Death

Learn how changing attitudes towards
death and mourning had an impact on the
coffin furniture fashions of the day.

It wasn’t until 1935 that the first major initiative to replace the term ‘undertaker’ with ‘funeral director’ emerged. This was in an effort to professionalise, or at least in an outward sense, raise the status of this trade with a title that demonstrated the social as well as the medical activities of the role.
Just as the medical trade in Britain was regularised in its treatment of the living, those operating in the funeral trade wanted the same recognition for their care for the dead.

Featured Objects | Death

Video | Gothic Handles

Related Objects | Death

Cast Gothic Ring Handle

Shroud Sample Book

Stamped Ring Plate

Stamped Ring Plate

Coffin Corner Clip

Coffin Corner Clip