Bernard Spilsbury

by Douglas G. Browne, Tom Tullett

Depicts the life and career of the British medical examiner, Bernard Spilsbury, and describes his investigations on cases of murder

Genres: True Crime, Crime, Biography, History, Science

448 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1951

About the author

Douglas Gordon Browne

Reviews

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sir Bernard Spilsbury is truly one of the most important figures in the history of forensic science. His testimony as an expert witness in court proceedings combined with the efficient and thorough post-mortem examinations he conducted helped to cement forensic science as an extensively used tool in the workings of the law. What is most impressive is how Spilsbury managed to use his own knowledge, determination and insight to provide a medical defence time after time. And this was in the 1920s (for comparison, Sir Alec Jeffreys didn't discover DNA profiling until 1984), a time of poverty and ill-health for many people. Science was developing, but gradually, and there was certainly nowhere near the amount of technology available that we have today. For this, Spilsbury, a rather shy, unassuming figure, deserves to be remembered as one of the greats.

[Kate · Rating 2 out of 5]

Slogged through this to the end. It was written at the end of the 1940s and is exceedingly 'class conscious'. The author comes across as a major toffee nosed snob. His fawning over any person with money or a title is sickening. His
insulting way of describing the 'lower orders' made me extremely angry. No wonder the British people voted in a Labour government after this. Spilsbury is a very interesting person and certainly was a pioneer of forensic science but
the way this book is written was really off putting. I am going to find a book more up to date to review his famous
cases. By the way, a lot of the stuff in this book was later reexamined in the light of DNA etc and was found to be wrong.

[Andrew Willcocks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not particularly well written and cases are largely glossed over with expressions extolling the brilliance of Spilsbury with a lack of detail, amounting to hero worship with regular repetition. Foreigners and the 'lower classes' are viewed with degrees of suspicion and disgust. Rather snobbish. It is of its time

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a fascinating man. Given the time he lived and what was socially acceptable (politics, medics, policing) it is amazing that his ideas were taken up and became standard operating procedure. Some of them must have been seen as ridiculous and heretical. I found Sir Bernard to be inspirational and I am sure his fortitude and exploration still inspire people, with out-there ideas, today. There is surely a little of his adventurous spirit in the forensic discoveries of today - DNA fingerprinting, computer databases, DNA samples from fingerprints etc.

[Lizzie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A biography with case histories. I'd had the paperback version for a while and read this hardback when I found it. It's not nearly as interesting as I'd hoped. I knew about most of the cases and his personal life was dull. But I couldn't not buy it.