In Europe, a movement to reintroduce cremation as a viable method for body disposal began in the early 1870s. This was made possible by the invention of new furnace technology and contact with Eastern cultures that practiced it. At the time, many proponents believed in the
miasma theory, and that cremation would reduce the "bad air" that caused diseases. In 1869, the idea was presented to the Medical International Congress of Florence by Professors Coletti and Castiglioni "in the name of public health and civilization". In 1873 Professor
Paolo Gorini of
Lodi and Professor Ludovico Brunetti of
Padua published reports of practical work they had conducted. A model of Brunetti's cremating apparatus, together with the resulting ashes, was exhibited at the
Vienna Exposition in 1873 and attracted great attention He had seen Gorini's cremator at the Vienna Exhibition and had returned home to become the first and chief promoter of cremation in England. Thompson's article 'The Treatment of the Body after Death' appeared in
The Contemporary Review in January 1874. In it he wrote: "it was becoming a necessary sanitary precaution against the propagation of disease among a population daily growing larger in relation to the area it occupied". While his main argument in support of cremation concerned hygiene his other reasoning included that cremation would lessen the chances of burial alive, reduce the cost of funerals, save mourners from having to stand in all weathers during interment, and cremation urns would be safe from vandalism. Apart from Thompson the co-signatories of the declaration included:
Shirley Brooks,
Frederick Lehmann,
John Everett Millais,
John Tenniel,
Anthony Trollope and Sir
Thomas Spencer Wells. At this meeting the Cremation Society of England was created. Its founder Sir Henry Thompson wrote that the society was "organised expressly for the purpose of obtaining and disseminating information on the subject and for adopting the best method of performing the process, as soon as this could be determined, provided that the act was not contrary to Law". Price successfully argued in court that while nothing in statute or common law stated that cremation was lawful, likewise there was nothing to establish that it was unlawful. The case set a precedent that allowed the Cremation Society to proceed with its plans. ==First British cremations==