The second of a series of lectures delivered at the Mechanics' Institution, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, Jan. 22, 1847, on the actual condition of the metropolitan grave-yards / by Geo. Alfd. Walker.

Date:
1847
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The second of a series of lectures delivered at the Mechanics' Institution, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, Jan. 22, 1847, on the actual condition of the metropolitan grave-yards / by Geo. Alfd. Walker. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    Despising the threat of this wretched agent as we abhorred his practices, we repeated our assertions, and defied him and those who employed him. The vilest and most unprincipled abuse was now unsparingly and unscrupu- lously heaped upon those who had grappled with the men guilty of the hide- ous abominations of which this char:: el had been the scene. About this period, the following posting-bill was extensively placarded :— “ SPA FIELDS BURYING-GROUND.—FIVE POUNDS REWARD. il Whereas hand-bills, without the Printer's name and address, have been cir- culated, containing false and scandalous statements with reference to this burial- ground ; the proprietors therefore feel themselves called, upon to give the most positive denial to the revolting charges set forth in the said hand-bills, and to state that the melancholy duties connected with the sepulture of the dead in the Spa Fields burying-ground are, and invariably have been since the ground has been in their possession, conducted with the strictest regard to decency and the health of the surrounding inhabitants. As they have every reason to believe that these reports have been maliciously circidated, they hereby offer a reward of £5 for such information as shall lead to the discovery and con- viction of the Printer or Printers of the said hand-bills, such reward to be paid on conviction. Application to be made to the Superintendent of the ground, Mr. C. Bird, 7, Fletcher Row, Spa Fields.” It had been deemed necessary to repeat publicly the allegations made in my first communication by a large circulation of hand-bills and posters, which were a re-issue of my first statement, word for word, with the addition of the threat of legal proceedings on the part of the agent of the proprietors. The “ management,” it appears, could not resist or decline, after writing so eloquently, yet withal so pithily, on “ the melancholy duties connected with the sepulture of the dead ” in their first essay, another attempt, in another direction, of a perfectly distinct and separate character. The “old ground” was to reciprocate with the considerable piece of FRESH GROUND, IN WHICH BUT FEW BODIES HAD BEEN DEPOSITED. The middle, the worst, and the best grounds were, although long artifi- cially divided, now to be made co-partners in capability. This projected scheme was thus announced :—■ “ SPA FIELDS BURYING-GROUND. “ The charges which have been made against the mode of conducting this ground having been repeated, the proprietors deem it advisable to court the tnost ample inquiry as to the truth or falsehood of those charges. They therefore beg to say, that the ground will be open to the inspection of the public at any reasona- ble hour; and that any person, having recently* buried any relative or friend, * The following advertisement may assist you in forming your opinions on the subject,— whether the announcement of the finding twenty-seven bodies out of the army of dead deposited in Spa Fields Burial-Ground was worth the paper on which it was printed? It is worth something, however, in this little history as a connecting link in the chain:—