Fonds MSS 242 - G.E.H. Barrett-Hamilton fonds

Title and statement of responsibility area

Title proper

G.E.H. Barrett-Hamilton fonds

General material designation

  • Textual record

Parallel title

Other title information

Title statements of responsibility

Title notes

Level of description

Fonds

Reference code

MSS 242

Edition area

Edition statement

Edition statement of responsibility

Class of material specific details area

Statement of scale (cartographic)

Statement of projection (cartographic)

Statement of coordinates (cartographic)

Statement of scale (architectural)

Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)

Dates of creation area

Date(s)

Physical description area

Physical description

.12 m of textual records

Publisher's series area

Title proper of publisher's series

Parallel titles of publisher's series

Other title information of publisher's series

Statement of responsibility relating to publisher's series

Numbering within publisher's series

Note on publisher's series

Archival description area

Name of creator

(1871-1914)

Biographical history

Major Gerald Edwin Hamilton Barrett-Hamilton was a renowned British zoologist. He was born in 1871 and received a science degree at Trinity College, Oxford, in 1896. That same year Lord Salisbury commissioned him and Prof. D'Arcy Thompson to the British Behring Sea Fur Seal Enquiry on the Pribiloff Islands. As the commissioner he traveled extensively throughout Japan, Kamachatka, and the North Pacific Islands. In 1901-02, he served in South Africa in the Boer War. In 1903, he married Maud C. Eland of Ravenshill, Transvaal, with whom he had six children. He lived in Kilmanock, Ireland for the period 1903-1913, where he collected material on the mammals of the British Isles. He published several articles about his research expeditions in journals like "The Irish Naturalist", "Ibis", & the Royal Society's "Geographical Journal". His major work was A History of British Mammals, issued in 21 parts between 1910 & 1921. This monumental fragment is still considered a valuable reference source. In October 1913 he was commissioned by the Colonial Office and the British Museum to investigate the killing of whales in the Falkland Islands and South Georgia. While on this research expedition, he contracted pneumonia and died of sudden heart-failure on January 17, 1914, at the age of 43. In 2005, the Major G.E.H. Barrett-Hamilton Memorial Scholarship was established by Michael Nesbitt, G.E.H. Barrett-Hamilton's grandson. Nesbitt wanted to pay tribute to his grandfather and his mother, Geraldine Margaret Barrett-Hamilton Nesbitt, the first woman in Winnipeg to graduate with honours in zoology and chemistry.

Custodial history

The fonds was donated to the Department of Archives & Special Collections by Michael Nesbitt in 2006.

Scope and content

The fonds consist of G.E.H. Barrett-Hamilton's articles, publications and correspondence re: the G.E.H. Barrett-Hamilton Scholarship.

Notes area

Physical condition

Immediate source of acquisition

Arrangement

This collection is arranged into four folders:

Language of material

Script of material

Language and script note

English

Location of originals

Availability of other formats

Restrictions on access

No restriction on access

Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication

Finding aids

A finding aid can be generated from this description.

Generated finding aid

Associated materials

Three items, including the 21 parts of A History of British Mammals bound in 3 vols. of 7 issues each, and Hinton's 1925 "Reports on Papers left by the late Major G. E. H. Barrett-Hamilton relating to the Whales of South Georgia" have been catalogued in BISON and placed in the Rare Book Vault.

Related materials

Accruals

Alternative identifier(s)

Accession

A2006-085

Standard number area

Standard number

Access points

Subject access points

Place access points

Name access points

Genre access points

Control area

Description record identifier

Institution identifier

Rules or conventions

Status

Level of detail

Dates of creation, revision and deletion

2007
Quality checked by Mary Grace P. Golfo on 23 February 2017.

Language of description

Script of description

Sources

Accession area

Related subjects

Related people and organizations

Related places

Related genres