by Sarah Wise
Teck, duchess of. Baroness Burdett-Coutts: A Sketch of Her Public Life and Work. London, 1893.
Thornbury, Walter, ed. Old and New London. 6 vols. London, 1879–85.
The Victoria History of the Counties of England: A History of the County of Middlesex, vol. 5 (1976); and vol. 11: Early Stepney with Bethnal Green (1998), both published Oxford.
Wilks, Samuel, and G. T. Bettany. A Biographical History of Guy’s Hospital. London, 1892.
Wilkinson, George Theodore, ed. The Newgate Calendar. London, 1962.
Zucchi, John E. The Little Slaves of the Harp. Montreal, 1992.
Illustration Credits
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Acknowledgments
This book would probably not have been written had I not enrolled on the Victorian Studies postgraduate degree course at London University’s Birkbeck College in 1994. There, I had the immense good fortune to be taught by three inspirational tutors: Dr. David Feldman, of Birkbeck’s History Department, Professor Michael Slater of the English Faculty, and Professor Clive Emsley, co-opted from the Open University to teach Birkbeck’s Nineteenth-Century Crime course.
Ever the best of friends, Debbie Millett and Wanda Opalinska read an early draft of the book and gave me detailed feedback that was both wise and kind; they, along with Anne-Marie Collins, Prue Jeffreys, Liz Tames, Katie Matthews, and Helen Woolston, cheered me up whenever my spirits or energy flagged.
I am grateful to Phil Daoust and Caroline Roux, both of the Guardian, and to Dominic Lutyens, for giving me stimulating and enjoyable commissions that helped to keep my writing life from being exclusively devoted to early-nineteenth-century slum life.
The staffs of the following libraries and archives were never less than friendly and knowledgeable: the British Library at St. Pancras; the British Library’s Newspaper Library at Colindale; the Public Record Office at Kew; the library of the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine; the Guildhall Library; the Corporation of London Records Office; the London Metropolitan Archives; the City of Westminster Archives Centre; and the Shropshire Records and Research Centre in Shrewsbury.
My thanks also to Malcolm Barr-Hamilton, David Rich, and Chris Lloyd at the Tower Hamlets Local History Library and Archives; Mark Annand, author of the Greenwood’s Map Web site, hosted by Bath Spa University College; the staff of the Hackney Archives; Jeff Gerhardt of the Haringey Museum and Archive Service; and Hugh Petrie, Heritage Officer at Barnet Archives. Marion Rea at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital allowed me to riffle through that institution’s archives, while Tina Craig of the Royal College of Surgeons Library allowed me to consult items in the college’s manuscript collection, and Chris Reed of the RSPCA supplied me with suggestions for further reading on the life of animal-cruelty campaigner Richard Martin. Duncan Broady of the Greater Manchester Police Museum helped me track the later life of Joseph Sadler Thomas, while Ray Seal and Steve Earle at the Metropolitan Police Museum and Roger Appleby of the City Police Museum allowed me access to documents and exhibits, which, sadly, remain inaccessible to the general public. John Ross, curator of Scotland Yard’s Black Museum, allowed me to visit his gruesome archive in the hope that I would find Bishop and Williams on his shelves of nameless, dateless phrenological casts of criminals; they weren’t there, but the visit was unforgettable nevertheless.
Many thanks to my wonderful editor at Metropolitan Books, Sara Bershtel; to her assistant, Shara Kay; and to my copy editor, Roslyn Schloss.
Last but foremost, Peter Neish has read—and proofread—various early versions of this story and put up with hours of talk about long-dead strangers; our life together has been peopled by a cast of pretty unpleasant characters for longer than I care to remember. For this and for much more, many thanks.
Index
The index that appeared in the print version of this title does not match the pages in your eBook. Please use the search function on your eReading device to search for terms of interest. For your reference, the terms that appear in the print index are listed below.
