1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:05,240 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio. 2 00:00:05,880 --> 00:00:10,040 Speaker 1: Hello and Welcome to This Day in History Class, a 3 00:00:10,160 --> 00:00:14,280 Speaker 1: show that uncovers a little bit more about history every day. 4 00:00:15,360 --> 00:00:19,840 Speaker 1: I'm Gabe Lucier and today we're looking at a macab milestone. 5 00:00:19,960 --> 00:00:24,320 Speaker 1: In British history, the first state sanctioned cremation of the 6 00:00:24,360 --> 00:00:37,200 Speaker 1: Modern Age. The day was March twenty sixth, eighteen eighty five, 7 00:00:38,000 --> 00:00:42,280 Speaker 1: Jeanette Pickersgill became the first person to be legally cremated 8 00:00:42,440 --> 00:00:46,600 Speaker 1: in Britain. The cremation took place at the nation's first 9 00:00:46,640 --> 00:00:50,960 Speaker 1: sanctioned crematorium in Woking, Surrey, and it was carried out 10 00:00:51,080 --> 00:00:55,800 Speaker 1: by members of the Cremation Society of England. The process 11 00:00:55,880 --> 00:00:59,760 Speaker 1: of cremation, or the incineration of a dead body, is 12 00:00:59,760 --> 00:01:04,319 Speaker 1: now the most widely practiced funeral ceremony in the United Kingdom, 13 00:01:04,400 --> 00:01:07,280 Speaker 1: but it was considered taboo all the way until the 14 00:01:07,319 --> 00:01:11,280 Speaker 1: early twentieth century, and prior to eighteen eighty four it 15 00:01:11,440 --> 00:01:15,760 Speaker 1: wasn't even thought to be legal. Cremation has been practiced 16 00:01:15,800 --> 00:01:18,280 Speaker 1: in some parts of the world since the Stone Age, 17 00:01:18,640 --> 00:01:21,000 Speaker 1: but it fell out of favor in Britain around the 18 00:01:21,040 --> 00:01:26,560 Speaker 1: fifth century, when Christianity became more widespread. The Christian belief 19 00:01:26,600 --> 00:01:30,760 Speaker 1: in a physical resurrection on Judgment Day made many Europeans 20 00:01:30,840 --> 00:01:35,000 Speaker 1: think twice about disposing of the dead through burning. The 21 00:01:35,080 --> 00:01:38,320 Speaker 1: fear was that by reducing one's body to bone, fragments, 22 00:01:38,319 --> 00:01:42,559 Speaker 1: and ash, they'd be unable to be resurrected upon Christ's return. 23 00:01:43,480 --> 00:01:46,280 Speaker 1: With that in mind, the burning of bodies became a 24 00:01:46,360 --> 00:01:52,400 Speaker 1: punishment reserved for heretics, whether they were already dead or not. However, 25 00:01:52,680 --> 00:01:56,680 Speaker 1: by the late eighteen hundreds, England's growing population and the 26 00:01:56,800 --> 00:02:00,960 Speaker 1: unsanitary living conditions of its cities led to several prominent 27 00:02:01,000 --> 00:02:06,200 Speaker 1: figures to reappraise cremation as an alternative to burial. The 28 00:02:06,200 --> 00:02:09,399 Speaker 1: first major advocate of the practice in Britain was Sir 29 00:02:09,440 --> 00:02:13,720 Speaker 1: Henry Thompson, an eminent physician and surgeon to Queen Victoria. 