Figures & data
Figure 1. Early obituary. The year is 1664, the dateline “Edinburgh, May 31”: Roger L'Estrange's Newes printed one of the first recognizable obituaries. Its subject was the Earl of Glencairn, a loyal monarchist, who had “dyed the 30th of the Instant of a Feavour in the 49th year of his Age” (Newes, 9 June 1664).
Figure 2. An agent of change. The legacy of James Fergusson, obituaries editor of the Independent since its inception in 1986: author credits, emphatic pictorial content, and a capsule of life history in a “go-last”. These features have contributed significantly to the British obituary transformation (Independent, 15 October 2002).