Every time there is a new newspaper added to the findmypast
collection I will do a quick search for any Palins therein listed. One of this week new newspapers was “The Barnoldswick
& Earby Times”. I felt like I had
won the jackpot when there were over 200 listings in this newspaper. But almost all of those results had a common
name and a common theme.
Dr. H. C. Palin said
that the cause death was asphyxia due to the inhalation of coal-gas.
Dr. H. C. Palin, of Brierfield, who carried out a post mortem
examination, told the Coroner…
Dr. H. C. Palin stated that condition of the body was
consistent with death from drowning….
Dr. H. C. Palin found evidence of cerebral thrombosis and
slight abrasions to the forehead….
So just who is this H C Palin and is he connected?
He sure is connected!
Hubert Culliford Palin was born February 16 1908 to Reverend
Canon William Henry Farnes Palin and Ada Emily Culliford near Macclesfield,
Cheshire. There were six children
blessed to this union and Hubert was number four in the pecking order. (I was number four out of six as well) I could easily do a blog entry on his father
and his older brother because they also had interesting lives and may just do
so. Stay tuned!
Hubert graduated Medicine from University of Manchester in
1933 and he married Marjorie Alice Pitchford in 1937. They had two children. Hubert died in 1998.
What really caught my eye about Hubert was he was invited to
give a talk about his job to the Goodwill Club in October of 1954. This talk was covered in the “Barnoldswick
& Earby Times” and I have taken the liberty and transcribed it for you.
The Work of a Police Surgeon
In the hardboiled chronicles of crime, the police surgeon usually
appears as a tough, monosyllabic character equipped with a nice touch of
cynicism and a faculty for making a split second diagnosis. To those members of the Goodwill Club whose acquaintance
with the species is limited to fiction, the address given by Dr. H. C. Palin
recently must have come as quite a surprise.
The speaker, who is police surgeon for the Reedley district, gave a detailed
account of police work and proved that his task is by no means as easy as the
edge-of-chair writers would have us believe.
Dr. Palin emphasised that although many people were of the opinion that
too many postmortems operations were performed, any death likely to be
unnatural had to be investigated in the general interest. “In America” he continued, “the majority of
deaths are investigated. This is the
only way to establish the true cause of death and it may help science to check
and curtail the spread of disease.”
As a small boy, the speaker confessed, he was apt to picture the police
surgeon as a metaphorical first cousin to a butcher. This impression was wrong. The dead were respected and examinations were
not conducted with irreverence.
After outlining the duties of the coroner, Dr. Palin said that where
the cause of death was uncertain a postmortem would precede cremation for
obvious reasons. The speaker cited the
Merrifield murder as a case in point.
Three doctors had been called to the victim prior to the poison being
given in order that they might ascertain her general weakness. The doctor who appeared after her death was
unable to agree with his colleagues; a postmortem examination of the body and
traces of rat poison were discovered.
“A police surgeon must be observant, have his wits about him and be able
to make accurate deductions,” reflected Dr. Palin. In fact, a single unit made up of the finer
qualities of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson.
“Yet,” he continued, “we are still unable to say why so many old people
of eighty plus have perfectly healthy organs but some are completely played out
in the people of forty and fifty.”
When the speaker moved on to the vexed topic of tests for drunkenness the
audience participation could be almost felt.
“It is my duty,” said the doctor, “to see that a suspect’s symptoms are
indicative of alcohol and are not caused by disease.” Very few mistakes were made in this
direction, but a policeman could not be expected to know as much as a medical
man and could, consequently, find himself in an awkward predicament. A case had occurred in his experience of a
motor cyclist who after an accident was brought to him with a broken collar
bone and alcohol laden breath. Although
this man exhibited many signs of drunkenness, it was later discovered that he
was suffering from a fractured skull.
“It is always advisable to take a summary of all the tests for drunkenness,”
continued Dr. Palin, “before making a charge.”
The speaker demonstrated one of the two tests, which were duly noted
with the appropriate degree of wonder. After
pointing out that the blood test’s accuracy varied with individuals, the
speaker parted with the surprising information that in Norway and Sweden one
was not allowed to drive if one’s blood contained over 50 milligrams of
alcohol. This explained the old
Scandinavian custom of going to parties in taxis.
Speaking of assault, Dr. Palin said, “We must determine the gravity of
the wound for a very particular reason.
There is a difference between common assault, and grievous bodily harm –
the latter is indictable and must be tried at the sessions.”
The speaker answered many questions and was warmly thanked by the
president for his interesting address.
A couple of things jumped out at me while reading this article. One was when it mentioned that they were not
able to understand why the organs of 80 years looked better than some at 50 years of age. I am sure that medical
sciences has grown enough over the past 60 years, they now have a better idea on those differences.
The second thing that jumped out at me was how some things
stay the same. Drinking and driving was
discussed back then and it still is today. It
is like taking two steps forward and one back.
There have been so many TV shows about forensic medical
examiners. I remember many, many moons
ago watching Quincy with Jack Klugman with my young daughter and she stated that
she wanted to be just like Quincy when she grew up. The solving of the mystery appealed
to all age groups. I like that expression as seen in the
newspaper article that a police surgeon was made up of the finer qualities of
Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson.
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