Eugenics at the Royal Society, 1860-1950

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The Royal Society has a strong link with eugenics: Francis Galton, the field's founder, was acelebrated Fellow, and a substantial number of Fellows were active supporters of eugenics(Boulter, 2017). However, due to eugenics' reputation as a science on the periphery(Schaffer, 2008) conflicting with the Royal Society's reputation as a leading scientificinstitution, a thorough investigation into the relationship between the two has never beencarried out. This project will fill this historiographical gap: spanning the period 1860-1950, itwill uncover this elite scientific institution's support of and role in the British eugenicsmovement.Though this project charts the history of the Royal Society's connection with eugenics forthe first time, it is not the first study of eugenics or an organisation's place in the movement- for instance, there is a rich historiography of the Eugenics Society's role in British eugenics(Bland and Hall, 2010; Hart, 2012; Searle, 1979). This project will draw on and enrich thehistoriography of eugenics by assessing the Royal Society's relationship with it at thepersonal, financial, and organisational level.The British eugenics movement has traditionally been understood to centre around class(Searle, 1979). However, more recent work has shown that British eugenics was also definedby anti-Semitism (Maxwell, 2022; Hart, 2012), racism (Turda, 2010; Maxwell, 2022; Blandand Hall, 2010; Poskett, 2021), and empire (Poskett, 2021; Boulter, 2017; Chakrabarti,2021). This project will pursue this multi-faceted understanding of British eugenics, askinghow "developments" in racial science influenced the Royal Society's acceptance of it, andhow far the popularity of eugenics was linked to the political state of the country andEmpire.This project spans a period of almost a century, during which the nature and priorities ofeugenics changed significantly (Searle, 1979; Hart, 2012; Boulter, 2017). It is thereforeimportant to ask: Did the Royal Society's understanding of what constituted eugenicschange over time, and how did this correlate to its level of support for the movement?This project will enrich the historiographies of science, politics, and British colonialism. Thisis because it will integrate these fields and reveal their interconnectivity while exploring apreviously unstudied topic. The project will also have a multi-stranded impact. Firstly, it willencourage further research into the history of the Royal Society, as I will digitise archivalmaterial - which will make it easier to navigate in future. Secondly, this project has theactive support of the Royal Society, meaning that there is a significant opportunity for publicengagement and impact. In a data-obsessed world where do-it-yourself genetic tests areincreasingly widely available, this project will undoubtedly be of interest to the public. I amparticularly excited to lead a workshop about the project at the Royal Society in my secondyear. I would also be keen to curate an exhibition about an aspect of the project - this couldeither be online or hosted by an institution such as the Science Museum.