Email of 2nd October 2018:

Thank you for your e-mail and form of 7 September 2018. Also, thank you for sending us a copy of the death certificate of George William Cornish.

I'm afraid this has been a very frustrating enquiry for us. Although there is a good coverage of records for Friern Hospital, there is a frustrating gap in the admission registers. The registers go to May 1958, then there is a gap and then restart in 1960. However, the search wasn't completely fruitless.

I made the following searches in the Friern Hospital collection (reference H12):

I started with a search in the index to admissions (1959-1973), reference code H12/CH/B/30/001. There was no entry for George Cornish. I therefore thought that perhaps he was admitted before 1959.

I then checked the General Admissions register (male) (April 1954-May 1958), reference code H12/CH/B/33/034. However nothing was found. At this stage, it seemed likely he was admitted between May 1958 and 1959. However, as mentioned above, we don't hold the admission register covering this period.

At this stage, it was more difficult to ascertain where I could find him. I checked the admission registers for Halliwick House, which was the Psychiatric Wing of Friern Hospital which opened in 1958. I checked the volumes for 1958 - 1959 but nothing was found. (H12/CH/B/33/004-005).

I then checked the reception order volume, in case he was received from another institution. I checked the volume covering 1954-1960 (H12/CH/B/45/002) but nothing was found. The data in this volume is somewhat unstructured.

The last volume I checked for an entry was in the property register, listing patient belongings. Reference code H12/CH/B/56/001. Here I found an entry for George Cornish on 4 December 1958. The register lists 1 penknife, 3 keys on ring. There is no further information in this entry outside of a signature of the receiving officer.

As he was likely admitted on 4 December 1958, it explains why he is not in the index register which starts in 1959 or the admission register which ends in May 1958.

I'm afraid there are no other patient records that cover 1958-1959 where I feel the information will be relevant. For example, we hold case files for those patients who died or were discharged in 1958, but as we know, George died in 1959.

You are more than welcome to view our online catalogue to have a look at what we hold for the collection and what other records we hold for the hospital: search.lma@gov.uk

If there is any entries you see in the online catalogue which you feel should have been checked, please send an e-mail to ask.lma@cityoflondon.gov.uk and make it to my attention. I will consider the request.

I hope this information is useful to you and wish you the best of luck with your research.

Yours sincerely

Jeff Gerhardt
Senior Archivist

London Metropolitan Archives

Cornish of the Yard

The days, not so very long ago, when our Police enjoyed a heyday of prestige, and crime was not, perhaps, so highly organised or nearly as successful as it is today, are recalled by the death of a 90-year-old lady, Mrs. Catharine Rebecca Cornish, of Queen's Park-road, Handbridge, Chester, to whom reference is made elsewhere in this issue. She was the widow of ex-Detective Superintendent Cornish, once better known as "Cornish of the Yard", one of "The Big Five", whose criminal investigations made history, in the not-so-distant past. Indeed some of his work took him as far afield as Flintshire. He died seven years ago and, for the past six years, his widow had lived with her only surviving child, Mr. Charles G. V. Cornish.

Daily Telegraph, 7 February 1959

DEATH OF EX-SUPT. CORNISH

ROLE IN COMPILING CRIPPEN EVIDENCE
Daily Telegraph Reporter

Ex-Supt. George Cornish, one of the original "Big Five" at Scotland Yard, died yesterday in Friern Hospital, New Southgate. He was 85.
He began his police career as a constable in Whitechapel and retired in 1933, 39 years later, with an imposing list of notorious criminals arrested to his credit. It was he who traced the shop where Dr. Crippen obtained the poison to murder his wife.
He arrested Robinson who was hanged for the Charing Cross trunk murder. Recalling the case many years later Mr. Cornish said: "It was a duster that really hanged Robinson." The cloth was found, bloodstained, in the trunk.
It was washed and re-washed until the one word "Greyhound" was faintly discernible. Cornish and his men visited 120 "Greyhound" hotels in London before finding that an ex-employee, Robinson, had an office in Rochester Row. From that office a taxi had taken the trunk to Charing Cross.

PANTRY BOY KILLER
He also arrested the pantry boy Henry Jacoby, who killed Lady White in a Marylebone hotel. He was in charge of the inquiries into the murder of Vera Page, aged 10, at Notting Hill in 1931.
In his memoirs he described the case of the mad tailor of Regent's Park, who shot himself dead when police broke into his home. They found the corpse of his victim, a woman, in a bath, on the cover of which he had been eating his meals.
Mr. Cornish was probably the only detective to take the fingerprints of a king. When King Manoel of Portugal was robbed of jewels worth £30,000 from his Twickenham mansion, everybody in the house, including the king and his consort, had their fingerprints taken so as to discover whether there were any strange ones.
Mr. Cornish was the son of a Wiltshire farmer. It was a chance conversation he had with a London detective who visited his father's farm which led him to join the police.

THE MAN WHO TOOK A KING'S FINGERPRINTS

Ex-Superintendent George William Cornish, one of the original Big Five at Scotland Yard, died in Friern Hospital, London, yesterday, aged 85.

