Sir Harry Bodkin Poland (1829–1928) was a British

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...

who worked at the Bar from 1851 to 1895. He also served as counsel to the

Treasury A treasury is either *A government department related to finance and taxation, a finance ministry. *A place or location where treasure, such as currency or precious items are kept. These can be state or royal property, church treasure or in p ...

and Adviser to the Home Office from 1865 to 1889. He was knighted in 1895. In his memoir "Seventy-Two Years at the Bar", Poland cited two cases as his most interesting. The first was the Bank of England case of 1872 in which four Americans attempted to steal £100,000 from the

Bank of England The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the English Government's banker, and still one of the bankers for the Government of ...

by forging bank notes. The second was the Chocolate Cream Poisoner case, where

Christiana Edmunds Christiana Edmunds (3 October 1828 – 19 September 1907), was an English murderer, popularly known as the "Chocolate Cream Killer", who carried out a series of poisonings in Brighton during the early 1870s. Edmunds purchased confectionery from a ...

poisoned a number of people in

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

by lacing chocolates with

strychnine Strychnine (, , US chiefly ) is a highly toxic, colorless, bitter, crystalline alkaloid used as a pesticide, particularly for killing small vertebrates such as birds and rodents. Strychnine, when inhaled, swallowed, or absorbed through the eye ...

. From 1895 to 1901 he sat as a

Moderate Party The Moderate Party ( sv, Moderata samlingspartiet , ; M), commonly referred to as the Moderates ( ), is a liberal-conservative political party in Sweden. The party generally supports tax cuts, the free market, civil liberties and economic liber ...

alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many Jurisdiction, jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council membe ...

on the

London County Council London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today kno ...

. Sir Harry Bodkin Poland replaced his uncle Sir William Henry Bodkin as the

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of the Borough of

Dover Dover () is a town and major ferry port in Kent, South East England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies south-east of Canterbury and east of Maidstone ...

. On his resignation, he was succeeded in the role by his nephew Archibald Bodkin. He was a confirmed bachelor.

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British barristers Members of London County Council 1829 births 1928 deaths {{UK-law-bio-stub