Keith Simpson (1) (1907–1985)

Keith Simpson grew up in Brighton, Sussex, where his father was a physician. He graduated from Guy’s Hospital Medical School and, fascinated with forensics, taught in the Pathology Department. In 1934, Dr. Simpson was made supervisor of Medico-legal Postmortems and got his first case with Scotland Yard. He was the first forensic pathologist in Britain to be recognized by the Home Office. He became famous for his post-mortems of many newsworthy cases, and was renowned for his careful work. In the early 1940s, he was involved in the investigation of crimes committed during the London Blitz and World War II. In 1950, he co-founded the British Association in Forensic Medicine, which he later served as president. He became Professor of Forensic Medicine in the University of London at Guy's Hospital and Lecturer in Forensic Medicine at Oxford University. He wrote and edited scientific publications and standard textbooks on forensics, courtroom principles and etiquette. Popular works such Evidence for the Crown (1954) by his wartime secretary Molly Lefebure, and his own autobiography Forty Years of Murder (1979) also helped make his name familiar to the public. He published a collection of true crime vignettes, The Fatal Chance: 12 Cases From the Notebook of a Crime Pathologist, under the pseudonym Guy Bailey (1969). Prof. Simpson's many years of public service were recognized in 1975 with the award of a CBE.