John Beddoe
| John Beddoe FRS | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born |
21 September 1826 Bewdley, Worcestershire |
| Died | 19 July 1911 (aged 84) |
| Nationality | British |
| Alma mater |
University College, London; Edinburgh University |
| Occupation | ethnologist |
John Beddoe (21 September 1826 – 19 July 1911) was one of the most prominent English ethnologists in Victorian Britain.
Life
Beddoe was born in Bewdley, Worcestershire, and educated at University College, London (BA (London)) and Edinburgh University (M.D. 1853). He served in the Crimean War and was a physician at Bristol Royal Infirmary from 1862 to 1873.[1] He retired from practice in Bristol in 1891.
He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1873.[2] He was a founder of the Ethnological Society and president of the Anthropological Institute from 1889 to 1891.[1]
He died at Bradford-on-Avon on 19 July 1911.[1] He is buried in the northern section of Dean Cemetery in Edinburgh towards the western end.
Family
In 1858, he married Agnes Montgomerie Cameron (d.1914),granddaughter of Prof Alexander Christison and niece of Robert Christison.[1] She was the sister of his friend Dr David Christison.
Works
He believed that eye and hair colour were valuable evidence in the origins of the British people. He wrote The Races of Britain: A Contribution to the Anthropology of Western Europe, (1862) which was re-published in 1862, 1885, 1905 and 1971. Beddoe wrote in his work that all geniuses tended to be "orthognathous" (that is, have receding jaws) while the Irish and the Welsh were "prognathous" (have large jaws). Beddoe also maintained that Celts were similar to Cromagnon man, and Cromagnon man was similar to the "Africanoid" race. Celts in Beddoe's "Index of Negrescence" are very different from Anglo-Saxons.
Notes
- 1 2 3 4 James 1912.
- ↑ "Library and Archive Catalogue". Royal Society. Retrieved 12 December 2010.
References
- John Gray (1911). "93. John Beddoe, M.D., LL.D., F.R.S., F.R.C.P., Foreign Assoc. Anthrop. Soc., Paris; Corr. Member Anthrop. Soc., Berlin; Hon. Member Anthrop. Soc., Brussels and Washington, Soc. Friends of Science, Moscow". Man. Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. 11: . 151–153. doi:10.2307/2840440 (inactive 2015-02-04). JSTOR 2840440.
James, T. E. (1912). "Beddoe, John". In Lee, Sidney. Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement. London: Smith, Elder & Co. - Richardson, Angelique. "Beddoe, John (1826–1911)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/30666. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- The Races of Britain: A Contribution to the Anthropology of Western Europe, Bristol and London, John Beddoe, J. W. Arrowsmith, Bristol & Trübnermm, London, 1885; republished by Hutchinson, London, 1971, ISBN 0-09-101370-4.