The Early Years of Cremation, 1884–1914

Abstract

Regina v. Price was a great encouragement to the Cremation Society. It was a verdict for which they had not worked and an outcome they had not expected. It solved at a stroke the problems of the legality of cremation to which the Home Office had set so many obstructions. Yet the Price verdict had provided cremationists with a legal victory before they had had a serious chance to persuade the Churches. The ten years since 1874 had been quite insufficient to connect cremation meaningfully to Christian tradition and rituals. So the advocates of cremation had to set about inventing a morality and precepts for this new kind of disposal; instead of offering cremation as a preparation for physical regeneration after death according to the Christian resurrection tradition, cremationists offered a more secular cleanliness and health for the sake of survivors and the living.