The Italian Boy (58 page)
Authors: Sarah Wise
Guildhall Library/Corporation of London
Guildhall Library/Corporation of London
Guildhall Library/Corporation of London
Guildhall Library/Corporation of London
Guildhall Library/Corporation of London
Guildhall Library/Corporation of London
The Lancet
With the kind permission of the London Borough of Barnet Archives, from the collection of the Mill Hill Historical Society
London Metropolitan Archives
London Metropolitan Archives
London Metropolitan Archives
London Metropolitan Archives
London Metropolitan Archives
Museum of London
Museum of London
Museum of London
Museum of London
Museum of London
Museum of London
Royal College of Surgeons of England
St. Bride Printing Library/Corporation of London
Tower Hamlets Local History Library and Archive
Tower Hamlets Local History Library and Archive
Tower Hamlets Local History Library and Archive
Wellcome Library, London
Wellcome Library, London
Wellcome Library, London
Wellcome Library, London
Wellcome Library, London
Wellcome Library, London
Wellcome Library, London
Wellcome Library, London
Wellcome Library, London
Wellcome Library, London
Wellcome Library, London
Wellcome Library, London
Acknowledgments
This book would probably not have been written had I not enrolled on the Victorian Studies postgraduate degree course at London University’s Birkbeck College in 1994. There, I had the immense good fortune to be taught by three inspirational tutors: Dr. David Feldman, of Birkbeck’s History Department, Professor Michael Slater of the English Faculty, and Professor Clive Emsley, co-opted from the Open University to teach Birkbeck’s Nineteenth-Century Crime course.
Ever the best of friends, Debbie Millett and Wanda Opalinska read an early draft of the book and gave me detailed feedback that was both wise and kind; they, along with Anne-Marie Collins, Prue Jeffreys, Liz Tames, Katie Matthews, and Helen Woolston, cheered me up whenever my spirits or energy flagged.
I am grateful to Phil Daoust and Caroline Roux, both of the
Guardian
, and to Dominic Lutyens, for giving me stimulating and enjoyable commissions that helped to keep my writing life from being exclusively devoted to early-nineteenth-century slum life.
The staffs of the following libraries and archives were never less than friendly and knowledgeable: the British Library at St. Pancras; the British Library’s Newspaper Library at Colindale; the Public Record Office at Kew; the library of the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine; the Guildhall Library; the Corporation of London Records Office; the London Metropolitan Archives; the City of Westminster Archives Centre; and the Shropshire Records and Research Centre in Shrewsbury.
My thanks also to Malcolm Barr-Hamilton, David Rich, and Chris Lloyd at the Tower Hamlets Local History Library and Archives; Mark Annand, author of the Greenwood’s Map Web site, hosted by Bath Spa University College; the staff of the Hackney Archives; Jeff Gerhardt of the Haringey Museum and Archive Service; and Hugh Petrie, Heritage Officer at Barnet Archives. Marion Rea at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital allowed me to riffle through that institution’s archives, while Tina Craig of the Royal College of Surgeons Library allowed me to consult items in the college’s manuscript collection, and Chris Reed of the RSPCA supplied me with suggestions for further reading on the life of animal-cruelty campaigner Richard Martin. Duncan Broady of the Greater Manchester Police Museum helped me track the later life of Joseph Sadler Thomas, while Ray Seal and Steve Earle at the Metropolitan Police Museum and Roger Appleby of the City Police Museum allowed me access to documents and exhibits, which, sadly, remain inaccessible to the general public. John Ross, curator of Scotland Yard’s Black Museum, allowed me to visit his gruesome archive in the hope that I would find Bishop and Williams on his shelves of nameless, dateless phrenological casts of criminals; they weren’t there, but the visit was unforgettable nevertheless.
Many thanks to my wonderful editor at Metropolitan Books, Sara Bershtel; to her assistant, Shara Kay; and to my copy editor, Roslyn Schloss.
Last but foremost, Peter Neish has read—and proofread—various early versions of this story and put up with hours of talk about long-dead strangers; our life together has been peopled by a cast of pretty unpleasant characters for longer than I care to remember. For this and for much more, many thanks.
