Fame!

Fame at last, but sadly no fortune. At the weekend one of my photographs of the Cluny mort safes appeared in the Bavarian newspaper Donaukurier. They used it to illustrate a short article on an event that happened on the same day 182 years ago. The event was the third reading of the 1832 Anatomy Bill in the British House of Commons. Why they chose to commemorate the 182nd anniversary is a total mystery to me!

Prior to 1832 the only legally available corpses for use in the teaching of human anatomy were those of executed murderers. The supply was nowhere near enough to meet the demand and consequently large numbers of newly buried people were clandestinely dug up by bodysnatchers and sold to the anatomy schools.

The Bill passed through the House of Lords in July and the Act became law in August 1832. The Act provided for the needs of physicians, surgeons and students by giving them legal access to corpses that were unclaimed after death, in particular those who died in prison or the workhouse. Further, a person could donate their next of kin's corpse in exchange for burial at the expense of the donee.