Gentlemen Only Funerals in Wales - Why?

[Wexflyer]

Here is an example, but I have seen many others.

[Cas (stallc)]

It was a custom that some older folks still hold today.

Women & men would attend the funeral service at home, or at chapel, but only the men would go graveside. Normally the women would prepare the wake.

Not many adere to the tradition today.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/waleshistory/2010/10/a_good_welsh_funeral.html

Cas

[CaroleW]

My friends father died in 1976 & it was a "men only" funeral.  There didn't seem to be any particular reason as he wasn't a member of any society etc. 

I remember finding it rather odd that his widow & only child stayed at home with other female relatives

[GR2]

I have not come across that wording in a Scottish funeral notice, but it was also the custom here for men only to attend the actual burial. The first time women in my family followed the coffin to the graveyard was when my grandfather died in 1965.

[Gillg]

I experienced this on the Scottish island of Mull many years ago.  A funeral procession of men made its way through the town, winding its way up a hill to the church and graveyard. Many houses had curtains drawn at the windows.  I don't know at what point women were involved in the funeral, as we didn't follow the procession.  The island was very set in its ways then and women were not allowed in pubs at that time.  I expect things have changed a lot by now.

Things like this always make me wonder why men are so afraid (?) of women that they put so many limitations on their behaviour.  But that's another topic...

[aghadowey]

When my mother-in-law died in 1990 the custom was to have the service at home then the men proceeded to the grave with the coffin. As soon as they left the women made themselves a cup of tea then prepared food which was served to the men when they returned. The food was either a complete sit down dinner or sandwiches, scones & buns served with tea.
It was a little while later that I remember hearing of women at the graveside (the two daughters of the dead woman)- it was quite uncommon.

[AlanBoyd]

I searched BNA for "cemetery gentlemen only". The most recent hits are for 1999 and seem to correspond to four different funerals in that year, all in South Wales (the newspapers are the South Wales Echo and the South Wales Daily Post).

[bridgwatergirl]

One branch of my Mum's family in Somerset had this tradition as well - no women at the graveside, to the point that I think even quite a late 20th C funeral observed (I remember my Mum being relieved at not having to go).  I'm not sure why, because I don't think it was a widespread thing there and they weren't the branch that originally came from Wales, either.

[GrahamSimons]

Experienced this in 2005 in Scotland. Tradition.