“There is a certain way of displaying human remains that we take into account, I think,” says Dawn Kemp, director of museums and archives at
the Royal College of Surgeons of England. “It is a deep respect for those named and unnamed whose bodies have been used to further medical knowledge and understanding.”
Kemp talks about the Hunterian Museum, located in the Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) building at Lincoln’s Inn Fields in London, which will reopen on May 16 after a five-year redevelopment. Named after the 18th century surgeon John Hunter – whose brother William, another physician, gave Glasgow’s Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery his name – the museum contains Hunter’s famous collection of anatomical and pathological specimens from sources human and animal life, currently numbering around 3,500 objects, the remains of Hunter’s original collection of 14,000, much of which was destroyed in a German bombardment during the London Blitz in 1940.
The £100million redevelopment, overseen by architects Hawkins\Brown, retained the museum’s Grade II* listed facade but rebuilt the rest of the site. As a result, the RCS exhibition galleries were moved to the ground floor to increase public access and awareness, but this resulted in the destruction of the famous Crystal Gallery.
Kemp is keen to point out that the RCS does not own Hunter’s collection; it was purchased by the government in 1799 and has been administered by its own trustees ever since. The museum too
contains other more recent collections: teeth, bones, ancient remains and a wide variety of surgical and medical tools (ranging from objects developed by medical pioneers such as the British surgeon Joseph Lister to robots used in the surgery of Today).
The display redesign was driven by the general public’s growing interest in and awareness of scientific and medical innovation, Kemp says. “Originally, the collection was intended for doctors. But take, for example, the DNA helix – it’s now general public knowledge, whereas in the 1950s it would have been high-level research. We are truly committed to engaging the public and helping people learn about and better understand the history of medicine.
The “Irish Giant”
That the display of human remains at the museum is such a hot topic is reflected in the furor surrounding one of Hunter’s best-known specimens: the skeleton of Charles Byrne – or the “Irish Giant” – which reached at minus seven feet and seven inches. large before his death in 1783. Hunter purchased Byrne’s corpse and his skeleton has now been on public display for over two centuries. But after a vocal campaign (which included the late writer Hilary Mantel, whose 1998 novel The Giant, O’Brien concerns Byrne and Hunter), the trustees decided to remove the remains from display when the Hunterian reopened, showing instead a portrait of Hunter by Sir Joshua Reynolds in which the skeleton is partially visible. The question of consent is essential: by all accounts, Byrne requested a burial at sea.
The museum takes its name from the 18th century surgeon John Hunter, painted here by Sir Joshua Reynolds in 1785 with the ‘Irish Giant’
© Hunterian Museum; Royal College of Surgeons of England
Kemp refers to a statement released by the trustees, which observes “the sensitivities and differences of opinion surrounding the display and preservation of Charles Byrne’s skeleton”. While the skeleton will be removed from display, “it will still be available for bona fide medical research into the condition of acromegaly and pituitary gigantism.” Kemp insists that it is the decision of the administrators and not that of the Royal College. “It’s absolutely about that thinking — the change and mindfulness of sensitivities,” she says. But Byrne still doesn’t get his burial at sea, it seems.
The dispute over Byrne reflects a larger dispute over the institutional collection and preservation of human remains. The Human Tissue Act 2004 specifies that only body parts over 100 years old can be stored without permission. The law was introduced after the Alder Hey scandal in 1999, during which it was discovered that a large number of deceased children’s organs had been stored at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool, UK. Besides Byrne, attention has also been drawn to the remains of indigenous peoples, particularly from Australia and New Zealand, which have been preserved in the RCS collection. Although the RCS has not publicly commented on the matter, a 2017 PhD submitted by Oxford University student Sarah Morton describes the repatriation of remains held by the RCS to Australia, New Zealand and Hawaii. beginning in 2001. During the same period, the RCS released the skull of notorious 19th-century murderer William Corder for cremation and autopsied the remains of Belsen concentration camp victims for burial in a Jewish cemetery.
Art and anatomy
Less controversially, Kemp is keen to talk about the wealth of the RCS’s art collection, which she says covers everything from treatises by 14th-century surgical pioneer Jean d’Arderne to imagery 21st century 3D body. She is particularly enthusiastic about Slade fine art professor (and former surgeon) Henry Tonks’ moving drawings of First World War victims undergoing pioneering plastic surgery. “Artists are often the unsung heroes of developments in human anatomy learning,” she says.
But, for Kemp, the Hunterian is ultimately about helping people become more self-aware. “It’s not just about surgery. It’s about helping people better understand the human body. If we can do that, then we can take better care of our own well-being,” she says.
