This is the presentation I made for my ICT class based on the subject of criminology, the task was to write about a serious crime that happened in Scotland.

1. BURKE & HARE
A presentation by Elizabeth Baillie.

2. CONTENTS…
• “The bloody code”
• The Union Canal
• Burke, Hare and Knox.
• Caught in the act!
• The punishment
• List of victims
• List of victims 2.
• List of victims 3
• List of victims 4
• The Afternath
• References

3. THE BLOODY CODE:
• (Picture – Burke’s execution, 1829)
• The name, ‘The bloody code’ is the
nickname for the death penalty which
was imposed for just about every
crime, even the petty ones (Such as
stealing an apple)
• This meant for medical schools there
was cadavers in abundance.
• When the judgement of death act 1823
came along however, all that changed.
• The number of crimes punishable by
death fell dramatically, meaning lack
of cadavers.
• As a result, anatomical and medical
institutes started paying out for
bodies. Paving the way to graverobbing
these people were known as
‘recreationists’…

4. THE BLOODY CODE:
• This quickly became common practice
• So much so watchtowers had to be
built in graveyards and loved ones of
the departed had to sit 24/7 until the
bodies were rendered unusable by
decomposition.
• Depending on how ‘fresh’ the body was,
depended on how much you were paid
(usually around £7-10 pounds)
• The fresher the body = more money!
• This was all common knowledge and
practice…
• Until Burke and Hare…
• Between them they accumulated 17
victims, between 1827 and 1829 and
most of them were murdered…

5. THESE BECAME KNOWN AS THE WEST
PORT MURDERS…
And they were the most infamous body snatchers Scotland had ever
seen…

6. THE UNION CANAL
William Burke
• Irish Immigrant, born Urney in County
Tyrone.
• Moved to Scotland around 1815 with
wife Helen McDougal (accomplice)
• Worked as a Navvy (labourer) on the
Union Canal.
• A Navvy dug canals, railways etc.
William Hare
• Also an Irish Immigrant (Northern
Ireland)
• Worked alongside other Irish
Immigrants on the Union Canal
• Moved to Edinburgh to run a lodging
house.

7. BURKE, HARE AND KNOX
• Robert Knox M.D was a doctor at Edinburgh College
• He illegally paid for cadavers as there were only 5
allocated cadavers to Edinburgh college a year.
• Robert Knox crossed paths with Burke and Hare in
1827 when the two men brought him a cadaver to
cover the debt the deceased owed to Hare.
• Under Knox’s influence, Burke and Hare seen this as
a way to make easy money.
• And so began the start of a series of killings Scotland
would never forget…

8. CAUGHT IN THE ACT!
• After a while, Burke and Hare became greedy and impatient.
• They were waiting for people to die to sell them on to Knox
• Unfortunately, that wasn’t good enough for the two men who were getting £7-10 a
cadaver.
• So, with Helen as their accomplice and her cousin Anne, the four of them began a
killing spree
• (Although there is not much information on Helen McDougal and Anne, all we know
is that they got sloppy – there is however, a book written by McDougal and Burke
which details everything including the trial)
• One day, a witness saw a body lying under Burkes bed.
• They were bribed to the sum of £10 per week to keep quiet, but they refused.
• Also two college students recognised Mary and two other prostitutes killed by them.

9. THE PUNISHMENT
• Hare was granted immunity, provided that he give up Burke and testify against
him.
• Who, ironically, was found guilty and sentenced to death and his own body dissected.
Burke’s skeleton can still be seen today at Edinburgh Medical College, his skin used
for books.
• Hare fled to England, his last reported sighting was in Carlisle.
• Robert Knox testified that he did not know the cadavers were murdered.
• Knox could not be prosecuted as there was lack of evidence to prove he knew of the
victims’ demise. He later died in 1862 after he had left to go work at a cancer
hospital.

10. LIST OF VICTIMS 1.
• Burke and Hare killed three men, twelve women and one child.
• “Old Donald”, December 1827. An old army pensioner who died of natural causes
and still owed £4 in rent. (£363.70 nowadays)
• Burke and Hare weighed his coffin down and sold the body.
• Sold for £4 and 10 shillings (£372.69 nowadays)
• There is no known picture of Old Donald.
• He was not killed, but he was the pull factor to get the two men involved in
graverobbing.

11. LIST OF VICTIMS 2.
• 1st victim (murdered);
• A man named Joseph
• Burke and Hare became impatient waiting for him
to die from his illness (unknown).
• So they plied Joseph with whiskey and suffocated
him.
• Soon enough they realised suffocation was their
favourite M.O as it left the body unmarked, which
meant more money.
• It became their trademark known as ‘burking’

12. LIST OF VICTIMS 3.
• After this, they murdered a further 16 people.
• Janet Brown, a prostitute who was able to escape when she and her
friend Mary Patterson were invited to stay by Burke.
• Janet excused herself and came back at a later time to find Mary
missing.
• Burke claimed Mary had ‘stepped out’ and Janet waited..
• Eventually, she gave up waiting and left, unbeknown her friend was
lying in the next room. Dead.
• It was soon obvious that Burke and Hare became greedy and that no
one was safe.

13. LIST OF VICTIMS 4.
• The next known victim(s) were an elderly grandmother Mrs Docherty
and her deaf grandson, known as ‘Daft Jamie’.
• They plied the grandmother with her painkillers till she eventually
overdosed.
• Hare then killed the grandson by snapping the boys back over his knee.
• The last two known victims were Elizabeth Haldane and her daughter,
who were looking her mother/grandmother at the lodgings.
• For each kill, Burke, Hare and their associates were making at least 6-
10 pounds per cadaver.

14. THE AFTERNATH
• After Burke was sentenced and prior to his execution, he confessed in a book.
• That book is still available to purchase today.
• Burke and Hare, in just one year, managed to shake the very foundations of
Scotland to her core.
• Dr Knox’s reputation was irrevocably damaged, despite being found not guilty. So he
left Edinburgh and moved to London.
• Margaret Hare (also an accomplice) was released from Jail in 1829, she was bullied
by her neighbours though and fled to Ireland, where she was never heard of again.
• As a direct result of Burke and Hare’s actions, the Anatomy Act 1832 was passed
meaning only unclaimed cadavers who died in hospital may be used and people
could opt in or out of being donated to science.
• Burke and Hare and their associates not only shook Scotland to the core, but
changed the course of history itself.

16. REFERENCES:
• Edinburgh History www.Edinburgh-history.co.uk/burke-hare.html
• Historic UK www.historic-uk.com/historyuk/historyofscotland/burke-hare-infamous-murders-graverobbers
• Audio track: FoolBoyMedia’s “Realm of the Necromancer”, 2015, creative commons licence. Source: Freesound.org.
• Historic inflation calculator: www.inflation.stephenmorley.org
• Crime and investigation network: http://www.crimeandinvestigation.co.uk/crime-files/burke-and-hare/aftermath
• Picture credit of Anatomy Act: http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/broughttolife/objects/display?id=6870
• Picture of Burke & Hare killing Joseph: via Google, http://www.britainfirst.org/britishhistory-onthisday-27th-january-
william-burke-is-hanged-1829/
• Picture of Burke’s hanging: via Google, http://epicirelandchq.com/halloween-burke-and-hare/

17. PRODUCED AND COMPILED BY ELIZABETH
BAILLIE
NC Social Science Level 5, ICT, Glasgow Kelvin College.
Thanks for watching!