Childhood and death in Victorian England / Sarah Seaton.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Seaton, Sarah, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Infanticide--Great Britain--History--19th century.

Infanticide.

Children--Crimes against--Great Britain--History--19th century.

Children.

Poor children--Great Britain--History--19th century.

Poor children.

Working class--Great Britain--History--19th century.

Working class.

History.

Children--Crimes against.

Great Britain.

Poor laws--Great Britain.

Poor laws.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

xiv, 206 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Barnsley, South Yorkshire : Pen & Sword Archaeology, an imprint of Pen & Sword Books Ltd, 2017.

Summary:

This book looks at number of infanticide cases and the attitudes of the mothers towards their newly born children. Many were assumed to be infanticide but were never proved and readers will be amazed at the evidence given for the harsh cruelties experienced by some of the newborns that went unpunished. While today's society might attribute some of these cases to postnatal depression, such a condition was unheard of in the Victorian period. Some cases were clearly accidents; the Victorians did not have the immense health and safety laws that bind our society today and their children used the local fields and streets as their playgrounds. The Victorian child was a much freer soul with more real adventures to create, which inadvertently counted danger such as drowning in a local river or falling through the ice on a lake. Periodically we are horrified at the murder of a child, and nothing can ever excuse this crime. History reminds us that people never change and these will always be those who learn nothing from society or life experiences, and quite often they are the ones who are tempted by crime. Similarly, children were murdered by family members, people known to them and complete strangers. Childhood and Death in Victorian England is not intended to be a morose book or morbid fascination regarding death, but a tribute to the many children who for whatever reason, did not make it to adulthood. Book jacket.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: ch. 1 Industrial Mishaps and Misdemeanours

ch. 2 Accidents

ch. 3 Poverty, Paupers and Health

ch. 4 Manslaughter, Murder and Circumstantial Evidence

ch. 5 Newborn and Early Infant Deaths.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1473877024

9781473877023

OCLC:

973915141

Publisher Number:

99972749404