RIP Margaret Neilson

In the 1820s Edinburgh Medical School was the best in the world but the law allowed them just one body per year for dissection. Grave robbers would dig up fresh bodies and sell them for £7 -£10 / body, an enormous amount in those days. In 1828 when Margaret Neilson age 23 was buried, the grave robbers were disturbed by guards hired by the deceased's family to make sure her body stayed in the ground until it was no longer fresh. Graveyards became increasingly guarded, competition for fresh bodies was more and more difficult.  Burke & Hare became infamous in 1828 Edinburgh for short cutting the system and creating their own corpses to supply to the medical school.
Margaret's Neilson's grave is in St Cuthbert's along with many other outstanding Victorian tombstones . It is easy to imagine the dark deeds taking place amongst the gothic stones.