Collection CDD - CYRIL DARLINGTON ARCHIVE

Extent: 402 folders, 3 volumes, 1 box and 8 items

The papers are arranged in seven sections as follows: Section A, Biographical, includes a transcription by his daughter, Clare Passingham, of a short autobiography by Darlington (covering his life up to 1929), with an account of his family history. Among Darlington's early career correspondence are two letters from William Bateson concerning Darlington's application to the John Innes in 1923. A ring-binder of photographs (prints), 1922-1951, features Darlington, other John Innes staff and prominent scientists such as RA. Fisher and J.B.S. Haldane. Additional material in this section includes three medals awarded to Darlington and his microscope slide holder. Section B, Research, is not extensive. There is one of Darlington's scientific notebooks, 1931-1933, and notes and correspondence from the 1920s on Melanism and other topics. Also dating from the 1920s are a group of annotated photographs of broad beans and a set of Darlington's microscope slides. Photographic material relating to the work of W.C.F. Newton and C. Pellew and a few other miscellaneous items complete the section. Section C, Publications, is substantial, containing drafts of five of Darlington's published books: 'Recent Advances in Cytology', 'The Elements of Genetics', 'The Facts of Life', 'Chromosome Atlas of Flowering Plants', and 'The Little Universe of Man'. There is also a large quantity of xeroxed drafts and notes for his unpublished work, 'A Diagram of Evolution'. Drafts of scientific papers and articles cover the period 1926-1944 and include two important papers on Oenothera (1929 and 1931). There is also a small quantity of editorial correspondence and some reprints of Darlington's. Section D, Lectures and broadcasts, contains documentation of public lectures by Darlington, dating from 1929 to c.1964. Among those represented are an early lecture at the John Innes on chromosome behaviour in polyploids, 1929, and a paper delivered at a meeting of the Eugenics Society, 1961. There is a small quantity of notes for lectures (teaching) given by Darlington in the Department of Botany, University of Oxford. Broadcasting material relates to two radio broadcasts: one in the BBC series 'Science Lifts the Veil', 1942 (with recording on cassette included); the other given in 1959. Section E, Committees and organisations, chiefly documents Darlington's advisory work for the Colonial Office, 1945-1948, as a member of the Colonial Agricultural Research Committee. Section F, Correspondence, is not extensive. It comprises some general correspondence of Darlington's, 1930-1981 (correspondents including J.A. Barnett and J.R.M. Brumwell), and copies of correspondence to Sir Frederick Stern from various individuals, 1949-1970. Section G, Slide collection, comprises the contents of three cabinets of lecture slides. The slides from two of these cabinets, all glass slides, have been re-packaged, re-boxed and numbered in a single sequence. The slides in the third cabinet, all 35mm format, remain in situ and have not been re-packaged or numbered.

Admin History: Cyril Dean Darlington was born in 1903, in Lancashire, and was mainly brought up in London. After taking a degree in agriculture at the South Eastern Agricultural College at Wye, Kent (later Wye College, University of London), he applied to the John Innes Horticultural Institution and was accepted, initially as a volunteer. On becoming a member of staff he learnt about cytology from W.C.F. Newton and quickly established his own lines of research. In 1932 he published a book, 'Recent Advances in Cytology', which was widely acclaimed as breaking new ground in understanding chromosome behaviour. Darlington was appointed Director of the John Innes Horticultural Institution in 1939, leaving in 1953 to take up the Sherardian Chair of Botany at Oxford University. He held this until his retirement in 1971. In the 1950s he began to look more closely at genetics in relation to mankind and society. In his three major books on Man, 'The Facts of Life' (1953), 'The Evolution of Man and Society' (1969) and 'The Little Universe of Man' (1978), Darlington discussed the genetic determinism of human characteristics and variation. Wading into history and sociopolitical issues, his views became increasingly controversial. With the direction of genetics research in the second half of the 20th century being driven by molecular genetics and evolutionary biology, Darlington, as a 'chromosome man', was left increasingly isolated. He was a passionate defender of freedom of scientific expression and, in the mid-1940s, forcefully criticised Lysenko's reforms of Soviet genetics. With R.A. Fisher he founded the the journal 'Heredity' in 1947. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in March 1941 and, later that year, was awarded the Darwin Medal. In 1937 Darlington married Margaret Upcott; they had five children. His second marriage was to Gwendolen Harvey in 1950. He died in 1981.