- Also known as
-
Prof William Bateson
-
primary name: Bateson, William
- Details
- individual; collector; scientist/engineer; British; Male
- Life dates
- 1861-8 Feb 1926
- Address
- St John's College, Cambridge
- Biography
- Biologist. Rugby School (1875–9); first in Natural Sciences Tripos at Cambridge, part one in 1882 and part two in 1883. Two years in Hampton, Virginia supported by funds from Royal Society. Shifted research from embryology to the study of variation, first in the wild and in museum collections and subsequently in experimental tradition of hybridization. Returned to Cambridge; 1885, elected Fellow of St John’s College. 1886, travelled to salt lakes of the Russian steppes; 1887, to Egypt. 1894, elected Fellow of Royal Society.
1896, married Beatrice Bateson (née Durham) (q.v.).
Architect and first Director (1910) of John Innes Horticultural Institute at Merton. 1922, became a Trustee of the British Museum; declined the offer of a knighthood. The Royal Society had honoured him twice, with the Darwinian medal in 1904 and the Royal medal in 1920. In 1910 he received an honorary DSc from Sheffield University, and St John's College made him an honorary fellow.
Remained director of the John Innes Horticultural Institute until his death from heart failure at his home, Manor House, Watery Lane, Merton, Surrey.
Collector of prints, drawings and Asian material. His widow, Beatrice Bateson (q.v.), made a gift of Chinese, Korean and Japanese objects and of 26 drawings, mainly French to British Museum. Sale Sotheby's 23-24.iv.1929.
Materials for the Study of Variation, 1894.
Mendel’s Principles of Heredity, 1902.
Problems of Genetics, 1913.
L.2604a
