Sydney Cross Harland (1891–1982) was a British agricultural

botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

with considerable international experience. His area of expertise was especially in the growing of

cotton Cotton (), first recorded in ancient India, is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure ...

Early life and education

Sydney Cross Harland was born in

Snainton __NOTOC__ Snainton is a village and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. According to the 2011 UK Census, Snainton parish had a population of 754, a decrease on the 2001 UK Census figure of 891. From 1974 to 2023 it was part of the Boro ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

on 19 June 1891, the son of Erasmus Harland and his wife Eliza. He was educated at the municipal secondary school in

Scarborough, North Yorkshire Scarborough () is a seaside town and civil parish in North Yorkshire District, the district and North Yorkshire, county of North Yorkshire, England. With a population of 61,749, Scarborough is the largest town on the Yorkshire Coast and the No ...

. He studied Sciences with a focus upon Geology at

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...

graduating BSc in 1912 and gaining a doctorate (DSc) in 1919.

Career

In 1922 he left Britain to take up a teaching role in the Danish-owned island of St Croix (now part of the

US Virgin Islands The United States Virgin Islands, officially the Virgin Islands of the United States, are a group of Caribbean islands and a Territories of the United States, territory of the United States. The islands are geographically part of the Virgin Isl ...

). In 1923 he became Professor of Botany at the Imperial College of Tropical Agriculture in

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago, officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean, comprising the main islands of Trinidad and Tobago, along with several List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, smaller i ...

. In 1926 he also became Director of the Cotton Research Station in Trinidad, continuing in this role until 1935. In 1940 he moved to

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

as Director of the Institute of Genetics within the National Agricultural Society of Peru. He returned to Britain in 1949 as a Reader in Botany at the

University of Manchester The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The University of Manchester is c ...

being made the George Harrison Professor of Botany at the University of Manchester the following year, 1950, and retaining this post until 1958, when he was subsequently made an emeritus professor. He was made a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

in 1943. In 1951 he was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was establis ...

. His proposers were Claude Wardlaw,

Herbert Graham Cannon Herbert Graham Cannon FRS FRSE FLS FRMS (14 April 1897 – 6 January 1963) was a leading English zoologist and keen supporter of Lamarckism. Life He was born in Wimbledon, London, on 14 April 1897 to David William Cannon, a compositor with Eyr ...

, William Black and William Robb. In 1952, a paper published by Kathleen Basford on a cross species of Fuchsia which indicated the species had existed before the separation of landmasses 20-30 million years ago, spurred him to offer her a job at the university. The two worked together at the university, including traveling to Peru together to breed maize.

Personal life

He married Emily Wilson Cameron in 1915. They had two daughters, but divorced and in 1934 he married Olive Sylvia Atteck, from a wealthy Trinidad family. Their son became a Professor of Child Health in the

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

. Another son of his is psychologist

Richard Lynn Richard Lynn (20 February 1930 – July 2023) was a controversial English psychologist and self-described " scientific racist" who advocated for a genetic relationship between race and intelligence. He was the editor-in-chief of '' Mankind Qua ...

. He died in

on 8 November 1982.

Publications

*''The Genetics of Cotton'' (1939)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harland, Sydney Cross 1891 births 1982 deaths Alumni of King's College London British eugenicists Fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Academics of the Victoria University of Manchester English botanists People from Snainton