Today we take it for granted that medical evidence is an important part of criminal investigations. At the beginning of the 20th century, however, it was surrounded with suspicion. In 1859 Dr Thomas Smethurst was convicted of murdering Isabella Bankes by administering poison. At his trial the medical evidence had been discredited when a medical expert admitted that the arsenic found in the body could actually have come from his own equipment. This led to a public outcry and Dr Smethurst was granted a free pardon. Public confidence in medical evidence was not fully restored until the Crippen case (1910) demonstrated just how effective it could be when Spilsbury helped to prove that a murder victim was Dr Crippen’s wife using samples of scar tissue found on the body. Spilsbury’s evidence continued to be the deciding factor in other sensational murder trials of the first half of the 20th century and throughout his career Spilsbury steadily raised the reputation of forensic science.

As a forensic pathologist it was Spilsbury’s job to examine dead bodies and to discover how and when death occurred. Only around 1% of Spilsbury’s 25,000 post mortems were related to murder and most of Spilsbury’s time was spent carrying out valuable work for coroners all over England and teaching in universities. Spilsbury went beyond the usual role of a forensic pathologist and influenced improvements to other areas of forensic science. He often assisted police at crime scenes and helped to introduce the use of special crime scene equipment to preserve evidence.

Spilsbury kept himself up to date on all areas of science and tested out any new theories or chemicals that might help with his work. An innocent man was cleared of murder after Spilsbury demonstrated that the fluorescence from a medical dressing worn by the accused was different to the fluorescence given out by a piece of dressing found at the scene.

Spilsbury continued to work until his death at the age of 70. He ended his life on 17th December 1947 by gassing himself in his laboratory. It is said that this was prompted by his ill health (he had had three strokes and his hands were crippled with arthritis) and the recent loss of two of his sons. To the public Spilsbury remained a walking legend with an outstanding reputation in the criminal courts - enigmatic and aloof but scrupulously fair - the solver of mysteries.

An outline of Spilsbury’s life

• 1877 born at 35 Bath St, Royal Leamington Spa.
• 1888 starts his education at Leamington College.
• 1896 begins his degree at Magdalene College, Oxford.
• 1899 studies medicine at St Mary’s Hospital, London and specialises in pathology under the influence of Arthur Pearson Luff, Sir William Willcox & Augustus pepper (leading experts in pathology).
• 1908 marries Edith Horton and later has three sons & a daughter.
• Joins the Medico-Legal Society (an organisation promoting forensic medicine). He later becomes President of the Society.
• 1909 becomes Senior Pathologist at St Mary’s Hospital.
• Becomes a lecturer at St Bartholomew’s, University College and St Thomas’s Hospitals and at the School of Medicine for Women.
• 1910 the trial of Dr Crippen makes Spilsbury a household name.
• Honorary pathologist to the Home Office.
• 1915 the ‘Brides in the Bath’ case - Spilsbury’s first time as principal witness for the Crown.
• 1922 Spilsbury is pursued by the IRA whilst carrying evidence of Field Marshall Sir Henry Wilson’s assassination.
• 1923 Spilsbury is knighted.
• 1924 the Mahon case – Spilsbury later claimed this was his most interesting case as he had to reassemble the body of Emily Kaye from hundreds of tiny remains. This was also the case that inspired him to help introduce scene of crime equipment to the Police.
• 1924 Mahon’s post mortem - Spilsbury’s first autopsy on an executed man. Spilsbury’s research on executed bodies later led to a more humane method of hanging.
• 1925 the Thorne case prompts a press campaign against Spilsbury’s alleged infallibility when the Jury believe him over eight other medical experts.
• Between 1926 and 1939 he is involved with 130 murder investigations and is at the height of his fame.
• 1940 he has his first stroke and his son Peter is killed in an air raid.
• 1941 his sister dies.
• 1945 his son Alan dies of consumption.
• 1947 the De Antiquis murder is Spilsbury’s last big case.
• 17 December 1947 Spilsbury dies after poisoning himself with carbon monoxide gas.

Dr Crippen (courtesy of Dave Gilbey, Torquay, Devon).

Cora Crippen's grave in the Cellar of 39 Hilldrop Crescent (courtesy of Dave Gilbey, Torquay, Devon).

One of Spilsbury's record cards summarising the Mahon case. It describes the remains of Emily Kaye as they were initially found at the crime scene. (courtesy of the Galleries of Justice Museum of Law, Nottingham

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