A culture of silent grief?: The transformation of bereavement care in 20th century England

Abstract

Abstract Why was Cruse Bereavement Care created in 1959? This article explores that and other questions in the broader context of the twentieth century history of bereavement in England. Ignorance and silence about death and loss were widespread in the fifty years after 1914: cultural norms were transformed by two world wars, the decline of religion, and demographic change. In the inter-war years responses to bereavement varied widely, according to class, gender, region and religion. The two world wars had a profound and cumulative impact on the prolonged process of change in the attitudes and behaviour relating to death and bereavement. The Second World War created a greater break with the past as a pervasive culture of avoidance, minimal ritual and suppressed grieving became entrenched in the English psyche. From the 1970s cultural change encouraged the revival of expressive grieving and the increasing popularity of bereavement counselling. Psychiatrist Colin Murray Parkes introduced the lay person to bereavement in his influential 1972 pioneering work. Increasing emphasis today is placed on diversity in grieving, reflecting our changing cultural boundaries.