Gravestones in the Sheffield General Cemetery. Source: Shirley Baxter.
During the nineteenth century accidents were commonplace. Inadequate safety precautions in the home, in the community and in the workplace led to frequent deaths. Women and children died from burns, their clothes set alight by open fires. Men died from exploding grindstones or from work related diseases, wealthier people died in carriage accidents when horses took fright and bolted. Travel by train or ship could be hazardous; ships sank in storms, seamen were swept overboard. Laudanum was readily available; overdoses, accidental or intentional, were not uncommon.
The collapse of the Dale Dyke Dam resulted in a Flood which swept more than two hundred and fifty innocent people to their deaths over the course of one night. Lives were dislocated, whole families lost.
Life was unpredictable. The phrase ‘in the midst of life we are in death’ was a popular inscription on gravestones. Given the prevalence of fatal disease and the very basic medical treatment available, it seems amazing that any Victorian ever reached their seventh decade.
