Dr Burton

In the short story The House of Lurking Death, Dr Burton is the physician in the village of Thurnly. After a number of people had been made ill by consuming some chocolates at Thurnly Grange, he had the chocolates analysed and found that they contained a non-lethal dose of arsenic. He was excited about this because this was the third incident of such poisoning in the area. All the cases had involved big houses and the residents had all taken ill after consuming chocolate. It appeared to him that some local person was playing fiendish pranks.

When some people from Thurnley Grange later died after consuming sandwiches with fig paste, the earlier incident alerted him that it might not be a straightforward case of ptomaine poisoining. In any case, he noted that there had been gastrointestinal inflammation and haemorrhage, not usual with ptomaine. He took the paste for analysis and determined that it contained ricin.

Portrayals
In LWT's 1983 TV adaptation of The House of Lurking Death, Dr Burton is portrayed by Granville Saxton. There is a hint that he is interested in Lois Hargreaves but this theme is not pursued.