Dr Dan O’Brien

@drdan.bsky.social

8135 Followers 310 Following

Historian of undertakers and funerals in Eighteenth Century England. Researching the trade and their goods. Visiting Research Fellow at CDAS, University of Bath. Associate Fellow of Royal Historical Society

The Spielman Centre at Arnos Vale cemetery. A neoclassical building with four columns supporting a triangular roof. It is early evening and the moon hangs above the building.
The unquiet dead A man with a lantern cowers before a towering but rather comical ghost that has long white robes and spindly fingers.
A tarot card depicting a skeleton with a scythe representing death. It stands amidst skulls and bones.
Funeral mute from an undertaker’s trade card. He wears a scarf around him like a sash and holds a pole called a stave in his right hand.
A caricature scene of a man in a graveyard being startled by a ghost. He holds up a lantern and looks in horror. Before him is an open grave.
Dr Dan O’Brien points towards a screen featuring a caricature of a patient on the deathbed surrounded by a physician, death and an undertaker
Sat 31 Jan, 11am Christ Church in Frome A Flock of Ravens: The business of death in eighteenth century England.
A Flock of Ravens The business of Death in eighteenth century England with Dr Dan O’Brien Christ Church Frome Saturday 31 st January 11am
Caricature of an undertaker meeting an elderly man and offering his services. The undertaker is carrying a coffin on his back and holds his hat tightly in his hands. The old man is enraged with his visitor. The old man’s dog is also barking fiercely at the undertaker.
Molly Conisbee’s book No Ordinary Deaths featuring two skeletons standing alongside a large urn
A round white plate that is inscribed with the message ‘You and I are Earth 1661’
Richard Newton’s An Apparition. A grave robber is startled in a nocturnal burial ground by a tall, white ghost. The two characters are surrounded by the graves of the burial ground.
A night sky full of stars.
A cartoon depicting a churchyard. Sat on two tombs are a lawyer, gravedigger, clergyman and physician. They are in the company of a skeleton representing death and all of the characters are having a good time drinking and smoking. A hearse arrives at the distant wall of the churchyard and the driver raises his hat in a salute to the gathered friends.
A view of the Donmar stage from row C of the stalls. In the foreground there are tiny lightbulbs. A haze hangs over the stage which is surrounded on three sides by the seats.
A mourning ring. The bezel is decorated with an enamelled skull placed over woven hair and surrounded by diamonds.
A satirical print from the eighteenth century depicting three grave robbers huddled around a grave. The men look in horror at a tall white ghost that is illuminated by their lantern light. The ghost nonchalantly holds out a bone towards the grave robbers.
A tiny gold coffin pendant. The opened lid reveals a tiny skeleton lying within. The coffin is decorated with nails and has three handles on each side.
A painting depicting a figure that is half woman and half skeleton. The skeleton half holds a scythe. The living half is dressed in fine clothing with her hair styled. A reminder that earthly wealth means nothing against death.
The memorial to John Hart Burges, rector of St John’s Devizes. It is a tall, black monument with a circular finial decorated with the initials IHR surrounded by a wreath. The circular finial is supported by a tall, flared pillar. St John’s church can be seen behind the memorial.
A tarot card featuring Death. Death is depicted as a skeleton holding a scythe over one bony shoulder. Death wears the red cape and hat of a cardinal demonstrating death’s dominion over all things.
A satirical print from the eighteenth century depicting three grave robbers huddled around a grave. The men look in horror at a tall white ghost that is illuminated by their lantern light. The ghost nonchalantly holds out a bone towards the grave robbers.
The enamelled lid of an elliptical patch box. It depicts the injured Nelson being supported on deck as the battle of Trafalgar rages in the background. The scene is surrounded by the message ‘off Trafalgar the battle was fought. Nelson’s life the victory bought’
The ensign or flag from the Spanish warship San Ildefonso. It is a large Spanish flag with bars of red, yellow and red. The right edge of the flag is tattered with numerous holes and tears as a result of battle damage. It is very large. There are four people knelt along the top edge and they are very small compared to its overall width .
A view of St Paul’s with Nelson’s funeral being staged with a large crowd gathered in a bowl around the coffin which is under a plumed canopy. A tall cylindrical lantern hangs over the coffin with lots of points of illumination on it. The scene is framed by a large Spanish flag to the left and a large French flag to the right.
The figurehead from Horatio Nelson’s funeral car. It depicts Victory personified as a winged woman in a flowing dress. She holds out a wreath in her outstretched right hand. This would have been at the front of the funeral car.
The platt memorial. A large wall mounted memorial with two elliptical alcoves in which the busts of William and Mary Platt are placed. The couple stare out from the monument as if watching the church below. Around their alcoves are many colourful shields displaying the heritage of the pair.
A skull with crossed bones beneath it from a mourning brass. The detail of the skull is enamelled in red making it appear very striking. It has perfectly circular eye sockets and a very triangular nasal cavity. The row of teeth is designed as a row of rectangles.
A ledger stone from a grave decorated with a skull in profile accompanied by a sword and an anchor.
The effigy of Thomas Heneage. He is wearing full armour with a tiny ruff and his moustachioed head rests on a pillow.
Sir Maurice Berkeley lies in effigy alongside the effigy of his wife Ellen. Sir Maurice is wearing full armour. Both effigies have their hands joined in prayer.
A skeleton dances alongside a woman in a fashionable yellow dress. The skeleton holds up an arrow and points to ominously.
The effigy of William Longspée. He is dressed in full chain mail with only his eyes and nose visible through the mail hood which is also known as a coif. He is wearing a fabric surcoat over the mail.
A sailing ship struggling against a stormy sea. The sails are pulled by the winds and the masts seem warped. From a memorial two to brothers who died at sea.
A skull stares out from a memorial. The skull is framed above and below with swags of fabric that are also carved from stone.
Canterbury Cathedral’s rose windows. A colourful stained glass depiction of Becket emerging from a reliquary to assist Eilward of Westonning who is lying injured in bed.
The gilt coffin of Karl X of Sweden. The coffin has a ridged lid that slopes gently upwards from the sides. The corners of the coffin rest on gold lions. A gold wreath decorated the end which is facing us.
A tiny glass cup that is decorated with the likenesses of Presidents Garfield and Lincoln as well as the dates of their assassinations. As Garfield gazes to the side we can see Lincoln’s ghostly expression on the opposite side of the cup.
The memorial to Ellen Maria La Touche. A large stone sarcophagus with decorated corners and a ring carved at either end. The lid is flat. It sits on a stone base that would have once had a railing around it but now only stumps of metal are left. The railings were removed during World War Two.
The memorial to re buried dead of St Dionis Backchurch. It has three gothic arches on each side and is surrounded by the foliage of the cemetery.
The effigy of Peter Capponi carved from stone. He is wearing armour and has his arms together but his hands are now missing. They should be joined in prayer.
The black grave marker for Erik af Klint. It is made from iron and tapers to a point at the top. The top of the memorial features seven stars cut out of the iron and cross which is in an arch shaped section of removed metal.
A skull carved into a bone rosary bead. It has unnaturally large round eye sockets and a tiny pair of nostrils which are more like a face than the nasal cavities on a skull.
A circular funeral medal which is decorated with a skull and crossbones. A winged hourglass sits on top of the skull.
A cast of the musculature and skeleton on the human head and shoulders. Colour has been applied to highlight details.
The skull side of the pomander with crossed bones underneath. Holes at the back of the eye sockets enable the scent to escape.
Left side of the bowl of a ceramic smoking pipe which is decorated with a skull and crossed bones.
A miniature wooden coffin. Its gable lid is opened like a wardrobe with the cadaver lying inside. The wooden cadaver is alive with creatures including a snake
A mourning ring with an elliptical bezel that features a skull and crossbones above the letters H and M for Henrietta Maria. The shoulders of the ring are set with diamonds.
A skull placed alongside a slowly burning candle. They stand on a book inscribed memento mori. Above the items is the text of Psalm 39 verse 6. Surely every man walketh in a vain show surely they are disquieted in vain he heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them
A skeleton in the red hat and robes of a cardinal. It holds a scythe which rests on its bony shoulder.
An elliptical mourning ring which is enamelled in black. The bezel is decorated with the scene of a widow and her daughter mourning alongside a memorial that is topped with an urn.
A skull carved from stone with no lower jaw but a row of teeth on the upper jaw. It has two deep eye sockets that stare at the viewer. On either side of the skull as the worn ends of what would have been crossed bones.
A heart shaped pendant inscribed with the message prepared be to follow me and a tiny skull that is flanked by a C and an R. These recall the name Carolus Rex referring to Charles I who was executed in 1649.
A medieval illustration of Death in the form of a worm riddled cadaver. Death takes the hand of the colourfully dressed jester who seems unshaken by Death’s appearance. The jester has long flowing sleeves and three pointed hat. In the jester’s other hand is a marotte with a jester head on the top.
Two skeletons emerge from a charnel house. One plays a shawm and the other holds a wooden trumpet and a drum. The side window of the charnel house reveals a stack of skulls within and a lone skull stands on the ground outside.
A carved marble skull that is framed by a pair of wings. The lower jaw of the skull is absent and teeth are missing from the upper jaw.
A rock crystal watch case that is shaped like an upturned beaker with the details of a skull carved into it. It has a wide grinning mouth, long nasal cavity and a pair of wide eye sockets.
A mourning ring with a skull and crossbones bezel. The skull has diamonds set in each eye socket and on the shoulders of the ring alongside the skull bezel.
A carved stone skull from the Stratford memorial at St Mary’s Acton. The skull has no lower jaw and is missing several teeth.