London Burkers

Nova Scotia Gardens Nova Scotia Gardens was the area of a brick field, northeast of St Leonard's, Shoreditch. The brick clay had been exhausted and the area began to be filled in with waste ("leystall", literally excrement). Cottages (probably evolving from sheds serving the gardens) came to be built here but were undesirable as they remained below ground level, and so were prone to flooding. Anatomy During the early 19th century, the demand for legally obtained cadavers for the study and teaching of anatomy in British medical schools greatly exceeded the supply. In the 18th century, hundreds had been executed each year, often for quite trivial crimes, but by the 19th century only 55 people were being hanged each year, while as many as 500 were needed. As medical science began to flourish, demand rose sharply and attracted criminal elements willing to obtain specimens by any means. The activities of body-snatchers, or resurrectionists, gave rise to a particular public fear and revulsion. Relatives, or people paid by them, often guarded new graves for a period after burial. ==Murders==

Gang of Burkers John Bishop, together with Thomas Williams, Michael Shields, a Covent Garden porter, and James May, an unemployed butcher, also known as Jack Stirabout and Black Eyed Jack, formed a notorious gang of resurrection men, stealing freshly buried bodies for sale to anatomists. In his subsequent confession, Bishop admitted to stealing (and selling) between 500 and 1,000 bodies, over a period of twelve years. The corpses were sold to anatomists, including surgeons from St Bartholomew's Hospital, St Thomas' Hospital and King's College. The Fortune of War Public House, at Pye Corner in Smithfield, was identified as a popular resort for resurrectionists. The Fortune of War pub was demolished in 1910. "Italian Boy" Murder In July 1830, John Bishop rented No. 3 Nova Scotia Garden, from Sarah Trueby. On 5 November 1831, the suspiciously fresh corpse of a 14-year-old boy was delivered, by Bishop and May, to the King's College School of Anatomy, in the Strand. They had previously tried to sell the body at Guy's Hospital, but were refused. They demanded twelve guineas for the body but were offered nine. On inspection by Richard Partridge, demonstrator of anatomy, it was suspected that the body had not been buried, and police were summoned by Herbert Mayo, the professor of anatomy, from the station at Covent Garden. The resurrection men were arrested, and remanded in custody, by the magistrate. On 8 November, a coroner's jury was held, and found a verdict of "willful murder against some person or persons unknown", but expressed their strong belief that the prisoners, Bishop, Williams and May, had been concerned in the transaction. On 19 November 1831, Joseph Sadler Thomas, a Metropolitan Police superintendent of F (Covent Garden) Division, searched the cottages at Nova Scotia Gardens, and found items of clothing in a well in one of the gardens, and also in one of the privies, suggesting multiple murders. The prisoners appeared at trial, before Chief Justice Tindal, Justice Joseph Littledale and Baron Vaughan, at the Old Bailey between 2 and 3 December. Bishop (aged 33), Williams (aged 26) and May (aged 30) were all found guilty of the crime. He received a two-year sentence to Port Arthur for insubordination on board the penal transport vessel and died at the settlement in 1834, buried in an unmarked grave on the Isle of the Dead. These murders and the West Port murders led to the passage of the Anatomy Act 1832 that finally provided for an adequate and legitimate supply of corpses for the medical schools. By 1840, the area of Nova Scotia Gardens had degenerated into a notorious slum. It is for this reason that the philanthropist, Angela Burdett-Coutts purchased the land, and, after the leases expired, established Columbia Market in 1869. ==See also==

• An alternate source for the Newgate Calendar Volume V (Tarlton Law Library) accessed 24 Jan 2007 • Harding, William, stenographer. The trial of Bishop, Williams, and May, at the Old Bailey, 2 Dec. 1831, for the murder of the Italian boy, Carlo Ferrier : exact copies of the original confessions of the prisoners Bishop and Williams, and full particulars of their conduct in Newgate, and the execution of Bishop and Williams / corrected and revised by W. Harding, short-hand writer. London : W. Harding, [1831?] 31 pages; 22 cm (Available on Internet Archive) ==Further reading==