on burying the dead are often of such a character that the law itself is infringed. A popular weekly paper contains the following passage in its current issue:—“In one of the poorer districts of Manchester the police have just found on the premises of a female undertaker the bodies of nine children—all very young, seventeen days being the oldest—waiting until the parents could secure the necessary burial fees, to be buried. The remains were discovered in an outhouse; and, impossible as it may seem, one body had been there for two weeks.... On making inquiries, I find that there is nothing at all unusual in this procedure. The poorer people are very sensitive where their dead are concerned, and have a great aversion to what is termed ‘a pauper’s grave.’ It is in times of trouble or death that the real good-heartedness of the working-class shows itself. Directly the neighbours learn that the house of someone in their midst has been visited by death, a subscription is started. However, as they are in receipt of only a meagre wage themselves, a week or so often has to pass ere sufficient has been raised to satisfy the undertaker, and apparently his premises are used as a sort of pawnshop for dead bodies.... When a child has had a separate existence, the doctor gives a certificate of death, and a post mortem is not necessary. Consequently, it is very doubtful if anything further will be heard about the matter.”

The poor make, relatively, the easiest victims in connection with funeral extortions. One hears of defunct costermongers being carted to the grave in four-horsed hearses, etc.! A good example of funeral extravagance is to be found in the subjoined paragraph:—“Miner’s Funeral Costs £40.—It was shown at Pontefract County Court, on Tuesday, that the mother of a miner, just deceased, had spent £40 on the funeral. This sum included £5 10s. for tea to 110 persons who attended. There was also £10 for dresses, and the mother had borrowed £16 to make other payments.”

It is interesting to note that there is no right of property in a corpse. It is usual, however, for the executors of the deceased to have possession of the body and to control the means and method of disposal.