GB 0103 MS ADD 386 - Watson Papers (MS ADD 386)

7 boxes, 5 rolls

Received for cataloguing by the National Cataloguing Unit for the Archives of Contemporary Scientists (NCUACS) in March 1993 from Mrs Betty Sutton, second wife and widow of Professor John Sutton, whose first wife was Professor Janet Vida Watson, the younger daughter of D M S Watson.
GB 0103 MS ADD 386 1568-1622, 1846-1974 Collection (fonds) 7 boxes, 5 rolls Watson , David Meredith Seares , 1886-1973 , palaeontologist

Born at Higher Broughton, near Salford, Lancashire, only son of the two children of David Watson, chemist, metallurgist, and pioneer of the electrolytic refining of copper, and his wife Mary, daughter of Samuel Seares, a London stockbroker, 1886; educated privately and at Manchester Grammar School; entered the University of Manchester, 1904; intended a career in chemistry and industry, but in fact specialised in geology, and while an undergraduate began to study preserved plants from Coal Measures deposits, with Marie Stopes producing a seminal paper on coal balls in Philosophical Transactions, vol 200B, 1907; graduated with first class honours in geology, 1907; produced other papers on palaeobotany, 1907-1908; Beyer fellow at the University of Manchester, 1908; MSc; demonstrator, 1909; Watson's sister Constance died tragically in her second year at Somerville College Oxford, 1909; Watson became interested in fossil reptiles and other vertebrates, visited many fossil localities in Britain, and worked intensively in the British Museum (Natural History) (BMNH), 1908-1911; became interested in the BMNH collection of fossil reptiles from the Karoo (Karroo) of South Africa, and to further his knowledge collected extensively there, met the palaeontologist Robert Broom, and set up a subdivision of the Beaufort Series into biostratigraphical zones, 1911; invited by James P Hill to be honorary lecturer in vertebrate palaeontology at University College London, 1911; Lecturer in Vertebrate Palaeontology, University College London, 1912-1921; collected fossils in Australia, 1914; wrote an account of the embryological development of the skull of the platypus; returned through North America, making useful collections in Texas, 1915; returned to Britain and took a technical commission as lieutenant in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, 1916-1918; married Katharine Margarite Parker, 1917; transferred to the Royal Air Force as a captain, working on airship and balloon fabrics, 1918; after World War One, conducted research at Newcastle upon Tyne on coal measure amphibia and fish; returned to University College London, 1920; succeeded Hill as Jodrell Professor of Zoology and Comparative Anatomy, 1921; developed the Zoology department at University College London; elected Fellow of the Royal Society, 1922; Croonian lecturer, Royal Society, 1924; Romanes lecturer at Oxford, 1928; Rainer Medal, 1928; Honorary DSc, Cape Town, 1929; member of the Agricultural Research Council, 1931-1942; Lyell medal, Geological Society of London, 1935; Silliman lecturer, Yale University, 1937; in the USA as acting secretary of the Agricultural Research Council, 1939; returned to supervise the evacuation of the department to Bangor; became Secretary of the Scientific Subcommittee of the Food Policy Committee of the War Cabinet, 1940; Thompson Medal, National Academy of Sciences of the USA, 1941; Darwin medal, Royal Society, 1942; Honorary LLD, Aberdeen, 1943; Honorary DSc, Manchester, 1943; returned to University College in Bangor and, when the war-damaged department was made habitable, in London; Trustee of the British Museum, 1946-1963; travelled abroad, including the USSR, South Africa, and Ceylon; honorary fellow of University College London, 1948; Honorary DSc, Reading and Wales, 1948; Honorary DSc, Witwatersrand, 1949; Linnean medal, Linnean Society, 1949; retired from his chair and became Emeritus Professor, 1951; Alexander Agassiz visiting professor at Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard, 1952-1953; Darwin Wallace Medal, Linnean Society, 1958; recipient of a Festschrift, Studies on Fossil Vertebrates presented to David Meredith Seares Watson, edited by T Stanley Westoll, 1958; continued to have the use of a room at University College London and with his secretary and illustrator since 1928, Joyce Townsend, continued to write papers until his full retirement from scientific research, 1965; Wollaston medal, Geological Society of London, 1965; scientific papers, apart from early and significant work on fossil plants, dealt largely with vertebrate palaeontology, including seminal work on fossil reptiles, based largely on his own collections from South Africa, Texas, and elsewhere; two daughters, Katharine Mary and Janet Vida; died, 1973. See also F R Parrington and T S Westoll's memoir in Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, vol xx (1974), pp 483-504. Publications: Palaeontology and the Evolution of Man ... Romanes Lecture ... 1928 (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1928); The Animal Bones from Skara Brae (1931); Science and Government [Earl Grey Memorial Lecture no 24, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 1942]; Paleontology and Modern Biology [Mrs Hepsa Ely Silliman Memorial Lectures] (Yale University Press, New Haven, [1951]); The Brachyopid Labyrinthodonts, etc [Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History): Geology, vol ii, no 8] (London, 1956); A New Labyrinthodont, Paracyclotosaurus, from the Upper Trias of New South Wales, etc [Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History): Geology, vol iii, no 7] (London, 1958); The Anomodont Skeleton [Transactions of the Zoological Society of London, vol xxix, pt 3] (London, 1960); many papers on vertebrate palaeontology and connected subjects in Philosophical Transactions, Proceedings of the Zoological Society, Journal of Anatomy, and elsewhere.

