The first [-fourth] of a series of lectures delivered at the Mechanics' Institution, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, Nov. 27, 1846 [-August 13, 1847], on the actual condition of the metropolitan grave-yards.

  • Walker, George Alfred, 1807-1884.
Date:
1849
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The first [-fourth] of a series of lectures delivered at the Mechanics' Institution, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, Nov. 27, 1846 [-August 13, 1847], on the actual condition of the metropolitan grave-yards. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    prepared to expect opposition ; I believed I might be the subject of insult. I have experienced both. Tested interests, however filthy their derivations, how¬ ever abominable their sources, sometimes give evidence of uncommon vitality, even when they struggle for their very existence over the desecrated ashes of the dead. I would willingly touch this portion of my subject with a light, nay, a charitable hand; but having been singled out for attack, having been accused of making a “ vile attempt to impose upon the public and the legisla¬ ture,” having been assailed by the imputation that I was utterly unworthy of belief in the representations I had made upon the subject, I was compelled to act on the defensive. The grounds on which that defence was based you will become acquainted with as we proceed in our narrative. For several years past, the conviction has been forcing itself on the public mind, that the practice of burying the dead in the midst of crowded cities and towns ought to be suppressed. It is, indeed, surprising that an evil of such magnitude should have been so long allowed to exist. Among us, the ordinary dangers of interment are much increased by our manner of disposing of the dead. Grave after grave is dug in soil, frequently so overcharged with putrescent animal matter, that it is impossible to prevent the corruption of the atmosphere from the exhalations unavoidably arising from the frequent up-turning of the earth. The condition of the majority of grave-yards and burying-places in London has been such for many years, that they have not been capable of receiving the number annually requiring graves. There are men who have unblushingly made the disposal of the dead a source of income, to an extent that few would believe. Some private speculators have long known that a freehold grave-yard is infinitely preferable, as a source of profit, to any other property. There is scarcely a single grave-yard, vault, or receptacle for the dead in London, that is not overcharged. The burial-places of the metropolis and of the provinces have been under no superintendence ! Public bodies or private individuals have been at liberty to allot grounds, or to choose depositories for the reception of the dead, without limitation as to number, without control as to locality, or the disposal of the charge with which they were intrusted; and it is proved that private individuals have availed themselves, to an alarming and most injurious extent, of the igno¬ rance or poverty of survivors. In some districts, during periods of increased heat, combined with moisture, the smell, exhaling from the surface of burial-grounds and from vaults under churches and chapels, has been so offensive, that property in the immediate neighbourhood has in consequence been materially depreciated. In other localities, the most shameful practices are pursued by individuals who (in the absence of peremptory legal enactments to the contrary) mutilate