The Popularisation of Cremation in England, 1952–2000

Abstract

In the 1950s and 1960s the cremationists’ 75-year campaign came to fruition. Between 1952 and 1970 the cremation rate rose from 19.27% to 55.41% and the number of new crematoria rose from 63 to 206, the vast majority being built by local authorities. The huge increase in building brought crematoria within most urban families’ reach. In 1964 the Vatican relaxed the Catholic ban on cremation. The influx of Hindu migrants from the Indian sub-continent further bolstered religious support for cremation. After 1970 the onward pace of cremation slowed but it passed 70% during the late 1980s. In the increasingly consumerist culture in the 1990s, public attention turned to improving the quality of funerals. The cremation process was particularly affected by the Environmental Protection Act 1990, in an increasing context of ethical issues around death. The government became interested in a wide range of death issues, in the active participation of which the cremation movement entered the twenty-first century.