Abernethy, John
Act of Settlement (1662)
Adolphus, John
Aleph (newspaper columnist)
Alfred’s Head pub
aliases, prisoners and
Allenby, Martha
All the Year Round (journal)
Anatomical and Physiological Commentaries (Mayo)
Anatomical Society
anatomists. See also medical profession; surgeons; and specific medical professionals, hospitals, and private anatomy schools
authorities and procurement of corpses by
dissections, porters and
dissections, secrecy and
private schools vs. hospitals,
public opposition to
revelations about, in Italian Boy hearings
Anatomy Act (1832)
passed
anatomy museums
animal(s)
exhibited by Italian street children
protection against cruelty toward
slaughter of, and meat markets
Antonini, Anatony
Appleton, John
/> apprenticeships (indentures)
Arabin, Serjeant William St. Julien
Arabiniana
aristocracy
Armstrong, Adam
Atlas (newspaper)
Austin, Henry
Austin, Thomas
Balavezzolo, Giovanni
Barry, J.T.
baton-charge theory
Baylis, Rebecca
Bayly, F.W.N.
Beaman, George
Bean, John Philips
Bear and Ragged Staff inn and slaughterhouse
“beating of the bounds”
“beats”
beggars and begging. See also poor laws; Vagrancy Act
arrests of
change in poor laws and
children employed as
criminalized
as frauds
poor give to
as street performers
Bell, Sir Charles
Bell, George
Bell, Mrs.
Bell pub
Bernasconi, Signor Francis
Berry, Charlotte
Bethnal Green. See also Nova, Scotia Gardens
Bill to Prevent Cruelty to Horses, Cattle and Donkeys, (Martin’s Act, 1822)
Birdcage pub
Birnie, Sir Richard
Bishop, Emma (daughter)
Bishop, Frederick Henry (son)
Bishop, John
as “AB” in Select Committee report
Anatomy Bill as legacy of
appearance of
arrest of
attempt of, to sell boy’s corpse
background of
“blood money” and testimony vs.
body of, dissected
Bow Street magistrates hearings and
on cause of death of Italian Boy
charged with murder of second boy
Chesterton on
children of, and mice
children of, in workhouse
clothes of, exhibited by executioner
confession of
confession of, additional reported
confession of, official
confession of, Williams’s confession vs.
continuing mystery of, after execution
coroner’s inquest and
criminal career of
Culkin and
decline of notoriety of
eldest son of
entertainments about, after execution
execution of
fiction inspired by
Gardner case and
indenture of
language of
marries stepmother Sarah
May exonerated by
May vs.
medical profession and
Nova Scotia Gardens cottage of
number of bodies sold by
Old Bailey trial of
personality of
phrenology of skull of
physiognomy of skull of
Pigburn murder and
in prison after trial
profession of, learned by Williams
pubs patronized by
remains of, displayed
resurrectionist career of
rumors of murders and accomplices of, after execution
smock-frock and
statements of, used by Thomas
stepdaughter Rhoda marries Williams
Bishop, John, Sr. (father)
Bishop, Rhoda (half sister and stepdaughter). See also Williams, Rhoda Bishop (Rhoda Head)
Bishop, Sarah (wife and stepmother)
background of
Bishop confessions and
“humble petition” of, to surgeons
Bishop, Thomas (son)
Bishop, Thomas William (son or nephew)
Blackfriars Road Magdalen Hospital
Blanket Association
Bleak House (Dickens)
Blizzard, Sir William
Blomfield, Charles
“blood money”
Bloody Code
Bodkin, William Henry
Bodysnatcher, The (painting)
Booth, William
Borroff, Henry (missing child)
Bow Street Day Patrol
Bow Street magistrates
court/ office
hearings
parents of missing children and
Bow Street Night Patrol
Bow Street Runners
Brand, Caroline (missing child)
Brenton, Edward Pelham
Bricklayer’s Arms pub
Bridewell prison
Bristol riots of 1831
broadsheets
Brockway, Constable
Brookes, Joshua
Brookesian Comparative Osteological Museum
Brown, (Newgate turnkey)
Brown Bear pub
Brun, Augustine
Building Act (1774)
Bull’s Head pub
Burdett-Coutts, Angela
Burke, William
Burke and Hare killings (Edinburgh Horrors)
method of killing used by
victims of
burkings
attempted, newspapers on
rumors and fears of
Burrell, (magistrate)
Butler, Elizabeth
Buton, Anne
cag-mag meat
Calcraft, William
Campbell, Eliza
Campion, Mr.
