Alice Brooke Bodington or Alice Brook (22 May 1840 – 15 February 1897) was a British Canadian

science writer Science journalism conveys reporting about science to the public. The field typically involves interactions between scientists, journalists, and the public. Origins Modern science journalism dates back to ''Digdarshan'' (means showing the di ...

who wrote about

biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditar ...

evolution Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...

and

race Race, RACE or "The Race" may refer to: * Race (biology), an informal taxonomic classification within a species, generally within a sub-species * Race (human categorization), classification of humans into groups based on physical traits, and/or s ...

Life

Alice Brooke was born in 1840 to Francis and Juliana Brooke. After her mother's death, she was raised primarily by her paternal grandmother. In 1851 the 10 year old Alice was living with her widowed father in a large house in Suffolk, England, which included seven household servants and a governess. She married Major General

Edward William Derrington Bell Major General Edward William Derrington Bell, (18 May 1824 – 10 November 1879) was a British Army officer and a recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commo ...

in Suffolk in 1857. The marriage produced one live child Edward Bell (1866-1937) and ended in divorce in 1869 following Alice's adultery with Captain Tyesen Holrod who may have been Edward's biological father. Alice was remarried in 1873 to widower and physician Dr George Fowler Bodington. The couple had 4 children and remained married until her death in 1897. The Boddingtons moved to Canada in 1887 in search of new economic opportunities. Soon after their arrival, the family settled on a farm in the Fraser River valley. Farm life did not agree with Bodington. After her husband received a position as medical superintendent at a hospital, the family moved to New Westminster British Columbia in 1895.

Contributions

Bodington wrote about a wide variety of subjects including religion, race, marriage and evolution.Lightman, Bernard. (2007). ''Victorian Popularizers of Science: Designing Nature for New Audiences''. University of Chicago Press. pp. 462-466. Her articles where printed in publications such as ''

The American Naturalist ''The American Naturalist'' is the monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal of the American Society of Naturalists, whose purpose is "to advance and to diffuse knowledge of organic evolution and other broad biological principles so as to enhance th ...

'', ''

Popular Science Monthly ''Popular Science'' (also known as ''PopSci'') is an American digital magazine carrying popular science content, which refers to articles for the general reader on science and technology subjects. ''Popular Science'' has won over 58 awards, inclu ...

'', ''The Journal of Microscopy and Natural Science'', and ''

The Westminster Review The ''Westminster Review'' was a quarterly British publication. Established in 1823 as the official organ of the Philosophical Radicals, it was published from 1824 to 1914. James Mill was one of the driving forces behind the liberal journal unti ...

''. Her work remains an important window into the popular scientific culture of the 19th century and the climate of British imperialism. Her book ''Studies in Evolution and Biology'', received a positive review in ''The American Naturalist''. Bodington was an advocate of

neo-Lamarckism Lamarckism, also known as Lamarckian inheritance or neo-Lamarckism, is the notion that an organism can pass on to its offspring physical characteristics that the parent organism acquired through use or disuse during its lifetime. It is also calle ...

.Anonymous. (1891)
''Review: Mrs. Bodington on Evolution. Reviewed Work: Studies in Evolution and Biology by Alice Bodington''
''

'' 25 (295): 647-648. She was an avid supporter of the dissemination of scientific literature, believing that scientific knowledge needed to be accessible to the people if it were to be of any real use to society. Bodington believed that many scientists lacked the ability to express their findings in a way clear and understandable to non-professionals. She viewed herself as a promoter of science and played a role similar to that of a modern pundit. In her writings for ''The Westminster Review'', she discussed the development of the brain and argued the inferiority of Africans. Her single book was criticized for her comments questioning why writers on Science were meant to perform experiments.

Works

* " Curiosities of Evolution", in Popular Science Monthly Volume 33, October 1888
"Studies in Evolution and Biology"
(1890) * "The Importance of Race and Its Bearing on the "Negro Question" (October, 1890),

Westminster Review The ''Westminster Review'' was a quarterly British publication. Established in 1823 as the official organ of the Philosophical Radicals, it was published from 1824 to 1914. James Mill was one of the driving forces behind the liberal journal u ...

The Importance of Race and Its Bearing on the "Negro Question
Google books * “The Hidden Self”, The Open Court, a Quarterly Magazine Dec 4, 1890 * “A Modern View of Ghosts”, The Open Court, a Quarterly Magazine Jan 14, 1892
“Mental Evolution in Man and the Lower Animals”
The American Naturalist, Vol. 26, No. 306 (Jun., 1892), pp. 482–494
“Mental Evolution in Man and the Lower Animals (Continued)”
The American Naturalist, Vol. 26, No. 307 (Jul., 1892), pp. 593–606 * “The Survival of the Unfit”, The Open Court, a Quarterly Magazine Aug 4, 1892 *“Legends of the Sumiro-Accadians of Chaldea” The American Naturalist, Vol. 27, No. 313 (Jan., 1893), pp. 14–19 *“Legends of the Sumiro-Accadians of Chaldea (Continued)” The American Naturalist, Vol. 27, No. 314 (Feb., 1893), pp. 105–112 *“The Parasitic Protozoa Found in Cancerous Diseases” The American Naturalist, Vol. 28, No. 328 (Apr., 1894), pp. 307–315
“Insanity in Royal Families. A Study in Heredity”
The American Naturalist, Vol. 29, No. 338 (Feb., 1895), pp. 118–129

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bodington, Alice Brooke 1840 births 1897 deaths British science writers Lamarckism Women science writers 19th-century women writers British emigrants to Canada