Chilling deathmasks of Victorian murderers including naked serial killer who terrorised London before Jack the Ripper and raging coachman who mutilated his pregnant mistress
Two of the nine impressions were identified as killers François Benjamin Courvoisier - who is said to have committed his crimes naked - and Daniel Good
THESE are the chilling deathmasks of Victorian murderers including a serial killer who terrorised London before Jack the Ripper and a raging coachman who mutilated his pregnant mistress.
The macabre collection of plaster cast heads were discovered in a shed at a rural home near Penrith, Cumbria during a routine valuation by a shocked auctioneer.
Two of the nine impressions were identified as killers François Benjamin Courvoisier - who is said to have committed his crimes naked - and Daniel Good.
One was covered in lipstick as the owner's young daughter had unwittingly practised doing make-up on the imitation of the dead criminal's face.
The collection heads have now sold for almost £40,000 at auction.
Experts predicted the collection would sell for £2,000 but Courvoisier's head alone went for £20,000.
Courvoisier, a Swiss gentleman servant who had emigrated to London, murdered two prostitutes, a watchmaker and a Lord during a three year killing spree in London in the late 1830s.
His modus operandi was eerily similar to Jack the Ripper - his victims were discovered in a pool of their own blood with their throats slit - though he operated 50 years prior to the notorious killer.
Early in the morning of May 9, 1837, the body of 21-year-old barmaid Eliza Davies was found in the landing outside her bedroom with her throat cut.
On May 27, 1838, prostitute Eliza Grimwood was found with her neck slit and her abdomen viciously ripped.
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Just after midnight on June 3, 1839, watchmaker Robert Westwood's mangled corpse was discovered in his home - his throat had been cut with great force and his clothes had been set on fire.
On the morning of May 6, 1840, Lord William Russell was discovered murdered in his bed at his house.
Courvoisier was found guilty of his murder and a few months later was hanged outside Newgate Prison in July 6, 1840, aged 24.
A crowd of about 40,000 witnessed the hanging, including death sentence opponent William Makepeace Thackeray.
Through his research, Mr Parkinson discovered Courvoisier, to avoid blood stains in an era before washing machines, committed his crimes naked.
Murderer Daniel Good was hanged in 1842 after his mistress Jane Jones was found dismembered and badly burned.
When the constable entered the stable where Good lived he discovered a partially scorched female torso but Good locked the door and ran.
He fled to Kent and was at large for 10 days before his recapture and subsequent execution at Newgate on May 23, 1842.
In years gone by it was quite common to take so-called death masks of people to keep as a mementos of the dead or to be used for the creation of portraits.
In Victorian times, some scientists believed the size and shape of the brain and skull gave vital clues about a person's character, which was known as the study of phrenology. As a result, plaster cast heads were created often post-mortem.
Two of the heads were made by the famous British phrenologist James De Ville, who built a private museum of more than 5,000 specimens.
Steven Parkinson, auctioneer and valuer at Thomson Roddick in Carlisle, Cumbria, believes the heads have been at the property since the late 19th century.
He said: "Auctioneers love to investigate outbuildings because often this is where the best finds are.
"We made our way inside the outbuilding, climbed up some creeky stairs onto an unstable floor and there was a table with nine heads.
"There was even one with make up on it. One can only imagine a little girl must have practiced her make up on the head of a convicted criminal. It's like something out of a Stephen King book.
"The successful bidder, from the south of England, has suggested the heads possibly came from the Edinburgh Phrenological Society which disbanded in the late 19th century.
"Victorians thought they could tell the character of someone from the lumps and bumps on their head.
"These heads in the first instance were of convicts and were made and sold to raise money for the victims' families.
"Sometimes they were sold as a memento of justice for the family.
"However, you didn't have to be a convict to have one made.
"Wealthy people who didn't for whatever reason get a portrait done of someone could pay for a bust to be made of them."
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