Five days from death to burial in the late 1700s in Scotland

[hurworth]

I'm wondering whether such a gap between death and burial occurred very often back then, and I'm wondering about the practical issues, even thought it was January (in Fife).  Was it possible to embalm then?

The church records clearly state the date of death and date of burial.   

[Girl Guide]

Don't really know the answer to that.  Today of course a gap between death and burial in the UK is pretty much the norm.  You have all the business of having to arrange the funeral, notify relatives etc., all of which takes time.

Below is a link to a little piece about Scottish funerals which you may like to read.

http://userhome.brooklyn.cuny.edu/anthro/jbeatty/Scotia/issue57/issue57b.html

[Viktoria]

     I am not quite sure what information you require--.
Do you feel that is a long or a short time?
Nowadays there is often a long delay especially if it is a cremation,there are waiting lists.
Back in 1957my Mum died November 6th and was cremated November 11th.
I think the time was not long in the days your query relates to.
                                        Viktoria.

[hurworth]

To me it seems quite a long time if there hasn't been any intervention of the corpse by an undertaker.   I don't think they had refrigerated morgues back then, but as I said, it was January.

 

[BumbleB]

Although 5 days is a bit longer than normal for that period - usually 2 days - perhaps the weather played a big part, in that a grave might take longer to be dug if the ground was frozen.  Not sure about embalming.

[Skoosh]

Held up by bad weather most likely! Maybe the odd duke was embalmed before shipping him home from London, otherwise very unlikely!

Skoosh.

[Gadget]

Not sure which year it was but this site says that the winter of 1794-5 was very severe:

http://www.pascalbonenfant.com/18c/weather.html

In Scotland, it was the seventh coldest winter at Edinburgh in the series 1764/65 - 1962/63. {coldest 1779/80} Frequent heavy snowfall reported from many places in Scotland during January 1795, with transport severely disrupted.

You'll need to scroll down quite a way.


Gadget

[Skoosh]

A bit like this year Gadget? 

Skoosh.

[hurworth]

Thanks Gadget.  He died in January 1796, so the year after the very severe winter.