Bodysnatchers

In the early days of medicine surgeons learned about the body by dissecting the corpses of criminals. However, the authorities strictly controlled the number of bodies released to the medical schools, forcing the doctors to resort to illegal measures. Professionals were hired to steal bodies: digging up recent graves, selling corpses from orphanages or workhouses, and, in the case of Burke and Hare, murdering people who wouldn't be missed

In 19th century Edinburgh, one of the most influential surgeons of the time, a Dr Robert Knox (MD (Doctor of Medicine), FRCSEd (Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh), FRSEd (Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh) ) was pushing the boundaries of medical knowledge.

His research methods involved the dissection of corpses and the discussion of these dissections with his students at the Edinburgh Medical College, and members of the public who pad to watch these dissections (females not allowed of course). Unfortunately this method of instruction depended greatly on a reliable supply of fresh bodies.

This requirement for fresh (or at worst, freshish) cadavers gave rise to the phenomenon known as “Resurrection Men”. Resurrectionists were gangs of men who raided cemeteries at night and dug up freshly buried bodies which they then sold to to medical schools and professors such as Knox.

Among the most infamous of these resurrectionists or “body-snatchers” were the Irish duo of William Burke and William Hare (a pair who only operated in Edinburgh). These two were itinerant labourers (AKA Navvies)who had moved to Scotland to work on the Union Canal. Both eventually ended up in Edinburgh living in the same lodging house in the West Port.

The activities of these restrictionists were largely confined to the Central Belt and Eastern Scotland below the the Highland line, but they were not confined to Scotland. This is where we get the term mortgage in it's original form – it comes from the Old French "death pledge," apparently meaning that the pledge ends on the death of the pledger or when the obligation is fulfilled. A closely related term is the “mort-safe” which determined a form of graveyard architecture and a thankfully short-lived need for armed watchmen in graveyards. With these resurrectionist activities, Scotland, not for the first time, is setting a trend.

Sadly, this is not one our proudest moments. The indiscriminate and widespread removal of new inhabitants of graveyards may, and I stress may, have been useful to the medical profession. On the whole I doubt it:-

Did Knox discover anything? No.

Did he advance medical knowledge in the Europe of his time? Yes.

Are these contradictory concepts? No, they aren't, Knox and his contemporaries were at the forefront of European medicine, yet the early 19th century European form of medicine was, basically, butchery.

Knox and his contemporaries in many countries were only just coming round to the notion that the ancients such as Hippocrates, Galen, Rhazes (Muhammad ibn Zakarīya Rāzi), Avenzoar (Ibn Zuhr), Maimondes and Avicenna (Ibn Suva) maybe knew better than these modern European supermen.

The suppliers.....

Burke (1792 – 28 January 1829) was born in Urney, near Strabane, in the very west of County Tyrone, part of the Province of Ulster in the north of Ireland. After trying his hand at a variety of trades and serving as an officer's servant in the Donegal Militia, he left his wife and two children in Ireland and emigrated to Scotland about 1817, working as a navvy on the Union Canal.

Hare's (born 1792 or 1804) birthplace is variously given as Newry or Derry, both of which are also in the Province of Ulster in Ireland. Like Burke, he emigrated to Scotland and worked as a Union Canal labourer. The pair then moved to Edinburgh, where they took lodgings with Maggie Laird and Nell Macdougal, two women of negotiable virtue, in the district of the West Port (this district is now known as “The Pubic Triangle”). In 1826, Hare married Margaret Laird. She continued to run the lodging house, and Hare worked on the canal.

Although common practice at the time, digging up corpses was a pretty dangerous business what with mort-safes, mort-gages and armed guards in the graveyards. Besides the fresher the bodies they delivered to Professor Robert Knox (on a no questions asked basis) the better. Contrary to popular belief, Burke and Hare didn't spend much time digging up bodies (too much work probably), so they cut out the middleman - in fact, they cut out the entire burying process....

In 1827 a lodger of Margaret Laird (Hares wife) named Donald died naturally owing him £4 in rent. Hare knew that there was a high demand for bodies for anatomical study and saw a way the dead man could pay back his debt. On the day of Old Donald's funeral the two men removed his body from the coffin and filled it with tanning bark. Later they took the body to Professor Knox at Surgeon Square and were paid 7 pounds and 10 shillings for it.

They celebrated their easily gained cash, but the money wasn't to last and when another of Hare's lodger's, Joseph, fell ill (although not seriously) Burke and Hare decided to take it upon themselves to end his suffering whilst seeing another opportunity for easy money and so their murderous career began. It isn't known accurately how many they killed, but estimates generally run from 16-30.

Their tenure as Knoxes main supplier of stiffs came to an end on either October 31st or November 1st (depending on which source you refer to) when they were turned in by another couple, a James and Ann Gray who also lodged with them. The Greys became suspicious when they were warned to stay out of the spare room. Being good Calvinist Scots, this aroused their suspicions and they didn't stay out. When they entered they discovered the body of Mary Docherty and immediately confronted Helen who panicked and offered them £10 per week to keep quiet. £10 was a significant chunk of money at the time, especially for a working class couple (AKA the “lower orders”).

The police investigation began immediately but it nearly fell apart just as quickly as there were no corpuses to habeas thanks to Knox. Except that there were, one of the victims, a children's entertainer known as 'Daft Jamie'. He had a deformed foot and was instantly recognised by paying students at Professor Knox's anatomy class. Knox strongly denied that the subject was James Wilson but immediately began his lecture by dissecting the face.

Eventually, the Lord Advocate, Sir William Rae, offered Hare immunity to turn King's Evidence and testify against Burke and Helen which he readily did. The short trial at the High Court of Justicuary began on Christmas Eve 1828 and the following morning Burke and Helen were charged with the murder of Mary Docherty and Burke alone was also charged with the murder of Mary Paterson and James Wilson and sentenced to death by hanging. Helen's part in the crimes were 'not proven' and she was freed.

On January 28th 1929 over 25,000 people attended and cheered the hanging of William Burke in the Lawnmarket. Ironically his body ended up being dissected in anatomy lectures and some students removed peices of his skin and bound a book from it, stamped on the front in gold 'Burke's Skin 1829' . Before dissection, Burke's body was put on public exhibition and thousands of people streamed passed his his naked corpse on the slab at a rate of 60 per minute. His skeleton can still be seen at Surgeon's Hall (part of the University of Edinburgh Medical School) along with his death mask and the life mask of Hare.