Murder For Science: The Grisly Tale Of The London Burkers

If you were studying anatomy in Victorian London, you needed corpses on which to practice. But there were never enough to go around.

The result? Body-snatchers, grave-robbers, and a back-alley black market for corpse trade. But there still weren’t enough bodies.

Enter the dark world of the London Burkers, who murdered for corpses and made a pretty pence doing it.

Here’s how this unruly gang of criminals kept Victorian anatomists stocked with bodies, and graduated from grave-robbing to murder.

A Body Shortage for Burgeoning Anatomists

Detailed engraving depicting a scene of Victorian medicine with anatomists intently studying a cadaver, surrounded by an audience in a lecture hall, highlighting the era's fervent pursuit of medical knowledge and its sometimes shadowy practices. — “The Reward of Cruelty” by William Hogarth

Much of what the world knows today about human biology and pathology began in hospitals right here in London, during those dark days of disease.

But to study disease, they needed bodies. Lots and lots of human bodies.

In 1752, Parliament passed the Murder Act, which allowed criminals executed by the death penalty to be dissected. Bodies were plentiful for a short while.

In 1823, The Judgment of Death Act limited the offenses which incurred the death sentence, so convicts were suddenly in short supply.

To make matters worse, in the Victorian period, anatomy colleges in London sprung up like weeds. Soon there were never enough bodies to keep up with the demand.

Vintage photo of students at an anatomy college in the midst of a dissection, with anatomical drawings in the background, capturing the educational context that gave rise to the grim trade of the 'Burkers' in Victorian London

Each physician needed at least 3 corpses to complete their anatomy training alone. The maths didn’t add up, and there weren’t enough bodies to supply the burgeoning anatomists.

The result? The price of bodies kept rising. Demand was at an all-time high.

Enter: the world of grave robbing and, soon, murder.

The Origin of Burkers

Portraits of Burke and Hare, the infamous original 'Burkers,' dressed in 19th-century attire, symbolizing the notorious legacy of grave robbing and murder in Victorian London for anatomical research.

In 1828 in Edinburgh, some very dark deeds came to light. William Burke and William Hare were just your ordinary grave robbers in Scotland.

But soon, they figured out that if they killed victims, they could make money more quickly and easily.

The pair were caught, put on trial, and executed, but they had birthed an idea that soon spread to London: the origin of “burking.”

John Bishop: Graverobber Extraordinaire

Eerie scene depicting London Burkers caught in the act of body snatching, with a frightened individual holding a lantern and grave robbers fleeing, embodying the sinister practice of body snatching in Victorian London.

John Bishop had a lucrative career stealing freshly-buried bodies for sale to anatomists.

He had stolen between 500 and 1,000 bodies over a period of twelve years, some fetching as much as £8 (twice a laborer’s monthly wage).

But grave robbing was labor intensive, and becoming harder as coffin and graveyard security became tighter.

Rusty iron coffin cages, known as mortsafes, designed to thwart the efforts of London resurrectionists, stand as a historical countermeasure to grave robbing in a misty graveyard. — Judy Willson, CC BY-SA 3.0

Mort safes (iron cages buried around the coffin) and iron slabs were becoming more and more prevalent, which made grave robbing exponentially more difficult.

It was already a labor-intensive job: you had to locate a freshly buried grave that stood unprotected, wait until nightfall, assign spotters, dig down to the coffin, attach iron chains, pull the lid off, then shimmy the body out of the hole.

Then there was the ordeal of transporting the body to the anatomists across a crowded city undetected, and somehow conceal the body as you brought it inside the college.

It was dirty, it was dangerous, it took forever, and John Bishop figured there had to be a quicker way.

Bishop and Williams: London Resurrectionists

Portraits of the London Burkers, specifically Bishop, Williams, and May, whose infamous deeds of body snatching and murder in Victorian London are etched into history, shown here in a series of sketched profiles.

It was getting harder and harder to procure bodies, so they came up with a devious plan.