Received for cataloguing by the National Cataloguing Unit for the Archives of Contemporary Scientists (NCUACS) in March 1993 from Mrs Betty Sutton, second wife and widow of Professor John Sutton, whose first wife was Professor Janet Vida Watson, the younger daughter of D M S Watson.

Transferred to University College London from the NCUACS in 1993. Royal Society Darwin Medal Award given to Watson, 1942, transferred to the Manuscripts Room from University College London Library in 1993.

Papers and correspondence, 1846-1974, of David Meredith Seares Watson and his family, largely comprising biographical material and family papers, scientific correspondence, and photographs, also including a few Exchequer receipts, 1568-1622.

Biographical material, 1886-1974, includes Watson's birth certificate, 1886; documentation, including certificates and correspondence, of Watson's career, honours and awards over a period of forty years, including election to the Fellowship of the Royal Society, 1922, the award of its Darwin medal, 1942, and the Wollaston Medal of the Geological Society, 1965; correspondence about the Directorship of the British Museum (Natural History), 1937; correspondence about the presentation album on his retirement from the Jodrell Chair, 1951; correspondence and papers relating to his final retirement from research, 1965; obituaries, 1973; F R Parrington and T S Westoll's memoir of Watson from Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, 1974; an account of Watson's early days and family background by his daughter Janet Vida; recollections by his research assistant Joyce Townsend; Watson's curriculum vita and bibliography.

Family papers include the birth certificate of Watson's father, David, 1846, correspondence with his wife Mary, 1888, and a letter of condolence to Mrs Watson on her husband's death, 1899; diaries of Mary Watson, 1881, 1885; birth certificate of their daughter Constance, 1888, letters from Constance to her brother David Meredith Seares Watson, 1905-1909 and undated; papers relating to Katharine Margarite Watson (née Parker), Watson's wife, including her birth certificate, 1891, marriage certificate, 1917, death certificate, 1969, and various correspondence; papers relating to Watson's daughter Katharine Mary, including letters of congratulation on her birth, 1918, and letters to her parents, 1950, 1955; material relating to Watson's mother's family, including letters of her father Samuel M Seares, 1871, 1879-1882; papers of Charles J B Hutchinson, 1879-1880, who emigrated to Australia after his engagement to Watson's mother was broken off but who remained in correspondence with her aunt, Fanny Rossiter; other Parker family papers, 1929-1972; miscellaneous other personal correspondence, 1896-1965.

