Mass Death and Funerary Transition: The Meudon Railway Disaster (France, 1842)

* Translated by Cadenza Academic Translations

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Abstract

On 8 May 1842, the deadliest French railway disaster of the nineteenth century occurred in Meudon, near Paris. The derailment of a train and the resulting fire caused the death of several dozens of people. Studying the mortuary and funerary management of this disaster is of twofold interest. First, in the early days of the railway, this type of collective death was still rare and strongly marked by its industrial character; it was therefore necessary to improvise. Second, a new funerary regime was emerging at the time that placed great importance on the body of the deceased, but the violence of the accident led to mortuary chaos. How could the growing imperatives of the cult of the dead be reconciled with industrial death?

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

* Translated by Cadenza Academic Translations

1 Journal des débats politiques et littéraires, May 10, 1842. Translator’s note: Unless otherwise stated, all translations of cited foreign-language material in this article are our own.

2 In the archives of the Préfecture de Police (DA 30), a note drafted in the days after May 8 counted 87 deaths or missing person declarations, not including the 13 wounded who died later.

3 Le Commerce, May 11, 1842.

4 La Patrie, May 10, 1842.

5 La Presse, May 11, 1842.

6 Le Droit, May 9, 1842.

7 La France, May 10, 1842.

8 Le National, May 10, 1842.

9 La Gazette du Languedoc, May 14, 1842.

10 L’Hermine, May 10, 1842.

11 La Quotidienne, May 13, 1842.

12 La Quotidienne, May 11, 1842.

13 Le Commerce, May 12, 1842.

14 “Accident arrivé sur le chemin de fer de Versailles,” Gazette des hôpitaux civils et militaires, Thursday, May 12, 1842. The newspapers also mentioned Velpeau’s clinical class at the Hôpital de la Pitié on May 12, where the surgeon displayed several amputated limbs.

15 Archives of the Préfecture de Police, DA 30.

16 La Quotidienne, May 11, 1842.

17 La Quotidienne, May 11, 1842.

18 Le National, May 12, 1842.

19 La France, May 16, 1842.

20 Le Constitutionnel, May 12, 1842.

21 Le National, May 15, 1842.

22 Le Globe, May 19, 1842.

23 Journal des débats politiques et littéraires, May 12, 1842. It should be emphasized, however, that the archives of the Préfecture de Police do not support this version: Dumoustier is not listed among the names of those who identified the admiral.

24 La France, May 13, 1842.

25 La Quotidienne, May 14, 1842.

26 La France, May 20, 1842.

27 La Gazette nationale, May 14, 1842.

28 Le Commerce, May 17, 1842.

29 Journal des débats politiques et littéraires, May 11, 1842; Le Moniteur universel, May 11, 1842.

30 La Gazette du Languedoc, May 14, 1842; this statement was presumably inspired by the ceremonies to mark the reburial of the insurgents of 1830; those who had died in the revolution that installed Louis Philippe’s regime had been solemnly and publicly reburied in 1840.

31 La Gazette nationale, May 14, 1842.

32 Le Constitutionnel, May 24, 1842.

33 La Gazette nationale, May 24, 1842.

34 “A Bellevue, anniversaire du 8 mai,” L’Illustration, May 13, 1843.

Additional information

Funding

This work has benefited from a grant from the ANR (French National Agency for Research) n° ANR-19-CE27-0022.