The Burial Reform In Britain Based On The Conditions Of Cities:1800-1900

As the first industrialized country in the world, Britain enjoyed the economic prosperity brought by the Industrial Revolution, at the same time, initially experienced the environmental pollution, high mortality and cemeteries crisis caused by industrialization in the 19th century. This paper discusses the burial reform’s background, guiding ideology, reform process, influences and the interactive relationship between it and social transformation at that time. Judging from the structure, this dissertation is mainly composed of three sections, i.e. the introduction, body part and conclusion. The introduction part elaborates the reasons of topic selected, the research background at home and abroad, the methods applied and the significance of the topic.The paper’s body part includes four chapters. The chapters sketch out chronologically the entire picture of British burial reform in the 19th century. The first chapter mainly expounds the background of the burial reform in Britain in the 19th century, which focuses on three aspects, namely traditional burial customs, sanitary and planning conditions in graveyards and cemeteries as well as the chaotic situation in the funeral market. First, based on the status of labouring classes and the human mortality in 19th century Britain, the writer analyzes the main reasons and serious harms resulted from delays in burying bodies in labouring classes’ families. In this part, the author points out that the continuation of burial customs is one of the main reasons for the burial reform. Secondly, starting from the bad situation of the crowded cemeteries and the poor sanitary conditions, the author explores the baneful influences on the cemeteries and the public health in the country, arising from the unreasonable planning and unethical burial practice in the cemeteries over a long period of time. These researches aim at emphasizing that the horrible atmosphere in the cemeteries is the immediate cause of the burial reform. Finally, by describing the monopolistic phenomenon and the disordered management in the funeral market, the writer stresses the urgency to reform because market failure brought high funeral expenses which added great burden to labouring classes, and the delay of burying increased the severity of poor cemeteries.The second chapter mostly elaborates the theoretical bases of burial reform in 19th century Britain. They are Malaria Epidemic Theory, Hygienics and the Germ Theory. In the first half of the 19th century, the scene of a great number of dead bodies in the cemeteries had drawn the attention of the public in Britain. This part presents some cognizance of the produce of miasmas, the patterns of manifestation of malaria and the major hazards of it. Then, the author introduces the standpoints on the cognitive processes of infectious diseases of proponents who advocated the Malaria Epidemic Theory. They believed the drain contamination in all kinds of cemeteries, churchyards, graveyards and burial grounds was one of the significant causes of the epidemic diseases. Next, the author analyzes the relationship between the conditions in cemeteries and the epidemic and summarizes the understandings of hygienists, concluding that it is vital to close the cemeteries in cities and to carry out a timely reform in order to prevent and remove the infectious diseases. The last section expounds the instructive significance of the Germ Theory to solve problems in cemeteries and take certain preventive actions.The third chapter discusses the main reform practices, which are garden cemetery movement, Chadwick’s burial reform and promoting cremation. First of all, this part elaborates the background and process of garden cemetery movement, including its rise, development and decline; in addition, the reasons on its comedowns are stated.Moreover, the author evaluates its historic status, effects and influences. In the next place, this paper relates and analyzes Chadwick’s plans, consisting of setting up mortuaries, establishing national cemeteries and implementing nationalization in the funeral industry. The writer sums up that it’s hard to carry out such radical reform measures in the initialization phase of state intervention. Particularly, Chadwick hadn’t taken into account the conventions of local self-government and the traditions of labouring classes enough. Simultaneously, his reform lost sight of compensation to the vested interests for their loss in the reform. The final part begins with the public’s contradictory attitude to cremation. Then, through restoring the incidents of Henry Crookenden and William Price, the author presents the long process of cremation legalization and concludes that the change of attitude is not only related to the situation of public health, but is linked to the compatibility between cremation and people’s religious sentiment.Also, the last chapter discusses three burial acts in the latter half of the 19th century, which are The Burial Act of 1850, The Burial Act of 1852 and The Burial Act of 1880. Since 1850, the government had begun to intervene the civil burial practices compulsively by legislation, which greatly improved the sanitary condition in the cemeteries and stabilized the social orders. The author introduces and analyzes the different backgrounds of three acts, their main contents, clauses of the bills and acts, parliamentary debates and the social influences caused after the enactment of acts. These three acts ensured the achievements of the reform and solved the hygiene problems and conflicts between various denominations. All of these are important references to the modern burial reform in Britain.The conclusion part evaluates the positive aspects and insufficiencies of the burial reform in 19th century Britain. Meanwhile, in this part, the author dissertates the role of the government in the process of reform, explains the importance of the change of social values, and explores the relationship between burial reform and social reform as well as social transformation.