Volume 2

Gatherings from grave-yards; particularly those of London ... By Geo. Alfd. Walker ... : Opinions of the London and provincial press.

  • Walker, George Alfred, 1807-1884.
Date:
[1849?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Gatherings from grave-yards; particularly those of London ... By Geo. Alfd. Walker ... : Opinions of the London and provincial press. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    28/40 (page 24)
    “ BURIAL-GROUND INCENDIARISM.’’—Such is the strange title of the last pamphlet published by Mr. Walker, the indefatigable exposer of the burial desecrations, to which we beg our readers to givea perusal. Fearful have been the details in Mr. Walker’s former works, but this little book contains dis- closures which are sufficient to create the most unmitigated disgust. Except for the exertions of Mr. Walker, the public would have remained in ignorance of the bulk of the atrocities that have been committed ; but urged on by a sense of duty, and a perfect conviction of the justice of his cause, he has performed a crusade against one of the most powerful but revolting mon- strosities that ever cursed a civilized country, For this devotion he has been cruelly assailed by interested parties, even by persons holding high positions. The attempts to crush him, and prevent inquiry into the unholy practices were sufficient to overwhelm an ordinary person, but they have had a contrary effect upon him—they have stimulated him to further exertion, and he is de- termined not to rest until he rids his country of the crying evil. : The documents compiled by Mr. Walker, and the Report of the Interment in Towns Commission, are unparalleled in their horrible disclosures ; they throw into the background all the fictions that have ever been laid before the public. Mr. Walker at length roused the public mind, and a Bill to prevent interment in towns was prepared. This was the signal for a persecution the most cruel, and a blackening of the fair fame of the man who had the moral courage to expose the atrocities, that could have been devised. First of all a total denial to his assertions was given, and actions at law, and criminal pro- secutions, were threatened ; but Mr. Walker fearlessly called out the parties to disprove what he said ; they failed, and at length they were treated with what they themselves had threatened, an indictment. Mr. Walker ec two hotorious places of burial in the following manner. A Parliamentary Committee was appointed, and a mass of evidence was taken which more than corroborated the first assertions, and the Committee reported that, ‘‘ after a long and patient investigation, your Committee cannot arrive at any other conclusion than that the nuisance of interments in large towns, and the injury arising to the health of the community from the practice are fully proved.” _ A pill to prevent a repetition of such practices was prepared. Imme- diately upon this, the parties who were reaping the gains at the expense of the public health and decency, got up a powerful opposition to the Bill, in which they were aided by men professedly the leaders of religious bodies, who most unworthily perverted the inquiry, and the intentions of the promoters of the Bill; they fanned a flame, and endeavoured to get up a party opposi- tion. A Committee was appointed to organise the opposition, and a series of violent and inflammatory letters and articles were published for the purpose of assailing the characters of Mr. Walker and the Committee, and of defending the burial-ground system, which had been so truthfully exposed f In our opinion Mr. Walker deserves the thanks and blessings of the whole community, rather than execrations and contempt, for his fearless exposure of the enormities practised in church-yards, chapel-yards, and burying- grounds ; and however vindictive the opposition may now be to this devoted man, we venture to predict that, sooner or later, he will meet with a due reward for his humane exertions.—Bedford Times, April 25, 1846. A large debt of public gratitude is due to Mr. Walker for the courage and perseverance with which he has exposed the horrible facts connected with the barbarous and destructive practice of burying in towns. In this pamphlet Mr. Walker has collected a further mass of evidence to show how decency is violated and health endangered for the sake of the petty interests of a few persons who speculate in burying-grounds, and whose vile self-interests were shamefully suffered to defeat the Bill introduced by Mr. Mackinnon, for the purpose of forbidding the practice, although the destruction of thousands of lives annually in this Metropolis is the price paid for the preservation of these detestable gains. Let us hope that the time is not far distant when the public mind will awaken to a sense of the enormous amount of disease and