forgotten professions Nr 3

Resurrection men

The pay wasn't bad but that didn' really make up for the appalling nature of the job. Surgeons were desperate to study anatomy and hone their craft but the only bodies they were legally allowed to dissect were those of executed criminals.
That's where the Resurrection Man came in. He supplied surgeons with fresh corpses by digging them up as soon as they were buried. Only problem was people believed that you wouldn't go to heaven on Judgement Day if your body was in pieces.
Relatives would stand guard over the graves of loved ones for weeks until they could be sure the corpse was too rotten to be of any use.

"In 1831 in London it was estimated that there were at least 800 medical students each requiring at least three bodies for their anatomical studies for dissection. The only legal source was that of hanged felons which yielded just 52 bodies in the same year. Thus the resurrection trade flourished and bodysnatching was in the medical establishment, if not condoned, then they turned a blind eye to the trade.

There is a whole dictionary of old occupations