Once a body has been appropriately buried, one may think that their loved one is safe.
However, readers may be fascinated to discover that Amersham has a convoluted and dark history of body snatching and grave robbing. Gwyneth Wilkie has lived in the area since 1976 and has been contributing to the Amersham workhouse project for a couple of years.
Coming from a family of medics dating back to 1770, Gwyneth has always had an interest in medicine. When researching the history of Amersham’s affiliation for grave robbery, Gwyneth explained that it is most often associated with large cities with burgeoning medical schools. So, Amersham’s reoccurrence in her research sparked a particular interest.
Case study: R. v Thomas King, Robert Clark, Thomas Robinson, Great Missenden
The initial discovery was an archive catalogue entry from 1821, featuring Henry Okes Bradford, assistant to Amersham surgeon Mr Ramsey, who was called as a witness in a trial.
At 8am on December 6, 1820, Charles Cortis, the bailiff at Shardeloes, had seen the three men with a horse and cart and thought they looked suspicious. An hour later, a young man reported to him that he had seen a package containing a dead body hidden in some leaves. The three men were handcuffed and taken in.
Bradford identified the body as the son of John Aries. He was only four and had been dead for no longer than a week.
The trio – Thomas King, Robert Clark, Thomas Robinson – were taken to Aylesbury where it was revealed that a second body may be involved, that of a woman, although there was no further information in the archives.
Cortis testified that one of the prisoners had in his pocket a package containing several turnscrews, a gimlet and a packing needle. The fresh dirt on the screwdriver, which was white and chalky, looked the same as that on the prisoner’s breeches, which were still wet.
After a series of stories from the prisoners, the magistrates decided all three were guilty, and sentenced them to 12 months imprisonment plus a fine of £10, to be paid before they were released.
This may not seem a lot, but at the time this was equivalent to around £872.55, which was around 100 days’ worth of wages.
Why take up the strange hobby?
Bodies were often dug up around this time, as medicine towards the end of the 18th century was particularly popular and looked upon as a good career, leading to fierce competition. This required an adequate supply of dead bodies.
According to Gwyneth’s research, the optimum ratio for cadavers to students was three to one student, two for anatomy lessons and a third to practice operations.
This led to a rise in body snatchers. The stolen cadavers would cost around two and 20 guineas but were settling at around eight guineas.
Some relatives adopted defensive measures such as mort-safes or even booby-trapped graves to frustrate grave-robbers. This may help to account for body-snatchers ranging further afield where people were likely to be less vigilant, such as Amersham.
With thanks to Gwyneth Wilkie and the Bucks Family History Society. Photo credits: Wellcome Images and Public Domain
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