William Willcox (toxicologist)

Sir William Henry Willcox (18.01.1870–08.07.1941) K.C.I.E., C.B., C.M.G., M.D., F.R.C.P. was an English toxicologist, physician and consultant.[1][2]

Born in Melton Mowbray, his first degree was in chemistry, a subject which he then taught in a private school for four years – he also became a fellow of the Institute of Chemistry.[2] He began studying medicine at St Mary's Hospital Medical School in 1895 and qualified in 1900.[2]

In 1904 he was made an expert forensic advisor to the Home Office, a role he held until his death and in which he trained his successors Bernard Spilsbury and Roche Lynch.[2] In the first ten years alone he testified at the trials of Hawley Harvey Crippen, Steinie Morrison, Frederick Seddon and twenty-two other manslaughter or murder trials.[2] He also advised on the death of Jessie Llewellyn of Llanelly in 1928[3]

In 1907 he was made physician to St Mary's Hospital, retiring from that role in 1935 – he also lectured and worked as a consultant there.[2] He pioneered the TAB vaccine and served in the Gallipoli campaign of the First World War – for the latter work he was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire and a Companion of the Orders of the Bath and St Michael and St George.[2] In the 1920s he began writing on barbiturate addiction.[2]

References

  1. ^ https://history.rcp.ac.uk/inspiring-physicians/sir-william-henry-willcox
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h "Book review, The Detective-Physician: the Life and Work of Sir William Willcox, by PHILIP H. A. WILLCOX, London, Heinemann Medical Books, 1970, pp. xiv, 332, illus., £3.50".
  3. ^ "Welsh Woman's Death – Due to Natural Causes". Sydney Morning Herald. 17 September 1928. p. 11.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.