Sir Bernard Henry Spilsbury (May 16, 1877 – December 17, 1947) was a British pathologist. His cases include the Brides in the Bath Murders, the Dr Crippen case, Brighton trunk murders, the murder on the Crumbles case, Podmore Case and the Vera Page Case. He also had a critical role in developing Operation Mincemeat, a deception operation during World War II. is the 136th day of the year (137th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1877 (MDCCCLXXVII) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... December 17 is the 351st day of the year (352nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1947 (MCMXLVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1947 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... George Joseph Smith (11 January 1872 – 13 August 1915) is more commonly known as the Brides in the Bath Murderer. ... Hawley Harvey Crippen (11 September 1862 – 23 November 1910), usually known as Dr. Crippen, was an American physician hanged in Pentonville Prison, London, England, on 23 November 1910, for the murder of his wife. ... The Brighton Trunk Murders were two unrelated murders linked to the fashionable coastal town of Brighton, England in 1934. ... The Podmore case is a landmark but controversial case involving a murder conviction based on a painstaking police investigation, and from careful forensic evaluation of the evidence. ... The Vera Page Case was an unsolved murder case from the early 1930s. ... Operation Mincemeat was a highly successful British deception plan during World War II which convinced the German High Command (OKW) that the Allies would invade the Balkans and Sardinia instead of the island of Sicily, the actual objective. ...

Personal life

Spilsbury was born on 16 May 1877 at 35 Bath Street, Leamington Spa, Warwickshire. He was the eldest of the three children of James Spilsbury, a manufacturing chemist, and his wife, Marion Elizabeth Joy. , Leamington Spa, properly Royal Leamington Spa but commonly just Leamington, (pronounced Lemmington — IPA: ) is a spa town in central Warwickshire, England. ... A detailed map Stratford-upon-Avon Kenilworth Castle Warwickshire (pronounced // or //) is a landlocked non-metropolitan county in central England. ...

On 3 September 1908, Spilsbury married Edith Caroline Horton. They had four children together: one daughter, Evelyn, and three sons, Peter, Alan and Richard. Two of his sons, Alan and Peter, would die during the course of the Second World War, the former from ill-health, the latter during the Blitz. Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ...

The deaths of his children, to whom he was devoted, was a blow from which Spilsbury never truly recovered. Coupled with his depression over his declining health, it was believed to have been a key factor in his decision to commit suicide by gas in December, 1947, in his laboratory at University College, London.^[1] The Front Quad University College London, commonly known as UCL, is one of the colleges that make up the University of London. ...

In later years, his dogmatic manner and his unbending belief in his own infallibility gave rise to criticism; even in the later years of his life, judges began to express concern about his invincibility in court and recent researches have indicated that his inflexible dogmatism led to miscarriages of justice.^[2]

Career

Educated at Magdalen College, Oxford, where he took a BA in natural science in 1899, and an MA in 1908, he then studied at St Mary's Hospital in London, he specialised in the then-new science of forensic pathology. College name Magdalen College Latin name Collegium Beatae Mariae Magdalenae Named after Mary Magdalene Established 1458 Sister college Magdalene College, Cambridge President Professor David Clary FRS JCR President Jessica Jones Undergraduates 395 MCR President Eloise Scotford Graduates 230 Location of Magdalen College within central Oxford , Homepage Boatclub Magdalen College (pronounced... This article is about the city of Oxford in England. ... St Marys Hospital QEQM building (above) and old section (below) (Photographs by username Hegster) Although there must be many hospitals named St Marys Hospital, the most famous is probably located in Paddington, West London, England. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ...

The case that brought Spilsbury to prominence was that of Dr Crippen in 1910, where he also gave forensic evidence in the trial about the likely identity of the human remains found in Crippen's house. Spilsbury concluded that a scar on a small piece of skin from the remains pointed to Mrs Crippen as the victim. He appeared at the trial of Herbert Rowse Armstrong, the solicitor who poisoned his wife with arsenic. He gave convincing evidence of how several women were murdered in their baths, and so helped convict a serial killer in the Brides in the bath trial. He was also involved in the Brighton trunk murders, and although the accused man, Mancini, in whose flat the torso of murdered prostitute was found, was acquitted at the trial, Mancini confessed to the killing just before his own death, many years later, so vindicating Spilsbury's evidence. He was able to work with minimal remains, such as that involved in the "Blazing car murder", when a near destroyed body was found in the wreck of a burnt-out car near Northampton in 1930. He gave evidence of how the man had died, although the victim was never identified, and so helped convict Alfred Rouse. He confessed his guilt before being hanged. Taken pre-1910. ... This article or section should be merged with Forensic science Forensic evidence consists of anything that can be used in a court of law to convict a person of a crime. ... Herbert Rowse Armstrong (1870 - 31 May 1922), the Hay poisoner, is commonly claimed to be the only solicitor in Britain to have been hanged for murder. ... General Name, Symbol, Number arsenic, As, 33 Chemical series metalloids Group, Period, Block 15, 4, p Appearance metallic gray Standard atomic weight 74. ... Serial killers are individuals who have a history of multiple slayings of victims who were usually unknown to them beforehand. ... George Joseph Smith (January 11, 1872_August 13, 1915) is more commonly known as the Brides in the Bath Murderer. He was a 43-year-old bigamist who killed three women. ... The Brighton Trunk Murders were two unrelated murders linked to the fashionable coastal town of Brighton, England in 1934. ... Prostitution is the sale of sexual services (typically manual stimulation, oral sex, sexual intercourse, or anal sex) for cash or other kind of return, generally indiscriminately with many persons. ... Northampton is a large market town and a local government district in the English East Midlands region. ... Alfred Rouse was convicted for murder in 1931. ...

During his career Spilsbury performed thousands of autopsies, not only for murder victims but also of executed criminals. He was able to appear for the defence in Scotland, where his status as a police pathologist in England and Wales did not matter. Spilsbury was knighted in 1923. He was a Home Office approved pathologist, lecturer in forensic medicine in the University College Hospital, London School of Medicine for Women and St. Thomas' Hospital. He also was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine. This article is about the medical procedure. ... The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by King George V. The Order includes five classes in civil and military divisions; in decreasing order of seniority, these are Knight Grand Cross or Dame Grand Cross (GBE) Knight Commander... The modern concept of Small Office and Home Office or SoHo , or Small or Home Office deals with the category of business which can be from 1 to 10 workers. ... University College Hospital is a teaching hospital in London, part of the University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, and associated with University College London. ... The London School of Medicine for Women was established in 1874 and was the first medical school in Britian to train women. ... Saint Thomas’ Hospital. ... The Logo and Coat of Arms of the Society. ...

On June 12, 2008 BBC Radio 4's afternoon play "The Incomparable Witness" by Nichola McAuliffe was a drama about Sir Bernard Spilsbury, 'the father of modern forensics'. For other uses, see BBC (disambiguation). ...

On July 17, 2008 Sotheby's in London will sell a wooden file cabinet containing aprx. 4,000 hand-written index cards detailing post-mortem examinations. Included is the case of a man who ordered whisky at a London pub and received hydrochloric acid in return.

References

• Douglas Browne and E. V. Tullett - Bernard Spilsbury: His Life and Cases (1951)
• Colin Evans - the Father of Forensics
• J.H.H. Gaute and Robin Odell - The New Murderer's Who's Who, 1996, Harrap Books, London
• Andrew Rose "Lethal Witness" Sutton Publishing 2007 - also to be published in the US by Kent State University Press

External links

• New recognition of Spilsbury