Four Exchequer receipts dated 1568, 1580, 1616 and 1622 were found enclosed with a letter to Watson's wife.

Scientific correspondence of Watson, sometimes including photographs of fossil specimens, with leading palaeontologists in Africa, 1947-1953, America, 1915-1964, Australia, 1931-1962, China, 1926-1927, 1935-1964, England, 1913-1914, 1920, 1926-1960, France, 1930-1936, 1945-1956, Germany, Austria, Hungary and Czechoslovakia, 1920-1962, Russia, 1920-1962, and Scandinavia, 1922-1964, and with the palaeontologist Robert Broom, 1911-1950, and Watson's research assistant Joyce Townshend, 1929-1973, also including a few letters from Watson's wife and scientific colleagues, and an obituary of Watson, 1974; correspondence and papers on bones found at Qau, Egypt, 1930-1957, 1972; miscellaneous other palaeontological correspondence, 1912-1967. There are few copies of Watson's outgoing letters before the end of the Second World War.

Photographic material comprises photographs documenting Watson's career, [1912]-1965 and undated, some including colleagues; photographs of scientific colleagues, 1911-1951 and undated, including Watson's predecessor as Professor at University College London, J P Hill, and Robert Broom; album of photographs and signatures presented to Watson, 1951; undated family photographs, including a photograph of Watson as a boy, photographs of members of the Seares and Parker families, and photographs of Watson's wife, Katharine Margarite, and daughter, Katharine Mary; photographs of unidentified fossil specimens.

Royal Society Darwin Medal Award given to Watson, 1942.

By section as follows: Biographical (Ref: A, subdivided into biographical and bibliographical; career, honours and awards; business and financial; non-scientific interests; family and personal; certificates); Scientific correspondence (Ref: B, arranged largely by country or regional grouping but with separate series for Robert Broom and Joyce Townshend, and miscellaneous correspondence arranged chronologically - some correspondents appear both in the geographical and in the chronological sequences); Photographs (Ref: C, subdivided into D M S Watson; scientific colleagues; family; fossils).

Open.

Normal copyright restrictions apply.
English

Fully catalogued and detailed list available on the online catalogue

University College London Special Collections holds miscellaneous papers and letters, 1919-1932, put together by Watson in 1932 and relating to appeals and investigations for a new building and endowment for the Department of Zoology at University College London (Ref: MS ADD 37); various correspondence of Watson, 1914-1966 (Ref: MS ADD 112); correspondence of Watson with Jane S Scarff, 1934-1935, concerning the donation of her husband's pamphlet collection to University College London (Ref: MS ADD 336); a typescript description by Watson of the purchase of Schoolbred's Mews by University College London [1950s] (Ref: MS ADD 341); a cartoon memento of the opening of the new Zoology Department, 1933, given by Watson to the Zoological Society (Ref: MS ADD 342); a letter from F Orlov to Watson, 1955 (Ref: MS MISC 50). University College London Records Office holds a file on Watson (Ref: Archive Files Box 7 File 94/2, Honours and Awards).

Cambridge University, Museum of Zoology, holds drawings, papers, and Watson's fossil collection. The Royal Society, London, holds papers of the Scientific Food Policy Committee, 1940-1941, deposited by Watson. Imperial College London holds lecture notes by Watson's father, David Watson, from the Royal College of Mines, 1865-1867 (Ref: B/WATSON); papers of Professor John Sutton, some relating to his wife Janet Vida Watson, daughter of D M S Watson (Ref: B/SUTTON). The Science Museum, London, holds an early sound recording found with the Watson papers. The Geological Society of London holds correspondence and papers, 1923-1992, of Watson's daughter, the geologist Janet Vida Watson (Ref: GB 0378 LDGSL 1078).