30 00:02:14,600 --> 00:02:18,239 Speaker 1: In eighteen seventy three, he had examined a model cremation 31 00:02:18,440 --> 00:02:22,000 Speaker 1: system at the Vienna Exposition, also known as the Vienna 32 00:02:22,080 --> 00:02:27,040 Speaker 1: World's Fair. Thompson concluded that the new furnace technology could 33 00:02:27,080 --> 00:02:31,960 Speaker 1: serve as a quote necessary sanitary precaution against the propagation 34 00:02:32,120 --> 00:02:36,400 Speaker 1: of disease among a population daily growing larger in relation 35 00:02:36,520 --> 00:02:40,799 Speaker 1: to the area it occupies. He also believed that cremation 36 00:02:41,080 --> 00:02:44,440 Speaker 1: would reduce burial costs and lessen the chances of being 37 00:02:44,480 --> 00:02:48,120 Speaker 1: buried alive, an all too common problem in those days. 38 00:02:48,560 --> 00:02:52,040 Speaker 1: Thompson's views were treated with suspicion by the public and 39 00:02:52,080 --> 00:02:55,320 Speaker 1: the press, so in eighteen seventy four he founded the 40 00:02:55,360 --> 00:02:59,440 Speaker 1: Cremation Society of England to help win them over. The 41 00:02:59,480 --> 00:03:03,960 Speaker 1: Society published numerous articles and reports extolling the benefits the 42 00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:07,600 Speaker 1: cremation would bring to overcrowded areas and pushing for the 43 00:03:07,639 --> 00:03:12,399 Speaker 1: practice to be formally accepted into law. In eighteen seventy eight, 44 00:03:12,639 --> 00:03:15,640 Speaker 1: the society furthered its mission by buying a plot of 45 00:03:15,720 --> 00:03:19,640 Speaker 1: land next to the Brookwood Cemetery in Woking, Surrey, on 46 00:03:19,720 --> 00:03:24,400 Speaker 1: which they built the nation's first official crematorium. The society 47 00:03:24,480 --> 00:03:27,000 Speaker 1: tested the water by burning the body of a dead 48 00:03:27,080 --> 00:03:30,560 Speaker 1: horse there in eighteen seventy nine, but the local community 49 00:03:30,720 --> 00:03:33,240 Speaker 1: was so upset by the incident that they asked the 50 00:03:33,280 --> 00:03:37,120 Speaker 1: Home Secretary, Sir Richard Cross, to shut down the facility. 51 00:03:38,040 --> 00:03:42,560 Speaker 1: Secretary Cross obliged, but not on religious or social grounds. 52 00:03:43,000 --> 00:03:46,280 Speaker 1: His concern was that cremation might provide an easy way 53 00:03:46,400 --> 00:03:49,800 Speaker 1: for criminals to cover up a murder by destroying evidence 54 00:03:49,840 --> 00:03:54,320 Speaker 1: of violence or poisoning. For that reason, Cross insisted that 55 00:03:54,360 --> 00:03:58,400 Speaker 1: the society abstain from further cremation until the issue was 56 00:03:58,480 --> 00:04:03,040 Speaker 1: explicitly addressed by Parliament. A breakthrough on the issue would 57 00:04:03,080 --> 00:04:06,920 Speaker 1: come five years later, when the legality of cremation was 58 00:04:06,960 --> 00:04:10,320 Speaker 1: tested by an eighty three year old Welshman named doctor 59 00:04:10,320 --> 00:04:14,200 Speaker 1: William Price. In Eccentric in every sense of the word, 60 00:04:14,560 --> 00:04:18,279 Speaker 1: Price was a free love advocate, a nudist, a self 61 00:04:18,279 --> 00:04:22,120 Speaker 1: professed druid, high priest, and, perhaps most shockingly of all, 62 00:04:22,480 --> 00:04:26,800 Speaker 1: a vegetarian. In eighteen eighty four, he was arrested in 63 00:04:26,920 --> 00:04:29,760 Speaker 1: South Wales for attempting to cremate the body of his 64 00:04:29,880 --> 00:04:34,839 Speaker 1: infant son, Yes Sue Greeest, the Welsh name for Jesus Christ. 