Sarah Watling

St Michael-Swanton Abbot
© Godric Godricson

You may remember the story of Sarah Watling earlier in this blog dating to 1833. Sarah's body was unlawfully removed from the graveyard as part of a 'body snatching' raid.  I have always been surprised at the idea of stealing a body which seems a noisy and difficult business. However, when I visited this graveyard the idea of body snatching became more understandable as a process. The graveyard is remote and away from prying eyes and its easy to trudge across the fields or take a cart along the lane.  I'm sure that Sarah Watling was the tip of the ice berg and that other bodies were removed from their graves ahead of time.

Premature interment

Dealings With The Dead
Vol 2  Project Gutenburg

"In 1777, Dr. William Hawes, the founder of the Humane Society in London, published an address, on premature interment. This is a curious and valuable performance. I cannot here withhold the statement, that this excellent man, before the formation of the Humane Society, for several years, offered rewards, and paid them from his own purse, for the rescue of persons from drowning, between Westminster and London bridge. Dr. Hawes remarks, that the appearance of death has often been mistaken for the reality, in apoplectic, and fainting fits, and those, arising from any violent agitation of the mind, and from the free use of opium and spirituous liquors. Children, he observes, have often been restored, who have apparently died in convulsions. In case of fevers, in weak habits, or when the cure has been chiefly attempted, by means of depletion, the patient often sinks into a state, resembling death; and the friends, in the opinion of Dr. Hawes, have been fatally deceived. In small pox, he remarks, when the pustules sink, and death apparently ensues, means of restoration should by no means be neglected".

Sarah Watling - Swanton Abbott

"The body of Sarah Watling, buried in the churchyard of Swanton Abbot, was found to have been stolen from its grave.  At the Norfolk Adjourned Quarter Sessions, held at Norwich on March 6th, 1833, George Ives and Nathaniel Canham were indicted for stealing the body.  The prisoners were acquitted."

Title: Norfolk Annals  A Chronological Record of Remarkable Events in the Nineteeth Century, Vol. 1     Author: Charles Mackie