Grave Offenses : Glasgow’s Gravediggers
Burke and Hare are so infamous for their ghoulish grave-digging exploits in ‘Auld Reekie’ that their names have entered the public consciousness and become synonymous with the macabre act, spawning numerous short stories and movies. However, Glasgow’s gravediggers predate even the notorious Burke and Hare, providing a little-known aspect of the fascinatingly dark side of Glasgow’s history.
In the early 19th century, there appeared a peculiar article in the Edinburgh Caledonian Mercury. After a night out, a poetry-loving tailor drunkenly decided to pay his respects to one of Scotland’s most famous poets Robert Fergusson, and bounded into the Canongate graveyard. His venture was abruptly ended when he was immediately apprehended by an armed guard, who passed him on to the police. The article concludes that the tailor, on account of it being his first offense, his intoxication, and the harmless, if ill-advised, nature of wanting to pay respects to his literary hero, was only fined a suspended forty shillings.
Amusing, even tame stuff. Aside from one detail which begs a concerning question; why was there an armed guard patrolling the graveyard?
Rise of the resurrection-men
Resurrection- men, the less ghoulish name given to grave robbers, were rife in the 18th and 19th centuries. The disturbing practice was born from Scotland’s enlightened status as one of the most forward-thinking and progressive centres of anatomical study in Europe. The very nature of anatomical study dictates a need for a supply of fresh cadavers, of which there simply was not enough.
This issue was further compounded by the fact that Scottish law determined that the only suitable corpses on which to undertake the dissections were those who died in prison, suicide victims, and the bodies of orphans, resulting in an even more narrow supply. As a result, an illicit black-market opportunity was seized upon, with grave robbersexhuming freshly deceased bodies and selling them to surgeons, students, and lecturers.
Amazingly the actual act of stealing the body and selling it for profit was not illegal, since law dictated that it belonged to no one. Rather, it was the act of disturbing a grave that was illegal, as well as stealing the deceased’s possessions.
Eventually, measures were taken to deter or prevent the practice, such as hiring guards to patrol graves as seen in the article above, placing a heavy stone over the grave, or using a mortsafe, a type of heavy cage that surrounded the coffin.
The infamous Edinburgh-based William Burke and William Hare are the names most infamous regarding grave robbing, despite them not actually desecrating graves. They, as well as noted in popular literature and film, committed sixteen murders and then sold the bodies to surgeon Robert Knox. However, their actions horrified an already disgusted public who now viewed grave robbersas potential murderers.
What is less known however is Glasgow’s grave-robbing past.
Glasgow University and Grave-robbing
Evidence points to the University of Glasgow having been directly involved in the gruesome act. As in Edinburgh, 18th century Glasgow University’s medical school also experienced a shortage of viable, legitimate corpses available for dissection. Documents of the time show the anxiety and despair of the Principal in the awarding of two executed criminals to Edinburgh University rather than his Glasgow, underlining the highly charged emotions regarding the shortage of corpses.
As early as 1803 the university had to be protected from considerable damage from a rowdy crowd angry at the university’s links to supposed grave-robbing, with claims that students participated in the act itself. There is also the claim that with Edinburgh being the surgical capital of Scotland, Glasgow struggled, even more, to get by with the meagre supply of bodies. As a result, Glasgow students allegedly had the unofficial option of paying for their fees by cadaver.
Granville the Glasgow Ghoul
Granville Sharp Pattison is an unfamiliar name to most; however, he provides an example of Glasgow’s little-known, dark grave-robbing past. Educated at Glasgow University, he established The College Street Medical School, teaching anatomy.
On 15 December 1813, Mrs Janet McAlister was buried at St. David’s Church Graveyard, with the understanding that the (official) gravedigger would return the next day to complete the burial. However, when he returned the grave was in a clear sign of violation and inspection of the coffin confirmed it to be empty. There was a clear trail of muddy footprints from the grave to the graveyard wall and over onward to College Street Medical School.
A search warrant was obtained for the school, and found in it were Pattison and his associates, along with several bodies and parts of bodies, earth-covered spades, wet clothing, and bags large enough to conceal and carry a body. The body parts were so numerous and varied, that it took over a week to confirm McAlister as among the parts, identified by a scarred hand and black toe.
As Pattison was tried for the act of disturbing the grave (as noted, there was no law in stealing a body at the time), he was found not proven. In most likelihood, like many other surgeons at the time, he would have paid a grave digger for the body, no questions asked; however, this was exactly the mindful, opportunistic ignorance that would allow Burke and Hare to commit their murders in Edinburgh a decade later. Pattison would go on to lose prestigious doctoral positions before emigrating to America, where eventually his body was returned after death to Glasgow in 1851 to be buried in the Necropolis.
There have been no reports he befell the same fate as Mrs McAlister.
Ghoulish acts like this saturated 19th-century Scotland and resulted in the Anatomy Act of 1832 being passed. Enacted in response to the growing public disgust and outrage at grave-digging and at figures such as Burke and Hare, and Granville Sharp Pattison; the Act aimed to finally outlaw grave-digging. Notable aspects of it included the necessity of procuring a licence from the Home Secretary to practice anatomy, complete with thorough regulating and reports from inspectors. In addition, a person could donate the corpse of a next of kin in exchange for burial at the expense of the anatomy school, banishing previous antiquated laws and allowing a much wider selection of legal bodies for dissection, ending the illicit resurrection market.