Cane, Mary
Cannell, Ann
Captain Swing riots of 1831
caravan shows
Carpenter, Rosina
Carpue, Joseph. See also Dean Street School of Anatomy
Carroll, Mrs.
Catnach, James
Chapman, John
Chapman, Thomas
“Chapters of Old Shoreditch” (column)
charitable organizations
Charleys, policing by
Chesterton, Capt. George Laval
children. See also Italian boys
apprenticeships and
child labor laws and
gangs of
increased concern for
missing, number and types of
missing, possibly killed by Bishop
in prison
runaway, Thomas and
sleep in Covent Garden
as street entertainers
traffic in
vagrant
Children’s Friend Society
cholera epidemics
Christison, Robert
Christy, Miss, body of
Churchill, Henry Blencowe
Church of England (Anglicans)
City of London Truss Society
City (Square Mile)
defined
excluded from Metropolitan Police
civil unrest
Clare, John
Clare Market
Clarke, Samuel
Clarkson, William
class consciousness
Clerkenwell New Prison
Clift, William
Cobbett, William
Coldbath Fields Prison
Coldbath Fields Riot (1833)
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor
Colla, Andrew
Columbia Market
Columbia Square apartments
Company of Surgeons. See also Royal College of Surgeons of England
Connolly, Patrick
Conway, John
Conway, William
Cook, Edward
Cooper, Bransby
Cooper, Sir Astley
Corder, James
blood money and
evidence and
Corder, William “Red Barn murderer”
coroner’s inquest
difficulty of identifying body at
jury of
report of, sent to Melbourne
story of attempt to sell body emerging from
testimony of Bishop at
testimony of Hill at
testimony of May at
; testimony of Shields at
testimony on cause of death at
verdict of jury
Corporation of London
corpses
Bishop’s and Williams’s, taken to Royal College of Surgeons
methods of procuring
“offcuts” of
preferences of anatomists in
prices of
problems of surgeons in obtaining
resurrectionists refuse to supply King’s College with
Cotton, Dr. Horace
Coutts, Thomas
Covent Garden
homeless children in
Metropolitan Police and
Watch House
Cribb, William
Cries of London, The (Smith)
criminals
aliases and identities of
clothing of
fraud by beggars and
“mask of decorum” and
petty, punishments for
Smithfield and
social concerns about
treatment of, at Newgate Prison
Vagrancy Act and
Cromwell, Oliver
Cross Keys Inn
Cruikshank, George
Culkin, Bridget
Cunningham, (Kent Street boy), murder of
currency, conversion chart
Cursory Remarks on the Evil Tendency of Unrestrained Cruelty (pamphlet)
Curwood, John
Customs and Excise
Daily Police Report
Dance, George, the Younger
Dancing Doll Man of Lucca
Darbishire, Henry
Davies, Jeremiah
Davis, James
Davis, William
Dead Man’s Walk
Dean Street School of Anatomy. See also Carpue, Joseph
Death, Dissection and the Destitute (Richardson)
death sentences and executions
debtors’ prison
De Quincey, Thomas
Dermott, George
detection. See also evidence; forensic medicine
eyewitness accounts and
informants and
as new science
Deville, (plaster-cast maker)
Dicity. See London Society for the Suppression of Mendicity
Dickens, Charles
Dingle, John
divorce
Docherty, Mary
Dr. Kahn’s Anatomical Museum
“Dr R”
Dodd, (jailer)
Dodswell, George Henry
Dodswell, Mary
Donald (victim of Burke and Hare)
Douchez, George
D’Oyly, Rev. George
drovers
drover’s boy from Lincolnshire (White)
Drury Lane Theatre
Duffey, Margaret, murder of
Duffey, Mary
Dunkley, William “Boney”
Dunn, Mr. (dissector of Pigburn)
East End. See also specific locations
Eastern Division of the Political Union of the Working Classes of the Metropolis