Throughout the 19th century, crime scene investigation was rather haphazard. When a suspicious death was discovered, the local police were usually called to the scene, followed by a doctor. The matter was then referred to the coroner, who organised a post mortem. There was no preservation of the crime scene, which would be trampled by the coming and going of many people, including ‘sightseers’ (the Victorians loved a good murder!). Potential evidence would be removed from the scene, and kept at home, until the items were later produced in court, sometimes cleaned but, more often than not, still covered in blood.
The body of the unfortunate victim sometimes remained at the scene until the coroner made arrangements for its removal, or, it was taken to a nearby building such as an outhouse, the workhouse infirmary, or even the local pub. It was common to wash the body prior to examination, presumably to make the experience more palatable for the coroner and jury members, who typically viewed the body in situ before the inquest proceedings began. The Bermondsey murder in 1849, which is the subject of my next book, demonstrates the process.
On 17 August 1849, whilst investigating a missing person case, two police officers discovered the body of a man, under some flagstones in the kitchen in a house in Bermondsey. Noticing a damp patch on the stone floor, PC Henry Barnes and his colleague had removed the flags and dug into the wet mortar, until they came across a man’s toe and then his loins. The man, who was naked, was facing downwards, with his legs drawn up behind him and tied with a clothes-line. Although his face was partly decomposed, he was identified as Patrick O’Connor, by his set of false teeth.
Patrick O’Connor’s body remained at the scene until the following day. The quick lime, which had been used, in the mistaken belief that it would hasten the decomposition, was washed from the body before the post mortem, which was performed in the house, on the kitchen table. The false teeth were taken for safekeeping by the coroner’s clerk and later produced in court. The police searched the house, which belonged to married couple Frederick and Maria Manning, for clues, and removed all incriminating items, such as the deceased’s clothing and his umbrella.
This was fairly typical of crime scene investigation at the time and four years earlier, the first guidance for doctors when confronted by a possible murder victim was published in 1844, by William Augustus Guy, professor of forensic medicine at King’s College London. In the first edition of Principles of Forensic Science, Guy set out his advice, which was aimed at medical experts, rather than the police. He instructed doctors to observe the location of the body, its position, the soil or surface on which it was lying, any nearby objects, and the victim’s physical appearance and clothing.
Almost half a century later, in 1881, Sir Howard Vincent, head of the CID at Scotland Yard, published specific instructions on ‘dead bodies’ in his Police Code and Manual of Criminal Law. Following a stint in Paris observing the more sophisticated techniques of French detectives, Vincent tried to reform investigative practice back home. Through his Police Code, which ran to sixteen editions until 1924, he sought to formalise the investigative practices and behaviours of the British police. Vincent emphasised that no one should touch the body before the police arrive, and that it should not be moved until a senior officer gave the instructions. In his advice on investigating a crime scene, Vincent included footprints and other clues which may be found on and around the victim’s person. He added that if a body was not identified, it should be dressed ‘as nearly as possible as it was in life’, and photographed prior to burial.
One CSI tool included in the Police Code is the examination of ‘footmarks’, in which it suggests making a model of the impression using plaster of Paris or Spence’s Patent Metal, and then comparing it with the suspect’s foot wear. The guidance warns of the potentially damaging effect of weather, such as rain, and advises covering footprints, in the event of an unexpected shower. This was exactly what Superintendent James Bent, of the Lancashire Constabulary did, in August 1876, whilst investigating the shooting of his colleague PC Nicholas Cock. When it began to rain, Bent covered the marks with a box. He later matched the footprints with the prime suspect William Habron’s left boot. Later that same year, Superintendent Bennett of Berkshire Constabulary took casts of footprints found near the spot where Inspector Joseph Drewett and PC Thomas Shorter were shot, and these were used in evidence against the perpetrators Henry and Francis Tidbury. In both cases, the suspects were convicted on the basis of footprint evidence. William Habron was sentenced to life imprisonment and remained behind bars until the real murderer of PC Cock confessed. Henry and Francis Tidbury were convicted of the murder of the two police officers and hanged.
Find out more about this fascinating case in my book, Who Killed Constable Cock?
The first formal CSI manual was published in 1893 by Austrian professor of criminal law Hans Gross. His groundbreaking book, Criminal Investigation: A Practical Handbook, was translated into English in 1906. Together with French criminalist Edmond Locard, Gross laid the foundations for modern crime scene investigation. The handbook offered new tools, protocols and practices, which transformed the location where a murder took place, into a ‘crime scene’. His practical manual includes advice on the collection and preservation of physical evidence, the importance of trace evidence such as blood and other bodily fluids, and key detective skills like observation and deduction. Gross demonstrated how to sketch a crime scene onto squared paper to plot the exact location of items and the relationship between them, and how to secure crime scene objects. He even made a checklist of equipment for investigators to take to the scene, including blotting paper, a tape measure, plaster of Paris for taking footprints, and a bar of soap for making impressions of keys or teeth.
By the end of the nineteenth century, developments in CSI began to gather pace in England. New techniques included taking mugshots, fingerprinting and crime scene photography. These new technologies paved the way for the significant advances in forensic science of the early decades of the 20th century, when crime scene investigation was formalised. The ‘murder bag’ (pictured at the top) was introduced in 1924, the first version including a large magnifying glass, rubber gloves, a plastic apron and disinfectant. The following decade saw the emergence of forensic laboratories in England, and the first training course for detectives was established in 1935, the curriculum of which included CSI.
(Featured image © Museum of London)