Dying for Victorian Medicine: English Anatomy and its Trade in the Dead Poor, c. 1834–1929

396 Pages·2012·2.955 MB·English

by  Elizabeth T. Hurren (auth.)

Dying for Victorian Medicine
Also by Elizabeth T. Hurren
PROTESTING ABOUT PAUPERISM: Poverty, Politics and Poor Relief in Late
Victorian England
Dying for Victorian
Medicine
English Anatomy and its Trade in
the Dead Poor, c. 1834–1929
Elizabeth T. Hurren
Reader in the History of Medicine, Oxford Brookes University, UK
© Elizabeth T. Hurren 2012
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2012 978-0-230-21966-3
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First published 2012 by
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ISBN 978-1-349-30515-5 ISBN 978-0-230-35565-1 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9780230355651
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10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12
Pro Vitis Praeteritis Et Futuris
This book is dedicated to
Professor Steven Andrew King
&
Master Thomas Philip de Banke
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Contents
List of Tables viii
List of Figures ix
List of Illustrations x
List of Abbreviations xi
Acknowledgements xii
Preface xv
Part I An Historical Landscape
1 Chalk on the Coffin: Re-Reading the Anatomy Act of 1832 3
2 Restoring the Face of the Corpse: Victorian Death and Dying 41
3 A Dissection Room Drama: English Medical Education 74
Part II An English Anatomy Trade
4 Dealing in the Dispossessed Poor: St. Bartholomew’s Hospital 119
5 Pauper Corpses: Cambridge and Its Provincial Trade 175
6 Balancing the Books: The Business of Anatomy at
Oxford University 218
7 ‘Better a third of a loaf than no bread’:
Manchester’s Human Material 264
Conclusion 303
Notes 312
Select Bibliography 356
Index 373
vii
Tables
4.1 Overview of the Body Trade by London Location,
1832–72 & 1885–1930 145
4.2 I nfirmaries and Workhouses that Sold Bodies to
St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, 1832–72, 1885–1930 146
4.3 Bodies Bought from London Voluntary Hospitals,
1832–72, 1885–1930 153
4.4 Street Deals Sold to St. Bartholomew’s Hospital,
1832–72, 1885–1930 155
4.5 Bodies Bought from Prisons, Asylums and Mental Health
Hospitals, 1832–72, 1885–1930 157
4.6 The Average Number of Bodies Dissected, Ratios of Male:
Females Corpses by Decade at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital,
1832–72, 1885–1930 161
4.7 T he Disease Categories of Corpses Dissected at
St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, 1832–72, 1885–1930 166
5.1 Mr Rosebrook Morris the Surgeon’s Death Register:
Deaths Due to a Lack of Medical Relief in the Brixworth
Union, c. 1836–1844 180
5.2 Geography of Suppliers to Cambridge Anatomical School,
1855–1920 210
6.1 Travelling Anatomists: The Railway Journeys made for
Public Engagement Reasons by Professor Alexander
Macalister and Professor Arthur Thomson in Provincial
England, c. 1880–1890 232
6.2 Body Parts & Whole Cadavers Purchased for Dissection
by Professor Arthur Thomson on behalf of Oxford
University Anatomy School, 1885–94 234
6.3 Pauper Bodies Sold to Oxford Anatomy School, 1895–1929 237
6.4 Arthur Thomson’s List of Medical Students and their
Career Destinations after Oxford in the late-Victorian Era 243
6.5 City-Coroner’s Cases in Oxford, 1877–1888 252
6.6 Oxford Anatomy School’s Expenditure on Human
Material, 1885–95 256
viii
Figures
4.1 The Total Number of Bodies of the Poor Bought by
St. Bartholomew’s Hospital for Dissection, c. 1832–1929 132
4.2 N umber of Bodies per Decade Acquired by Anatomists at
St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, c. 1832–1929 142
4.3 Number of Male and Female Bodies Sold to
St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, 1832 to 1929 160
4.4 Bodies of Males and Females Acquired for Dissection per
Decade at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, 1832 to 1929 162
4.5 Age Range of Bodies Sold to St. Bartholomew’s Hospital
where n = 5062 bodies, 1832 to 1929 164
5.1 The Number of Bodies Sold for Dissection to
Cambridge University, 1855 to 1920 191
5.2 The Age Profile of the Bodies Sold to Cambridge Anatomy
School, 1855–1920 200
6.1 The Number of Bodies Sold to Oxford Anatomy School,
1885–1929 253
7.1 Anatomy Inspectorate Returns from Manchester
Anatomists on Poor Law Purchases, 1834–1871 290
7.2 Number of Pauper Bodies from Crumpsall Workhouse,
May 1883–May 1884, where n = 194 293
7.3 Bodies Sold from Crumpsall Workhouse to Manchester
Medical School, 1860–1890 298
ix