Were people buried in the 19th century with a cloth around their head if so why?
Upvote:2
Follow the attached link to see the (slightly ghoulish) exhumed frozen corpses of three of the sailors on the doomed Franklin expedition to find the north west passage.
In this case one of the three corpses does appear to have a cloth bound under his chin, presumably to smarten him up a bit for his ship-mates to pay their last respects.
Upvote:7
"Litten notes that by the early 17th century, for the first time, faces, once shrouded, were now far from concealed. In fact, the norm was for men to be dressed in a cap, shirt and then wrapped in a winding sheet, or if female, a shift, ruffle-edged cap and winding sheet. In both cases, the face fully visible. " Coffinworks.org
The remainder of that article strongly supports the notion that the face covering shroud is anachronistic.
None of the sources I found mention coins on the eyes. Impossible to prove a negative, but the absence of any evidence, plus the presence of the anachronistic shroud makes me very skeptical.
@Justcal points to some illustrations depicting winding sheets - further research seems prudent to determine whether those illustrations are more informed by art or by evidence. I'd also like to see some sources that would support coffinworks.org.
Victorianmonsters contains several images showing the faces of the deceased; while it is possible that the shroud is wound under the chin, the illustrations - to my eye- support the coffinworks assertion that the deceased were buried in clothing representing their lives. (It is also possible, albeit unlikely, that one set of clothing was used for the image and a shroud for burial; I'd want evidence to support that hypothesis).
morbidoutlook lists a funeral with "full worked glazed cambric winding-sheet,"; it is possible that burial clothing differed by class, but the site emphasizes less the clothing of the deceased, and more the customs of the procession.
-
In dressing the remains for the grave, those of a man are usually "clad in his habit as he lived." For a woman, tastes differ: a white robe and cap, not necessarily shroud like, are decidedly unexceptionable. For young persons and children, white cashmere robes and flowers are always most appropriate. thefuneralsource.org
-
No longer does the gruesome and chilling shroud enwrap the form. The garments worn in life have taken its place, and men and women are dressed as in life. Victoriana.com
-
“To see them in their coffins you would think they were completely dressed, but really all their finery is on top. Even the men’s solid looking black coats and smooth shirt fronts can go on and off without removing the corpse. What I am making is for a young girl who died yesterday, and will be buried to-morrow. She was to have been married next month, and her trousseau was begun at Mme. X___’s before I left there. She will look just as sweet in this robe I am making for her as she would have done in her wedding dress. VictorianBookOfTheDead.com
This appears to be a rich and well researched source - worth further attention
-
In the larger manufactories from which the undertaker gets his supplies, from seventy-five to one hundred different styles of shrouds for dead women are shown, and fifteen or more for dead men. The materials chiefly used are merino and lawn. The trimmings are satin, plain, stamped, or quilted; gimp, in folds, puffings, bows, edgings, box plaits, ruches or crepe lisse and of other material, embroidery and raised flosswork representing flowers, vines, tendrils, and in mottoes. The styles of cut and making follow to a considerable extent the prevailing modes of dress for the living. IBID
Which suggests some middle ground - the term "shroud" was still used, but referred not to a winding sheet but to custom made outfits intended to display the deceased in the manner of life.
Upvote:15
Since there are several distinct questions within the original query, and other answers/comments seem to be focused on the aspect of funerary practices, this answer will focus on the OPs' question of artistic license by "the people making the movies".
The OP mentions the source of their question being 'EVERY version I have seen', we may be able to address whether this is
...a case of artistic freedom from either the people making the movies ...
by looking at the original text of Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol (1843).
All citations below are from a copy found in the 1883 publication of Charles Dickens's Complete Works. (all emphasis mine)
From the early description of Marleys Ghost
No nor did he believe it even now Though he looked the phantom through and through and saw it standing before him though he felt the chilling influence of its death cold eyes and marked the very texture of the folded kerchief bound about its head and chin which wrapper he had not observed before he was still incredulous and fought against his senses
This item reappears more importantly in a later section, described then as a bandage, which the spectre removes to illustrate its dire condition in rebuttal to Scrooges' indigestion jest:
At this the spirit raised a frightful cry and shook its chain with such a dismal and appalling noise that Scrooge held on tight to his chair to save himself from falling in a swoon But how much greater was his horror when the phantom taking off the bandage round its head as if it were too warm to wear in doors its lower jaw dropped down upon its breast!
This particular plot device makes one more appearance, as the Ghost is preparing to depart after having imparted its warning. This time the 'wrapper's function is spelled out clearly:
When it had said these words the spectre took its wrapper from the table and bound it round its head as before Scrooge knew this by the smart sound its teeth made when the jaws were brought together by the bandage He ventured to raise his eyes again and found his supernatural visitor confronting him in an erect attitude with its chain wound over and about its arm
We can see from these passages that it was not merely artistic license by the movie makers, but was integral to the original story as written by Dickens himself.
We can even see a depiction including the bandage illustrated in artwork by John Leech which appeared in the first edition in 1843(Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.):
So we can see that the aspect of the original query as to whether or not the movies depiction of this item is 'artistic license' by the movie makers is unfounded. The cloth around the head of Jacob Marleys' Ghost has been present since the story was published in 1843. It only is described as a kerchief, wrapper or a bandage; its purpose is implied in the text as holding the lower jaw in place. It is not artistic license 'by the people making the movies'.
