WELL-RESEARCHED

 Burke and Hare, The Year of the Ghouls by Brian Bailey. Softcover, 6" x 9".
Mainstream Publishing, 7 Albany Street, Edinburgh EH1 3UG, Tel: + 44 (0) 131 557 2959, Fax: +44 (0) 131 556 8720; E-mail: enquiries@mainstreampublishing.com. Publication Date 2002. 224 pages, ISBN 1 84018 575 9. Price £9.99

Click cover to buy from Amazon

Brian Bailey, the author of this book, finds it 'surprising that the infamous Burke and Hare affair has not generated anything like the degree of interest and investigation that has been shown in recent years in Jack the Ripper'. Maybe it's because, unlike Jack the Ripper, the murderers were identified and justice meted out. Several books have also been published about this infamous duo before. So what is new and special about Bailey's Burke and Hare?

Bailey promises the reader that his purpose 'is to present a comprehensive review of both the case itself and previous commentaries on it - to examine new evidence and correct the self-perpetuating errors.'. There is no doubt that there have been many myths and inaccuracies about this case. For example, most people believe that Burke and Hare were grave robbers. This strictly, is not correct.

In his introduction Bailey takes a pot shot at the medical profession when he refers to Harold Shipman and makes a sweeping statement 'whose crimes perpetuated the chillingly long and close links between murder and the medical profession.' Ouch!

...well-written, readable and a gripping account of the infamous Edinburgh duo...

In the opening chapter itself the author points his finger at the medical profession, particularly the Edinburgh establishment. Is this going to be the tone of the rest of the book?

Fortunately it is not.

Edinburgh and the Cowgate/Grassmarket  Edinburgh is a city built on two levels. The upper part is the 'nice' part. The canyon that is the Cowgate/Grassmarket is lower Edinburgh where tourists seldom venture. (A fire in 2002 destroyed part of Cowgate and plans are now afoot to modernise the area.) Modern day visitors who have difficulty in picturing Buke & Hare's Edinburgh need only stand on South Bridge and look down into the gloomy depths of the Cowgate. Almost under the grimy arch of the bridge is Bannerman's public house (Address: 212 The Cowgate, Edinburgh, Midlothian,EH11NQ Tel: 0131 556 3254), a favourite haunt of present day medical students, which still retains a certain amount of Irishness about it and still has bare stone floors. (Bannerman's does not feature in Burke and Hare's story but is a good place to start off from or end your walk! It was formerly a vintner's cellar.) Diagonally opposite Bannerman's is the public mortuary, curiously and discreetly named the 'Police Surgeoncy', where this reviewer used to work. Behind and above the mortuary are High School Yards and Surgeon's Square, which can be reached by a narrow cobbled lane, the High School Wynd. From here Infirmary Street leads one to the upper part of South Edinburgh (South Bridge Street/Nicholson Street). Above and behind Bannerman's are Parliament Square and the High Courts where Burke was tried and convicted. This is reached by steep steps and or narrow lanes, which also bring the visitor on to the touristy High Street. Walking westwards along the Cowgate one quickly comes to the Grassmarket and the West Port. Nearby is the Lawnmarket where Burke was executed. Remarkably, the activities of Burke, Hare and Knox all took place within a radius of half a mile or less. Burke in fact never went very far from the Cowgate. His skeleton is in the Edinburgh Medical School. -Gyan Fernando

In the first two chapters Bailey lays down the socio-political background of Britain and Europe at that time. We get to see what Edinburgh was like in late Georgian Britain and in particular what the Cowgate/Grassmarket was like. We get to know about the Irish immigrant workers who worked on the canal constructions and made their home in the Cowgate. (Bailey compares the living conditions to that depicted in William Hogarth's "Gin Lane").

Then the sordid tale unfolds!

In the next few chapters the author not only gives us a blow-by-blow account of the activities of Messrs. B&H but also attempts to piece together the chronological sequence of the murders. The narrative is rather racy and gripping.

...Baily's descriptions of the Scottish Legal System, legal niceties, legal arguments and the trial evidence are, in particular, well written...

The 'Climax' is when the indifferent arm of the law is persuaded to descend on B&H. There then follows a detailed account of the trial and Burke's execution.

This is where most accounts of this infamous case ends but not Bailey's account. There are a few more chapters to go!