65 00:04:35,760 --> 00:04:39,680 Speaker 1: The cremation was seen as especially scandalous because Price had 66 00:04:39,720 --> 00:04:42,359 Speaker 1: tried to carry it out on a pyre constructed on 67 00:04:42,400 --> 00:04:45,479 Speaker 1: a nearby hillside, and had done so while dressed in 68 00:04:45,520 --> 00:04:50,840 Speaker 1: the ceremonial robes of the druids. After his fellow villagers intervened, 69 00:04:51,080 --> 00:04:54,480 Speaker 1: doctor Price was put on trial for illegal cremation at 70 00:04:54,480 --> 00:04:59,039 Speaker 1: the South Glamorgan Assizes in Cardiff. During the case, He 71 00:04:59,240 --> 00:05:03,960 Speaker 1: argued that although cremation wasn't expressly permitted by law, it 72 00:05:04,120 --> 00:05:09,000 Speaker 1: wasn't prohibited either. Then, much to his neighbour's dismay, Justice 73 00:05:09,120 --> 00:05:14,800 Speaker 1: James Stephen agreed the judgment didn't constitute recognition by Parliament, 74 00:05:15,040 --> 00:05:18,400 Speaker 1: and indeed a bill to enshrine cremation and law was 75 00:05:18,440 --> 00:05:22,520 Speaker 1: dismissed by Parliament shortly after Price's trial. But as far 76 00:05:22,560 --> 00:05:26,360 Speaker 1: as the Cremation Society was concerned, in official court ruling 77 00:05:26,640 --> 00:05:29,279 Speaker 1: was still enough of an endorsement to move forward with 78 00:05:29,360 --> 00:05:33,680 Speaker 1: their plans. In early eighteen eighty five, the Society issued 79 00:05:33,720 --> 00:05:37,560 Speaker 1: a circular informing the public that the Woking Crematorium was 80 00:05:37,600 --> 00:05:41,400 Speaker 1: officially open for business. The first person to make use 81 00:05:41,440 --> 00:05:46,440 Speaker 1: of its services was Missus Jeanette Caroline Pickersgill of Regent's Park, London, 82 00:05:47,160 --> 00:05:49,919 Speaker 1: a published poet and well known figure in the city's 83 00:05:49,920 --> 00:05:55,120 Speaker 1: literary circle. Pickersgill had previously subscribed to the Cremation's Society 84 00:05:55,400 --> 00:05:59,000 Speaker 1: in the hope of being cremated herself. She noted this 85 00:05:59,120 --> 00:06:02,360 Speaker 1: in her last will and testament, so six days after 86 00:06:02,400 --> 00:06:05,400 Speaker 1: her death on March twentieth, at the age of seventy one, 87 00:06:05,800 --> 00:06:08,719 Speaker 1: she became the first person in Britain to be legally 88 00:06:08,800 --> 00:06:12,880 Speaker 1: cremated in public to help soothe the public's fears that 89 00:06:12,960 --> 00:06:17,200 Speaker 1: cremation might lead to someone being burned alive. Two doctors 90 00:06:17,240 --> 00:06:20,599 Speaker 1: were on hand that day to certify the death. The 91 00:06:20,640 --> 00:06:24,480 Speaker 1: cremation took just over an hour, and while traditional funerals 92 00:06:24,480 --> 00:06:27,080 Speaker 1: were treated with a sense of reverence by the locals, 93 00:06:27,440 --> 00:06:30,400 Speaker 1: the cremation of a stranger from out of town was 94 00:06:30,440 --> 00:06:34,160 Speaker 1: a far less solemn occasion. According to a reporter for 95 00:06:34,240 --> 00:06:38,440 Speaker 1: the Surrey Advertiser, the remarks heard from bystanders were quote 96 00:06:38,720 --> 00:06:43,960 Speaker 1: not the most appropriate to accompany the disposal of the dead. Unsurprisingly, 97 00:06:44,200 --> 00:06:47,800 Speaker 1: the town's children were no exception, with several reported to 98 00:06:47,839 --> 00:06:51,120 Speaker 1: have run through the streets singing A Lady for Bernie, 99 00:06:51,320 --> 00:06:55,520 Speaker 1: A Lady for