Gender on Memorials
Looking at the way people are described on memorials can give us an idea of how they were viewed by society in life and death.
In nineteenth-century Britain only two genders were socially accepted, and there was a strict divide between them.
In St James' Cemetery, slightly more males are commemorated on gravestones than females (51.1% to 48.9%).
Women (over 20 years old) are much more likely to be described in relation to someone else than men - such as being described as "wife" or "mother".
Male infants (under 2 years old), however, are slightly more likely to be referred to as "son", than female infants are as "daughter".
Click on the images below to learn more.
