WELCOME

COME WITH US ON A CRIMINAL JOURNEY

Unlike most ‘true crime’ stories, this one doesn’t finish at the gallows but goes on to the dissection tables where murderers’ bodies were ‘dissected and anatomised’ for the benefit of science and the punishment of crime. Or we can go to the gibbets where dead bodies were ‘hung in chains’ for decades as their metal cages and chains creaked in the wind and the corpses within gradually decayed.

Our research team has spent the last five years uncovering stories about executed criminals of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and this exhibition presents some of our work. We are grateful to the Wellcome Trust for funding our research, and to Patrick Low for setting up this exhibition.

Below is just a small selection of what's on offer on this site. Enjoy....if you dare!

FOLLOW THE JOURNEY OF THE CRIMINAL CORPSE

CRIME & PUNISHMENT

By the mid eighteenth century there was a widespread perception that crime was on the rise and required a much more severe response from the authorities. Execution in and of itself would not suffice, some further terror was required...

EXECUTION

By the 1750's there was a perception that Hanging wasn't punishment enough for certain crimes. Many believed that executions, far from bringing shame to the criminal, were in fact a day of glory for them. As such additional post-mortem punishments were brought for crimes such as murder...

ANATOMISATION & DISSECTION

The Murder Act of 1752 introduced the post-mortem punishment, for murder, of anatomisation and dissection. Often seen by thousands of people these events were as important, if not more, than the execution itself. They also formed the basis of most modern surgery....

GIBBETING

The Murder Act of 1752 brought in the additional post-mortem punishment of gibbeting for certain crimes. The criminal corpse, after execution, would be placed in a cage and hung from a 20-30ft post near the scene of the crime or in a prominent part of the landscape. It was a punishment intended to be seen by as wide an audience as possible...

RESTING IN PIECES

The power of the criminal corpse remained long after death. From the healing touch of the criminal hand to the use of the corpse's skin for book binding, these bodies retained a certain dark glamour. Even to this day parts of the bodies executed in the eighteenth and nineteenth century form the basis of museum exhibitions and are highly prized collectibles...

TIMELINES

THE MURDER ACT 1752

The Murder Act 1752 saw the introduction of the post-mortem punishments of dissection and gibbeting. It had a lasting effect on both the criminal justice system and modern surgery. It also arguably invested the criminal corpse with hitherto unprecedented glamour and power.

THE ANATOMY ACT 1832

The Anatomy Act of 1832 brought the post-mortem punishment of dissection, for the crime of murder, to an end. From henceforth, what had once been a punishment for societies worst criminals, became the fortune of some of the poorest people in society.