Historic woman

Mary Paterson (c1810-1828)
 

In 1828, Burke and Hare killed at least 16 people, and sold their bodies for medical dissection.  One of the people killed was Mary Paterson, at the time of her death, Mary was roughly 18 years old. After her death Mary was exploited by the press and medical establishment.   Before she was taken for dissection, the anatomist Robert Knox had her drawn as 'The Rokeby Venus' Venus, a nude sexualized female image. 

The press lied about Mary to sensationalize her story. The most repeated lie about Mary is that, when her body was taken for dissection, the doctors who saw her recognised her because many of them had paid her for sex.  This is not true. 

Current research shows when Mary was fired from her job she was homeless and penniless. At this time, there were no laws to protect workers or women in the work place. She was admitted to Magdalene Asylum, which was a between reform school and refuge, for 2 years. Those in the asylum had to commit to reforming, which meant no contact with men. The evidence strongly suggests that Mary was killed one day after she left this asylum. Therefore, how could those who received her dead body have known her?  

The real story shows Mary was a patient at The Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. Mary was said to be incredibly beautiful, with long red hair. She was very recognisable. She spent two weeks in was a teaching ward, where all trainee doctors would have worked, these were the same trainee doctors that dissected bodies as part of their training. This is the most likely way they would have met Mary, through treating her as a patient, not through sexual contact.  

We cannot change what happened to Mary Patterson, but we can change how she is remembered.