Post-marital Beds of the Bereaved

Abstract

Death brought an end to the Victorian working-class marital bed and this final chapter examines the post-marital beds inhabited by the bereaved. The spouse left behind would often struggle to maintain—materially, domestically, or emotionally—the former marital bed. Thus, in examining the beds of working-class widows and widowers, we are provided with a deeper understanding of the necessities of widowhood that could bring them to inhabit beds or bedrooms with others in their various living arrangements. Moreover, this chapter also reveals the impact that spousal bereavement had upon others’ marital beds.