Mortuary

[Roy Corduroy]

Shoreditch

Thank you Dave, and that's a good question about Druitt.

In the meantime, the Clerk's House is still there -

[Roy Corduroy]

Henry Wilton

The clerk and mortuary keeper was Henry Wilton, who paid the Kelly funeral expenses. In the 1881 census he is listed as an undertaker at 118 1/2 Shoreditch High Street, age 60, widowed, living with his two sons Charles, 31 and Henry, 23 both cabinet makers. Septimus Buss was the vicar.



Seasonal Papers, House of Commons, 1900

[Supe]

Roy,

In the meantime, the Clerk's House is still there -

But it would seem the black SUV is not.

Don.

[The Grave Maurice]

...the black SUV....

Is that what it is? Here was me thinking it was a small hearse that ran out of petrol in front of the church.

[Roy Corduroy]

...hearse that ran out of petrol in front of the church.

It's a gag. The BBC is filming a sitcom at Shoreditch church about a country vicar who comes to the city. Notice the boom microphone over the funeral procession at far left.

Roy

[The Snapper]

Sorry to slightly hijack this thread but when does Whitechapel actually get a "proper" mortuary ? I've been going through the London papers for the period specifically the inquest reports. What facilities there were seem scattered and inadequate with poorly trained staff. The exasperation of the coroner is reported on more than one occasion.

[Roy Corduroy]

when does Whitechapel actually get a "proper" mortuary ?

Snapper, good evening to you. Chris Scott posted this information -

WHITECHAPEL PUBLIC MORTUARY AND CORONERS COURT
Mortuary buildings and coroner's court, Whitechapel. Opened on 17 March 1892, the structure was built by the District Board of Works with W. La Riviere as the Board's surveyor and architect. The building closed in 1901 and was subsequently demolished.

But I don't know the address of that facility.

Roy

[The Snapper]

Thanks for the pointer. If I find it I'll post it.

[Roy Corduroy]

George Yard was the site of Whitehchapel's 'proper' mortuary built in 1892



courtesy of Mark Ripper

[Dave O]

Part of an 1891 article in the Sanitary Record - Mortuary Reform by J Neville Porter.

By far the worst public mortuary in the metropolitan area is that for the parish of Wapping, in the East End of London. It is a mere old shed, of very small size, and what the coroner for the district calls “a cupboard in a churchyard.” It is very seldom if ever empty, as it is a waterside parish, and that part of the Thames which swirls and eddies within a few yards of the mortuary here makes for itself a kind of a bay, into which an immense proportion of the dead bodies found in the river are washed, and many corpses are cast up by the tide in a decomposed state. No shelves or slabs are provided on which to lay the bodies. They are placed in shells on the floor formed of gravestones. There is no convenience whatever for making post-mortem examinations, which are supposed to be carried on in this wretched old shed with scarcely a foot space to spare.

Hi Roy,

This is a great thread that I'd forgotten all about. I came across the following article the other day. Apparently the mortuary in Wapping was so poor that they were moving bodies to the Seaman's Chapel in Ratcliffe, taking inquests out of the parish where the deaths occurred (or were discovered).

Somewhere down the line I hope to learn whether Ratcliffe jurors had been objecting to investigating Wapping deaths.

Reynold’s Newspaper March 13 1892

A WAPPING MORTUARY SCANDAL.
AN OUTSPOKEN JURY.

