Queen Victoria made mourning and widowhood "trendy". She introduced the wearing of jet bead jewelry, the color mauve was invented as a clothing dye during her reign, and was often worn the second year of widowhood ( though not by her ) of mourning, instead of black, and whilst memento mori jewelry had been around for millennia, the wearing of a dead loved one's hair ( usually braided ) became quite the thing during the Victorian era!
I don't know if it was the custom, outside of the USA, but the newly use of photography was quite the rage ( of a posed dead loved one, to look as though he or she was still alive; alone, or with other family members ) was quite the BIG thing here in America, at that time.
you can find the pictures of the old dead all over the internet.
I have a pic of my dead grandmother, for she lived in Europe and there was a custom of taking a pic to send to far away relatives.