Robert George Clements

{{Infobox serial killer

| name= Robert George Clements

| image = RobertGeorgeClements.jpg

| caption =

| birthname =

| alias =

| birth_date = {{birth year|1880}}

| birth_place = Belfast, Ireland

| death_date = {{death year and age|1947|1880}}

| death_place = Southport, England

| cause = Suicide

| victims = 1–4

| country = England

| states =

| beginyear = 1920

| endyear = 1947

| apprehended =

| penalty =

}}

Robert George Clements (1880 – 30 May 1947) was a physician and a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons from Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Clements is suspected of the murder of his fourth wife, who died of morphine poisoning. His first three wives also died before him, raising suspicions that he murdered them as well.{{cite journal| pmc=1119267 | pmid=11124192 | volume=321 | title=Serial homicide by doctors: Shipman in perspective | year=2000 | journal=The BMJ | pages=1594–7 | last1 = Kinnell | first1 = HG | issue=7276 | doi=10.1136/bmj.321.7276.1594}} Clements carried out suicide by an overdose of morphine before the police came to arrest him.Briend, Bernadette (2 February 2000). [http://www.hsj.co.uk/news/trust-me-im-a-doctor/26061.article "Trust me, I'm a doctor"]. Health Service Journal. Retrieved 29 January 2019.

Life

Clements was born in 1880 in Belfast, Ireland. He graduated in 1904, aged 24.[https://books.google.com/books?id=pmhjXJ-n_fMC&q=%22Robert+George+Clements%22 The collected works of Max Haines, Volume 4], Max Haines, 2000. Page 571

Marriages and deaths

Clements married four times, three of his four wives were heiresses. His first wife, Edith (or Edyth) Annie Mercier, who was active in the Ulster Women's Unionist Council{{cite book |last1=Urquhart |first1=Diane |title=The Ladies of Londonderry: Women and Political Patronage |date=2007 |publisher=I.B.Tauris |page=123 |isbn=9780857714190 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2z0BAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA123 |access-date=16 May 2019}} and the daughter of a wealthy Belfast grain merchant, Dufferin Flour and Meal Mills owner William Turpin Mercier,{{cite book |last1=Evans |first1=Colin |title=Killer Doctors |date=2007 |publisher=Penguin |page=47 |isbn=9780425216019 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1kdOSFWIfBIC&pg=PA47 |access-date=16 May 2019}} died of "sleeping sickness" in 1920, aged 40. His second wife, Mary McCreary, was the daughter of an Irish industrialist based in Manchester; her 1925 death was ascribed to endocarditis, at aged 25.

His third wife, Sarah Kathleen Burke (known as Kathleen),{{cite book |last1=Hayhurst |first1=Alan |title=Lancashire Murders |date=2012 |publisher=The History Press |page=116 |isbn=9780752484211 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5t8SDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT116 |access-date=16 May 2019}} died on 27 May 1939, which was ascribed to endocarditis, and was quickly cremated,[https://books.google.com/books?id=AqohAQAAIAAJ&q=%22Robert+George+Clements%22 The People's almanac presents the book of lists], David Wallechinsky, Irving Wallace, Amy Wallace, 1977. Page 70 though the police had made an attempt to halt the cremation.{{cite news |title=Tried to Forestall cremation |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/burnie-advocate-jun-03-1947-p-1/ |access-date=16 May 2019 |publisher=The Burnie Advocate |date=3 June 1947 |location=Burnie, Tasmania, Australia |page=1}} By all accounts, Clements' had genuine affection for Burke.

His last wife, Amy Victoria "Vee" Barnett, (often written as Burnett) was the daughter of one of Clements's few patients, Reginald W. G. Barnett, the wealthy managing director of the Liverpool Cartage Company, who had died suddenly in January 1940, six months before to his daughter's wedding in June.{{cite book |last1=Wright |first1=Geoff |title=Foul Deeds & Suspicious Deaths Around Southport |date=2008 |publisher=Grub Street Publishers |isbn=9781783408498 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kMWIDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT36 |access-date=16 May 2019}} The last Mrs Clements died on 27 May 1947, under suspicious circumstances, in Southport. The previous day, Clements had called in another doctor when his wife fell ill. She was taken to the Ashley Bank Nursing Home, where she died the next day.[https://books.google.com/books?id=-XvaAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Robert+George+Clements%22 The new murderers' who's who], page 86 Both Clements and the other doctor diagnosed myeloid leukemia, which was confirmed by a botched post-mortem carried out by another physician, James Houston.{{cite book |last1=Seddon |first1=Peter |title=Law's Strangest Cases: Extraordinary but true tales from over five centuries of legal history |date=2016 |publisher=Pavilion Books |page=123 |isbn=9781911042310 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1GqgCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT123 |access-date=16 May 2019}}

The circumstances of this latest death caused people at the time to question the deaths of Clements's first three wives, of whom the first and second were wealthy women when he married them and were almost penniless at the time of their deaths. Clements had signed the death certificates himself, and although there had been some suspicions voiced following the death of his third wife, there was no opportunity to perform a post-mortem, as by then her body had already been cremated.John Camp, One hundred years of medical murder, 1982, [https://books.google.com/books?id=K4QuAQAAIAAJ&q=%22Robert+George+Clements%22 p. 5]

A second autopsy was conducted on Mrs Clements by a Dr Grace, who deduced that she had died from morphine poisoning. This was confirmed by Dr J.B. Firth, Director of the Home Office Laboratory in Preston.[https://books.google.com/books?id=oPpAAAAAIAAJ&q=%22Clements%22 The medical murderer], 1967, p. 150 Clements is thought to have murdered his wife in order to inherit her money.{{London Gazette|issue=38050|page=3926|date=19 August 1947}}

When the police came to arrest Clements, they found that he had committed suicide, by way of an overdose of morphine. Clements was found to have died on 30 May 1947, at 20, Promenade, Southport. He left an estate valued for probate at £18,047, on which probate was granted to Robert George Wilson Clements, a farmer."CLEMENTS Robert George of 20 Promenade Southport Lancashire died 30 May 1947… £18047", in Wills and Administrations 1947 (England and Wales) (1948), p. 250 Amy Victoria Clements was found to have left an estate valued at

£56,180,"CLEMENTS Amy Victoria of 20 Promenade Southport Lancashire (wife of Robert George Clements) died 27 May 1947 at Ashley Bank Nursing Home… Resworn £56180", in Wills and Administrations 1947 (England and Wales) (1948), p. 248 {{Inflation|UK|56180|1947|fmt=eq|cursign=£}}.

When Houston learned that his post-mortem had missed the presence of morphine, he, too, committed suicide.Haines, Max. [http://www.torontosun.com/News/Columnists/Haines_Max/2006/07/16/1686883.html "Crime Flashback – Practice makes perfect"]. Toronto Sun. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928030203/http://www.torontosun.com/News/Columnists/Haines_Max/2006/07/16/1686883.html |date=28 September 2007 }}[https://books.google.com/books?id=-lEvAQAAIAAJ&q=%22Robert+George+Clements%22 The laboratory detectives: how science traps the criminal], Norman Lucas, 1972. Page 101