Exhibit:

The Body Snatcher--Santos

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Resurrectionists

Part of Group:

Fall 2021-ENGL2540

This is a gallery with the purpose to illustrate the events that inspired The Body Snatcher by Robert Louis Stevenson.

Images in this Exhibit

Burke Murdering Margery Campbell

William Burke and William Hare were body snatchers that after cemmenteries were protecting graves turned to killing to provide corpses to the medicine professors. They would kill their victims by luring them with a drink and then asphyxiate them with a pillow over the head. They are relevant to the The Body Snatcher because their practices and involvement with the Anatomy classes inspire the story.
The Pall Mall Gazzette

The Pall Mall Gazette was newspaper that covered important issues occurring in society and allowed authors to publish their work: poetry and short stories. It is relevant that The Body Snatcher was published in a very commercial form because it discusses a controversy that was happening at the time so rising awareness and thought into the subject was important.
The Reward of Cruelty

The Murder Act of 1751 open the door for Anatomy schools to open doors. These school would dissect the bodies of the criminals with the purpose of furthering their knowledge in Anatomy to develop medicine practices. Anatomy schools sparked the interest of the general public that pay to attend a class. Instructors shortly find out that they could have a personal gain so when the supply was short they turn to body snatching.
Resurrectionists
Resurrectionists

The Resurrectionists were men that stole bodies from cemmentaries directed by medical practiticioners. At least until cemmentaries were taking security measures to protect the graves of the deceased; those security measures allowed stolen graves to decrease. The Resurrectionist were the ones that provided the corpses in The Body Snatcher by Robert Louis Stevenson.
Drawn by J. Shury & Son, Printed by Day & Haghe

This is the drawing of the Parliament in London before the fire that occurred in 1834. In this Parliament building two acts were passed that influenced the chain of action that inspired The Body Snatcher. The first act was The Murder Act of 1751. The act states that any criminal convicted with murder would be pay its debt by hanging and some of the bodies were sent to be dissected and studied by doctors to further their knowledge. However, the supply for the corpses did not satisfy the demand. The medical professors and researchers were not only furthering their knowledge but also capital...