A Christian burial in a churchyard with a clergyman administering the last rites used to be everyone’s wish in Victorian England. Ultimately, the dead child of the soldier in this article had a better resting place than many paupers in the past. For the London poor a pauper’s burial probably meant sharing their grave with as many as 17 to 18 bodies and the grave was not closed until the quota of bodies was reached. Paupers’ graves were very deep, sometimes as deep as 58 feet and the smell could not escape, hence the gravediggers’ deaths.
“On Friday afternoon a private in the Guards, whose child died, wishing to bury it as decently as possible, borrowed a pall from an undertaker ; but on the funeral procession reaching St. John’s churchyard, Westminster, the sexton refused them admission without some particular fee for the pall. The soldier had no money, and at last he took the coffin on his shoulder and carried it to the grave, which had been given to him by the Churchwardens, on account of his poverty, without fee. He deposited the coffin there, and filled the earth in himself. A number of people followed him, but on their attempting to return they found that the sexton had locked them all in the churchyard. A most disgraceful scene followed, and cries of “shame” resounded from all quarters. Some of the most agile clambered over the railings, while others remained in the churchyard for nearly an hour. After the relatives of the child had gone, the Clergyman ordered the body to be disinterred, and he then performed the funeral rites over the child. The occurrence caused the greatest excitement in the neighbourhood.”
Stamford Mercury, 2 August, 1833.