Body Snatchers

The early 19th Century saw many advances in science and medicine, in a time where scientific and religious ideas often clashed over what was morally correct. These ideas are explored in nineteenth century literature such as the novel Frankenstein, but the stories in the real world were often as shocking and brutal as the Gothic fantasy. This lesson explores the business of the grave robber and how they furthered the study of medicine through a grey area of the law.

This lesson can be used as part of several fields of study for GCSE, including:

• Crime and Punishment
• History of Medicine/Health and the People
• Social Reform of the early 1800s
• Historical Context of ‘Frankenstein’ by Mary Shelley.

The confessions of Bishop and May describe their daily lives in great detail. The full confessions are twelve pages long each, and so have been presented as extracts to provide the most relevant sections describing one particular case. The initial task can be completed as group work, in carousel, or individually as its own lesson before moving on to the rest of the sources. Care should be taken in providing the source describing the murder to students.

The final source shows the on going effects of the Act over twenty-five years later, asking students to consider these sources in the context of a larger narrative.