The Victorian Era was named in honor of Queen Victorian who reigned for over sixty-four years, from 1837 until her death in 1901. Victorian society was known for its strict code of society proprieties. This was evident in every aspect of Victorian life, from birth, unto death. After the death of her beloved Albert, in 1861, Queen Victoria at the young age of forty-two went into lifelong mourning. Then as now, Americans, used English customs to set the standards for our own social proprieties. 1861 saw the beginning of our own Civil War, a war that lasted only four short years, from 1861 to 1865. Those four short years, witnessed the loss of husbands, brothers, fathers and friends in epic proportions. Rules of mourning were stricter for women than for men. The length of a woman’s time of mourning was dictated by the relationship of the deceased. The time of mourning could last anywhere from two years to six months. For the lost of a husband, a women’s mourning period lasted no less than two years. The first year and a day, the woman found herself in deep mourning. She was not allowed to wear anything but black and must be made of a nonreflective/shiny material. During the Civil War, especially in the South, large washing tubs saw the emersion of every item a woman wore, into a tub filled with a black die, often made from the boiling of walnut husks. This created a caustic aroma that could be smelled for miles. Often times women’ immersed their entire wardrobe into the vats. During the deepest mourning period, also known as 1st mourning, women had to wear black crape veils whenever they left the home. The crape on these veils had a crinkled effect. This effect was created by the use of shellac. This chemical oftentimes caused even more health and vision problems for the mourning widow. In the later period of mourning, jewelry was allowed to be worn. However, only specific materials were deemed proper. Queen Victorian, during her life long mourning, decreed that jet would be the only jewelry worn at court. Needless to say, a great demand for jet developed. Jet is created from compressed remains of ancestors of the monkey-puzzle tree. Harvested from the cliffs above Whitby England, this beautiful shiny material was able to be carved into exquisite pieces of jewelry as well as supplied ornament trim to dresses and gowns.
Men at this period had a prescribed mourning period of six months to a year. Afterall, a gentleman would need to marry to have some one to care for the children, who were left behind.