The only solicitor ever hanged for murder in Britain.

Hay-on-Wye. 1920s respectability.A provincial solicitor.A dying wife.A poisoned rival.And Britain’s most famous forensic pathologist taking the stand with absolute certainty.

Herbert Rowse Armstrong — known locally as “Major Armstrong” after his WWI service — was a pillar of society in Hay-on-Wye. Churchwarden. Freemason. Clerk to the justices. A respectable man with a prosperous home at Mayfield in Cusop Dingle.

In 1922, he became the only solicitor in UK history to be executed for murder.

But did he do it?

• Martin Beales, The Hay Poisoner

• Stephen Bates, The Poisonous Solicitor

• Law Society Gazette (2022 retrospective)

• Ross Gazette centenary article

• Hektoen International – forensic analysis of Spilsbury

• Leamington History Group – profile of Spilsbury

• Aquila Blog – forensic legacy review

• Project Gutenberg Australia – public domain account

• Murder Maps Podcast (S5E5)

• She Done It Podcast episode

• Poisoner's Cabinet podcast

Sources