{"id":1168,"date":"2020-02-01T23:11:58","date_gmt":"2020-02-01T23:11:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/?p=1168"},"modified":"2025-07-15T15:39:17","modified_gmt":"2025-07-15T14:39:17","slug":"electrotherapy-mourning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/2020\/02\/01\/electrotherapy-mourning\/","title":{"rendered":"Electrotherapy and complimentary mourning"},"content":{"rendered":"

Electrotherapy and complimentary mourning aren’t terms that go naturally together. Unless the former goes horribly wrong. But they were both on the front page of the Carlisle Journal 150 years ago today.<\/p>\n

Electrocute yourself to cure all ailments<\/h2>\n

Please don\u2019t actually electrocute yourself. The headline is paraphrased advice from 150 years ago, when electrotherapy was apparently a \u2018big thing\u2019.<\/p>\n

Electrotherapy is used today for pain relief. As it was\u00a0<\/span><\/a> long before anyone in the UK had an electric light in their house<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In February 1870, the Carlisle Journal carried a lengthy advert for Pulvermacher\u2019s Galvanic Chain-Bands, Belts and Batteries.<\/p>\n

These rendered:<\/p>\n

\u2018electricity perfectly self-applicable, in a mild continuous form\u2026 no shock or unpleasant sensation being experienced, whereby it becomes a true fountain of health and vigour, speedily soothing pains, reanimating torpid limbs, reviving the sluggish functions of life\u2026\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And so on.<\/p>\n

It was, the makers claimed, \u2018the embryo of a universal remedy\u2019.<\/p>\n

Yours \u2013 at a price<\/h2>\n

A complete set of bands, belts and batteries would set you back a whopping (in those days) \u00a33-\u00a35. With the cheapest option, chain-bands for the loss of voice and other affectations of the throat, where prices ranged from 10 shillings (\u00a30.50) to 21 shillings (\u00a31.05).<\/p>\n

Bands also covered \u2018nervous deafness, toothache, and noises in the head\u2019. Along with \u2018writers\u2019 cramp, trembling, nervousness, &c\u2019 While the belts were supposed to aid lumbago, liver disorders, and nervous debility.<\/p>\n

If your loved ones hadn\u2019t benefited from an electric dog collar round their neck, you might be in need of the services of a premises in Scotch Street, Carlisle (\u2018opposite the town clock\u2019).<\/p>\n

The Carlisle Mourning Warehouse<\/h2>\n

W Toppin & Sons offered a range of widows\u2019 mantles, bonnets, and caps. Along with ‘servants\u2019 mourning at all prices’.<\/p>\n

The items could be bought ready made, or made to order, and were suitable for \u2018first, second and complimentary mourning\u2019.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Fashionable mourning black? No sweat<\/h2>\n

Black silks were available in: Drap de France, Drap de Lyons, Gros de Suer, Gros de Londres, and Satin de Lyons.<\/p>\n

It would seem you didn\u2019t have to give up looking fashionable while lamenting the loss of another. And that giving something a French-sounding name was thought to make it sound more sophisticated and elegant. Even to the point to describing goods from London as ‘de Londres’).<\/p>\n

I say \u2018French-sounding\u2019 because \u2018Gros de Suer\u2019 to me sounds, well, gross. \u2018Suer\u2019 was perhaps meant to be \u2018soie\u2019 = \u2018silk\u2019. But \u2018suer\u2019 is actually the French verb \u2018to sweat\u2019!<\/p>\n

Mourning timetable<\/h2>\n

\u2018First mourning\u2019, for a widow, lasted two years and you couldn\u2019t go out unless clad head to toe in black, with a black veil over your face.<\/p>\n

\u2018Second mourning\u2019 lasted nine months, and you didn\u2019t have to cover your face.<\/p>\n

Finally, you could give up the black, but wear sombre colours for a final three-six months. This is possibly the \u2018complimentary mourning\u2019 of W Toppin\u2019s advert, but I am not sure.<\/p>\n

William Toppin<\/h2>\n

William Toppin, the Scotch Street draper, was 60 at the time. The census a year later shows he had a wife, Margaret, five adult children living at home (unmarried), could afford one servant, and also provided living accomodation for five apprentices.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Oddly, by 1880, he seems to have become a hotel keeper. He and Margaret (n\u00e9e Margaret Park) were then mourning the loss of their son Joseph Park Toppin, whose will named \u2018father William Toppin of the Queen\u2019s Hotel, Silloth\u2019. William Toppin died in Silloth in 1889.<\/p>\n

An article on fasion, in the Carlisle Journal of November 1882, touched on the use of arsenic as a cosmetic (it cleared the skin, rendering it rosy and transparent – do NOT try this at home!). Before refering to a meeting of the Funeral Reform Association.<\/p>\n

\u2018\u2026no doubt the time will come when outward mourning will be thought of little importance, and the usages of society cease to compel the trappings of woe when there is no corresponding feeling in the heart.\u2019<\/p>\n

By then, (in fact, by\u00a0 <\/span>January 1877) the mourning warehouse in Scotch Street was being run by Joseph Rome.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Electrotherapy and complimentary mourning aren’t terms that go naturally together. Unless the former goes horribly wrong. But they were both on the front page of the Carlisle Journal 150 years ago today. Electrocute yourself to cure all ailments Please don\u2019t actually electrocute yourself. The headline is paraphrased advice from 150 years ago, when electrotherapy was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1169,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,99],"tags":[41],"class_list":["post-1168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-social-history","category-victorian-life","tag-carlisle"],"yoast_head":"\nElectrotherapy and complimentary mourning - Cumbrian Characters<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Electrotherapy for a sore throat, and sweaty silk in a mourning warehouse were on the front page of the Carlisle Journal in February 1870\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/2020\/02\/01\/electrotherapy-mourning\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Electrotherapy and complimentary mourning - 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