In the late 1700’s and
early 1800’s the medical profession was still struggling to find its
feet. The doctors of the time were in desperate need of dead bodies on which
to carry out experiments. The only legal supply of bodies for anatomical
dissection were those of hanged criminals. Not only was this supply scarce
but there was the added risk of retribution from the family and friends of
hanged criminals. This desperate growing need of anatomists for enough
‘subjects’ led to a new gruesome profession .... bodysnatching.
In the late 1700’s bodysnatching was carried out by gravediggers and anatomy students, but as demand gradually rose and with it the prices willing to be paid, others became involved. These people became known as ‘Resurrectionists’, ‘Crunchers’ and ‘Burkers’.
The latter referred to the activities of William Burke, from County Cork and William Hare from Londonderry, both residents of Edinbugh. When an old Highland man staying with Hare died, owing him £4, he realised he would be unable to recover the money from the next of-kin. With his friend Burke they removed the body from the coffin and replaced it with bark and stones. They sold the body to a Dr. Knox for £7.10/-. Hare receiving his £4, and Burke taking the balance. This was the start of a short and profitable patership involving nine murders before the pair were caught largely through carelessness. Their last victim was ‘Daft’ Jamie a well known character around Edinburgh. The association of Burkes name with grave robbing is ironic as neither of them ever robbed a grave.
In Belfast all the graveyards
suffered they fair share of attention; Shankill, Friar’s Bush and Clifton
Street. The graveyards were always visited in the middle of the night, the
bodysnatchers searching for a fresh grave. They would then dig it up, remove
the body from the coffin and refill the grave. The body was then placed in
a barrel and sold.
As there was no local demand for bodies in Belfast, the enterprising bodysnatcher had the additional problem of shipping the bodies to either, Edinbugh, London or Dublin. They were shipped in barrels of brine as bacon. In fact numerous corpses were discovered in transit to the various medical schools. Most of those bodies intercepted from Belfast were from the Burying Ground at Clifton Street. For example, in 1828 the body of a man named John Fairclough was found in Warrington, England. It was proved that the body was originally stolen from Clifton Street graveyard.
The Belfast Northern Whig newspaper has many reports of bodysnatching between the years 1824 to 1832. One case of particular interest due to the manner in which the accused were arrested concerned a James Stewart, James Pemblico and Robert Wright all charged with attempting to steal away bodies from the New Burying Ground (Clifton Street) on the night of 24th November 1827. The report continues;
"Between five o’clock and six o’clock on Monday morning, the watch man at the cemetery was accosted by one of the prisoners who asked him did he ever ‘rise a body’ as it was a proceeding which gave him such delight.
The watchman surprised at the question, immediately entered the graveyard but found all right and on his return he was told that if he would consent to join in the work, money and drink should be given him in abundance. Determined to detect the persons who attempted to bribe him from his duty, he manifested an inclination to come to terms and subsequently made an appointment to meet his unknown friends at a public house in Park Lane at 10 o’clock. He met the three prisoners there, who treated him with ale, entered fully on the subject, discussed the pleasures of bodysnatching, and promised to give him two sovereigns for allowing them to enter the churchyard in the night. This he agreed to and received a sovereign on account. He informed Mr Kilshaw, his employer, of the matter and in the course of the day five constables were placed to keep watch.!"
In an effort to control and prevent this
scourge, the families of those buried in Clifton Street used many different
devices. Some families kept watch over the graves until the bodies were in
such a state of decomposition that they would be useless to robbers. Others
hired watchmen to carryout this function. It was not uncommon for these watchmen
to enter the burying ground armed. This however was not without its own problems,
two watchmen were ‘sacked’ for firing shots to pass the time. The
Northern Whig reported the following article on Monday 6th February 1832.
POOR-HOUSE BURYING GROUND - We have been requested to state, that, in consequence of those persons lately interred in the Poor-House Burying Ground, having been in the habit of firing guns, charged with slugs and bullets, which sometimes alarmed the neighbourhood and passengers, and also injured the tombs and head-stones in the grounds; the Poor-House Committee lately came to a resolution, that they would employ two responsible persons, for whose faithfulness they required considerable security, and for whose correct conduct they feel themselves accountable, to watch the graves of all persons buried in these ground; and who will require but a trifling remuneration. They will be well armed; and will have watch-digs constantly with them. This arrangement, if faithfully adhered to, will give general satisfaction, and relieve the minds of many families.
Eventually watchmen were withdrawn for good, it seemed they couldn’t be trusted. Other methods to prevent snatching were employed. They included the very effective ‘coffin guards’, a cage like apparatus which surrounded the coffin, preventing it from being opened, or large vaults for burials or stone slabs on top of graves. Example of these can still be seen in the cemetery today, a coffin guard uncovered in Clifton Street at the turn of the century can be seen today in the Ulster Museum.
Bodysnatching ended as suddenly as it began when a bill was passed through Parliament regulating the conduct of schools of anatomy and surgery. One authority on the subject wrote the following;
There was little choice in the matter. It was either a violation of graveyards so that the profession of medicine might rest on the sure ground of a knowledge of human anatomy, or that ignorance should prevail and medicine fall to the level of quacks and charlatans.
