Sydney Smith (forensic expert)

This article is about the Forensic Pathologist Sydney Smith. For other uses of the name, see Sydney Smith (disambiguation).

See also Sidney Smith for a list of individuals by that name.

Sir Sydney Alfred Smith CBE, (August 4, 1883 – May 8, 1969), was a renowned forensic scientist and pathologist.

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Early life

Smith was born at Roxburgh, Otago, in New Zealand and was educated at Roxburgh public school, and Victoria College, Wellington. He later won a Vans Dunlop scholarship at Edinburgh University in botany and zoology. He graduated in 1912, MB ChB with first-class honours and a research scholarship.

Career

Following a short period in general practice, Smith became an assistant in the Edinburgh department of forensic medicine at the suggestion of Professor Harvey Littlejohn. He obtained his MD in 1914 with a gold medal and the Alison prize.

Smith's first important case was the trial of Patrick Higgins for the murder of his two sons in 1913.

Smith returned to New Zealand and took up a post as Medical Officer of Health for Otago at Dunedin.

During WWI, Smith served as a Major in the New Zealand Army Corps.

In 1917, Smith took up a post as a senior lecturer in forensic medicine at the School of Medicine in Cairo, Egypt.

Smith went on to establish himself as an authority in the field of ballistics and firearms in forensic medicine.

In 1928, Smith was appointed to the regius chair of forensic medicine at Edinburgh University, a post he held until 1953.

He was awarded a CBE in 1944, followed by a Knighthood in 1949.

Smith was rector of Edinburgh University from 1954 to 1957.

References

• Oxford Dictionary of National Biography:Smith, Sir Sydney Alfred by Francis Camps