Bishop teamed up with Thomas Williams, an ex-con who lived next door to him, and they tried to diversify their tactics a bit.

Bishop and Williams tried sending their wives to befriend the dying poor at local charity hospitals, posing as family members, and poof! – the body would be released to the “family” upon death.

But this tactic, too, was labor intensive and took days or weeks for one body.

The Murder Plot

Juxtaposition of historical and modern maps highlighting Nova Scotia Gardens, the site of 'The Italian Boy' murder in the late 1800s and its transformation into the present-day urban landscape, marked by a red star to denote the significant location in London's dark history.

It was Williams who suggested they start murdering.

By this time the pair had rented a cheap cottage in Nova Scotia Gardens, a slum in a cesspit of excrement, that flooded with human and animal waste when it rained. It was cheap, and in an area that no one wanted to go. They had some privacy.

Williams suggested they lure victims to the cottage and quietly murder them. And so they began.

Victorian-era relics associated with London resurrectionists, featuring human teeth set in metal dentures and a curly white powdered wig, items often sold for parts after the resurrectionists' macabre activities.

But they didn’t want just any bodies: much like selling cars in a later era, bodies could be stripped for parts to maximize profits.

Teeth, in particular, could fetch a tidy sum when sold to a dentist – as much as £5, in very good condition.

Hair (with or without scalp attached) could be sold to wig makers.

The Burkers wanted young bodies, whose teeth and hair were not as aged, and could therefore fetch a higher price. Clothing and shoes, too, could be sold if they were worth anything.

How did the London Burkers Lure Their Prey?

The Rising Sun pub on Cloth Fair, London, known historically as a hunting ground for Bishop and Williams, who preyed on unsuspecting victims, now stands as an eerie landmark linked to the notorious London Burkers. — The Rising Sun Pub, on Cloth Fair near St Bartholomew’s Hospital.

They would meet an unsuspecting young victim, and get them back to the cottage with the promise of drink or food.

Their favorite hunting locale was the Rising Sun Pub, where they met and lured several victims during their murder spree.

They then drugged the victim’s drink with laudanum, and when they passed out, they hung them head-first into the garden well until they drowned.

They couldn’t simply strangle or stab their victim – the body had to be pristine, which is why they chose drowning.

They were careful not to leave any marks on the body, for they knew that anatomists might get suspicious if it was obvious the body had been killed and not stolen from a grave.

They would then smear soil over the corpse to make it look as if it had been underground, but they didn’t fool anyone for long.

The ‘Italian Boy’ Murder: Carlo Ferrari

Sketch of 'The Italian Boy', Carlo Ferrari, a figure central to the tragic history of the London Burkers, depicted with a confident stance in period attire, representing an innocent life entwined with a dark chapter of Victorian London.

The scheme was going well; well enough that they had to recruit more members and hired local lads Michael Shields and James May.

They had a true racket going, until it all unravelled because of a suspicious surgeon.

On November 5th, 1831, the gang brought the body of a 14 year-old boy to sell to King’s College.

His death hadn’t been as straightforward as the others: he had awoken and struggled against the drowning, so his body wasn’t pristine.

They had also pulled his teeth immediately after death, so there was fresh blood in the boy’s mouth.

Illustration of Bishop and Williams transporting bodies to King's College, with a prominent street lamp and gated entrance in Victorian London, referencing the macabre history of grave robbers turned murderers.

Richard Partridge, an anatomist at King’s College, would be their downfall. He questioned them suspiciously, and delayed their payment as he consulted with his cohorts.

Mr. Partridge described the body as “unusually fresh” with signs of trauma, including discoloration, swelling, bleeding in the mouth, a wound on the left temple, and the breastbone “had the appearance as if it had been driven in.”

Another doctor examined the body, and they concurred that death was not more than 12 hours ago.

They fetched the police, and the London Burkers – who had been waiting around inside the college for payment – were arrested.

