FLOWER, William Henry (1831-1899)

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0114 MS0012
Held at	: Royal College of Surgeons of England   Click here to find out how to view this collection at https://www.rcseng.ac.uk/museums-and-archives/archives/ ›
Full title	: FLOWER, William Henry (1831-1899)
Date(s)	: [1845-1883]
Level of description	: Collection (fonds)
Extent	: 1 box
Name of creator(s)	: Flower | Sir | William Henry | 1831-1899 | Knight | zoologist
Detailed catalogue	: Click here to view repository detailed catalogue

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

Born, Stratford-on-Avon, 1831; educated, University College London; studied medicine and surgery at Middlesex Hospital; MD, 1851; medical service at Scutari, 1854; Assistant Surgeon, Lecturer in anatomy and curator of the museum, Middlesex Hospital; Curator, Hunterian Museum, Royal College of Surgeons of England, 1861-1884; Hunterian Professor of Comparative Anatomy and Physiology, 1870; member of Council, 1862-1899, President, 1879-1899, Zoological Society; Fellow of the Royal Society, 1864; President, Anthropological Institute, 1883-1885; Director of the Natural History Museum, 1884-1898; died, London, 1899.
Publications include: Diagrams of the Nerves of the Human Body, exhibiting their origin, divisions and connections (London, 1861); An Introduction to the Osteology of the Mammalia: being the substance of a course of Lectures delivered at the Royal College of Surgeons of England in 1870 (London, 1870); Introductory Lecture to the course of Comparative Anatomy, delivered at the Royal College of Surgeons of England, February 14, 1870 (London, 1870); Catalogue of the Specimens illustrating the Osteology and Dentition of vertebrated animals ... contained in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons (1879); The Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. (Address, etc.) [1879]; Races of Men [1880]; A general guide to the British Museum. Natural History (1887); The Horse: a study in natural history (1891); An introduction to the study of Mammals, living and extinct with Richard Lydekker (A & C Black, London, 1891); Essays on Museums and other subjects connected with natural history (Macmillan & Co, London, 1898).

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Papers of Sir William Henry Flower, [1845-1883], comprising papers largely created and compiled as Curator of the Hunterian Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, relating to a collection of birds' eggs, undated; rough list of contents of store bottles, undated; payments for expenses on specimens for the Museum during 1802-1861, 1861; list of additions purchased for the Museum during 1806-1862, [c1862]; summary of principal duties and occupations of museum officers and servants in the absence of the Conservator, undated; salaries and wages for the museum department, 1861; list of specimens presented by Dr Andrew Murray, 1865; list of specimens presented to the Museum by W L Crowther, [1868]; report on the Hunterian documents held by the Royal College of Surgeons of England, 1868; report on the state of the physiological series in the museum, 1869; description of pathological specimens from the bodies of soldiers who died insane, forwarded by Dr William Julius Mickle, 1876; list of preparations from the College Collection, 1876; list of total numbers of preparations in the Museum, 1877.

papers relating to preparations of specimens, duties of Royal College of Surgeons of England, museum staff; catalogues of physiological and pathological specimens; letter to Alban Doran; correspondence with Thomas Stone; correspondence with Edward Shuter, 1845-1883.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

The records are arranged as outlined in the scope and content.

Conditions governing access:

Open to bona fide researchers by written appointment.

Conditions governing reproduction:

At the discretion of the Librarian.

Finding aids:

Catalogue of Manuscripts in the Library of the Royal College of Surgeons of England (1928) by Victor G Plarr.

Archival Information

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

This collection was created at the Royal College of Surgeons of England and has been added to the deposited manuscript collections.

Allied Materials

Related material:

Notebooks, drawings and papers, letters to CE Fagan, 1889-1899 (Reference: DF939), letters from JE Gray, 1869 (Reference: L MSS GRAYJ A), letters (13) to ACLG Gunther and RWT Gunther, 1869-1898 (Reference: L MSS GUNTHER COLL (16)) and correspondence as director of the natural history departments, 1884-1892 (Reference: DF932), held by the Natural History Museum; correspondence, including letters from Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace, held by the John Innes Foundation Historical Collections, Norwich; letters (11) to Thomas Huxley, 1862-1895 (Reference: B/HUXLEY), held by Imperial College Archives; letters to Othniel Marsh, held by Yale University Libraries: Sterling Memorial Library; letters to Sir EB Poulton, 1882-1890, held by Oxford University: Museum of Natural History.

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:
Sources: Dictionary of National Biography (Smith, Elder and Co, London, 1895); Historical Manuscripts Commission On-line National Register of Archives; British Library Public On-line Catalogue. Compiled by Julie Tancell as part of the RSLP AIM25 project.

Rules or conventions:
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.

Date(s) of descriptions:
October 2002