Unearthing Horrific Transgressions: Dark Secrets of a Victorian Scientist Exposed

Get the latest news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements, and more by signing up for CNN's Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with us.

During the Victorian era, colonial settlers often played a role in committing atrocities against native populations. Recent research reveals how these stories are connected to the lineage of museum specimens still on display today.

A new study by Jack Ashby, the assistant director at Cambridge University's Museum of Zoology in the United Kingdom, provides new details about the misdeeds of a prolific collector of human and animal remains. The study, published in the peer-reviewed journal Archives of Natural History, sheds light on past injustices and raises questions about the legitimacy of academic honors bestowed on scientists of that era.

A study of letters and other documents regarding British colonist Morton Allport, who resided on Tasmania in the 1800s, revealed that he actively sought scientific recognition in return for supplying skins or bones of Tasmanian tigers and Aboriginal Tasmanian individuals, which he acquired through brutal methods, to European museums.

The study indicated that Allport sent a total of five Tasmanian Aboriginal skeletons to Europe and took pride in being the most successful supplier of Tasmanian bodily remains.

The study reveals that the majority of human remains have either been repatriated or lost during warfare. However, a single skeleton remains in a museum in Belgium. Additionally, up to 12 skeletons and skins of Tasmanian tigers, also known as thylacines, acquired by Allport, are housed at the Cambridge University Museum of Zoology, where Ashby is employed. This serves as a grim reminder of the intersection of modern science with colonial brutality and genocide.

Ashby confessed to CNN that his perspective on the museums collection has been permanently altered.

Ashby said that the events in Tasmania, including the fate of the thylacines and other species, are closely tied to the human and environmental impacts of colonial projects.

Above is a portrait of Mortan Allport, captured in 1854.

Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts/State Library of Tasmania

Born in 1830, Allport relocated from Great Britain to Tasmania as an infant due to the escalating violence and displacement of Indigenous peoples in the colony.

During the colonial period, settlers in Tasmania were allowed to kill Aboriginal people without consequences. In 1830, a bounty was established for capturing Indigenous humans and Tasmanian tigers. As a result, the Indigenous population decreased from around 6,000 in 1804 to fewer than 300 by the time Allport arrived on the island, as documented in a study. Historical records indicate that colonists, influenced by racist beliefs about evolution and "natural selection," viewed native humans and animal species as inferior and destined for extinction.

As the number of indigenous people in the area decreased, there was an increased desire for physical reminders of their existence in the form of skeletal remains. According to the research, Allport was enthusiastic about meeting this demand. This led him to buy and then resell or donate the remains of thylacines, which are now considered extinct mainly due to colonial activities.

And it spurred him to engage in the brutal acts of grave robbing and corpse mutilation.

William Lanne

The paper describes the tragic history surrounding the remains of William Lanne, an Indigenous person believed to be the last living Tasmanian Aboriginal man before his passing in 1869.

After Lanne's death, his body was taken to a nearby hospital for burial arrangements. However, under Allport's guidance, and with the assistance of another colonial collector named William Crowther, a man broke into the hospital on two separate occasions before the burial and took different parts of Lanne's body, as outlined in the study.

Allport went so far as to have Lannes' grave exhumed following the burial of the Aboriginal man in order to recover any remaining skeletal remains, as the study details. This led to public outrage and resulted in Crowther losing his esteemed position at the nearby hospital.

But both men went on to high-status positions in the colony, and Allports role in the desecration of Lannes remains has been scarcely publicized, according to the study.

Hobart, Tasmania, Australia: Closeup of bronze statue of William Lodewyk Crowther on green park of Franklin Square.

Claudine Klodien/Alamy

The Australian council voted to remove the statue of a premier who decapitated an Aboriginal man's body. Crowther, who was elected premier of Tasmania, had a statue erected in his honor in the state's capital. After extensive campaigning by Aboriginal groups, the local city council voted to remove the statue in 2022.

From 1870 to 1878, Allport held the position of vice president in the Royal Society of Tasmania, an organization focused on science and culture, modeled after the Royal Society in London. During his tenure, the Royal Society of Tasmania unearthed the concealed remains of the final known surviving Tasmanian Aboriginal woman, Truganini, who passed away in 1876. Truganini had explicitly requested to be cremated to prevent her remains from being put on display in a museum, yet the Royal Society disregarded her wishes, exhibiting her skeleton until 1947, as stated in the study by Ashby.

There were Aboriginal Tasmanian people who managed to survive colonial persecution, despite enduring brutal hardships, Ashby mentioned. The study revealed that many Aboriginal women were forcibly taken to Bass Strait islands and Kangaroo Island by whalers, sealers, and other settlers, where they were subjected to torture, enslavement, and rape. These women's descendants are now part of the present-day Tasmanian Aboriginal community, according to Ashby.

Although Allport was not directly involved in the murder of any Tasmanian Aboriginal individuals, Ashby claimed that the collector's writings revealed his acknowledgment and even enjoyment of the effects of colonization.

The eradication of Tasmanian tigers.

The study also describes how Allport actively searched for the remains of Tasmanian tigers, which were already heavily targeted due to the belief that they posed a threat to colonial livestock. (According to the study, it was actually dogs trained by colonists to hunt kangaroos that were the more likely culprits for livestock attacks. Historical records indicate that thylacines were responsible for very few sheep deaths, while dogs were responsible for the deaths of hundreds.)

The tissue samples were taken from a 130-year-old Tasmanian tiger specimen stored at room temperature at the Swedish Museum of Natural History (pictured here.)

Emilio Mármol Sánchez

Scientists have successfully extracted RNA from an extinct species for the first time. Allport obtained the specimens with the help of a network of individuals, who are believed to have obtained the remains from trappers and farmworkers, according to the study.

Allport claimed credit for capturing the thylacines and then presented the specimens to various European museums, such as Musée Royal dHistoire Naturelle in Brussels, Belgium, the British Museum in London, and the University Museum of Zoology at Cambridge.

According to his letters, Allport openly sought commendations in exchange for handing over the remains. As a result, he was bestowed with titles and received recognition from prestigious scientific institutions worldwide. Additionally, two species of fish were named in honor of Allport.

Allport's motive for seeking recognition over financial gain remains unclear. It's possible that his other successful businesses, including mining, provided him with enough financial security that he was motivated by a desire to elevate his own status and that of the Tasmanian colony, according to Ashby.

However, despite receiving recognition, Allport made little contribution to advancing scientific understanding, Ashby noted. This raises concerns about how many other acclaimed "scientists" of that time engaged in similar practices.

Shown here are the five thylacine skins Morton Allport sent to the University Museum of Zoology, Cambridge, in 1869 and 1871.

University of Cambridge

Grappling with a violent legacy

Ashby emphasized the valuable contribution of the thylacine specimens at the Cambridge museum to modern science, providing insight into parasites and population genetics. However, Ashby also emphasized the importance of acknowledging and sharing the violent history surrounding these artifacts.

He highlighted that it is only in the last five years that natural history museums have become aware of the colonial legacies associated with their collections, a realization that was previously overlooked.

Professor Rebecca Kilner, who heads the university's zoology department, stated that the organization has always recognized the value of natural history in increasing our understanding of the natural world and conservation efforts.