The Murder House: Nova Scotia Gardens

Sketch of Nova Scotia Gardens in London, the infamous site where the tragic 'Italian Boy' murder was committed, showcasing the humble dwellings and the gritty atmosphere of the area associated with the London Burkers.

Searching the cottage at Nova Scotia Gardens, the police found multiple items of clothing from different victims.

They (bafflingly) opened the cottage to the public for viewing for 5 shillings a pop. The public carried away nearly the entire contents of the flat (and I would imagine plenty of evidence) for souvenirs.

The poor boy was later identified as Carlo Ferrari, an Italian boy from Piedmont.

Bishop confessed that they had taken the boy from a pub by offering him lodging for the night at Nova Scotia Gardens.

On arrival, he was drugged with rum and laudanum. They attempted to drown him by attaching a cord to his feet and dunking him in the well, but the boy struggled and it took quite some time for this to happen, hence the bruising and injuries.

The London Burkers: Trial and Executions

Historical drawing of Bishop and Williams at their trial and execution, depicted with expressions of distress, bound at the wrists, standing at the scaffold; a grim reminder of their fate following the notorious murders in Victorian London.

In jail, the gang confessed to more murders, but not all of the further victims could be named or identified. Since the public had ravaged the crime scene, all evidence was gone.

Bishop (aged 33), Williams (aged 26) and May (aged 30) were all found guilty during trial at the Old Bailey.

Shields seemed to have escaped, as he was not present at the selling of the body at King’s College.

Bishop and Williams were hanged at Newgate on December 5th, 1831.

May was incarcerated but not sentenced to death, as he had no hand in the murders and had “only” pulled the boy’s teeth.

Their bodies were removed from Newgate the same night, and in a fitting end to the story, a most ironic twist: Bishop’s body was sent to King’s College, and Williams to the Theatre of Anatomy in Windmill Street.

Their bodies were dissected and put on public display.

The Aftermath and the End of Body Snatching

victorian medicine — Artist’s etching of Dr William Hunter in his anatomy museum in Windmill Street on the “day of resurrection,” surrounded by skeletons and bodies, some of whom are searching for their missing parts. Engraving, 1782. Public Domain via Wellcome Collection.

The Anatomy Act of 1832 passed in reaction to the crimes of the London Burkers, and changed the game of legally obtaining bodies for dissection.

It stated that one could opt to donate their body for medical dissection after death, and that surgeons could have access to unclaimed paupers’ bodies as well.

The poor, who were mostly illiterate, often signed their bodies away without any knowledge of it. Hospitals and workhouses could be bribed and paid for obtaining signatures.

This new law didn’t do away with burking, however, as demand only increased as time went on.

But by 1844, body snatching slowly faded from the history books.

Today the little-known term of “burking” means to murder with the intent of selling the victim’s body, and although it’s not used much, it harkens back to the origin of popular body snatching with Burke & Hare.

London Burkers Locations Today

Nova Scotia Gardens: the entire pit was purchased and made into Columbia Market. The market hall was a grand affair, but it was too far out of central London to make it successful. It was razed in the 1950s. Today, Nova Scotia Gardens is in Old Market Square. It’s a housing estate, and hard to say exactly where the burkers’ cottage and murder well would have been. If you walk by, remember the young Carlo Ferrari, who met his end at the hands of monsters.

King’s College is still exactly where it was on the Strand. The anatomy work here was essential to the creation of Grey’s Anatomy, the seminal book of medicine.

The Theatre of Anatomy on Windmill Street is now a part of the Lyric Theatre dressing rooms but the exterior remains the same.

The Old Bailey covers the ground of the original Newgate Prison which was attached.

St Bartholomew’s Hospital is the oldest continually running hospital in the world, and is well worth a wander around the perimeter with several other historical sites close by.

The Fortune of War Pub (no longer standing, but the Golden Boy of Pye Corner now stands in its place), and the Rising Sun Pub (still a pub) were both known haunts of the Burkers.

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