Around 200 years ago, the Judgement of Death Act 1823 saw the number of crimes punishable by death in Britain drop dramatically. Good news in theory, but since medical and anatomical schools were only legally allowed to dissect the bodies, or cadavers, of those who had been condemned to death, this led to an extreme shortage of dead bodies available. Financial compensation offered by medical schools meant that some unscrupulous types soon found a way around this shortage of bodies, leading to a rash of grave-robbing by those known as resurrectionists. This led to why Burke and Hare may have murdered the 16 people in the West Port murders in 1827…

Stay safe out there.

With love,

Saaniya and Maddie x

Sources:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-O-970Unboo

https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofScotland/Burke-Hare-infamous-murderers-graverobbers/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burke_and_Hare_murders