Keith Simpson (professor)
Encyclopedia
Cedric Keith Simpson, CBE
, FRCP (July 20, 1907 – July 21, 1985) was an eminent English pathologist. He was Professor of Forensic Medicine in the University of London
at Guy's Hospital
, and Lecturer in Forensic Medicine at the University of Oxford
.
. In August 1924, aged 17, Simpson enrolled at Guy’s Medical School. By the age of 25 he was a teacher in the Pathology department. In 1932 he married Mary Buchanan, with whom he had three children (their only son later became a doctor). They were together until Mary's death from multiple sclerosis
in 1955. Dr Simpson married his secretary, Jean Scott-Dunn, in March 1956. His third wife (in 1982) was Janet Thurston.
In 1934 Dr Simpson was made Supervisor of Medico-legal Post-Mortems and had his first case with Scotland Yard
. In 1937 he was appointed Medico-legal advisor to Surrey
Constabulary. In 1963 he was elected to the Royal College of Pathologists
.
In 1947 the student textbook Forensic Medicine, which Simpson wrote during the war, was published. Following the death of Bernard Spilsbury
in the same year, Simpson became one of the leading forensic pathologists in Britain with a string of important cases. In 1950, along with Francis Camps
, Donald Teare
and Professor Sydney Smith
, Simpson formed the Association of Forensic Medicine. In addition to his scientific publications, popular works such as his 1978 autobiography Forty Years of Murder made his name familiar to the public.
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
, FRCP (July 20, 1907 – July 21, 1985) was an eminent English pathologist. He was Professor of Forensic Medicine in the University of London
University of London
-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...
at Guy's Hospital
Guy's Hospital
Guy's Hospital is a large NHS hospital in the borough of Southwark in south east London, England. It is administratively a part of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust. It is a large teaching hospital and is home to the King's College London School of Medicine...
, and Lecturer in Forensic Medicine at the University of Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
.
Career
Keith Simpson was born in 1907 in Brighton and Hove where his father was a General practitionerGeneral practitioner
A general practitioner is a medical practitioner who treats acute and chronic illnesses and provides preventive care and health education for all ages and both sexes. They have particular skills in treating people with multiple health issues and comorbidities...
. In August 1924, aged 17, Simpson enrolled at Guy’s Medical School. By the age of 25 he was a teacher in the Pathology department. In 1932 he married Mary Buchanan, with whom he had three children (their only son later became a doctor). They were together until Mary's death from multiple sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis is an inflammatory disease in which the fatty myelin sheaths around the axons of the brain and spinal cord are damaged, leading to demyelination and scarring as well as a broad spectrum of signs and symptoms...
in 1955. Dr Simpson married his secretary, Jean Scott-Dunn, in March 1956. His third wife (in 1982) was Janet Thurston.
In 1934 Dr Simpson was made Supervisor of Medico-legal Post-Mortems and had his first case with Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard is a metonym for the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service of London, UK. It derives from the location of the original Metropolitan Police headquarters at 4 Whitehall Place, which had a rear entrance on a street called Great Scotland Yard. The Scotland Yard entrance became...
. In 1937 he was appointed Medico-legal advisor to Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
Constabulary. In 1963 he was elected to the Royal College of Pathologists
Royal College of Pathologists
The Royal College of Pathologists, founded in 1962, was established to co-ordinate this development and maintain the internationally renowned standards and reputation of British pathology. Today the College advises on a vast range of issues relating to pathology...
.
In 1947 the student textbook Forensic Medicine, which Simpson wrote during the war, was published. Following the death of Bernard Spilsbury
Bernard Spilsbury
Sir Bernard Henry Spilsbury was an English pathologist. His cases include Hawley Harvey Crippen, the Seddon case and Major Armstrong poisonings, the "brides in the bath" murders by George Joseph Smith, Louis Voisin, Jean-Pierre Vaquier, the Crumbles murders, Norman Thorne, Donald Merrett, the...
in the same year, Simpson became one of the leading forensic pathologists in Britain with a string of important cases. In 1950, along with Francis Camps
Francis Camps
Francis Edward Camps, FRCP, FRCpath was a famous English pathologist notable for his work on the cases of serial killer John Christie and suspected serial killer John Bodkin Adams.-Early life and training:...
, Donald Teare
Donald Teare
Robert Donald Teare, FRCP, FRCPath was a senior British pathologist.-Early life:Teare was born 1 July 1911, and educated at King William's College on the Isle of Man, and Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge...
and Professor Sydney Smith
Sydney Smith (forensic expert)
Sir Sydney Alfred Smith CBE , was a renowned forensic scientist and pathologist. From 1928 to 1953, Smith was Regius Professor of Forensic Medicine at the University of Edinburgh, a well-known forensic department of that time...
, Simpson formed the Association of Forensic Medicine. In addition to his scientific publications, popular works such as his 1978 autobiography Forty Years of Murder made his name familiar to the public.
Famous cases
- 1942 Rachel Dobkin, murdered by her husband Harry.
- 1942 Joan Pearl Wolfe, victim of August SangretAugust SangretAugust Sangret was a French-Canadian soldier of First Nations birth, convicted of murdering Joan Wolfe in Surrey, England and hanged. This murder case is also known as the Wigwam Murder.-Joan Wolfe:...
in the “Wigwam murder”. - 1943 The Bethnal Green tube station disaster.
