LAUSR

Scotland is concerned, it might be argued that the opposite of secularisation took place. Smith depicts the changing scene in Edinburgh through chapters on the Kirk’s place in burial, its role in the burial of the poor and its attitude to the Anatomy Act; the onset and activities of the private cemetery companies; the development of trading undertakers; and two chapters on funerals and mourning. The first of these final chapters consists of case studies of Scottish ecclesiastical reactions to the funerals of Princess Charlotte in 1817 and Price Albert in 1861 and of the funerals themselves of a cross-section of eight local dignitaries, including an episcopalian and two Roman Catholic bishops. The other chapter is a study of the sentiments expressed in private letters of condolence and consolation to the bereaved. Smith’s book is an important addition to the recently growing academic interest in death, funerals and mourning in Scotland. It is sad, therefore, to have to warn readers, first, that the ten plates to which reference is made in the text (and which are obviously intended to be collected in a section at the end of the book) are missing from my review copy (although I have seen another copy in which they are present) and, second, that the index is poor. It has too few entries and more than half (by my calculation) of the page references are inaccurate. Things start to go wrong about page 5 and by the end of the book are at least ten pages out of kilter. This is only partly offset by the unusually large print and spacing between lines for a book of this type, which makes skimming through them in search of a reference easier than usual. So my advice would be: if you are interested in the social and ecclesiastical history of Scotland, read this book – it’s important – but have pencil in hand to mark the margins and amend the index (by addition of items and correction of page numbers) for anything you are likely want to come back to later.