The treatment of Halifax's poor house dead during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries

Abstract

Suggesting a cold, lonely death, the above verse begs the question of whether or not care and respect were bestowed upon a deceased poor house inmate by their caretakers. Upon their death, fortunate inmates were collected by their kin; for those less fortunate, their remains were entrusted into the hands of the poor house management, whose mortuary practices ranged from terse and impassive to respectful of one's final wishes. Based primarily on archival material, this thesis will examine how the dead of Halifax's poor houses were handled during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Placed in context, the research suggests adequate treatment of poor house inmates by those individuals responsible for their care, given the resources and facilities at their disposal. By detailing the mortuary treatment given to the poor house inmates, attention is offered to a segment of Nova Scotia's population frequently overlooked, now and in the past.