Richard Starkie was a British

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

 doctor

Physician

A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...

 who was charged with distributing illegal narcotic

Narcotic

The term narcotic originally referred medically to any psychoactive compound with any sleep-inducing properties. In the United States of America it has since become associated with opioids, commonly morphine and heroin and their derivatives, such as hydrocodone. The term is, today, imprecisely...

s while performing abortion

Abortion

Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...

s in 1921. Starkie, a former police

Police

The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...

 surgeon

Surgeon

In medicine, a surgeon is a specialist in surgery. Surgery is a broad category of invasive medical treatment that involves the cutting of a body, whether human or animal, for a specific reason such as the removal of diseased tissue or to repair a tear or breakage...

, began illegally performing abortions during the early 1900s. He continued performing abortions until his arrest on July 17, 1921 and was charged with administering narcotics for the purpose of performing an abortion on a married woman as well as prior abortions on four unmarried patients. Although acquitted on abortion charges, he was found guilty for administering drugs and sentenced to nine months imprisonment at Wormwood Scrubs Prison

Wormwood Scrubs (HM Prison)

HM Prison Wormwood Scrubs is a Category B men's prison, located in the Wormwood Scrubs area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, in inner west London, England. The prison is operated by Her Majesty's Prison Service....

. He was reportedly met by about 600 of his former patients following his release.

Further reading

• Browne, Douglas G. and E.V. Tullett. The Scalpel of Scotland Yard. New York: E.P. Dutton, 1952.