Jeremy Bentham willed his body to be dissected and displayed, and students stole his head in 1975

Jeremy Bentham signed his will at Queen's Square Place, Westminster, on 30 May 1832. It gave his body to his friend Dr Southwood Smith. The skeleton was to be seated in Bentham's chair, dressed in one of his black suits, with his walking staff, inside a box marked with his name. If his disciples met to commemorate "the founder of the greatest happiness system," the box was to be brought into the room. He died a week later, on 6 June. The head was dried by a method copied from New Zealand Maori practice. It went wrong and left the face without expression. A wax head by the sculptor Jacques Talrich was put on the figure, and the real head sat for years on the floor of the case between his legs. Jars of his preserved organs were later lost. The figure stayed in Southwood Smith's house for nearly 20 years and was given to UCL in 1850; Bentham never left it to the college. In 1975 students, said to be from King's College London, took the head and demanded £100 for the charity Shelter. UCL paid £10 and the head came back. A memo of 3 November 1975 sent it to the strong room. Since 2005 it has been kept in the Institute of Archaeology. The story that the figure attends College Council meetings is a myth. On 20 February 2020 the auto-icon moved to UCL's Student Centre.