Introduction
“Good friend, for Jesus’ sake forbear,
To dig the dust enclosed here.
Blessed be the man that spares these stones,
And cursed be he that moves my bones.”
So reads the warning on William Shakespeare’s tomb at Holy Trinity Church in Stratford-upon-Avon. Far from being poetic flourish, these words reflect a very real fear that gripped Britain for centuries: the theft of human bodies for medical dissection.
Bodysnatchers in a church cemetery disturbed by the braying of an ass. Mezzotint, 1771 | Photo by Wellcome Collection Public domain.
📚Have a read:
🔊 Listen Now: Episode 85: Shakespeare’s London – Part 1
Early Dissection and the Rise of Anatomy
Interest in human anatomy dates back to medieval Europe. As early as 1319, dissections were recorded in Bologna, and during the Renaissance, scientific curiosity flourished. Leonardo da Vinci himself was granted permission to study corpses in the hospitals of Florence, combining art, anatomy and scientific enquiry.
However, while Europe made steady progress in anatomical study, Britain lagged behind in ethics and legislation. For centuries, the only lawful source of cadavers for dissection came from executed criminals. The 1752 Murder Act even extended the punishment of death by adding dissection as a further humiliation and deterrent.
The Problem: Too Many Students, Not Enough Bodies
By the late 18th and early 19th centuries, medical education was expanding rapidly. Surgery was becoming a skilled profession, moving away from its origins in the barber’s trade. Medical schools boomed, Guy’s Hospital alone enrolled 750 students a year but only around 60 bodies were legally available nationwide. Demand far exceeded supply.
Body Snatchers: The Resurrection Men
Life Is Cheap
Where there is demand, there is opportunity. Enter the Resurrection Men and professional body snatchers who dug up freshly buried corpses and sold them to anatomists. There was only a short window before decay made a body unsuitable for study, so these men worked fast and discreetly, often striking within hours of burial.
- Price of a body: 2 to 14 guineas (a fortune compared to a worker’s weekly wage of 5 shillings)
- Crime risk: Grave robbing could lead to transportation to a penal colony—but only if shrouds or belongings were stolen
Legal loophole: A buried body legally belonged to no one. Stealing a corpse wasn’t technically a crime
Families fought back. Graveyards added watch houses, graves were guarded, and heavy stone slabs or iron cages called mortsafes were installed. But bribery and corruption often rendered these efforts futile.
🔊 Listen Now: Episode 72: Drs William and John Hunter
Burke and Hare – and London’s Own Version
Most people know about Burke and Hare, the Edinburgh pair who murdered 16 people in 1828 to supply bodies to anatomy schools. Their crimes shocked Britain, yet London had its own murderous body snatchers.
The London Burkers of Shoreditch
In 1831, three men; John Bishop, Thomas Williams and James May, were caught selling suspiciously fresh bodies. Bishop admitted to having traded between 500 and 1,000 corpses over 12 years, most stolen from cemeteries south of the river.
They lived at Nova Scotia Gardens in Shoreditch, then one of London’s poorest slums. Suspicion arose when they attempted to sell the body of a 14-year-old boy to Richard Partridge, anatomy demonstrator at Guy’s Hospital. The corpse showed no signs of burial. Partridge delayed payment and alerted the police. 🔊 Listen Now: Episode 50: History of Shoreditch
The Tortoise and the Hare
The case became famous as “The Italian Boy Murder”. It was believed the victim was Carlo Ferrari, a young street performer who used a pet tortoise to entertain crowds. A tortoise was found in the gang’s lodgings, confirming the belief.
But forensic science was still developing. Investigators wrongly assumed tortoise shells were identical, like generic objects. In truth, they are as unique as fingerprints. The boy was later believed to be a Lincolnshire farm boy who had travelled to London to drive livestock to market.
Bishop and Williams were found guilty of murder and hanged. In poetic irony, their bodies were dissected, though Guy’s Hospital refused to accept them.
🔊 Listen Now: Episode 134: Organ Grinders of Little Italy
The Anatomy Act 1832
Public outrage over the London Burkers forced Parliament to act. The Anatomy Act of 1832 finally addressed the shortage of cadavers by allowing:
“Anyone in lawful possession of a body not claimed for burial within 48 hours to sell or donate it to medical schools.”
This stopped body snatching, but at a moral cost. The act effectively targeted the poor, whose bodies became the main supply for dissection; from workhouses, hospitals, prisons and asylums.
Legacy: Death Teaches Us
Today, Guy’s Hospital remains a major centre of medical teaching in Southwark, with a world-class reputation. Yet its history is rooted in a time when the pursuit of medical knowledge clashed with ethics, class and morality.
Nearby, you can still explore this history:
- The Old Operating Theatre Museum on St Thomas Street – the oldest surviving operating theatre in Europe
- Watch Houses – built to guard the dead from snatchers (one is now an Airbnb!)
- Historic Southwark – a place where medicine, poverty and grave robbing once intertwined
🔉Listen Now: Episode 12: The Old Operating Theatre Museum
If your family enjoys Horrible Histories-style storytelling, this macabre chapter of London’s past makes for a superb themed experience. Join guide Nikky Catto on a private walking tour that reveals the darker side of Southwark.
