Gerald Roche Lynch OBE FRIC DPH (1889–1957) was a British forensic scientist and public health analyst associated with several infamous murders as a medico-legal expert. An expert on poisons he appeared as an expert witness in multiple murder cases in the 20th century. His involvement in high profile (and often gory) murder investigations made him a household name in the 1930s. He was an important part of the oddly named "Bastardy (Blood Tests) Bill" of 1939, concluding that such tests could accurately prove paternity (the accuracy was much less than modern DNA testing).

Life

He was born in the

Notting Hill Notting Hill is a district of West London, England, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Notting Hill is known for being a cosmopolitan and multicultural neighbourhood, hosting the annual Notting Hill Carnival and Portobello Road M ...

district of

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

on 12 January 1889 the son of Dr Jordan Roche Lynch. He was educated at

St Paul's School, London (''By Faith and By Learning'') , established = , closed = , type = Independent school Public school , religion = Church of England , president = , he ...

then studied Medicine with a scholarship to St Mary's Hospital Medical School in London from 1906. He graduated MB in 1913. In the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

he served as an assistant physician with the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

. After the he worked with Sir William Willcox and in 1920 (aged only 31) replaced him representing the Home Office in officially assisting the CID in criminal investigations involving poison, bringing him frequently to work alongside Sir

Bernard Spilsbury Sir Bernard Henry Spilsbury (16 May 1877 – 17 December 1947) was a British pathologist. His cases include Hawley Crippen, the Seddon case, the Major Armstrong poisoning, the "Brides in the Bath" murders by George Joseph Smith, the Crumbles ...

. He became Director of Chemical Pathology at St Mary's Hospital on behalf of the Home Office in 1936. He lived at 17 Upper Addison Gardens in the

Holland Park Holland Park is an area of Kensington, on the western edge of Central London, that contains a street and public park of the same name. It has no official boundaries but is roughly bounded by Kensington High Street to the south, Holland Road ...

district of London. He served as President of the

Royal Institute of Chemistry The Royal Institute of Chemistry was a British scientific organisation. Founded in 1877 as the Institute of Chemistry of Great Britain and Ireland (ICGBI), its role was to focus on qualifications and the professional status of chemists, and its aim ...

from 1946 to 1949. He retired in the Autumn of 1954 and died at home in

Slough Slough () is a town and unparished area in the unitary authority of the same name in Berkshire, England, bordering west London. It lies in the Thames Valley, west of central London and north-east of Reading, at the intersection of the M4 ...

suddenly on 3 July 1957.

Notable Cases

Browne and Kennedy Frederick Guy Browne (1883–1928) and William Henry Kennedy (1891–1928) were two career criminals who were executed in Britain in 1927 for the murder of an unarmed policeman in the course of his duties. The fiasco of people trying t ...

's murder of PC Gutteridge (1928) * Edmund Duff / Violet Sydney (1928) * Sidney Fox (1930) *Sarah Ann Everard (aka

Annie Hearn Annie Hearn was the assumed but known name of an arsenic poisoner in England in the 1920s/30s. Whilst Annie was found not guilty, all modern opinion concludes the weight of coincidental would point to her having murdered at least three people. Lif ...

) (1931) *Murder of Edith Rosse by

Maundy Gregory Arthur John Maundy Gregory, who later used the name Arthur John Peter Michael Maundy Gregory (1 July 1877 – 28 September 1941) was a British theatre producer and political fixer who is best remembered for selling honours for Prime Minister David ...

(1932) *

Vera Page Vera may refer to: Names *Vera (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) *Vera (given name), a given name (including a list of people and fictional characters with the name) **Vera (), archbishop of the archdiocese of Tarrag ...

(1932)1957 *

Brighton trunk murders The Brighton trunk murders were two murders linked to Brighton, England, in 1934. In each, the body of a murdered woman was placed in a trunk. The murders are not believed to have any connection with each other aside from how they were carried o ...

(1934) *

Ethel Major Ethel Lillie Major (189219 December 1934) was a British murderer. She was the only woman to be hanged at Hull Prison. She was known as the Corned Beef Killer. Life Ethel Lillie Brown was the daughter of a Lincolnshire gamekeeper on the estate of ...

(1934) *

Dorothea Waddingham Dorothea Nancy Waddingham (1899 – 16 April 1936) was an English nursing home matron who was convicted of murder in the United Kingdom. Life Dorothea Waddingham was born Dorothy Nancie Merelina Allan Chandler, with her parents marrying a year ...

(1936) * Cheltenham torso mystery (1938)4 *The unsolved

William Murfitt murder William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Eng ...

(1938) *

August Sangret August Sangret (28 August 1913 – 29 April 1943) was a French-Canadian soldier, convicted and subsequently hanged for the September 1942 murder of 19-year-old Joan Pearl Wolfe in Surrey, England. This murder case is also known as the "Wigwam M ...

(1943)

Publications

*Cases of Poisoning and Suspected Poisoning (1927) *Evidence of Blood Groups (1933) *Poisons and Their Detection (1935) *Blood Group Tests in Disputed Paternity (1937) *Toxicology: Homicidal, Suicidal and Accidental Poisoning

Family

In 1919 he married Sybil Marguerite Pinnock who died very young. They had a daughter, Bridget Roche Lynch.Analyst (journal) September 1957

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lynch, Gerald Roche 1889 births 1957 deaths Forensic scientists People from Notting Hill