Body snatching.

What-ho!

I should be studying Biology now, as in proper hardcore study with short loo & biscuits breaks. Sadly, I just can't do it. Don't fret, my darlings, my exam is on Friday so I still have plenty of time but I'm rather angry with myself for not being capable of studying when I really, really should. Biology is probably the dullest subject I'm taking this year. "But it broadens your horizons," says mummy dearest. Indeed. I know the names of all glands and bones in the human body, along with about 1000 details considering the nervous system and chemical reactions. The tragedy of all this is that I'll forget most of it quite soon . My head is a windy place. Some things go through it without leaving a single trace. I say, what a nifty rhyme.

Studying anatomy for this exam made me think about how exciting life must've been for medical students in the 19th century. They had to obtain bodies for anatomy studies themselves and, in comparison with the 18th century, it was very difficult to get fresh corpses for dissection legally. In the 18th century and early 19th, many crimes were punished with execution - the legal system of the time is often called "Bloody Code". People were hanged for crimes like stealing anything worth more than one shilling, forgery, cutting down a tree or going out at night with a blackened face. More than 100 people were executed every year, their bodies were available for anatomy studies and medical students were happy and busy; dissecting bodies of executed criminals was legal.

In the early 19th century, the legal system changed which resulted in less than 60 people per year being charged with death penalty. Medical science flourished and the demand for fresh cadavers increased, some sources state that around 500 corpses were needed every year because there were so many medical students and anatomists. Desperate students were willing to hire criminals who would bring them recently buried corpses or, in the most terrifying cases, kill people in order to obtain a fresh body. Back then, surgeons didn't have cold rooms to stop corpses from decomposing so if they wanted to dissect, they needed people who had died recently. Body snatchers were also known as "The Resurrectionists". If you were a 19th century criminal, body snatching was the most lucrative business you could start.

The first most prominent body snatching case were the Burke and Hare murders that took place between 1827 and 1828. Doctor Robert Knox, a lecturer in Edinburgh, purchased 17 corpses from Irish immigrants William Burke and William Hare. Burke & Hare were handsomely paid for drugging poor people, murdering them and bringing them to Knox. When they were discovered, Hare was promised from prosecution immunity if he testified against Burke. Burke was executed on 28th January 1829 and publicly dissected (don't you just love how morbid the 19th century was?). Needless to say, Doctor Knox was free to go because there wasn't enough evidence against him.

Another famous body snatching gang were the so-called London Burkers, suitably named after William Burke. The leaders of the gang were John Bishop and Thomas Williams, who rented a place in Nova Scotia Gardens where they killed previously drugged victims. Like Burke & Hare, they murdered people who were poor and moderately unknown. They also stole bodies from various graveyards - in court they confessed that, over twelve years, they had sold between 500-1000 bodies. They were executed in 1931 and dissected, just like William Burke.

The fear of resurrectionists resulted in people watching over their relatives' graves so the bodies couldn't get stolen. Some people even bought particularly sturdy coffins that couldn't be opened too easily and would discourage grave robbers. Public pressure and fear that resulted from body snatching cases like the Burke & Hare case and the case of the London Burkers resulted in the Anatomy Act of 1832. The act gave medical students legal access to unclaimed cadavers (from people who died in the workhouse and hospitals) and provided that anatomists should obtain a licence if they wanted to carry out dissections.

This is the story of early 19th century anatomy. "You really have a taste for all things morbid," Snow often tells me. Hear, hear, dear chap. I think I'll go back to biology now, I feel motivated. At least I don't have to steal bodies in order to study anatomy, that's jolly nice, isn't it?

Pip pip,
Linnet