Collection WB - WILLIAM BATESON ARCHIVE

Extent: 572 folders, 23 volumes, 9 boxes and 3 other items

Divided into 11 sections, as follows: Section A, Biographical, chiefly consists of material relating to Bateson's life and to his wife, Beatrice, with smaller groups of papers appertaining to other family members. There are biographical articles on Bateson, obituaries etc, letters and papers documenting key appointments in his career, and a number of photographs, some of Bateson during a visit to Russia [probably 1925]. Beatrice Bateson's papers are quite extensive, comprising engagement diaries, and correspondence covering diverse topics. This includes the publication of her memoir of Bateson and 'Letters from the Steppe (both 1928); interests in literature and the arts; and financial and legal business. The papers relating to the lives of other family members (Bateson's mother and siblings) is not extensive, being principally printed biographical material, with a few letters. Section B, John Innes Horticultural Institution, includes extensive correspondence between Bateson and members of the Institution's Council concerning negotiations over his appointment as Director. There is a substantial quantity of applications for studentships and other posts, and papers relating to other staff matters such as 'tea party' talks and war-time National Service. A fine record of plant-breeding experiments carried out during Bateson's time is provided by the 'Commonplace Book' (1911-1925), much of it written in his hand. There is further correspondence and papers covering the progress of the Institution from 1910 and various matters arising from its development. The latter include issues connected with the local community around the Merton site, post-war reconstruction, the hosting of Genetical Society meetings, and a staff competition. Section C, University of Cambridge, includes manuscript sets of Bateson's lecture notes, 1897-1906. There is a quantity of printed material, mostly copies from the University of Cambridge library collections, documenting two controversial issues: the admission of women to degrees and the retention of compulsory Greek for entrance to the University. Included also in this section is a student notebook that belonged to Mary G. Sykes, c.1907. Section D, Research, reflects Bateson's international standing as the leading proponent of Mendel's theories and the diverse nature of his researches and interests. There are nine of his manuscript notebooks, 1896-1911, which contain notes on plants, cereals, poultry etc. The bulk of this section comprises corrrespondence to Bateson and papers, arranged alphabetically by topic. The topics include the following: butterflies, cattle, pigeons, primula, sugar beet, and various human genetic diseases and disorders such as eye diseases, skin diseases and deafness. Bateson's correspondents are breeders of plants and animals and scientists in the fields of zoology, botany, agriculture etc. With the letters are often manuscript notes (some by Bateson himself), pedigrees, photographs from experiments, and flower specimens. Section E, Publications, consists of typescript and manuscript drafts of published papers and articles, 1905-c.1925; correspondence, principally concerning 'Mendel's Principles of Heredity' and the 'Journal of Genetics' (founded by Bateson and Punnett in 1910); reprints of Bateson's papers, 1884-1926; and lists of his scientific publications. Section F, Lectures and addresses, presents drafts, corrected proofs etc, of public lectures and addresses, covering the period 1906-1926. Included are the following: addresses delivered in Australia in 1914 as President of the British Association for the Advancement of Science; Address (on education) to the Salt Schools, Shipley, 1915; the Galton Lecture to the Eugenics Education Society, 1920; and the Joseph Leidy Memorial Lecture, USA, 1922. Section G, Visits and conferences, is slight, with documentation of six organisations in which Bateson had involvement, such as the Genetical Society and the Royal Society. Section J, Interests in education and the arts, is slight, chiefly documenting Bateson's contribution to the Prime Minister's Committee on Classics, 1919-1921. There is also correspondence (some copies) relating to his interest in the works of Samuel Butler, 1902-1925. Section K, Correspondence, is arranged alphabetically by correspondent. Among the correspondents are some of Bateson's colleagues such as W.O. Backhouse, F.M. Durham and R.C. Punnett, and numerous other scientists from the UK and abroad such as Erwin Baur, Sir Rowland Biffen, L.J. Cole, Sir Archibald Garrod, Sir Julian Huxley, J.P. Lotsy and T.H. Morgan. Also represented is the Laxton Brothers company of seed-growers with which Bateson had a long association in connection with fruit-tree breeding. Section L, Slides and drawings, comprises 55 glass slides for lectures with Bateson's original box for storing them, and two other glass slides of photographic portraits of Bateson. The drawings and figures are mostly of plants, chiefly Tropaeolum by A.E. Gairdner, 1912-1913.

Admin History: Bateson was born at Whitby in 1861, the son of the Rev. W.H. Bateson, Master of St John's College, Cambridge. From Rugby School he proceeded to his father's college where he took a first in both parts of the Natural Sciences Tripos. He was elected a Fellow of St John's College in 1885 and an Honorary Fellow in 1910. The teaching of Francis Balfour had attracted him to embryology and he travelled to the USA in 1883 to carry out a productive study of the worm-like creature, Balanoglossus. Bateson found that his principal interest lay in evolution and he embarked on wide-ranging research on variation in species. His investigations led him to various parts of Europe as well as to Siberia and Turkestan which he toured in 1886-1887. In 1894 he published his landmark study, 'Materials for the Study of Variation', a work that pointed towards a new era in biological understanding. Its assertion of the idea of discontinuity in variation brought Bateson into conflict with proponents of the biometric scheme of evolution. The question of heredity he approached using direct experiment, to an extent that he was able to grasp the significance of Gregor Mendel's paper on heredity when it was re-discovered in 1900. During the following years he carried out experiments in his garden at Granchester and in the Botanic Garden at Cambridge, with the intention of proving the truth of Mendel's principles. As a member of the Evolution Committee of the Royal Society, his reports to the Committee brought increasing prominence to this work, much of it in collaboration with R.C Punnett and E.R. Saunders. At the 1904 meeting of the British Association at Cambridge, Bateson, speaking as President of the Zoological Section, went some way to vindicating Mendelism after a highly-charged debate. By finding and systemising a great number of examples of discontinuous variation, Bateson contributed enormously to future studies of heredity and had a profound influence on the course of evolution theory. On a regular basis he reported on the findings from his breeding experiments to the Evolution Committee of the Royal Society. He published his 'Mendel's Principles of Heredity' in 1902, and again in 1909, and founded the 'Journal of Genetics' with R.C. Punnett in 1910. In 1913 appeared another major book, 'Problems of Genetics', based on his Silliman Lectures delivered at Yale University in 1907. With Punnett, Bateson also worked out the principle of 'sex-linked inheritance', publishing the work in 1908. Bateson was the first scientist to use the word 'genetics' for the study of inheritance and variation. He was known for his scepticism towards the chromosome theory of heredity advocated by T.H. Morgan and his colleagues in the USA, though there has been much dispute among historians about the degree to which he might have modified his views late in life. He was Professor of Biology at Cambridge, 1908-1909, before accepting the Directorship of the John Innes Horticultural Institution at Merton Park, Surrey, in 1910. Merton became the principle scene of his ongoing research and he retained the post until his death. Bateson accepted several prestigious offices and received many scientific honours. As well as being elected Fellow of the Royal Society (1894), he was awarded the Society's Darwin Medal (1904) and the Royal Medal (1920). He was Fullerian Professor of Physiology at the Royal Institution, 1912-1914, twice Vice-President of the Linnean Society and Trustee of the British Museum. In 1914 he was made President of the British Association, succeeding Sir Oliver Lodge. He was offered a knighthood in 1922 but did not accept. In 1896 Bateson married Caroline Beatrice Durham. Of their three sons only Gregory Bateson survived him. Bateson died at Merton in 1926.