The Victorian Way of Death – Oxfordshire FHS Talk – 23 September 2019

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On Monday, 23 September, Tom Doig will talk to Oxfordshire FHS on:

The Victorian Way of Death

In the 1800s, death did not hold the same taboo as it does today. Naturally. a funeral was a time for sombre celebration but it was also an opportunity for the family to gather and to exchange news and gossip. Many of the traditions have evolved and still, in one form or another, survive today. These traditions and their folklore which surrounded the Victorian rituals are investigated in this informative yet humorous talk.

Tom Doig is a qualified engineer, teacher and social historian researching rural life in the 19th and 20th century. He is well known for his books on local history and for his radio and television programmes and has lectured widely in the UK and abroad. During the 1990s, he held the post of Director of the Cambridge and County Folk Museum and subsequently the Amberley Industrial Museum. Tom has recently completed five books of old photographs in a series on Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire for the Francis Frith Collection. A member of the University of Cambridge, and a Fellow of the Society of Genealogists’, Tom Doig served a term as Vice-President of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society. He lives in a remote rural part of north Hertfordshire in a converted cattle shed built during the 1840s as part of a model farmstead. When relaxing from his history research, Tom devotes his time to the preservation of his 1923 Morris ‘Bullnose’ Cowley and 1953 Triumph Renown cars.

We meet at the Exeter Hall, Oxford Road, Kidlington, OX5 1AB, with the talk starting at 8:00pm. Doors open at 7:15pm, when there will be advisors offering computer and genealogy help. Tea and coffee will be available. Non-members are very welcome, though we have a charge of £2 as an entrance fee for them to contribute towards the hire of the hall and the costs of speakers.

A summary of most talks will appear after an interval in the Members’ Only Area of the OFHS website. Summaries of previous talks are also available in the same place.