For a start we get to know that Burke was suffering from a rather nasty condition (I will not spoil the story for the reader by offering my own views!). We also want to know what happened to the women involved and of course what did Hare do with himself afterwards? What happened to Dr. Knox? Did the medical profession rally around him or did vultures descend on him? Were their copycat murders elsewhere in the country?

This is well-researched book complete with appendices consisting of transcripts of historical documents. Some of the 'self-perpetuating myths' have been knocked on the head. Throughout the book, at intervals, Bailey brings on Sir Walter Scott as a commentator.

Bailey's descriptions of the Scottish Legal System, legal niceties, legal arguments and the trial evidence are, in particular, well written, as are the descriptions of the state of the bodies. The forensic aspects are accurate as well. There are at least two references to cadavaric spasm and there is reference to the difficulties involved in extracting a body out of a tea chest after rigor mortis sets in! One also gets a glimpse of the cut-throatism that prevailed and prevails in the medical profession.

Unfortunately the book carries no illustrations. However it is a well written, readable and a gripping account of the infamous Edinburgh duo and at £9.99 is reasonably priced as well.

-Gyan Fernando Dr. Gyan Fernando is a Forensic Pathologist in the West Country of England. He was formerly the Senior Lecturer in Forensic Medicine at the University of Edinburgh and knows the Cowgate, Bannerman's public house and its environs well!

 Order this Book by clicking here.

 Request a PDF file of this review by clicking here. (If your screen resolution can not be increased, or if printing this page is giving you problems like overlapping of graphics and/or tables etc, you can take a proper printout from a pdf file. You will need an Acrobat Reader though.)

 N.B. It is essential to read this journal - and especially this review as it contains several tables and high resolution graphics - under a screen resolution of 1600 x 1200 dpi or more. If the resolution is less than this, you may see broken or overlapping tables/graphics, graphics overlying text or other anomalies. It is strongly advised to switch over to this resolution to read this journal - and especially this review. These pages are viewed best in Netscape Navigator 4.7 and above.

-Anil Aggrawal

[ Major links ]

[ Aims and Objectives ] [ FAQ ] [ Editorial Board ] [ Contributing Partners ] [ Sitemap ]

[ Paper/Thesis submission guidelines ] [ Editorials - Cumulative Index ] [ Be our sponsor! ]

[ Cumulative index of Book Reviews sorted by | Publishers |  General Interest Books |  Technical Books ] [ Animated Reviews ] [ Featured Reviews ]

[ Reviews with Quizzes ] [ Links ] [ Submit books/journals/software/multimedia for review ] [ journal CD ] [ History of the Journal ] [ Interviews ] [ Credits ]

[ Cumulative index of  | Theses/dissertations | Online Courses | Awards ] [ Anil Aggrawal's Internet Journal of Book Reviews - Sister Publication ]

[ Cumulative reviews of  Software/Multimedia | Books on CD/Audio tapes  | Calenders  | Models ] [ contact us ]

 Books for review must be submitted at the following address.

 Professor Anil Aggrawal (Editor-in-Chief)
Anil Aggrawal's Internet Journal of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology
S-299 Greater Kailash-1
New Delhi-110048
India

 Click here to contact us.

 This page has been constructed and maintained by Dr. Anil Aggrawal, Professor of Forensic Medicine, at the Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi-110002. You may want to give me the feedback to make this pages better. Please be kind enough to write your comments in the guestbook maintained above. These comments would help me make these pages better.

IMPORTANT NOTE: ALL PAPERS APPEARING IN THIS ONLINE JOURNAL ARE COPYRIGHTED BY "ANIL AGGRAWAL'S INTERNET JOURNAL OF FORENSIC MEDICINE AND TOXICOLOGY" AND MAY NOT BE REPOSTED, REPRINTED OR OTHERWISE USED IN ANY MANNER WITHOUT THE WRITTEN PERMISSION OF THE WEBMASTER

Questions or suggestions ? Please use  ICQ 19727771 or email to dr_anil@hotmail.com

Page Professor Anil Aggrawal via ICQ

home  > Volume 5, Number 2, July - December 2004  > Reviews  > Popular Books  > page 4: Burke and Hare, The Year of the Ghouls by Brian Bailey  (you are here) Navigation ribbon