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

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.

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.

    22/32 page 22
    This pamphlet contains a succinct history of what has hitherto been done towards overcoming one of the most enormous evils of our present social system, —that of intra-mural sepulture. The effects of this pernicious practice are, of course, more extensively felt in London than elsewhere. From its myriad popu- lation Death is continually taking his midtitudinous victims; and these are, for the most part, as constantly consigned to receptacles of mortality already occupied to repletion with bodies not yet resolved into their parent element. This is done in densely-peopled districts of the Metropolis of England, and in the nineteenth century of the Christian era. Yes 1 in the largest and perhaps most intelligent city in the world a practice is perpetuated, by which the most palpable wrong is committed, and the grossest indignities are offered to our common humanity—a practice, by which the dead are outraged, and the living are subjected to noxious influences which deteriorate health, and insensibly, but inevitably, shorten the term of human existence. To Mr. Walker are the public primarily indebted for directing attention to this monster evil. To expose its horrors and its iniquities he has devoted a large amount of time, and talent, and expense; and this from motives the most pure and disinterested. It is impossible but that his exertions in this good cause should eventually be successful. Happily, he is just the man to grapple with difficulties, and to persevere in the pursuit of a laudable object. Luther had to contend long and earnestly with religious error ; but, in his hands, truth was mighty, and at length prevailed. In the present case, the lessons of science and the evidence of facts are opposed by ignorance, by prejudice, and by self-interest; but their combined opposition must at last give way before the overwhelming force of enlightened public opinion. The subject of Mr. Walker’s pamphlet is one of national concernment, inasmuch as the practice which it exposes and denounces obtains, more or less, in most of our cities and large towns; and, therefore, published as it is at a low price, we earnestly commend it to genered perusal, as the means of inducing general co-operation in the promotion of a social reform which all are deeply interested to see speedily effected.—Bath and Cheltenham Gazette, April 29, 1846. Some time since we gave a sketch of the Spa-Fields burial-ground, to afford our provincial readers an idea of the forbidding places in which the inhabi- tants of the modern Babylon inter their dead. In the same paper we referred to the praiseworthy exertions of Mr. G. A. Walker, who has now for many years been devoting his time and energies to the task of abolishing the custom of burial in large cities. This gentleman having just issued another pamphlet upon the subject, we make the following extracts from its pages. [As the extracts referred to are given in the pamplet, it is unnecessary to quote them here.]—Pictorial Times, May 2, 1846. The author of this work is well known to the public by his Gatherings from Grave-Yards,” “ The Grave-Yards of London,” &c., and by his inde- fatigable endeavours to put an end to the atrocities perpetrated in crowded burying-places, such as Spa-Fields and other places in London. The present publication details the horrors that have been enacted at those places, in dis- turbing the bodies of the dead to make room for fresh interments, as many as two thousand burials yearly having been made in the Spa-Fields ground, containing only one acre, and most diabolical means resorted to for the dis- posal of the mass of mortality with which it was encumbered, burning being the usual mode, as indicated by the title of the pamphlet. If the facts had not been well authenticated before a Committee of the House of Commons, and by the testimony of highly respectable individuals, we could scarcely have believed that the love of gain would lead men to a systematic violation of all the decencies both of life and death such os is here depicted.—The Wisbech Adve>'iiser, May 2, 1846. Mr. G. A. Walker, the surgeon, who has most patriotically investigated tlie subject of grave-yard enormities, has produced a new work, entitled “ Burial-Ground Incendiarism,” a perusal of which is most highly desei’ving of attention, and interests all classes who' desire to preserve the sacred repose of the dead.—Railway Herald, April 25, 1846.
    digitised image 1
    digitised image 2
    digitised image 3