The UNSETTLING and Shocking Art of Victorian Death photography

In English History, we associate morbid times with the Medieval period and the Tudor period, where times were bloody and barbaric. The Victorian period is more remembered for being a time in which the British Empire was at its height, and despite Britain becoming incredibly wealthy as a world power, it was at the expense of others. Victorian England is associated with the poor working classes, struggling to find work, and working for low wages but completing long hours. It was a time in some senses of progress, for example in medicine with different inventions and remedies making healthcare better. But in some senses the Victorian period was a very strange time, and nothing epitomises this more than the disturbing fascination with death that many had. Death was everywhere, disease was also common and the average life expectancy was rather low. But during the time, people came up with bizarre, morose and crazy ways to remember the dead. One way of doing this was by photographing corpses and dead bodies. But why on earth did they do this?

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