Francis Thompson - a closer look

[The Rookie Detective]

One of the better articles on Thompson IMO...



I like the fact it highlights that despite Thompson having been a rather transient individual, he also had particular areas he frequented; Kilburn, Maida Vale, Paddington and Westminster inparticular.

Not just about Whitechapel, as one might expect for a Ripper suspect.

[GBinOz]

I think that I recall Richard saying in another thread that working with cadavers was mandatory, so if that's true, Thompson would have had to do cadaver work whether he was interested in it or not.

Hi Lewis,

Dissection of cadavers would have been part of a medical course and, as in most things, those interested in dissection might have been expected to exceed the basic requirement while those interested in other areas, such as general practice, might be expected to do only the minimum dissections required to complete their qualifications. I think that a father paying for additional cadavers might indicate the former.

Cheers, George

[Richard Patterson]

Hi Lewis,

Dissection of cadavers would have been part of a medical course and, as in most things, those interested in dissection might have been expected to exceed the basic requirement while those interested in other areas, such as general practice, might be expected to do only the minimum dissections required to complete their qualifications. I think that a father paying for additional cadavers might indicate the former.

Cheers, George

George, thanks for weighing in — I agree entirely that cadaver work was compulsory at Owens. But that’s precisely why Thompson’s case stands out.

His sister wasn’t remarking on the fact he dissected (which every medical student did), but on the volume — “many a time he asked my father for £3 or £4 for dissecting fees; so often that my father remarked what a number of corpses he was cutting up.” This isn’t the language of meeting a minimum requirement; it’s the language of someone whose hours in the mortuary were conspicuously long and repeated enough that the family complained of the cost.

Bridget Boardman, in Between Heaven and Charing Cross, confirms Owens had a very strict attendance system: students couldn’t slip away to libraries, and Dreschfeld enforced daily practicals. Thompson did six years of that, including anatomy, surgery, and hospital work — not a few token dissections. Add to that his father’s constant paying-out for cadavers, and we’re looking at someone who clearly exceeded the average, not merely checked the boxes.

So yes, cadavers were mandatory. But Thompson’s family testimony shows he wasn’t just an average dissector. He was steeped in it, to a degree his relatives thought unusual. That scale is what makes the detail significant — especially when considering how it later maps onto his writing and the Whitechapel evidence.