Index
The index that appeared in the print version of this title does not match the pages in your eBook. Please use the search function on your eReading device to search for terms of interest. For your reference, the terms that appear in the print index are listed below.
Abernethy, John
Act of Settlement (1662)
Adolphus, John
Aleph (newspaper columnist)
Alfred’s Head pub
aliases, prisoners and
Allenby, Martha
All the Year Round
(journal)
Anatomical and Physiological Commentaries
(Mayo)
Anatomical Society
anatomists.
See also
medical profession; surgeons;
and specific medical professionals, hospitals, and private anatomy schools
authorities and procurement of corpses by
dissections, porters and
dissections, secrecy and
private schools vs. hospitals,
public opposition to
revelations about, in Italian Boy hearings
Anatomy Act (1832)
passed
anatomy museums
animal(s)
exhibited by Italian street children
protection against cruelty toward
slaughter of, and meat markets
Antonini, Anatony
Appleton, John
apprenticeships (indentures)
Arabin, Serjeant William St. Julien
Arabiniana
aristocracy
Armstrong, Adam
Atlas
(newspaper)
Austin, Henry
Austin, Thomas
Balavezzolo, Giovanni
Barry, J.T.
baton-charge theory
Baylis, Rebecca
Bayly, F.W.N.
Beaman, George
Bean, John Philips
Bear and Ragged Staff inn and slaughterhouse
“beating of the bounds”
“beats”
beggars and begging.
See also
poor laws; Vagrancy Act
arrests of
change in poor laws and
children employed as
criminalized
as frauds
poor give to
as street performers
Bell, Sir Charles
Bell, George
Bell, Mrs.
Bell pub
Bernasconi, Signor Francis
Berry, Charlotte
Bethnal Green.
See also
Nova, Scotia Gardens
Bill to Prevent Cruelty to Horses, Cattle and Donkeys, (Martin’s Act, 1822)
Birdcage pub
Birnie, Sir Richard
Bishop, Emma (daughter)
Bishop, Frederick Henry (son)
Bishop, John
as “AB” in Select Committee report
Anatomy Bill as legacy of
appearance of
arrest of
attempt of, to sell boy’s corpse
background of
“blood money” and testimony vs.
body of, dissected
Bow Street magistrates hearings and
on cause of death of Italian Boy
charged with murder of second boy
Chesterton on
children of, and mice
children of, in workhouse
clothes of, exhibited by executioner
confession of
confession of, additional reported
confession of, official
confession of, Williams’s confession vs.
continuing mystery of, after execution
coroner’s inquest and
criminal career of
Culkin and
decline of notoriety of
eldest son of
entertainments about, after execution
execution of
fiction inspired by
Gardner case and
indenture of
language of
marries stepmother Sarah
May exonerated by
May vs.
medical profession and
Nova Scotia Gardens cottage of
number of bodies sold by
Old Bailey trial of
personality of
phrenology of skull of
physiognomy of skull of
Pigburn murder and
in prison after trial
profession of, learned by Williams
pubs patronized by
remains of, displayed
resurrectionist career of
rumors of murders and accomplices of, after execution
smock-frock and
statements of, used by Thomas
stepdaughter Rhoda marries Williams
Bishop, John, Sr. (father)
Bishop, Rhoda (half sister and stepdaughter).
See also
Williams, Rhoda Bishop (Rhoda Head)
Bishop, Sarah (wife and stepmother)
background of
Bishop confessions and
“humble petition” of, to surgeons
Bishop, Thomas (son)
Bishop, Thomas William (son or nephew)
Blackfriars Road Magdalen Hospital
Blanket Association
Bleak House
(Dickens)
Blizzard, Sir William
Blomfield, Charles
“blood money”
Bloody Code
Bodkin, William Henry
Bodysnatcher, The
(painting)
Booth, William
Borroff, Henry (missing child)
Bow Street Day Patrol
Bow Street magistrates
court/ office