in boils, was treated with a mustard plaster. On 11 July White lost sensation in his extremities and had difficulty passing urine. His back was inflamed and his skin was cold and moist. First Class Staff Surgeon John Hall was called to attend White on the order of Sir James McGrigor. He attended but found it was too late to intervene and White died in his presence at 8.30pm. Autopsies Warren carried out an autopsy on White assisted by Hall and Dr Francis Reid. He concluded that death was caused by inflammation of the pleura and cardiac covering, which he recorded on the death certificate. Hall sent a separate report on the death to the Army Medical Department, noting that White's back was well healed. White's body was sent for burial and the vicar was told he had died of a liver complaint. However the vicar became suspicious when he heard that White had been flogged and reported the death to the Middlesex coroner Thomas Wakley. Wakley was a reformer, founder of The Lancet medical journal, and opponent of flogging. Wakley reviewed White's case, considered that the army's autopsy had been too cursory and ordered an inquest be held. He sent for surgeon and sanitary reformer Dr. Horatio Grosvenor Day to carry out a second autopsy. When Day reported, Wakley claimed that a misunderstanding had meant that White's spine had not been examined. This allowed him to order a third autopsy, which was carried out by renowned dermatologist Erasmus Wilson. Such an in-depth investigation was highly unusual at this time for the death of a mere army private. Wilson reported that the inflammation caused by the flogging penetrated the full depth of the skin. He found the spinal area had a "pulpy softening of the muscles", which he ascribed to the contraction of the muscles during the flogging. This softening may, however, have arisen as a result of bacterial infection of the blood, which was not yet known to science. Wilson found that White's internal organs were inflamed, he described this as a direct result of the flogging and a contributory factor to White's death. He thought that the skin, which was well healed, disguised the internal issues. Wilson also reported White had suffered "shock" to his nervous system, inflammation of the left lung and boils on his back. Day dissented with Wilson's findings on the grounds that he did