THE DIARY OF A RESURRECTIONIST
“THE DISSECTING ROOM.” By Rowlandson.
The figure standing up above the rest is William Hunter; his brother Johnis on his
right-hand side, and Matthew Baillie is the next figure toWilliam Hunter on the left;
Cruikshank is seated at the extreme left ofthe picture, and Hewson is working on
the eye of the subject on the middle table.
THE DIARY
OF
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, B.A.
LIBRARIAN OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS OF ENGLAND
LONDON
SWAN SONNENSCHEIN & CO., Lim.
PATERNOSTER SQUARE
1896
INTRODUCTION
The “Diary of a Resurrectionist” here reprinted is only of a fragmentarycharacter. It is, however, unique in being an actual record of the doingsof one gang of the resurrection-men in London. Many persons have expresseda wish that so interesting a document should be published; permissionhaving been obtained to print the Diary, an endeavour has been made togratify this wish. To make the reprint more interesting, and to explainsome of the allusions in the Diary, an account of the resurrection-men inLondon, and a short history of the events which preceded the passing ofthe Anatomy Act, have been prepared.
The great crimes of Burke and Hare drew especial attention tobody-snatching in[Pg vi] Edinburgh, and consequently there have been publishedample accounts of the resurrection-men in Scotland.[1] For this reason,Edinburgh has been omitted from the present work.
As to the genuineness of the Diary there can be no doubt. It was presentedto the Royal College of Surgeons of England by the late Sir ThomasLongmore. In his early days, Sir Thomas was dresser to Bransby Cooper, andassisted him in writing the Life of Sir Astley Cooper.
At the suggestion of Lord Abinger, it was decided to introduce an accountof the resurrection-men into the book. The information for this was partlyobtained by Mr. Longmore from personal communication with some of theresurrection-men, who were then living in London. One of these handed overportions of a Diary he had kept during his resurrectionist days. This waspreserved for some years at Netley, and was afterwards presented to the[Pg vii]College, as stated above. A few extracts from the Diary were printed inthe Life of Sir Astley Cooper.
The information respecting the resurrection-men is very scattered; the twomost useful works for getting up this subject are the Life of AstleyCooper before mentioned, and the Report of the Committee on Anatomypublished in 1828. Most of the detailed information has to be sought forin the newspape