More post
- 📝 Is there any historical evidence for a co-regency of Tiberius and Augustus?
- 📝 Can you identify the ship in this picture?
- 📝 When was the first usage of the slogan "Wer hat uns verraten..."?
- 📝 Why did Lincoln wait to issue the Emancipation Proclamation?
- 📝 If the heir to a Kingdom is called Crown Prince, what is the heir to a Duchy called?
- 📝 What kind of missile flew with such speed in 1st century BCE?
- 📝 In the 18th century, who built ships built using two-pointed nails?
- 📝 Was the N.E.P. of Russia successful in terms of economics?
- 📝 How did the Boston Tea Party protest affect the British?
- 📝 What did ancient Romans wear when sleeping?
- 📝 How did cadet branches start?
- 📝 What is the anomaly in drawing of the Great Pyramid by National Geographic?
- 📝 How was occupied France governed during World War II?
- 📝 How did "de-Nazification" efforts by Austria's occupiers proceed after WW2?
- 📝 Why was Basel, Switzerland chosen for the First Zionist Congress?
- 📝 How did Taganrog escape the devastation of the Stalingrad batlle of WW2?
- 📝 Are there any examples of civilians competing with, or hindering, a military?
- 📝 Were there any attempts to achieve peace in WW1 before 1918?
- 📝 Why did Antiochus IV of the Seleucids work so hard to keep Coele-Syra from Ptolemy VI of Eygpt?
- 📝 Why were Japanese escort ships not numerous at the battle of Bismarck Sea?
- 📝 In Scandinavia, was there a cultural continuity from Goths to Vikings or were they two different groups of people?
- 📝 Did any prominent Romans openly question the crucifixion of 6,000 slaves along the Appian Way following the defeat of Spartacus?
- 📝 How did himuros operate for storing and transporting ice in Heian Japan?
- 📝 What was the procedure for prosecuting criminals in England between the World Wars?
- 📝 What is the oldest continuously circulating story that survived until 1890’s?
- 📝 Can you identify this British Army uniform, worn in India circa 1920?
- 📝 What were Egyptian rulers called before the honorific title "Pharaoh"?
- 📝 Military sidecar era
- 📝 What uniform are these gentlemen wearing?
- 📝 What major approaches to "class" as a theoretical category do historians commonly use?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Were people buried in the 19th century with a cloth around their head if so why?
- 📝 Were Egyptian monarchs referred to by the title "pharaoh" alone, without using their proper names, from around 1500 BCE until the 10th century BCE?
- 📝 19th century cabins: why were beds off the ground? Or weren't they?
- 📝 If archaeology shows that people abandoned the ancient Trojan region around the 6th century BC, why do we have so few written evidences of that?
- 📝 During the Soviet era, were people charged with crimes able to hire lawyers of their own?
- 📝 In 19th century France, were police able to send people to jail without a trial, as presented in "Les Misérables"?
- 📝 Why were nomadic tribes (like the Mongols) from the Eurasian steppes a much reduced threat from the 15th century onwards?
- 📝 Why were troops with bayonets often effective against enemy cavalry even though the bayonet was a "secondary" weapon?
- 📝 Why were so many of the earliest banks founded by cloth merchants?
- 📝 Why did quill pens persist until the early 19th century despite the capacity to make metal dip pens?
- 📝 Why did the German air force lose experienced pilots faster than the Allies, even though they were defending their home airspace?
- 📝 Why were people from the Asian Steppes able to militarily dominate Europeans on a repeated basis?
- 📝 Why did families in 6th century Mecca send their babies to be raised in the desert?
- 📝 Why were bloody religious wars so incredibly frequent in Europe in the century following the Reformation?
- 📝 Were the 19th century decades referred to as 40s, 50s back then?
- 📝 Were the mongol army boots of 13th century lined with fur?
- 📝 Did anyone warn about the potential for stock market crashes in 1929, and if so why were their warnings ignored?
- 📝 Why did people die for their religion in the 400s CE (or even now)?
- 📝 Were Roman emperors in the first century AD shown as holding stars in their hands?
- 📝 Why does the first decade of the 21st century start with 2000?
- 📝 Why were the Hecatomnid rulers of Caria permitted to marry their siblings?
- 📝 Why are the buildings built in classical style in the first half of the 19th century in Russia so frequently yellow-and-white - coloured?
- 📝 What sorts of people were popular celebrities in 17th to 19th century Europe?
- 📝 How were ethnographic maps in the 19th century made?
- 📝 Who were some of the specific people in the Renaissance who wrote about their period being different from the Middle Ages?
- 📝 Was it widespread during the 17th and 18th Century for British country people to be evicted and replaced with more profitable agriculture?
- 📝 Were Serbs and Croats one people / tribe in the past? If not, why do they speak the same language?
- 📝 Why can't people on the back of the phalanx "reorient" their shield?
- 📝 Were there efforts made in the 19th century to inoculate the natives against smallpox?
- 📝 How often were slaves raised by their parents in 19th century USA?
