Iron mortsafe base and lid, unsigned, British, 1801-1822
This mortsafe is made of iron and is large enough to contain a coffin. Mortsafes were sometimes used to protect coffins and stop people stealing the corpses to sell to anatomists, a crime that was taking place in early-nineteenth century Britain when legally available bodies for dissection were in short supply. The coffin would be removed from the safe once the body had decomposed beyond the point of usefulness for dissection.
Bodies for dissection were in short supply in the early 1800s as only executed criminals could be dissected legally. In the United Kingdom, body-snatchers – also known as ‘resurrectionists’ – robbed the graves of the newly deceased, often in the middle of the night, and then sold the corpses on to anatomists.
Those that could afford them might have chosen to use heavy iron mortsafes such as this one to protect coffins and their occupants. First appearing around 1816, they came in a range of designs. In this example, the sheer weight of the lid was expected to put off even the most desperate body-snatcher.
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