About Victorian Mourning Customs
For the Victorians, death was all around them; in those years the birth rate practically matched the death rate. Most deaths occurred in young children from small pox and yellow fever. Childbirth took many a new mother from the world of the living. Common aliments ripped apart families and friends. The biggest contributor was most likely unclean medical practices, as bacteria were not yet fully understood.  Because of this, minor cuts and scrapes that were not cleaned properly and sometimes even amputations gone wrong caused an untimely death.  All of these meant not a household were spared seemingly constant grieving in Victorian Society.

Mementos such as pins, lockets, brooches and rings, usually containing a lock of hair and / or a photograph, served as tangible reminders of the deceased. Locks of hair were also sentimental gifts from the living, becoming powerful keepsakes after a death, sometimes hand woven into intricate patterns and designs, serving as especially lovely and personal memorials.

It was not uncommon at this time for the remaining family members to have post mortem photographs. To the Victorians, a photograph of a lost loved on served as a reminder of the loss. To some, this photograph served as a powerful substitute.  It was especially important to have such a photograph where none previously existed, such as in the case of an infant or child. It was customary to represent the deceased in these photographs as though they were sleeping peacefully. In some cases, the deceased was posed to look alive and other times simply lie sleeping within the casket.