The first of a series of lectures delivered at the Mechanics' Institution, Southampton buildings, Chancery Lane, Nov. 27, 1846, on the actual condition of the metropolitan grave-yards ... / [George Alfred Walker].

  • Walker, George Alfred, 1807-1884
Date:
1846
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The first of a series of lectures delivered at the Mechanics' Institution, Southampton buildings, Chancery Lane, Nov. 27, 1846, on the actual condition of the metropolitan grave-yards ... / [George Alfred Walker]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    THE GLOBE FIELDS CEMETERY, MILE-END ROAD. especially, may be found by the hundred weight at many of the “dealers in marine-stores,” nor can we wonder that coffin-wood has been extensively used as ordinary fuel in low neighbourhoods. I now proceed to confirm the above statements by other testimony. On the 11th of October, 1839, great excitement prevailed in the neighbour¬ hood of Globe Lane, Mile-End, in consequence of the interference of the police to prevent the indecent disinterment of bodies in the burial-ground behind Globe-Fields chapel. It appeared that Mr. Poole, a clerk in the service of the Eastern Coun- * ties Railway Company, being stationed on that part of the railroad which runs close to the burial-ground in question, had observed two men and a boy exhuming the bodies buried in one part of the ground, and hurling them, in the most inde¬ cent manner, and indiscriminately, into a deep hole, which they had previously made at another part; and considering such a proceeding as somewhat extra¬ ordinary, as well as exceedingly indecent, he felt it his duty to call at the police- station-house, in the Mile-End Road, and give information of what he had wit¬ nessed. Inspector M’Craw, accompanied by sergeants Parker and Shaw, K 10 and 3, in consequence proceeded to the burial-ground in question, and as they were about to enter, they met a lad with a bag of bones and a quantity of nails, which he said he was going to sell. On examining them, the nails were evi¬ dently those which had been taken out of coffins, and the bones seemed to be those of human beings, but the lad denied that they were so, though he acknow¬ ledged the nails to have been taken from the coffins. The inspector and serjeants then proceeded to an obscure corner of the ground, and found there a great number of bodies, packed one upon another, in a very deep grave which had been dug to receive them, and the uppermost coffin was not more than seven or eight inches, at the utmost, from the surface. The breast-plate and nails were removed from the lid, so that they could at once remove the latter, and from the appearance of the body, as well as of the coffin, it appeared to be the remains of a person above the middle rank of life, and to have been interred about a month or six weeks. On making inquiries, it appeared that the ground was the property of an undertaker, residing in the neighbourhood of Bishopsgate Street; that owing to the low rate of fees, and affording a protection against resurrection-men, by being sur¬ rounded by high walls, a great number of burials took place ; but as few ivould select the remote corner as a place of rest for their friends or relations, it was used for the purpose of removing the bodies of those buried in the better and more crowded part of the ground to make room for others. The officers said, that the dreadful stench emitted from the half-decomposed bodies, placed in the hole before-mentioned, was sufficient to engender disease in the neighbourhood, upon which the men immediately set about covering them. Now, these facts were brought before the public in October, 1839,* and I will show you that they were fully substantiated in 1842 before the Parlia¬ mentary Committee, of which I have before spoken ; that subsequent events have confirmed, in every particular, statements published by me seven years ago,