THE BLACK COOK Published as a Broadside Ballad in about
1860 and better known in America. This is one of those fanciful
tales that could well be true; indeed you really hope that it is!
The sale of corpses for dissection was well established in
many ports; in Great Yarmouth the son of the vicar at St
Nicholas, Sir Astley Cooper, who was also the renowned
surgeon to Queen Victoria, employed a notorious local body
snatcher, Thomas Vaughan to undertake the gruesome work.
He was paid around 12 guineas for each corpse. He is
commemorated by a Blue Plaque in the churchyard!