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As the chief pathologist at London Hospital and professor at the medical college, Francis Edward Camps performed an estimated 88,000 postmortems during his illustrious career. Practicing during the mid-twentieth century, when Britain's reputation for investigative forensic pathology was at its height, Camps acquired considerable prominence. Although his nervous temperament made him an unpredictable witness in court, he was such a character that popular interest in him ran high. Thus, he became the world's first "television pathologist." Camps also contributed a great deal to the evolving science of forensic pathology.
Competing for Fame
As the son of a wealthy surgeon, Camps grew up in a mannered but rigid household, with plenty of exposure to medicine. In his turn, he became a general practitioner with a specialty in obstetrics, but he gravitated toward pathology after he participated in police cases.
In I947, the great Bernard Spilsbury committed suicide, and in his shadow was a trio of up-and-coming pathologists: Donald Teare, Keith Simpson, and Francis Camps. During the early years of their careers, they often worked together and were even dubbed the "Three Musketeers." However, the flamboyant Camps craved renown, and as he watched many high-profile cases go to Simpson, he came to resent his former friend. They soon became bitter rivals.
Competition for forensic cases was fierce, but Camps worked hard to gain a reputation in the morgue he called the "Palace of Truth." In 1950, he helped found the British Association of Forensic Medicine. He had a knack for persuading wealthy men to financially support his medical visions, enabling him to develop one of the finest departments of forensic medicine in the world. He also attracted an impressive team of competent specialists, although he was known to be a bully. A painstaking, ambitious professional, he tended to dismiss coworkers as "scabs" and reportedly enjoyed the notion that people feared him. Yet his team stayed with him, for his brilliance and for the unique opportunities.
Camps's practice was controversial; paid per autopsy, he worked fast, often dictating his notes from one or more previous procedures while starting another. He had a knack for recalling the distinct details without confusing them, but his approach invited criticism that he missed evidence and overlooked sanitation standards. In fact, while...