Getting Old and Dying in London, IHR, 19 June
Getting Old and Dying in London: A Material Culture Approach
Will Farrell (Birkbeck, University of London)
Tuesday 19 June, 5.15. Room G21A, Senate House, South block, Ground floor
Skilled workers, such as the silk weavers of Spitalfields, had the early and middle years of their lives mapped out for them (at least in theory): apprenticeship, journeymen, perhaps master. But in a society without pension schemes, how did those that made it to old age live their lives and how did they prepare for death? This paper uses the records of the Weavers Company and the French Protestant Hospital to reconstruct this experience, focusing on the poorer members of the trade. It particularly concentrates on gifts of clothing and money made by both organisations and 50 inventories left by silk weavers at their deaths.