The Testing of the New Police
Burke and Hare
Discover how the events unfolded:
1. The New Police
Formed in 1805, the City of Edinburgh Police replaced the Town Guard, who had proved drunken and unreliable.
200 strong, they were responsible for Policing, Firefighting, and Ambulance duties, as well as cleansing and lighting.
70% were night patrolmen. Only a handful of men were designated as Criminal Police, tasked with investigating crime. There was little confidence in The New Police, they were thought to be just as ineffective in dealing with the violent Edinburgh Mob.
2. Squalid Dens of Iniquity
By the 1820s Edinburgh was a divided city. The New Town had attracted the monied classes, sending the old town into a spiral of decay and poverty.
Soon the area of the Grassmarket and the West Port became a notorious red light district teeming with brothels and drinking dens. Street crime was rife and life was cheap. Constables of the new Edinburgh Police seldom patrolled there after dark.
3. The Surgeons
The University and its medical school were thriving. The Professors of Anatomy had world-wide reputations and foremost among them was Dr Robert Knox , a medical prodigy and brilliant lecturer.
Success had brought problems. Dr Knox needed a steady supply of fresh corpses to dissect, one every week.
The corpses of executed prisoners were lawfully obtained, but that did not meet the demand. Lecturing surgeons had to procure fresh corpses from illegal sources. Life in the slums was brutal and short, it was about to get shorter.
4. The Grave Robbers
Freshly buried corpses were an obvious source and during the early 18th Century Grave Robbing was common. By the 1820s it was rare; Watchtowers had been built at cemeteries and the punishments for Grave Robbing were severe.
There was a demand for fresh corpses and the surgeons paid well. It was inevitable that criminals would find a supply no matter what.
5. Burke & Hare
William Burke and William Hare were Irish labourers who came to Scotland to work on the new Union Canal.
By 1828 they and their wives were living in the slum area of The West Port area of Edinburgh’s old town.
The four were all heavy drinkers who scraped a living by scavenging and robbery. Burke was “a short powerful man who could be violent when drunk or sober”. Hare was “of ferocious and tyrannical disposition - a squat powerfully built man of ugly appearance or temperament”.
6. The Wives
Helen McDougal, Burke’s partner, was of “dull morose disposition whether drunk or sober”.
Margaret Hare was “a desperate character completely given to drinking and often brutally intoxicated. She and Hare fought continuously, Margaret always having the ‘last word and the last blow’.
While this may seem like a desperate cast of characters there were many such violent and drunken residents in the slums of Edinburgh. One traveller passing through the city described it as - ‘The filthiest of dens of the city and a population indescribably brutal & debased ‘.
7. A Murderous Scheme
Burke & Hare hit on their murderous scheme by accident. In early 1828 they sold the corpse of an old man who had died accidentally and realised how lucrative the body trade was. From then on they embarked on a reign of terror, preying on the old, the sick, or the inebriated. Victims were lured to the hovel where Burke lived, then quickly smothered leaving no visible marks.
During 1828, men, women, and children were murdered with impunity. There may have been as many as 50 victims.
But the murderers were getting careless. They were usually drunk, and eventually they botched the murder of their last victim, Margery Campbell. The end for the murderous four came quickly.
8. The Arrest and Trial
When the death of Margery Campbell was reported, the investigation was led by Sergeant Major John Fisher of Edinburgh City Police. Acting quickly, he recovered the body in the rooms of Dr Robert Knox and soon arrested Burke, Hare and their wives.
Due to a lack of evidence, only Burke and his wife were charged. Hare and his wife were used as witnesses.
The Trial of The Century took place over 24 hours on Christmas Eve 1828 amid huge publicity. The Edinburgh Mob were furious that only Burke and his wife were on trial and even after Burke was convicted and sentenced to public execution, there was major unrest.
9. Execution and Riot
On 28th January 1829, twenty five thousand people gathered to watch Burkes execution in The Lawnmarket. They were not satisfied, and a month of riots ensued. Dr Knox’s house was attacked by the mob and it took the courage and skill of the new Edinburgh Police to maintain order.
Never again would Edinburgh City Police lose control of the streets. As a direct consequence, Edinburgh’s slums were cleared and new legislation was introduced to prevent the sale of corpses.
