This electronic thesis or dissertation has been downloaded from Explore Bristol Research, http://research-information.bristol.ac.uk Author: O'Brien, Daniel Title: The Funeral as an Opportunity for Social Display, 1700 – 1820 With a specific focus on the West Country. General rights Access to the thesis is subject to the Creative Commons Attribution - NonCommercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International Public License. A copy of this may be found at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode This license sets out your rights and the restrictions that apply to your access to the thesis so it is important you read this before proceeding. Take down policy Some pages of this thesis may have been removed for copyright restrictions prior to having it been deposited in Explore Bristol Research. 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Daniel O’Brien A dissertation submitted to the University of Bristol in accordance with the requirements for award of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Arts School of Humanities September 2018 Word count: 73,719 1 Abstract The thesis examines eighteenth-century funerals as opportunities for social display. It analyses funerals in the region around the cities of Bath, Bristol and Salisbury, identified as the West Country. This is a prosperous and interesting region which has not been studied by existing literature on funerary consumption. The thesis demonstrates that funerals were intended to be respectable occasions, organised and performed by professionals and attended by the people with close social ties to the deceased. The funeral is presented as a display of status that used the goods and services of the developing undertaking trade. The importance of the funeral enabled the growth of the undertaking trade and conferred status to undertakers’ businesses. The thesis makes original contributions to several historiographical debates. It addresses the lack of discussion about funerary purchases in literature regarding polite consumption, by showing how funerary goods were used to demonstrate the personal status and character of the deceased person. The thesis challenges the lack of historiographical debate about the funeral as sociable by identifying how relationships were important to the organisation and performance of the funeral. By examining the roles and status of undertakers and clergy, it identifies how the funeral was professionalised. This professionalisation of death has been discussed in existing literature but the examples are limited to London and there is no attempt to acknowledge the role of clergy in professionalised death. The thesis opens with an analysis of the professionals who organised and performed the funeral, the undertakers and clergy. The professionals’ roles are outlined, and the perception of these roles is considered. Three different types of funeral are examined, showing how widely the funeral was used as an opportunity for social display. The intimate, ‘private’ funeral is presented as a celebration of personal achievement which was intended for the 2 friends and family of the deceased. The funerals of the elite are presented as ostentatious occasions in which the display was tailored to the different audiences that the funeral party encountered. The funerals of three nonconformist communities are shown to be less ostentatious occasions in which social ties and the personal qualities of the deceased were of paramount importance. Analysis of the nonconformist funerals shows the importance of justification for different goods and services used by mourners. In all three types of funeral, the thesis identifies the importance of funerary professionals and the funerary goods which they provided. The final chapter examines the act of general mourning for a deceased monarch during a period in which loyalist enthusiasm was high. The thesis shows that general mourning provided opportunities for both consumers and retailers to demonstrate their status and respectability in a specially contrived environment. 3 Acknowledgements and Declaration: I would like to sincerely thank my family for their persistent support and understanding during the production of the thesis. For well over a decade my family have had to live in the presence of book covers with skulls, skeletons, funerals, coffins, burial grounds and various depictions of death and maiden. This probably represents the greatest exposure members of the English public have had to the paraphernalia of death since the late seventeenth century. I would also like to thank Richard Sheldon for his support and direction during the thesis. He has provided valuable advice and much encouragement over the last six years of my doctoral study. I declare that the work in this dissertation was carried out in accordance with the requirements of the University's Regulations and Code of Practice for Research Degree Programmes and that it has not been submitted for any other academic award. Except where indicated by specific reference in the text, the work is the candidate's own work. Work done in collaboration with, or with the assistance of, others, is indicated as such. Any views expressed in the dissertation are those of the author. SIGNED: Daniel O’Brien DATE:19/09/2018 4 List of illustrations Fig 1. Specific Cause for the Undertakers’ First Advertisement ...................................... 40 Fig 2. Supplementary Trades of West Country Undertakers ............................................ 41 Fig 3. T. Rowlandson, 'Undertakers in at the Death!!' ...................................................... 49 Fig 4. Detail from B. Picart ‘An English Funeral Ceremony’ ........................................ 103 Fig 5. T. Rowlandson, The Churchyard Debate ............................................................ 109 Fig 6. T. Rowlandson, The Winding of the Clock ........................................................... 110 Fig 7. D. Madan, The Vicar and Moses .......................................................................... 114 Fig 8. B. Picart, The Ceremonies and Religious Customs of the various nations ........... 120 Fig 9. Bristol Mercury, 20 Nov 1820 and Taunton Courier 10 Nov 1822 ..................... 137 Fig 10. WSHC: 1235/94, 'Invitation to Attend Funeral as a Pall Bearer', 1808 .............. 151 Fig 11. GRO: D1842/H3/4, ‘Invitation to funeral of Mrs. Blackwell of Chalford’, 1749.153 Fig 12. Distribution of Gifts at the Funeral of Robert Curtis, 1740 ................................ 160 Fig 13. Distribution of Gifts at the Funeral of Elizabeth Nicklus, 1731 ......................... 161 Fig 14. Distribution of Gifts at the Funeral of John Mabbett, 1792 ................................ 163 Fig 15. Thynne Family Hatchment ................................................................................ 180 Fig 16. Thynne Family Mourning Armour ..................................................................... 181 Fig 17. Plan of Maryport Street Baptist Burial Ground ................................................. 236 Fig 18. Plan of Burial Ground at Badcox Baptist Chapel .............................................. 237 Fig 19. Salisbury and Winchester Journal, 7 February 1820. ........................................ 252 Fig 20. Bath Chronicle, 10 February 1820 ..................................................................... 253 Fig 21. Cheltenham Chronicle, 13 November 1817 ....................................................... 254 Fig 22. Messrs. Coward, Bath Chronicle, 13 November 1817 ....................................... 255 Fig 23. W.H. Lawrence, Bath Chronicle, 13 November 1817 ........................................ 255 5 Contents Abstract ................................................................................................................................................... 2 List of illustrations ................................................................................................................................... 5 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 9 Historiography .................................................................................................................................... 9 i. Historiography of Death in Eighteenth Century ........................................................................... 9 ii. Historiography of Politeness & Consumption ........................................................................... 15 Methodology ..................................................................................................................................... 20 Periodisation ................................................................................................................................