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

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...

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

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and Adviser to the

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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

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by forging bank notes. The second was the Chocolate Cream Poisoner case, where Christiana Edmunds poisoned a number of people in

Brighton Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...

by lacing chocolates with

strychnine Strychnine (, , American English, US chiefly ) is a highly toxicity, toxic, colorless, bitter, crystalline alkaloid used as a pesticide, particularly for killing small vertebrates such as birds and rodents. Strychnine, when inhaled, swallowed, ...

. From 1895 to 1901 he sat as a

Moderate Party The Moderate Party ( , , M), commonly referred to as the Moderates ( ), is a Liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative* * * * * List of political parties in Sweden, political party in Sweden. The party generally supports tax cuts, the free ma ...

alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law with similar officials existing in the Netherlands (wethouder) and Belgium (schepen). The term may be titular, denotin ...

on the

London County Council The 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 ...

. 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, southeast 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 southeast of Canterbury and east of Maidstone. ...

. On his resignation, he was succeeded in the role by his nephew

Archibald Bodkin Sir Archibald Henry Bodkin Order of the Bath, KCB (1 April 1862''London, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538–1812'' – 31 December 1957) was an English lawyer and the Director of Public Prosecutions (England and W ...

. He was a confirmed bachelor.

References

Notes

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