He retired in 1933 after thirty-nine years in the police force, and cases with which he dealt are still remembered - the Charing Cross Trunk Murder, the killing of Lady White by a pantry-boy in a Marylebone hotel, the Blazing Shed Crime at Camden Town, and the shooting of a Cypriot professor at Hampstead.

Son of a Wiltshire farmer, he became a constable in Whitechapel in 1895 when it was unsafe to walk the streets of the East End of London at night.

He tracked down Robinson, the Charing Cross trunk murderer, because of one clue: a piece of soiled cloth found in the trunk was washed and re-washed until the word "Greyhound" could be faintly read.

Visited 120 hotels

Superintendent Cornish and his men visited 120 "Greyhound" hotels in London before they found that an ex-employee, Robinson, had an office in Rochester Row. From that office a taxi had taken the trunk to Charing Cross.

He was the policeman who traced the chemist's shop where Crippen got the poison to murder his wife.

In his memoirs he also described the case of the Mad Tailor of Regent's Park, who shot himself dead when police broke into his home. They found the corpse of his victim, a woman, in a bath, on the wooden cover of which he had been eating his meals.

Superintendent Cornish once took the fingerprints of a king. When King Manoel of Portugal had £30,000 worth of jewels stolen from his Twickenham mansion, the fingerprints of everyone in the house, including the king and his consort, were taken.

Wiltshire Times 13 Feb 1959

CORNISH OF 'THE YARD'
Native of Westbury Dies

Ex-Supt. George William Cornish, one of the original "Big Five" of Scotland Yard, who died at Friern Hospital, North London, on Friday, aged 85, started life on his father's farm at Westbury, Wilts. He was one of a large family of boys and girls, and he got the incentive to become a police officer after a detective had visited his father's farm at Westbury to make some inquiries.

Ex-Supt. Cornish was well-known in Westbury and the immediate district, which he visited frequently after his retirement in 1933. A brother, Mr. Harry Cornish, a retired farmer, died at Westbury and District Hospital only a fortnight ago. There are two surviving brothers, and three sisters: Mr. Clem Cornish, Dilton Marsh; Mr. Percy Cornish, Melksham; Mrs. Jones, Park Street, Trowbridge; Mrs. Wilson, Rank Farm, North Bradley; and Mrs. Powell, Taunton.

Ex-Supt. Cornish had a remarkable career at Scotland Yard. He began as a police constable at Whitechapel and retired 39 years later. His powers of organisation and his shrewd brain brought him success and promotion as a detective.

Murder cases with which he was concerned included the Charing Cross trunk murder, the killing of Lady White by the boy Jacoby, of Vera Page at Notting Hill, the blazing shed crime at Camden Town and the shooting of the Cypriot professor at Hampstead. He it was who arrested Robinson, who was hanged for the Charing Cross murder. He found a soiled piece of cloth in the trunk, and, after this had been washed, discovered the word "greyhound" faintly inscribed in one corner.

He instigated a search of all the Greyhound hotels in London. When police officers had visited 120 they found that a man named Robinson had been an employee at one of them. Robinson was the name of the man who had an office in Rochester Row where a taxi had picked up the man carrying the trunk and had driven him to Charing Cross. The search of his office led to the arrest.

He was the policeman who traced the chemist's shop where Crippen got the poison to murder his wife. In his memoirs he also described the case of the Mad Tailor of Regent's Park, who shot himself dead when police broke into his home. They found the corpse of his victim, a woman, in a bath, on the wooden cover of which he had been eating his meals.

Superintendent Cornish once took the fingerprints of a king, when King Manoel of Portugal had £30,000 worth of jewels stolen from his Twickenham mansion. The fingerprints of everyone in the house, including the King and his Consort, were taken.

EX-SUPERINTENDENT G. W. CORNISH

Ex-superintendent George William Cornish died in hospital in London yesterday. He was 85.

The son of a Wiltshire farmer, he began his police career as a constable at Whitechapel but his powers of organization and his shrewd brain brought him success and promotion in the detection branch of the force. Murder cases with which he was concerned included the Charing Cross trunk murder, the killing of Lady White by the boy Jacoby, of Vera Page at Notting Hill, the blazing shed crime at Camden Town and the shooting of the Cypriot professor at Hampstead. He it was who arrested Robinson, who was hanged for the Charing Cross murder. He found a soiled piece of cloth in the trunk, and, after this had been washed, discovered the word "greyhound" faintly inscribed in one corner. He instigated a search of all the Greyhound hotels in London. When police officers had visited 120 they found that a man named Robinson had been an employee at one of them. Robinson was the name of the man who had an office in Rochester Row where a taxi had picked up the man carrying the trunk and had driven him to Charing Cross. The search of his office led to the arrest.

Cornish retired in 1933 after 39 years service.

Former Yard chief dies

Ex-Superintendent George William Cornish, one of the original "Big Five" at Scotland Yard, died in Friern Hospital, London, yesterday, aged 85.

He retired in 1933 after 39 years in the police force. Cases with which he dealt are still remembered: The Charing Cross trunk murder, the killing of Lady White in a Marylebone hotel, the blazing shed crime at Camden Town, and the shooting of a Cypriot professor at Hampstead.

The son of a Wiltshire farmer, he became a constable in Whitechapel in 1895 when it was unsafe to walk the streets of the East End of London at night.