Join historian Anna Cusack for a compelling exploration into The Marginal Dead—a talk that delves into the lives, deaths, and burials of those pushed to the edges of early modern London society. Drawing from her doctoral research, Anna investigates how seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Londoners treated those who were considered outsiders in life—and remained so in death. From executed criminals and suicides to religious minorities such as Quakers and Jews, this talk unpacks the varied and often surprising ways the dead were perceived and interred.

Was marginalisation in death as stark as we’ve been led to believe? By examining thousands of individuals and their post-mortem journeys, Anna sheds light on the nuanced social codes that governed burial practices and public memory. This is a story not only of the forgotten, but of how “normal” and “marginal” were carefully constructed categories—often more porous than we imagine. Come prepared for a richly detailed journey through cemeteries, gallows, and dissenting burial grounds, as Anna reveals the complex afterlives of London’s marginal dead.

Tickets £12.50 including a delightful Victorian punch and a 20% donation toward a host of restoration projects at Kensal Green Cemetery

Anna Cusack
Dr Anna Cusack is a historian and Research Fellow at St Mary’s University, Twickenham, specialising in early modern London, death, and burial practices. She has taught at Birkbeck and Essex, and previously held roles at the British Museum and National Portrait Gallery.