Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

The project reviewed the management of death in England in the period 1939-1979 using a number of methods, including interviews with retired cemetery managers. These interviews invited the respondents to detail their career in cemetery management and reflect on burial culture during that period. The interviews gave an insight into the way cemetery management was dealt with as a local authority service; the work of cemetery management, which included both technical aspects of the job and its ‘vocational’ quality with regard to contact with bereaved people; and changes in landscape style. Further information may be found on the University of York Cemetery Research Group Burial policy and the management of death in England, 1939-79 web page, and on the Economic and Social Research Council Burial policy and the management of death in England, 1939-79 award web page.

Main Topics:

Topics covered in the interviews include career history, respondents' employment as cemetery managers, wartime experiences, changing social attitudes over time to death, bereavement and burial and landscape, local authority burial policy, cemetery managers' contact with their professional organisation (the Institute of Cemetery and Crematorium Management), and the growth of cemetery management as a profession.

Volunteer sample

Face-to-face interview