Gerald Roche Lynch

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

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. He was an important contributor to the "Bastardy (Blood Tests) Bill" of 1939, concluding that blood tests could accurately prove paternity (the accuracy was much less than modern DNA testing).

Life

Roche Lynch was born in

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 wikt:cosmopolitan, cosmopolitan and multiculturalism, multicultural neighbourhood, hosting the annual Notting ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

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

St Paul's School, London St Paul's School is a Selective school, selective Private schools in the United Kingdom, independent day school (with limited boarding school, boarding) for boys aged 13–18, founded in 1509 by John Colet and located on a 43-acre site by Rive ...

then studied Medicine with a scholarship to

St Mary's Hospital Medical School St Mary's Hospital Medical School was the youngest of the constituent medical schools of Imperial College School of Medicine, founded in 1854 as part of the new hospital in Paddington. During its existence in the 1980s and 1990s, it was the most ...

in London from 1906. He graduated MB in 1913. In the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

he served as an assistant physician with the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

. Afterwards 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 an English pathologist. His cases include Hawley Crippen, the Seddon case, the Major Armstrong poisoning, the "Brides in the Bath" murders by George Joseph Smith, the Crumb ...

. He became Director of Chemical Pathology at St Mary's Hospital on behalf of the Home Office in 1936. 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 ai ...

from 1946 to 1949. He retired in 1954, and died at his home in

Slough Slough () is a town in Berkshire, England, in the Thames Valley, west of central London and north-east of Reading, at the intersection of the M4, M40 and M25 motorways. It is part of the historic county of Buckinghamshire. In 2021, the ...

on 3 July 1957, aged 68.

Notable Cases

* Browne and Kennedy's murder of PC Gutteridge (1928) * Edmund Duff / Violet Sydney (1928) *

Sidney Fox Sidney Fox (born Sarah Liefer; December 10, 1907 – November 15, 1942) was an American stage and film actress in the late 1920s and 1930s.Sidney Fox Beaha's age in some records is given as 30 or 31 when she died, including in the registry ...

(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 evidence would point to her having murdered at least three people. Life S ...

) (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 the Prime Minister, ...

(1932) * Vera Page (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 ...

(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 (21 June 1899 – 16 April 1936) was an English nursing home matron who was convicted of murder. Life Dorothea Waddingham was born Dorothy Nancie Merelina Allan Chandler, with her parents marrying a year after her birt ...

(1936) *

Cheltenham torso mystery The Cheltenham torso mystery began with the discovery of the torso of an unknown man in the River Severn in 1938. Forensic analysis by Sir Bernard Spilsbury suggested that the body was that of Captain Butt of Cheltenham, but the case was never of ...

(1938)4 *The unsolved William Murfitt murder (1938) *

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

(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, Roche 1889 births 1957 deaths British forensic scientists People from Notting Hill Officers_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire