“A deep sensation of horror was excited at the end of the year (1829) by the exposure of what were called ‘The West-Port Murders.’ It was only for a single murder that Burke and McDougal were tried; but it was nearly certain that within a year or two, Burke and Hare had murdered about sixteen people, for the sale of their bodies to anatomists; and after his conviction Burke confessed this… No other case ever struck the public heart or imagination with greater horror.”
Writing some 20 years after the events, Henry, Lord Cockburn, who had successfully defended Helen McDougal, Burke's' partner, chillingly recalled the deep impression that had been caused by the crimes of Burke & Hare. The insatiable demands for fresh corpses for the University’s medical students had seen the growth on an industrial scale of grave-robbing. Burke and Hare though never robbed a single grave. They were serial killers who murdered at least 16 people and sold their bodies to the anatomist Dr Robert Knox. What happened to the leading characters and were such killings unique to Edinburgh?
Using contemporary sources, this illustrated talk will the events that still shock Edinburgh today.
Eric Melvin is our speaker. Eric graduated with First Class Honours in History and Political Thought from Edinburgh University in 1967. He qualified as a secondary teacher of History and Modern Studies at the then Moray House College of Education gaining a Dip. Ed. in the process and the Staff Prize. Eric later gained an M.Ed. from the University of Edinburgh. He retired from teaching in 2005, working latterly for the City of Edinburgh Council as Headteacher at Currie Community High School. Eric has had several books published by John Murray for younger readers on aspects of Scottish History as well as ‘Discovering Scotland’ for Ladybird. Most recently Eric has had two books published on Amazon – ‘A Walk Down Edinburgh’s Royal Mile’, ‘A Walk Through Edinburgh’s New Town’ and ‘Mary, Queen of Scots’, self-published and written for younger readers and illustrated by Aileen Paterson. ‘The Edinburgh of John Kay’ was published in 2017 and Eric has just finished a book about Duncan Napier, (The Fresh Air of the Summer Morning) the founder of the famous Edinburgh Herbalist business in 1860.
The Edinburgh of Burke and Hare