CHAIRMAN

John Parker

Tel. 07970 568425

DEPUTY CHAIRMAN

Martin Harris

Tel. 07720 823364

SECRETARY

Allan (Mac) Black

Tel. 07512 022949

TREASURER

Duncan Pickard

Tel. 01334 870203

TALK CONVENOR

Graeme Hogg

Tel. 01334 653043

COMMITTEE MEMBERS

Jim Lawrence

David Martin

Maurice Shepherd

David Sinclair

ASSIST. TALK CONVENOR

Bill Bowman

TALK RECORDERS

Jim Lawrence

Tony Miklinski

Graham Pirie

MEMBERS PAGE

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Next Meeting...

Wednesday

25th November 2026

Presenter - Jo Middlemiss

'Helping in Ethiopia'

Club News

Secretary email: macblack2525@gmail.com

Being 11th November and Armistice Day, there were a number of apologies from members who are ex-forces who were attending a memorial service at the Cupar War Memorial.

However, there was still a very good turnout in Castlehill Community Hall, and two new visitors wishing to join us. Chairman John Parker was pleased to welcome them and today's speaker, Colin Moore. Colin is long time member of our club, an ex-schoolmaster and an excellent story teller who today will be telling the tale of the Edinburgh bodysnatchers, 'Burke and Hare'.

Would you like to join us?

New members will be very welcome, so, if you are someone who has retired and you are looking for something to do on Wednesday mornings, please contact our Secretary or, better still, pop-in to one of our meetings. If you know of someone, encourage them to attend.

Our next meeting will be on 25th November, and the speaker will be Jo Middlemiss. Her talk is entitled 'Helping  in Ethiopa'. We hope to see you there!

Burke and Hare

Cupar Probus was entertained by a most enjoyable presentation from one of their own, Colin Moore.  His subject, as he described it, was “a grizzly, sordid crime that sent shockwaves through Edinburgh society in 1828.”  It was Bodysnatching that led to serial murders to swell the numbers of available cadavers which were then sold, for great profit, to the medical profession.
In the early 19th century, Edinburgh was a city of stark contrast between rich and poor.  It was the Age of Enlightenment and Edinburgh was thriving, but there was a huge underclass living in extreme poverty and depravity, and it was this population that Burk and Hare targeted.  When William Hare met Margaret Laird, they set up a doss house at Tanners Lane for up to 30 people, mostly prostitutes, the old, sick and poor.  A perfect hunting ground.  William Burke arrived shortly afterwards, and the two Ulstermen plotted their crime.  There was a severe shortage of fresh cadavers for medical science, and grave robbing was already rife.  But Burke and Hare decided they could “hurry folk on a bit” by murdering the most vulnerable and selling them for £10 a go.  A huge sum in those days.
They found a willing accomplice in surgeon, Dr Robert Knox, who was willing to buy as many bodies as were offered, with no questions asked. It was later estimated that at least 16 corpses were sold to Dr Knox; possibly as many as 40.   Burke and Hare were making a fortune.  But they became greedy.  And when they murdered a popular street boy named Jamie Wilson, the Old Town mob set up a hue and cry in their search for the boy.  Burke had to cut off the boy’s head to prevent the body being recognised.  But their time was coming, and when a suspicious couple searched for another missing lady, her body was found in Burke’s bed, and the pair were arrested.  But there was not enough evidence to be sure of conviction, so Hare was offered, and accepted, to turn King’s evidence.  On 28 Jan, 1829, Burke was hanged then dissected, with the public looking on.  Hare was hounded out of Edinburgh by the mob and disappeared.  But the guilty surgeon, Dr Knox, was never even charged.  He was too important to be pursued.
Robert Louis Stevenson, a resident of Edinburgh at the time, was inspired by these events to write his classic, “The Body Snatcher”, and medical professionals were given permission, in law, to access cadavers from legal sources.  All because of the evil, dreadful trio of Burke, Hare and Knox.  A skipping song, sung by small girls summed them up; “Burke's the butcher, Hare’s the thief, Knox’s the one to cut the beef”.

Tony Miklinski