Yesterday, Mr. Wynne E. Baxter, Coroner for East London, held an inquiry at the Seaman’s Chapel, Ratcliffe, concerning the death of James Rowland, aged twenty, a waterside labourer, lately residing at 14, Thirza-street, Commercial-road, whose body was found in the River Thames off Wapping on the previous day.
Before any evidence could be given a scene occurred, several of the jurors demanding to know by whose authority they were summoned.
The Coroner: By my authority.
A Juror: But this case belongs to Ratcliffe, and we are all summoned from Wapping and St. George’s.
The Coroner: I will explain it to you. There is a curious piece of business going on about these bodies. Formerly all bodies thrown up by the river at Wapping were taken to a wretched shed in the churchyard, where they were exposed to the gaze of the people living near. To prevent such disgraceful scenes and avoid a scandal, the bodies were brought to Ratcliffe and Ratcliffe juries have been doing your work.
A Juror: But why summon all the working men and pass by the shopkeepers? I know that several tradesmen and merchants in the same street as us have not been summoned. You know we lose a day’s work for this, and tradesmen could afford that better than we can.
The Coroner’s Officer: The shopkeepers were summoned the same as you.
The Juror: Then why aren’t they here? I don’t see them.
The Coroner: They’ll be summoned next time.
Another Juror (who seemed deeply affected): If I hadn’t come I should have had 18s. to take home to-night, and now I shall have nothing, and to-morrow we must starve. I have not earned a penny for a fortnight, and I got a job last night to start to-day, but I could not go, because I was told I should be fined if I stayed away. I have a wife and children at home, and there’s not a piece of bread in the house. (“Shame!”)
The Coroner: I’m very sorry for you, but what can I do?
The Juror: I’ve no victuals in the house, and I shall be turned out of home to-night because I can’t pay the rent. It’s scandalous to bring us poor laboring men here and pass over the tradesmen. (Hear, hear.)
Several of the Jurors said that as they only earned enough to keep themselves from day to day, it meant going without food on Sunday.
A Juror (to the reporter): Put this in Reynolds’s, and it will do us some good. It’s scandalous to serve us luck this. (Hear, hear.)
Another Juror: Well, it’s underhand work with regard to the shopkeepers and publicans.
After some further explanations had been given by the Coroner, the inquest was proceeded with, and it appeared that deceased was working at Messrs. Phillips and Graves’ Wharf, Wapping, on Thursday afternoon. He disappeared about three o’clock, and nothing more was seen or heard of him till six o’clock on Friday morning, when his brother found the body floating in the water. The police took charge of it, and as there was no mortuary to take it to, it was allowed to lie on a raft in the river for over six hours, and was then removed to Ratcliffe by the Coroner’s officer.
A Juror: Why, a dog would not have been thrown about like that; and look at it now, as it lies in the mortuary! It’s disgraceful! The dirt is caked on the face, and no effort has been made to cleanse it in any way. (“Shame.”) It’s just as it was dragged out of the river.
The Coroner: The matter rests with the County Council, who have the power to compel the authorities to do their duty.
The jury returned a verdict of “Found drowned,” and added a rider requesting the Coroner to draw the attention of the London County Council to the disgraceful mortuary accommodation in consequence of the disagreement between the Limehouse Board of Works and the Wapping parochial authorities as to who should provide a mortuary, and that at the present time there is no place in Wapping where bodies recovered from the river can be kept.


Best,
Dave

[Dave O]

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In 1888, the mortuary in St. Luke must have been at Warwick Place and White Cross street. There was a coroner's court at that location. It's interesting to see that in 1876, the place was described as an "accommodation in building" because Macdonald's expenses in 1888 show him paying for use of the room, which I had wondered about.

Dave

[Errata]

The term mortuary chapel was common - " called a chapel, not that mass for the dead shall be said there, but to throw the sanctity of religion over the building."

Roy

If it interests you at all,

It's still called a mortuary chapel. It's not what the building is called necessarily, but the room in which bodies lie before being disposed of in some form or another is called the chapel. Because it IS a chapel, that is, a place where bodies are laid out. In church lingo, a chapel is a chapel because a sarcophagus or tomb is in it. Otherwise it's technically an oratory. At least, until modern usage changed the meaning about 70 years ago. But go into all the old Cathedrals, in each chapel there is a dead person (Or in the case of Westminster, like 50 dead people). Thus the room that bodies are laid out in, or put in coffins, is a chapel. Be it in a church or some refitted warehouse.

I dated a guy whose family owned a funeral parlor for three weeks. That's what I got out of that relationship. That and the fact that funeral homes evidently go through enough super glue to warrant buying it in bulk. I don't know why, but that's one of things I am content to leave a mystery. I imagine I'll find out eventually... the hard way.

[Roy Corduroy]

Okay thanks, Errata

A WAPPING MORTUARY SCANDAL.
AN OUTSPOKEN JURY.

Yesterday, Mr. Wynne E. Baxter, Coroner for East London, held an inquiry at the Seaman’s Chapel, Ratcliffe, concerning the death of James Rowland, aged twenty, a waterside labourer, lately residing at 14, Thirza-street, Commercial-road, whose body was found in the River Thames off Wapping on the previous day.

An interesting one, Dave. Note the jurors used the change of venue as a springboard to voice their real underlying complaint, loss of a days work.

[Dave O]

Thanks for that, Errata. And thank you too, Roy, for the image of the Seaman's Chapel.

Yeah, it's interesting to see Wynne Baxter dealing with the impact of not having a decent mortuary in part of his district. It seems similar to what Macdonald experienced in Spitalfields.

I think I would've complained about the tradesmen being passed over as well--sounds like some of those jurors were pretty hard up, and they must have only had a day's notice to attend, which I don't think was unusual.

Also thanks for the piece by Wynn Westcott you put up on the first page. I went back and found it--great reading.

Best,
Dave