Sources: Catalogue of the papers and correspondence of David Meredith Seares Watson (NCUACS catalogue no 42/4/93, 1993); Dictionary of National Biography; Who's Who; National Register of Archives; AIM25 description of the Sutton papers at Imperial College; Archives Hub description of the papers of Janet Vida Watson at the Geological Society of London; British Library OPAC. Compiled by Rachel Kemsley as part of the RSLP AIM25 project. Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997. Apr 2001 Accounting Anatomy Asia and the Pacific Australia Austria Autographs Biology British Museum (Natural History) x Natural History Museum Broom , Robert , 1866-1951 , palaeontologist China Communication process Communication skills Czechoslovakia Diaries Documents East Asia Eastern Europe Egypt Emigration England Europe Exchequer Finance Financial administration Fossils France Geological Society Geology Germany Handwriting Hill , James Peter , 1873-1954 , zoologist Hungary Hutchinson , Charles J B , fl 1879-1880 Information sources Literary forms and genres Literature Manuscripts Migrants Migration Natural sciences Nonfiction North Africa North America Northern Europe Oceania Palaeontology Parker , family Photographs Powell , Katharine Mary , b 1918 , née Watson x Watson , Katharine Mary Primary documents Prose Public finance Qau Rossiter , Fanny , fl 1879-1880 Royal Society Russia Scandinavia Scientific personnel Scientists Seares , family Seares , Samuel M , fl 1871-1882 , stockbroker Townsend , Joyce , d 1974 UK University College London , Department of Zoology and Comparative Anatomy USA Visual materials Watson , Constance Mary , 1888-1909 Watson , David , 1846-1899 , chemist and metallurgist Watson , David Meredith Seares , 1886-1973 , palaeontologist Watson , family Watson , Janet Vida , 1923-1985 , geologist Watson , Katharine Margarite , 1891-1969 , née Parker x Parker , Katharine Margarite Watson , Mary Louisa , fl 1881-1899 , née Seares x Seares , Mary Louisa Western Europe Writing Zoology Crimea London Personnel People by occupation People

Transferred to University College London from the NCUACS in 1993. Royal Society Darwin Medal Award given to Watson, 1942, transferred to the Manuscripts Room from University College London Library in 1993.

Papers and correspondence, 1846-1974, of David Meredith Seares Watson and his family, largely comprising biographical material and family papers, scientific correspondence, and photographs, also including a few Exchequer receipts, 1568-1622.

Biographical material, 1886-1974, includes Watson's birth certificate, 1886; documentation, including certificates and correspondence, of Watson's career, honours and awards over a period of forty years, including election to the Fellowship of the Royal Society, 1922, the award of its Darwin medal, 1942, and the Wollaston Medal of the Geological Society, 1965; correspondence about the Directorship of the British Museum (Natural History), 1937; correspondence about the presentation album on his retirement from the Jodrell Chair, 1951; correspondence and papers relating to his final retirement from research, 1965; obituaries, 1973; F R Parrington and T S Westoll's memoir of Watson from Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, 1974; an account of Watson's early days and family background by his daughter Janet Vida; recollections by his research assistant Joyce Townsend; Watson's curriculum vita and bibliography.

Family papers include the birth certificate of Watson's father, David, 1846, correspondence with his wife Mary, 1888, and a letter of condolence to Mrs Watson on her husband's death, 1899; diaries of Mary Watson, 1881, 1885; birth certificate of their daughter Constance, 1888, letters from Constance to her brother David Meredith Seares Watson, 1905-1909 and undated; papers relating to Katharine Margarite Watson (née Parker), Watson's wife, including her birth certificate, 1891, marriage certificate, 1917, death certificate, 1969, and various correspondence; papers relating to Watson's daughter Katharine Mary, including letters of congratulation on her birth, 1918, and letters to her parents, 1950, 1955; material relating to Watson's mother's family, including letters of her father Samuel M Seares, 1871, 1879-1882; papers of Charles J B Hutchinson, 1879-1880, who emigrated to Australia after his engagement to Watson's mother was broken off but who remained in correspondence with her aunt, Fanny Rossiter; other Parker family papers, 1929-1972; miscellaneous other personal correspondence, 1896-1965.