- 1946 Margery Gardner, murdered by Neville HeathNeville HeathNeville George Clevely Heath was an English killer who was responsible for the murders of at least two young women. He was executed in London in 1946.-Early career:Heath was born in Essex, England...
. - 1946 Consultant for the Surrey Police on the “Chalk-pit Murder”.
- 1948 The death of Ananda MahidolAnanda MahidolAnanda Mahidol was the eighth monarch of Thailand under the House of Chakri. At the time he was recognized as king by the National Assembly, in March 1935, he was a nine-year-old boy living in Switzerland. He returned to Thailand in December 1945. Six months later, in June 1946, he was found shot...
, King Ananda of SiamThailandThailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
, Simpson’s first case outside England, when a Major-General of the Police of Siam asked his help interpreting what had happened. - 1948 The “Gorringe case”, in which Simpson used forensic odontology (the identification of an individual from their teeth and bite marks) to seal a murder conviction against Robert Gorringe for the murder of his wife Phyllis, one of the first recorded instances of such evidence being used in an English court.
- 1949 After searching through slurry, Dr Simpson found gallstones and bones that identified Mrs Durand Deacon as a victim of the "Acid Bath Murderer", John George HaighJohn George HaighJohn George Haigh , commonly known as the "Acid Bath Murderer" , was an English serial killer during the 1940s. He was convicted of the murders of six people, although he claimed to have killed nine...
. - 1953 Exhumation of Beryl Evans after John ChristieJohn ChristieJohn Christie may refer to:*John Christie , English footballer*John Christie , author, ski historian, Member Maine Ski Hall of Fame*John Christie , opera festival founder...
confessed to her murder. Dr Simpson acted for Christie, observing the exhumation and autopsy, which was performed by Francis CampsFrancis CampsFrancis Edward Camps, FRCP, FRCpath was a famous English pathologist notable for his work on the cases of serial killer John Christie and suspected serial killer John Bodkin Adams.-Early life and training:...
. - 1956 Acted for the Medical Defence UnionMedical Defence UnionThe Medical Defence Union is the largest medical defence union in the United Kingdom, and is one of three major medical defence organisations in the country.The MDU was established in 1885 and was the first of its kind in the world...
in the defence of Dr John Bodkin AdamsJohn Bodkin AdamsJohn Bodkin Adams was an Irish-born British general practitioner, convicted fraudster and suspected serial killer. Between the years 1946 and 1956, more than 160 of his patients died in suspicious circumstances. Of these, 132 left him money or items in their will. He was tried and acquitted for...
, acquitted of murdering one of his patients. - 1961 Michael Gregston and Valerie Storie, victims of James HanrattyJames HanrattyJames Hanratty , a petty criminal with no history of violence, was the eighth-to-last person in the United Kingdom to be hanged after being convicted of the murder of Michael Gregsten at Deadman's Hill on the A6, near the village of Clophill, Bedfordshire, England, on 23 August 1961...
, the “A6 murderer”. - 1964 The Lydney Murder, an unidentified body near LydneyLydneyLydney is a small town and civil parish in the English county of Gloucestershire. It is located on the west bank of the River Severn, close to the Forest of Dean. The town lies on the A48 road, next to the Lydney Park gardens with its Roman temple in honour of Nodens.-Transport:The Severn Railway...
, and a significant case in the development of entomologyEntomologyEntomology is the scientific study of insects, a branch of arthropodology...
for criminal investigation. - 1966 George CornellGeorge CornellGeorge Cornell was an English criminal and member of the Richardson Gang, who were scrap metal dealers and criminals.He was shot and killed by Ronnie Kray at the Blind Beggar public house in Whitechapel...
, victim of the Kray twinsKray twinsReginald "Reggie" Kray and his twin brother Ronald "Ronnie" Kray were the foremost perpetrators of organised crime in London's East End during the 1950s and 1960s...
. - 1967 Invited by the CanadianCanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
government to review the case of Steven TruscottSteven TruscottSteven Murray Truscott is a Canadian man who was sentenced to death in 1959, when he was a 14-year old student, for the murder of classmate Lynne Harper...
after publication of the book The Trial of Steven TruscottThe Trial of Steven TruscottThe Trial of Steven Truscott is a book written by Isabel LeBourdais, published in 1966, on the trial and conviction of Steven Truscott for the murder of Lynne Harper in 1959...
on the case by Isabel LeBourdaisIsabel LeBourdaisIsabel LeBourdais, née Erichsen-Brown was a Canadian journalist and author. She is best known as the author of the 1966 book The Trial of Steven Truscott, the first major work to argue that Steven Truscott had been wrongfully convicted of murder.Educated at Havergal College and the University of...
. - 1974 Sandra Rivett, victim of Lord LucanRichard Bingham, 7th Earl of LucanRichard John Bingham, 7th Earl of Lucan , popularly known as Lord Lucan, as Lord Bingham before 1964, and sometimes colloquially called "Lucky" Lucan, was a British peer, who disappeared in the early hours of 8 November 1974, following the murder of Sandra Rivett, his children's nanny, the previous...
. - 1975 Leslie Newson, driver in the Moorgate tube crashMoorgate tube crashThe Moorgate tube crash was a railway disaster on the London Underground, which occurred on 28 February 1975 at 08.46 am.A southbound train on the Northern Line crashed into the tunnel end beyond the platform at Moorgate station...
.