Body-snatching was the old custom of purloining bodies newly buried in order to sell them to surgeons for dissection. The first instance of body-snatching on record in Britain was in 1777 when the body of Mrs Jane Sainsbury was taken from the burial ground near Gray's Inn Lane. The men convicted for the crime were imprisoned for six months. Research Body-Snatching
Dolly Varden is a character in Charles Dickens's novel Barnaby Rudge. Daughter of the locksmith Gabriel Varden, and the belle of the countryside, she marries Joe Willet and lives with him at the MaypoleInn. Research Dolly Varden
An 'inn' has been defined as 'a house the owner of which holds out that he will receive all travellers and sojourners who are willing to pay a price adequate to the sort of accommodation provided.' Generally a hotel is an inn. The alehouse, or tavern, is merely a refreshment house, and a fully licensed public-house is not necessarily an inn. Neither is a boarding-house, for the proprietor of the latter makes what arrangements he, or she, pleases with the boarders. But the innkeeper is bound by law to receive and afford proper entertainment to every one who offers himself as a guest, if there be sufficient room and no good reason for refusal (disorderly character, infectious illness, etc.). By the Innkeepers' Liability Act of 1833 no innkeeper was liable to make good loss or injury to goods or property brought to the inn by a guest (except for a horse or other live animal or any carriage) beyond 30 pounds, except where the loss was due to his wilful act or default or that of his servant, or where goods were expressly deposited with him for their safe custody. An innkeeper was bound to undertake custody of such goods when requested to do so. Research Inn
Arthur Cayley was an English mathematician. He was born in 1821 at Richmond and died in 1895 at Cambridge. He entered Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1838, and in 1842 graduated as senior wrangler, gaining the Smith's prize in the following year. He was called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn in 1849, and after fourteen years' practice as a conveyancer, was appointed, in 1863, to the newly established Sadlerian professorship of pure mathematics at Cambridge, a post which he held until his death. He was president of the British Association in 1883, and received many honours, both in his own country and from abroad. Arthur Cayley was a mathematician of marvellous power and range, and he created many new branches. His papers, more than nine hundred in number, have been published in thirteen volumes between 1889 and 1898. Research Arthur Cayley
Charles Tilstone Beke was an English traveller. He was born in 1800 and died in 1874. He studied law at Lincoln's Inn, and having devoted much attention to ancient history and kindred subjects he published in 1834 Origines Biblicae, researches in primitive history. Supported by private individuals, he joined Major Harris in the exploration of Abyssinia, of which he published an account in 1846. Two works on the Nile followed in 1847 and 1849, with a Memoir in defence of Peres Paez and Lobo, issued in Paris 1848. He also made journeys to Harran in 1861, to Abyssinia in 1865, and to the head of the Red Sea in 1874. Research Charles Beke
Sir Charles Lyell was a British geologist. He was born in 1797 at Kinnordy and died in 1875. Educated at Midhurst, Sussex and at Exeter College, Oxford he afterwards entered Lincoln's Inn on being called to the bar. He had an interest in science, and devoted himself to the study of geology, specialising in marine remains of the Tertiary period, travelling widely in Europe studying. Sir Charles Lyell was twice president of the Geological Society and president of the British Association. He was knighted in 1848 and made a baronet in 1864. After he died he was buried at Westminster Abbey. Research Charles Lyell
Daphne Du Maurier was an English novelist. She was born in 1907 and died in 1989. Several of her books have been made into successful films, including ' Rebecca' and 'Jamaica Inn'. Research Daphne Du Maurier
Richard (Dick) Turpin was a notorious English highwayman. He was born in 1706 at Hempstead, Essex and died in 1739 when he was hanged at York. The son of the landlord of the Bell Inn, he started his career as a butcher's apprentice before becoming an associate of Tom King, whom he accidentally shot. A smuggler, cattle-thief, housebreaker, highwayman and horse-thief, he was finally caught and executed for the murder of an Epping keeper.
As a young man, Dick Turpin was reputedly allowed more money than he needed, and developed extravagant tastes, and was it was said of him that he 'cut a dash round the town among the blades of the road and turf, whose company he affected to keep.' His family thought that marriage would settle the roguish Dick, and he was betrothed to a Miss Palmer whom he married. However, Miss Palmer was of a similar nefarious nature and remained a loyal and faithful partner to Dick throughout his subsequent criminal life.
As a child, Dick Turpin had taught himself poaching, and later he joined a gang of small-time villains who showed him the profit to be made from stealing the occasional sheep. Leaving them, Dick Turpin started stealing deer from Epping Forest, which he sold to contacts in London he had made while training as a butcher. Suspicions of his activities abound, but it was not until he stole a local cow and sold its beef locally did he have to leave home and went to Plaistow where he stole two cows, butchered them and sold the beef locally, only to be discovered by the investigations of two farm workers who had been charged with looking after the cattle he stole.
Pursued by Bow Street Runners, Dick Turpin left for Essex where he noticed furtive figures both solitary and gangs roaming the roads at dusk. Enquiries revealed these figures were smugglers, and Dick Turpin took to confronting them at night and demanding money in the name of the king.
