The Body Snatcher’s Wife — Elizabeth Ross

The story of the 1831 murder of Caroline Walsh

I thought this was going to be an easy case to cover. When I first heard about it, the story seemed relatively straightforward. But towards the end of the research stage of this article, I found it wasn’t as simple as it seemed.

In 1831, Anne Buton went to the London police station to report her 82 year old grandmother, Caroline Walsh, missing.

She had plenty of reason to be concerned. A few days before, she’d told Caroline that she’d be coming back the next day, but when she turned up, the door was answered by Elizabeth Ross, the friend her grandmother had been living with.

Eliza told Anne that her grandmother had gone out and she hadn’t seen her since she left.

Thinking this was odd, Anne pressured Eliza for more information.

With a deep sigh, Eliza asked Anne if she had any money. She wanted gin.

Anne had the idea of taking Eliza to the pub and seeing if she could get more information out of her there, so she agreed, and suggested they both go out for beer.

Eliza agreed, but said she didn’t like beer. So, Anne had beer and Eliza drank gin. Anne repeatedly asked for more information about her grandmother, but Eliza was pretty disinterested.

Finally, Eliza asked for money again. This time, to get bread and cheese. Anne gave her the money and Eliza left.