Reflecting upon Four Years of Criminal Corpses. By Rachel Bennett
Almost four years ago to the day I travelled to Leicester to attend my first PhD supervisory meeting armed with only a pen, a notepad and a head swirling with ideas. When I walked out of that meeting I was nervous yet excited about the mammoth task of getting to grips with such a […]
Rest in Pieces: The story of a hanged woman and her journey to becoming a museum object. By Ali Wells
When referring to “skeletons in the cupboard” we rarely expect these to be literally true, but in the case of Mary Ann Higgins and the Herbert Art Gallery & Museum in Coventry, it is. In the early 1970s the Herbert acquired an unusual and unique object – the head of the penultimate woman […]
Introducing Exciting Guest Bloggers. By Emma Battell Lowman
Here at the Power of the Criminal Corpse blog, it has been a great year. All of our project team members have contributed, and our posts have been used in undergraduate teaching, spread with interest across social media, and have even nabbed the attention of the university’s press office. Even better, it has provided a […]
Summertime, and the Gibbeting ain’t Easy… By Emma Battell Lowman
Today is officially the first day of summer, and I welcome the season this year particularly grateful for something that this time last year hadn’t even crossed my mind. Thank goodness Britain no longer practices gibbeting! Between the bouts of monsoon-style rain, the sun is bursting through here in Leicester making for uneven […]
The Bloody Business of the Bloody Code: Dissecting the Criminal Corpse. By Elizabeth Hurren
Imagine hearing local gossip that a notorious murderer was about to be executed, and that everyone in the vicinity of a homicide was planning to turn out to see the violent culprit punished in Georgian England. Getting to the gallows to secure a good spot would mean having to take an unpaid half-day off […]
#SocialHistoryAssociationAnnualConference2016. By Emma Battell Lowman
In late March 2016, the Social History Association (SHA) met for its annual conference. In beautiful Lancaster, at the University of Lancaster, a large group of energetic scholars met to share new research, connect with colleagues, and celebrate four decades of successful operation. This was my first engagement with the Association. I have hesitated […]
Martyrdom, Memory and the Marquis of Montrose. By Rachel Bennett
During the past three years a key part of my research as part of the Criminal Corpse project has been to trace the people who suffered the last punishment of the law from their capital convictions before the criminal courts to their public executions upon the scaffold and the post-mortem fate of their bodies. […]
A chance to talk about gibbeting and hanging in France? Yes, please! By Emma Battell Lowman
One of the joys of academic work is participating in study days or workshops that bring together a diverse group of scholars to approach a theme or issue from multiple vantage. It is easy to fall into working within the same networks and groups – whether textually in the form of the bodies of […]
Effigies, Real Bodies and Iconoclasm. By Sarah Tarlow
Last week I was in Chester to examine a PhD thesis there (congratulations to Dr Ruth Nugent – the third person to complete a PhD in the young and dynamic archaeology department there, under the guidance of Howard Williams). As a side note, Howard’s terrific blog, Archaeodeath, is always full of interesting reflections on […]
Dismemberment in Prehistory – Not Just for the Criminally Insane. By Shane McCorristine
For as long as humans have been around we have cut up, hacked, butchered, and mutilated corpses. Today, the practice is mostly associated with serial killers and abnormal personalities. So what is it about post-mortem dismemberment that some people find so shocking and horrifying? This might be a silly question to ask but it is […]
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