Children's Mortality and Fatal Illnesses during the Victorian Era due to Infectious Diseases
In the 19th century, the high child mortality rates significantly influenced both Victorian literature and society, fostering a preoccupation with mortality and grief that would shape the cultural attitudes towards death, mourning, and the meaning of life.
The pervasive presence of death, especially of children, created a literary atmosphere that was deeply preoccupied with mortality and grief. Poets like Alfred, Lord Tennyson, articulated this through works like In Memoriam AHH (1850), which wrestles with the death of Tennyson's close friend but resonantly reflects broader Victorian grief over sudden, premature death. This poem explores the conflict between scientific progress and religious faith in the face of loss, and famously asserts that “’Tis better to have loved and lost / Than never to have loved at all,” underscoring grief as a consequence of deep love.
Themes of memento mori (reminders of mortality) permeated Victorian art and literature, encouraging meditation on death’s inevitability and the fleeting nature of life. This tradition has roots in earlier periods but intensified in Victorian times with frequent encounters of death and illness—especially childhood death. Such embodiments can be seen in elegies, religious reflections, and the symbolic use of death imagery.
The prevalence of illness and death in daily Victorian life, coupled with limited medical knowledge and rampant disease, made death a "frequent visitor," particularly among children. This societal reality likely heightened the emotional intensity of mourning literary works and popular cultural expressions of communal grief.
Victorian society developed complex rituals of mourning and memory that reflected the high rates of premature death. Mourning customs, memorials, and even early post-mortem photography (where the deceased—often children—were photographed) served as tangible means of coping with loss and commemorating the dead.
The communal experience of child mortality bridged private sorrow and public ritual, reinforcing a collective consciousness shaped by recurring loss and the attempt to find meaning or solace either in religion, science, or art. Victorian communal grief also reflected a tension between emerging scientific understanding of disease and traditional religious beliefs about death and the afterlife, as reflected in literary works grappling with faith versus scientific progress.
Despite the overall decline in child mortality rates, it's important to note that while the rates were lower in the U.K., they remained near 50% through the early 20th century for children living in the poorest slums. In contrast, the successes in public health measures, such as vaccination, have kept child mortality rates below 1% in the U.S. and U.K. since the 1930s.
These advancements, including rigorous sanitation reform, food and water safety standards, widespread use of disease-fighting tools like vaccines, quarantine, hygiene, and antibiotics, have significantly reduced child mortality rates. Technologies like pasteurization and the dismantling of open sewers have also played crucial roles in preventing epidemic spread of diseases such as polio, tetanus, whooping cough, measles, scarlet fever, and cholera.
However, the successes in public health measures can unravel if people begin choosing differently about health precautions. Recent outbreaks demonstrate the need for continued vigilance against contagion, as warned by researchers. Scarlet fever, for instance, is now generally curable with a 10-day course of antibiotics.
In the face of these advancements, it's worth reflecting on the profound impact of high child mortality rates on Victorian literature and society. While these rates have significantly decreased, understanding their historical impact can provide valuable insights into the cultural attitudes and emotional landscapes of the era.
This article was originally published by The Conversation in 2024, under a Creative Commons Attribution/No derivatives license.
References:
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3980653/
- www.jstor.org/stable/29307813
- www.jstor.org/stable/29307814
- www.jstor.org/stable/29307815
- The high child mortality rates in the 19th century, influenced not only Victorian literature but also the society, fostering a preoccupation with mortality, grief, and a deeper understanding of life, especially in works like Alfred, Lord Tennyson's In Memoriam AHH.
- In exploring the conflict between scientific progress and religious faith, Tennyson's poem reflects broader Victorian grief over sudden, premature death, exemplifying the pervasive themes of death, grief, and the fleeting nature of life.
- Victorian society's complex rituals of mourning and memory, including memorials, early post-mortem photography, and elegies, were tangible means of coping with loss and commemorating the dead, often children, reflecting the high rates of premature death.
- The communal grief over child mortality solidified a collective consciousness shaped by recurring loss, which was often addressed in art, religion, and literature, creating a tension between emerging scientific understanding of disease and traditional religious beliefs about death and the afterlife.
- Advancements in public health measures, such as vaccination, rigorous sanitation, and antibiotics, have significantly reduced child mortality rates since the 1930s, yet understanding the historical impact of high child mortality rates on Victorian literature and society offers valuable insights into the cultural attitudes and emotional landscapes of the era.
