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Scotland (Counties as in 1851-1901) => Scotland => Lanarkshire => Topic started by: sandyjose on Sunday 10 May 15 22:18 BST (UK)
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Please can someone explain to me the use of mort cloths.I know that if a family didn't have one for the deceased,they would rent one.Where did they rent it from? Why did they need one,how big was it,was it placed over the coffin and why? When did it stop being normal practice?I believe they were used in Ireland too.As my father's family were from Glasgow and Ireland it would have been something used for the deaths of many family members.
Why did women not attend funerals,only the males of the family even if the deceased was female.When did that practice stop.
Thank you for any information,up until a few years,I knew nothing about these practices.
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Hi,
The coffin would be covered by a mortcloth, a black, usually velvet, piece of cloth. This cloth, as was the hearse, was owned by the parish and a charge was made for it. Sometimes even a coffin was too expensive and the body was simply wrapped in a sheet.
From Funeral Customs Scotland http://freepages.folklore.rootsweb.com/~bldr/funerals.html
Mentioned on an old RootsChat thread in 2007
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=206072.0
Sandra
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The Regency Way of Death - Ladies at Funerals ?
https://regencyredingote.wordpress.com/2013/10/18/the-regency-way-of-death-ladies-at-funerals/
Sandra
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Thanks for the info you have given me,however I still have a lot of questions.When did this practice start and when did it finish? I know that it wasn't practice to have a church ceremony before a burial,any service was conducted at the graveside.Was a mort cloth used by all religions or was it peculiar to one.?
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Have you read the Wikipedia entry ???
The use of a rich cloth pall to cover the casket or coffin during the funeral grew during the Middle Ages.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pall_(funeral)
Sandra
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Thank you for telling about Wikipedia.I understand a lot more about the custom.
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Three RootsChat topics about Mortcloths here:
http://surname.rootschat.com/lexicon/reflib-lexicon.php?letter=M
These might add a few more insights.
regards,
Bob
Update: THis topic has now been added to the Lexicon
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An extract from Hugo Arnot's "History of Edinburgh", 1779
"The register of burials is kept by people whose faculties are impaired by drinking, who forget today what was done yesterday. People who have an interest in reducing the list of burials, as thereby they may peculate the share of mort cloth money* due to the Charity Work house. Besides they enter not into the list of burials any who have died without receiving baptism; nor those whose relations are so poor as not to be able to pay for the use of a mort cloth; nor those who die in the Charity Work house"
* The "mort cloth is the term generally used in Scotland for the Pall
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An extract from Hugo Arnot's "History of Edinburgh", 1779
"The register of burials is kept by people whose faculties are impaired by drinking, who forget today what was done yesterday. People who have an interest in reducing the list of burials, as thereby they may peculate the share of mort cloth money* due to the Charity Work house. Besides they enter not into the list of burials any who have died without receiving baptism; nor those whose relations are so poor as not to be able to pay for the use of a mort cloth; nor those who die in the Charity Work house"
That may have been true in Edinburgh but I would suspect it was the exception to the rule.
The mortcloth covered what was usually a very plain pine (or any other local wood) coffin until the burial. The small fee charged by the parish was used for the upkeep of the poor.
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Thank you for all the info.Having read many sites about mortcloths I understand a lot more about them. It seems they have been used for centuries,ie The Turin Shroud.Today some deceased's coffins in England are covered with a flag which is a type of mortcloth?I don't remember mortcloths being mentioned in England,but any coffin covered in a flag,would have been the same as a mortcloth.
The term must have been dropped a long time ago,but it makes sense that,if a family couldn't afford a coffin,the body would have been wrapped in a mortcloth.
I would be interested to know when the practice was stopped.Several members of my family were buried in Glasgow over 200years,I wonder who had a mortcloth and who didn't.
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At Alness, the Highlands, in 1863 the cord of a mort cloth was being sought to cure a sick horse. Superstition - witches had made use of the animal and the cure was to wrap the animal in the cord. A problem was encountered - mort cloths having become "almost extinct".
The solution was to wrap the horse in a sheet that was known to have been used to wrap a corpse.
(Inverness Courier)
The becoming extinct could, of course, simply apply to that neck of the woods.
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I am of Scottish birth but was living in the London area as a child in the 1950s when all my Grandparents died in Glasgow, my parents separately going to Glasgow for the funerals and I was told at that time that only men attended the funerals with the womenfolk staying at home.
John.
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Yes that was true.A cousin told me about the funeral of our uncle.He was in their house for about 3 days before the funeral, which she found hard to deal with,especially they only had a small flat.On the day the men went with the coffin while the women stayed at home to prepare food and drinks.I don't know when this was changed,can anyone tell me?
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This custom "died out" gradually from the 1960s onwards. My great-aunt's husband died in 1965 and she went to the graveside. My grannie (her sister) was scandalised and they had an argument after the church service. I think it really had to do with the women staying behind and making the steak-pie & peas! Nowadays we are all too rich to do it ourselves - but it's still steak-pie & peas ;D
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I have noticed that in Northern Ireland, some women still do not attend the burial, leaving it instead to the men to go, whereas in Scotland and England, I've noticed many women attend. Perhaps regional variations in any of these countries also prove the opposite though, and local 'customs' are reflecting what is considered 'standard' in any particular area.
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There doesn't seem to be a problem with women attending a crematorium service.
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I think it was an old tradition for whatever reason but even today some women will not go to the graveyard. I was born in 1956 but I remember this from I was young.
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Lodger is right, the introduction of cremations brought about the end of women's non-attendance at funerals generally.
This stark painting by James Guthrie shows a mortcloth in use at a Highland funeral. Click to expand the image,
http://collections.glasgowmuseums.com/starobject.html?oid=571
Skoosh.