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Galton and Schuster (1906) Noteworthy Families title page element

Eugenics at University of Puget Sound (UPS)

Colleagues at the University of Puget Sound (UPS) have developed a course to explore the history and legacy of eugenics in their community. This draws on an interdisciplinary team of tutors and some highly energetic students. […]

UCL Galton Lecture Theatre - plaque on door - ProfJoeCain

Time Has Run Out for Francis Galton at UCL

Francis Galton was a bad piece of work. His racist, nativist, supremacist views are antithetical to UCL’s vision and values. He is no role model for me. He should be no role model for you. […]

Speeches Delivered at a Dinner in Honour of Karl Pearson, 1934

Karl Pearson retired in 1933, aged 76. To honour his career, colleagues and former students gathered for a dinner in April 1934. On this occasion, Professor LNG Filon, Vice-Chancellor of University of London, gave a […]

Karl Pearson praised Hitler and Nazi Race Hygiene

Did Professor Karl Pearson praise Hitler and Nazi ‘race hygiene’ programmes? Yes, he did. He did this in 1934, at a dinner to mark his retirement the previous year from University College London (UCL). Pearson […]

Edward Turner, First Professor of Chemistry at UCL - ProfJoeCain

Edward Turner was a Creole. So what?

A historian colleague of mine asked if I knew anything about the genealogy of UCL’s first Professor of Chemistry, Edward Turner (1796-1837). My colleague said he had heard a report that Turner was mixed race, […]

Image from Cover - Farrall 2019 English Eugenics Movement 9781787510012

Farrall (1969) Examines History of Eugenics at UCL

In the course of my own research into activities that led to something like a “Department of Eugenics” at University College London (UCL) , I returned over and again to one work: “The origins and […]

Profesor Karl Pearson at desk in Francis Galton Laboratory for National Eugenics

Mental Deficiency Act 1913 (UK) and Karl Pearson’s Absence

I was reading Angelique Richardson’s 2014 TLS piece on the history of the Mental Deficiency Act 1913 (UK), which came into effect 1914 and was repealed in 1968. It inspired me to review that Act […]

Eugenics Money at UCL from Francis Galton

Francis Galton’s Will left money to University of London “for establishment and endowment of a Professorship” related to eugenics. This blog gives the text of the original donation.

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Charles Darwin Blue Plaque on Gower Street London WC1 | ProfJoeCain

Darwin in London

During research concerning Charles Darwin and Emma Darwin’s life at number 12 Upper Gower Street, London, I identified several errors and vagaries in biographical material found in standard reference works. This note communicates corrections and […]

The anatomist overtaken by the watch carrying off Miss Watts in a hamper, caricature by William Austin, 1773

London’s Body-Snatching Business of the Resurrection Men Exposed, 1825

In Britain, body-snatching was a cloak-and-dagger business. It also was corrupt. When her husband was arrested, tried, and executed for crimes associated with body-snatching, Ann Millard sought revenge. To her mind, local officials were complicit […]