The Diary of a Resurrectionist, 1811-1812 / To Which Are Added an Account of the Resurrection Men in London and a Short History of the Passing of the Anatomy Act

by James Blake Bailey

“6th March, 1711.[5] It is ordered that William Cave, one of the Beadles of this Company, do make Inquiry who the persons were that carryed away the last body from Tyburne, and that such persons be Indicted for the same.

“9th October, 1711. Richard Russell, one of the persons who stands Indicted for carrying away the last publick body applying himself to this Court and offering to be evidence against the rest of the persons concerned It is ordered that the Clerk do apply himself to Her Majesty’s Attorney Generall for a Noli p’sequi as to the said Russell in order to make him an evidence upon the s^d Indictment and particularly ag^st one Samuell Waters whom the Court did likewise order to be indicted for the said fact.”

Often there were riots caused by the Beadles of the Company going to Tyburn for the bodies of murderers. This rioting was carried to such an extent that it was found necessary to apply for soldiers to protect the Beadles.

“28th May, 1713. Ordered that the Clerk go to the Secretary at War for a guard in order to gett the next Body [from Tyburn.]”

The dissection of these bodies was made known by public advertisement. The following is from the Daily Advertiser of January 15th, 1742: “Notice is hereby given that there being a publick Body at Barbers and Surgeons Hall, the Demonstrations of Anatomy and the Operations of Surgery will be at the Hall this evening and to-morrow at six o’clock precisely in the Amphitheatre.”

In 1752 it was ordered that bodies of murderers executed in London and Middlesex should be conveyed to the Hall of the Surgeons Company to be dissected and anatomized, and any attempt to rescue such bodies was made felony.

In 1745 the Barbers and Surgeons, who from 1540, until that date, had formed one Company, separated, and the latter were incorporated under the title of “The Masters, Governors, and Commonalty of the Art and Science of Surgery.” To the Surgeons naturally fell the duty of dissecting the bodies of the malefactors handed over for that purpose. The building of the Surgeons’ Company was in the Old Bailey; there was, therefore, no difficulty in removing the bodies from Newgate. In 1796 the Company came to a premature end through an improperly constituted Court having been held. It was attempted to put matters right by a Bill in Parliament, but there was so much opposition from those persons who were practising without the diploma of the Corporation, that the Bill, after passing safely through the Commons, was thrown out by the Lords. In the following year attempts were made to come to terms with the opponents of the Bill, and finally it was agreed to petition for a Charter from the Crown to establish a Royal College of Surgeons in London. These negotiations were successfully carried out in 1800, and the old Corporation having disposed of their Old Bailey property to the City Authorities, the College took possession of a house in Lincoln’s Inn Fields, the site of part of the present building.

During the debate in the House of Lords on the Bill just mentioned, the Bishop of Bangor, who had charge of the measure, sent for the Clerk of the Company, and informed him that a strong opposition was expected to the Bill, on account of the inconvenience that would arise from the bodies of murderers being conveyed through the streets from Newgate to Lincoln’s Inn Fields. To remedy this a clause was proposed, giving the College permission to have a place near to Newgate, where the part of the sentence which related to the dissection of the bodies might be carried out.

That this difficulty of moving the bodies was not a fancied one, the following extract from “Alderman Macaulay’s Diary” will show: “Dec. 6, 1796. Francis Dunn and Will. Arnold were yesterday executed for murder and the first malefactors conveyed to the new Surgeons’ Hall in the Lincoln’s Inn Fields. They were conveyed in a cart, their heads supported by tea chests for the public to see: I think contrary to all decency and the laws of humanity in a country like this. I hope it will not be repeated.”[6]

Just at this date the Corporation were removing from their old premises to Lincoln’s Inn Fields; the last Court in the Old Bailey was held on October 6th, 1796, and the first at Lincoln’s Inn Fields on January 5th, 1797.