Monument Analysis

View Naked and Beheaded: A Survey of Children's Graves at Ross Bay Cemetery in a larger map


Naked and Beheaded Monument Analysis: Claire Rawlinson, Vanessa Futcher, Emily McClintock, Owain P Nicholson, and Anna Stefek


1. What is your data set?
            Our Data set consisted of eleven graves found within the South East corner of the Ross Bay Cemetery.  To control our sample size and eliminate variables, we decided to focus our study on the graves sites of children.  For this survey, children were defined as individuals who had been buried before they reached the age of ten years old.  Of the twelve graves survived eleven were the burial sites of children and only one was a grown man.  For the purposes of this study, this adult grave will not be included within the data set even though it was surveyed and is included within the map. (This adult man was the twin of one of the children included in the study, the two individuals share a gravestone)  Our data set was further controlled by selecting only a single corner of the Ross Bay Cemetery for analysis, for many years this section of the cemetery was used by Roman Catholics.  Although it has now been rezoned.  Selecting a particular age group and location within the cemetery allowed us to create an effective sample size for the scope of this survey.
            After completing our research and survey of the Ross Bay Cemetery we recognized several important limitations within our data set. Including the relatively  small number of graves surveyed.  But also including the limitations of the grave sites which were often missing important information (birth date, death date or cause of death).   


2. What are your research questions? 
            Our research was based upon two main questions.  Firstly, during what years were these individuals buried?  This could indicate events which occurred within Victoria during these years.  It could also suggest if there is a clear pattern of expansion within the cemetery during our period. Secondly, what is the general distribution, style, pattern alignment and weathering of these graves? From this we may be able to deduce if there is a consistent style for the burial of children within Victoria.


3.Discussion:

            The analysis of the eleven children’s graves found in the South East corner of Ross Bay Cemetery was successful in providing adequate answers to our initial research questions.  Although our sample size was small there are some clear patterns that developed.  Many consistencies were found with the distribution and alignment of the graves from out data set and other patterns regarding style and weathering would be more developed with a larger sampling size. Trends were also observed in the distribution of the graves and the year the death occurred at. 

Of the graves surveyed two were buried after 1990, seven were buried between 1917 and 1937, and two were undated but heavily weathered.  All the graves share an East-West alignment as well as other distinctive traits.  Because this section of the cemetery was predominantly Roman Catholic until a recent rezoning (please view map, Lai 1987: 26), it can be presumed that the seven graves from the early part of the Twentieth Century as well as the two undated graves were Roman Catholic burials. The two recent burials may or may not be Catholic, but are likely to have a similar religious orientation.  Although the graves have a tendency toward Catholicism there is not a noticeable trend of distribution.  The three graves on the border of the surveyed area are from 1991, 1927 and 1937 which suggests that the graveyard is not expanding in a radial pattern. There is also no trend suggesting that the graves on one side or the middle are older.  However, the majority of the graves date to a period between 1917 and 1937 suggesting a possible pattern for increased child mortality during these years.  During these twenty years many global upheavals occurred that may have increased child mortality, these include: the First World War, the depression, and the influenza epidemic of 1918.   The influenza epidemic alone killed between 20 and 40 million people globally, having its largest effect on children, elderly and returning soldiers (Macdougall 2007: 56).  During the following years the Great Depression forced many individuals into poverty, children are one of the groups most effected as they are unable to support themselves (Therborn 1996: 60)The seven graves that date to these twenty years are: Robert David Player, Aileen Beatrice Rice, Edward Adams Lindsay, Mary Elizabeth Rickard, Donald Arthur, Elizabeth Beadle, and John Michael Wilfrid Ord.

More apparent patterns were visible to help answer our second research question.  Most noticeable was the trend for the graves to be orientated East-West.  Every single grave included in this survey displayed this trend. East-West orientation is considered by Irion (1990: 165) to be a common practice within both Christian and Catholic burial. However, the graves did not demonstrate a uniform pattern for the direction the headstone faced.  Five of the headstones surveyed faced west and the other six headstones faced east.  Catholicism suggests that graves face east so that the dead may rise again with the sun and Jesus (Irion 1990: 164).  It is possible that the grave markers facing west are actually footstones not headstones, this trend allows visitors reading the inscription to face east (Irion 1990: 165).  However, without official cemetery records it would be impossible to identify if any of the west facing grave markers were footstones.  The grave markers surveyed were diverse in shape and style.  Four of the graves were marked with a headstone, all with unique stylization.  Five of the graves were marked by a flat stone, some of these flat stones had been recently rebuilt.  Five of the graves were surrounded by a stone border in addition to another grave marker or without one.  The two graves which were undated (Baby Turae, and Mary Planche) were both only marked by the stone border.  This variation in grave markers could be caused by a variety of factors based on taste, economics and religion.  The graves from the period of 1917-1937 as well as the undated graves all show distinct signs of weathering, with the exception of the three graves which have been given new grave markers (David Robert Player, Donald Arthur, Elizabeth Beadle).   The newer graves are also showing signs of weathering, but to a lesser degree.

This survey of Ross Bay Cemetery revealed many patterns for the burial of children in the south eastern corner, an area that was traditionally used by Roman Catholics.  All the graves were orientated east-west, however they did not have a consistent pattern for type of grave markers.  The majority of the graves surveyed are from a period of twenty years between the two world wars the other graves are either undated or from the early 1990s.  This suggests a pattern of increased child mortality during these years.  To better understand these trends another survey should be conducted using a larger sample size and data set.  This will allow for a wider more accurate set of results. 

Work Cited:

Irion, P.E., 1990. Changing Patterns of Ritual Response to Death, Journal of Death and Dying 22(3), pp. 159 -172.

Lai, D.G., 1987. The Chinese Cemetery in Victoria, BC Studies 75, pp. 24 – 42.

MacDougall, H., 2007. Toronto’s Health Department in action: influenza 1918 and SARS in 2003, Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences 62(1), pp. 56-89.

Therborn, G., 1996. Child Politics: Dimensions and Perspectives, Childhood 3(1), pp. 29-44.