Edinburgh museum displays hat believed to have belonged to serial killer William Burke

The exhibition has been launched in collaboration with Edinburgh University, which is celebrating 300 years since the formation of its Faculty of Medicine.

Surgeons’ Hall Museum and the University decided to work together on the exhibition, which opened today (April 3), to examine the past three hundred years and what it continues to mean for medicine today.

Visitors will have the chance to see objects that bring three centuries of medical history into focus including Charles Darwin’s class card, a Shetland blood horn, and a cast of William Burke’s brain.

The exhibition traces Edinburgh’s long history of anatomical teaching and invites visitors to reflect on who was dissected, whose remains were taken, who was excluded from formal medical training and practice, and how that history continues to shape medicine today.

For the first time, the museum have said the exhibition will also display a piece of skin believed to have come from William Burke, on loan from the Stirling Smith Art Gallery and Museum.

This is alongside a hat which is believed to have belonged to the killer.

Burke and Hare murdered at least sixteen people and sold their bodies to the anatomist Robert Knox for use in anatomy lectures.

Thomas Elliott, head of museum learning and lnterpretation at Surgeons' Hall, said “It has been very exciting to collaborate with colleagues at the University of Edinburgh to bring this exhibition to life.

“There is so much shared history between the two institutions and also shared challenges of telling this story in a holistic way that acknowledges some of the human cost of medical progress over three centuries.

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The exhibition also examines the present, exploring why human bodies remain central to medical teaching today and how ethical frameworks around donation have changed.

This includes material on today’s voluntary donors, Edinburgh’s “silent teachers” of anatomy, alongside a contemporary example of patient-led donation: a piece of surgical mesh removed during treatment for urinary incontinence, donated directly by the patient for teaching and interpretation.

It also highlights those excluded from formal medical education and practice, including the group known as the Edinburgh Seven, the first women to matriculate as undergraduates at any British university.

Having begun their studies at the University of Edinburgh in 1869, they undertook full medical training but were ultimately denied the right to graduate.

This exhibition forms part of Edinburgh Medical School 300, a year-long programme of events examining the history of medicine at the University of Edinburgh and what that history means for a more equitable future.

Founded in 1726, Edinburgh Medical School grew during the Scottish Enlightenment and played a central role in shaping modern approaches to medical education.

During the colonial era, the comparative study of human anatomy across races and nations drove significant expansion of Edinburgh’s anatomical collections, with human remains gathered from across the world.

Closer to home, the pressures of anatomical teaching created different forms of exploitation.

Malcolm MacCallum, curator at the University of Edinburgh’s Anatomical Museum, said: “This exhibition brings together some of the most important objects in Scottish medical history and gives visitors a rare opportunity to see items from our Anatomy Collection at the University, many of which have not been on public display before.’”