Four Exchequer receipts dated 1568, 1580, 1616 and 1622 were found enclosed with a letter to Watson's wife.

Scientific correspondence of Watson, sometimes including photographs of fossil specimens, with leading palaeontologists in Africa, 1947-1953, America, 1915-1964, Australia, 1931-1962, China, 1926-1927, 1935-1964, England, 1913-1914, 1920, 1926-1960, France, 1930-1936, 1945-1956, Germany, Austria, Hungary and Czechoslovakia, 1920-1962, Russia, 1920-1962, and Scandinavia, 1922-1964, and with the palaeontologist Robert Broom, 1911-1950, and Watson's research assistant Joyce Townshend, 1929-1973, also including a few letters from Watson's wife and scientific colleagues, and an obituary of Watson, 1974; correspondence and papers on bones found at Qau, Egypt, 1930-1957, 1972; miscellaneous other palaeontological correspondence, 1912-1967. There are few copies of Watson's outgoing letters before the end of the Second World War.

Photographic material comprises photographs documenting Watson's career, [1912]-1965 and undated, some including colleagues; photographs of scientific colleagues, 1911-1951 and undated, including Watson's predecessor as Professor at University College London, J P Hill, and Robert Broom; album of photographs and signatures presented to Watson, 1951; undated family photographs, including a photograph of Watson as a boy, photographs of members of the Seares and Parker families, and photographs of Watson's wife, Katharine Margarite, and daughter, Katharine Mary; photographs of unidentified fossil specimens.

Royal Society Darwin Medal Award given to Watson, 1942.

By section as follows: Biographical (Ref: A, subdivided into biographical and bibliographical; career, honours and awards; business and financial; non-scientific interests; family and personal; certificates); Scientific correspondence (Ref: B, arranged largely by country or regional grouping but with separate series for Robert Broom and Joyce Townshend, and miscellaneous correspondence arranged chronologically - some correspondents appear both in the geographical and in the chronological sequences); Photographs (Ref: C, subdivided into D M S Watson; scientific colleagues; family; fossils).

Open.

Normal copyright restrictions apply.

• English

• Latin

English

University College London Special Collections holds miscellaneous papers and letters, 1919-1932, put together by Watson in 1932 and relating to appeals and investigations for a new building and endowment for the Department of Zoology at University College London (Ref: MS ADD 37); various correspondence of Watson, 1914-1966 (Ref: MS ADD 112); correspondence of Watson with Jane S Scarff, 1934-1935, concerning the donation of her husband's pamphlet collection to University College London (Ref: MS ADD 336); a typescript description by Watson of the purchase of Schoolbred's Mews by University College London [1950s] (Ref: MS ADD 341); a cartoon memento of the opening of the new Zoology Department, 1933, given by Watson to the Zoological Society (Ref: MS ADD 342); a letter from F Orlov to Watson, 1955 (Ref: MS MISC 50). University College London Records Office holds a file on Watson (Ref: Archive Files Box 7 File 94/2, Honours and Awards).

Fully catalogued and detailed list available on the online catalogue

Cambridge University, Museum of Zoology, holds drawings, papers, and Watson's fossil collection. The Royal Society, London, holds papers of the Scientific Food Policy Committee, 1940-1941, deposited by Watson. Imperial College London holds lecture notes by Watson's father, David Watson, from the Royal College of Mines, 1865-1867 (Ref: B/WATSON); papers of Professor John Sutton, some relating to his wife Janet Vida Watson, daughter of D M S Watson (Ref: B/SUTTON). The Science Museum, London, holds an early sound recording found with the Watson papers. The Geological Society of London holds correspondence and papers, 1923-1992, of Watson's daughter, the geologist Janet Vida Watson (Ref: GB 0378 LDGSL 1078).

Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

• English