Bringing up the Bodies: Body snatching, Murder and Anatomy in Nineteenth Century Edinburgh

At the beginning of the nineteenth century Edinburgh’s Medical School was one of the most prestigious in Europe. Students flocked to study there, and private anatomy schools flourished around the city. The quest for knowledge and understanding of the body came with a price. The dead did not always rest in peace. This talk will look at the development of medicine in Edinburgh, and examine its dark underbelly to understand how two murderers would play a role in changing the laws governing anatomy in the UK. There is also a tale to be told as we look over the Forth from Lauriston…. One night, undercover of darkness, surgeon Robert Liston – who became known as ‘the fastest knife in the West End’ – rowed across the Forth with London resurrectionist Ben Crouch. Their destination was a Fife graveyard. This was a time when the dead did not always rest in peace.

At the beginning of the nineteenth century Edinburgh’s Medical School was one of the most prestigious in Europe. Students flocked to study there, and private anatomy schools flourished around the city. The quest for knowledge and understanding of the body came with a price. This talk will look at the development of medicine in Edinburgh, and examine its dark underbelly to understand how two murderers would play a role in changing the laws governing anatomy in the UK.  

Cat Irving has been the Human Remains Conservator for Surgeons’ Hall since 2015 and has been caring for anatomical and pathological museum collections for over twenty years. After a degree in Anatomical Science she began removing brains and sewing up bodies at the Edinburgh City Mortuary. Following training in the care of wet tissue collections at the Royal College of Surgeons of England she worked with the preparations of William Hunter at the Hunterian Museum at Glasgow University. Cat is a licensed anatomist, and gives regular talks on anatomy and medical history, as well as writing the blog Wandering Bones. Recently she has carried out conservation work on the skeleton of serial killer William Burke prior to his display in National Museum of Scotland.