Becoming lonely he joined a gang of deer-stealers until they attracted too much attention, at which point he left the gang and became a house-breaker before joining Gregory's gang and within a few weeks leading the gang. While leading the Gregory gang Dick Turpin realised that it was in his own interests to be lenient with his victims, and courted public sympathy by insisting the gang were never unruly or ill treated their robbery victims.
Dick Turpin's demise was ridiculous. While in Yorkshire under an assumed name, that of Palmer, he worked as a legitimate horse dealer until one day while returning from a shooting party he deliberately shot a cockerel. The event was witnessed by a friend of the cock's owner who upon asking the reason for the killing was jokingly offered to be shot also by Dick Turpin. A warrant was subsequently issued and while in custody his true identity was recognised and he was tried, and condemned to be hanged for horse stealing. Research Dick Turpin
Sir Edward Shepherd Creasy was an English historian. He was born in 1812 and died in 1878. He was educated at Eton, and at King's College, Cambridge, of which he was elected a fellow in 1834. He was called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn in 1837, and was for about twenty years a member of the home circuit. In 1840 he was appointed professor of history at the London University, and in 1860 was made Chief-justice of Sri Lanka, receiving also a knighthood. His principal works are: The Rise and Progress of the British Constitution, and The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World. Research Edward Creasy
Francis Bacon was an English philosopher and statesman, Baron of Verulam, ViscountSt Albans, and Lord High Chancellor of England. He was born in 1561 at London and died in 1626. His father, Nicholas Bacon, was keeper of the great seal under Queen Elizabeth. He was educated at Cambridge and in 1575 was admitted to Gray's Inn. In 1576-79 he was at Paris with Sir Amyas Paulet, the English ambassador. The death of his father called him back to England, and being left in straitened circumstances he zealously pursued the study of law, and was admitted
a barrister in 1582. In 1584 he became member of parliament for Melcombe Regis, and soon after drew up a Letter of Advice to Queen Elizabeth, an able political memoir.
In 1586 he was member of parliament for Taunton, in 1589 for Liverpool. A year or two after he gained the Earl of Essex as a friend and patron. Bacon's talents and his connection with the lord-treasurer Burleigh, who had married his mother's sister, and his son Sir Robert Cecil, first secretary of state, seemed to promise him the highest promotion; but he had displeased the queen, and when he applied for the attorney-generalship, and next for the solicitor-generalship (1595), he was unsuccessful. Essex endeavoured to indemnify him by the donation of an estate in land. Bacon, however, forgot his obligations to his benefactor, and not only abandoned him as soon as he had fallen into disgrace, but without being obliged took part against him on his trial, in 1601, and was active in obtaining his conviction. He had been chosen member for the county of Middlesex in 1593, and for Southampton in 1597, and had long been a queen's counsel.
The reign of James I was more favourable to his interest. He was assiduous in courting the king's favour, and James, who was ambitious of being considered a patron of letters, conferred upon him in 1603 the order of knighthood. In 1604 he was appointed king's counsel, with a pension of 60 pounds; in 1606 he married; in 1607 he became solicitor-general, and six years after attorney-general. Between James and his parliament he was anxious to produce harmony, but his efforts were without avail, and his obsequiousness and servility gained him enmity and discredit. In 1617 he was made lord-keeper of the seals; in 1618 Lord High Chancellor of England and BaronVerulam. In this year he lent his influence to bring a verdict of guilty against Walter Raleigh. In 1621 he was made ViscountSt Albans. Soon after this his reputation received a fatal blow. A new parliament was formed in 1621, and the lord-chancellor was accused before the house of bribery, corruption, and other malpractices. It is difficult to ascertain the full extent of his guilt; but he seems to have been unable to justify himself, and handed in a 'confession and humble submission,' throwing himself on the mercy of the Peers. He was condemned to pay a fine of 40,000 pounds, to be committed to the Tower during the pleasure of the king, declared incompetent to hold any office of state, and banished from court for ever. The sentence, however, was never carried out. The fine was remitted almost as soon as imposed, and he was imprisoned for only a few days. He survived his fall a few years, during this time occupying himself with his literary and scientific works, and vainly hoping for political employment. In 1597 he published his celebrated Essays, which immediately became very popular, were successively enlarged and extended, and translated into Latin, French, and Italian. The treatise on the Advancement of Learning appeared in 1605; The Wisdom of the Ancients in 1609 (in Latin); his great philosophical work,
e Novum Organum (in Latin), in 1620 ; and the De Augmentis Scientiarum, a much enlarged edition (in Latin) of the Advancement, in 1623. His New Atlantis was written about 1614-17; Life of Henry VII. about 1621. Various minor productions also proceeded from his pen. Numerous editions of his works have been published, by far the best being that of Messrs. Spedding, Ellis, & Heath (1858-74).
Francis Bacon was great as a moralist, a historian, a writer on politics, and a rhetorician; but it is as the father of the inductive method in science, as the powerful exponent of the principle that facts must be observed and collected before theorizing, that he occupies the grand position he holds among the world's great ones. His moral character, however, was not on a level with his intellectual, self-aggrandizement being the main aim of his life. Research Francis Bacon
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Abbreviations
Research Body-Snatching