Bernie. Needless to say, the public response 100 00:06:55,560 --> 00:06:58,839 Speaker 1: to the first cremation was not as positive as proponents 101 00:06:58,839 --> 00:07:03,000 Speaker 1: had hoped. Us Pickersgill was one of just three cremations 102 00:07:03,040 --> 00:07:06,440 Speaker 1: held that year, but in eighteen eighty six the number 103 00:07:06,520 --> 00:07:09,760 Speaker 1: rose to ten, and in eighteen eighty eight just under 104 00:07:09,880 --> 00:07:14,160 Speaker 1: thirty cremations were performed. The increasing demand led to the 105 00:07:14,200 --> 00:07:17,280 Speaker 1: construction of a second facility on the grounds in Woking 106 00:07:17,760 --> 00:07:20,920 Speaker 1: and more importantly to the establishment of a chapel so 107 00:07:21,000 --> 00:07:23,440 Speaker 1: that mourners could gather just like they would at a 108 00:07:23,440 --> 00:07:28,440 Speaker 1: graveside burial. The familiar setting helped religious holdouts warm up 109 00:07:28,480 --> 00:07:31,800 Speaker 1: to the practice as well, with many eventually concluding that 110 00:07:31,880 --> 00:07:34,840 Speaker 1: an omnipotent God would still be able to resurrect the 111 00:07:34,920 --> 00:07:39,320 Speaker 1: body that had been burned in this way. Slowly but surely, 112 00:07:39,680 --> 00:07:43,440 Speaker 1: the practice of cremation became more socially acceptable in Britain. 113 00:07:44,280 --> 00:07:47,440 Speaker 1: Additional crematoriums were founded throughout the country in the late 114 00:07:47,560 --> 00:07:51,280 Speaker 1: nineteenth century, and then in nineteen oh two, the long 115 00:07:51,320 --> 00:07:56,120 Speaker 1: awaited Cremation Act was passed by Parliament. The Society's three 116 00:07:56,240 --> 00:07:59,679 Speaker 1: decade long campaign to get cremation law on the books 117 00:08:00,160 --> 00:08:04,760 Speaker 1: finally succeeded. In the year of the Bills passage, less 118 00:08:04,800 --> 00:08:08,000 Speaker 1: than point one percent of all the funerals in Britain 119 00:08:08,280 --> 00:08:12,360 Speaker 1: involved cremation, but now more than one hundred and twenty 120 00:08:12,520 --> 00:08:16,160 Speaker 1: years later, the figure stands at just under eighty percent. 121 00:08:17,000 --> 00:08:21,400 Speaker 1: What was once a widely distrusted, morally dubious practice is 122 00:08:21,440 --> 00:08:24,360 Speaker 1: now the preferred way to be laid to rest in England, 123 00:08:24,840 --> 00:08:28,239 Speaker 1: an outcome that Sir Henry Thompson would surely be prouder. 124 00:08:31,680 --> 00:08:34,760 Speaker 1: I'm Gabe blues Yay, and hopefully you now know a 125 00:08:34,800 --> 00:08:38,760 Speaker 1: little more about history today than you did yesterday. If 126 00:08:38,760 --> 00:08:40,559 Speaker 1: you'd like to keep up with the show, you can 127 00:08:40,559 --> 00:08:45,760 Speaker 1: follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at TDI HC Show, 128 00:08:46,160 --> 00:08:48,920 Speaker 1: and if you have any comments or suggestions, feel free 129 00:08:48,960 --> 00:08:51,400 Speaker 1: to send them my way by writing to This Day 130 00:08:51,720 --> 00:08:56,440 Speaker 1: at iHeartMedia dot com. Thanks to kazby Bias for producing 131 00:08:56,480 --> 00:08:59,160 Speaker 1: the show, and thanks to you for listening. I'll see 132 00:08:59,160 --> 00:09:03,040 Speaker 1: you back here again tomorrow or another day in history class.