29/07/2026
One of the hazards of searching historical newspapers is becoming distracted by stories completely unrelated to the research at hand. During some recent client work, I came across one such case in Wyberton, near Boston, in June 1899... a Victorian “body-snatching” dispute that was far too remarkable to ignore.
George W. Wilkinson, a labourer who had been ill for some time, died on Saturday 17 June, leaving a widow. His body had already been placed in a coffin when, later that evening, his mother and several of his brothers arrived at the widow’s house and demanded that it be handed over to them.
His widow refused.
Despite this, a window frame was removed from the house and the coffin, with George’s body inside, was taken out through the opening. It was then carried away by cart to his mother’s home.
The police were apparently called, but declined to intervene.
The dispute did not end there. At George’s funeral at Boston Cemetery the following Tuesday, his widow attended with her sister and brother-in-law, but she did not travel with the funeral procession and was not treated as the chief mourner. That position was taken by George’s mother.
After the graveside service, George’s mother and siblings crowded around the grave, seemingly trying to prevent his widow from taking a final look at her husband’s coffin. One member of the family shouted:
“They didn’t show a bit of respect for my brother when he was alive; not a bit.”
The matter later came before the North Holland Petty Sessions. Interestingly, the men were not charged with removing George’s body. Instead, the case concerned the wilful damage caused to the window and frame.
One brother was discharged, while the remaining defendants were each fined £1 19s 6d, including costs. The chairman described what had happened as “a most indecent and unwarrantable proceeding”.
It is one of those stories that leaves you wondering what on earth had been going on within the family before George died. The newspapers do not give us the full background, of course, but they do preserve a glimpse of a very private family conflict that became unexpectedly public.
Completely irrelevant to the client research I was doing. Still, far too remarkable not to stop and read.
Sources: “Painful Scene at a Funeral”, Lincolnshire Chronicle, 23 June 1899; “Sequel to a ‘Body Snatching’ Case at Boston”, Shields Daily News, 30 June 1899.
