The Anthropological Society of London (ASL) was a short-lived organisation of the 1860s whose founders aimed to furnish scientific evidence for

white supremacy White supremacy is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White supremacy has roots in the now-discredited doctrine ...

which they construed in terms of

polygenism Polygenism is a theory of human origins which posits the view that humans are of different origins (polygenesis). This view is opposite to the idea of monogenism, which posits a single origin of humanity. Modern scientific views find little merit ...

. It was founded in 1863 by

Richard Francis Burton Captain (British Army and Royal Marines), Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton, Order of St Michael and St George, KCMG, Royal Geographical Society#Fellowship, FRGS, (19 March 1821 – 20 October 1890) was a British explorer, army officer, orien ...

and

James Hunt James Simon Wallis Hunt (29 August 1947 – 15 June 1993) was a British racing driver and broadcaster, who competed in Formula One from to . Nicknamed "the Shunt", Hunt won the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in with McLaren, and wo ...

. Hunt had previously been the secretary of the

Ethnological Society of London The Ethnological Society of London (ESL) was a learned society founded in 1843 as an offshoot of the Aborigines' Protection Society (APS). The meaning of ethnology as a discipline was not then fixed: approaches and attitudes to it changed over its ...

, which was founded in 1843. When he founded the breakaway ASL, Hunt claimed that society had "the object of promoting the study of Anthropology in a strictly scientific manner". Nevertheless he reminded his audience that, whatever evidence might be uncovered, "we still know that the Races of Europe now have much in their mental and moral nature which the races of Africa have not got." The ASL only lasted 8 years: following Hunt's death in 1869 it was absorbed into the

Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland The Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland (RAI) is a long-established anthropological organisation, and Learned Society, with a global membership. Its remit includes all the component fields of anthropology, such as biolo ...

Prelude to the ASL

James Hunt had encountered the disgraced Edinburgh anatomist,

Robert Knox Robert Knox or Rob Knox may refer to: *Robert Knox (surgeon) (1791–1862), Scottish surgeon, anatomist and zoologist * Robert Knox (bishop) (1808–1893), Bishop of Down, Connor and Dromore and Archbishop of Armagh *Robert Knox (sailor) (1641–17 ...

in 1855. During the trial of the grave robbers

Burke and Hare The Burke and Hare murders were a series of sixteen murders committed over a period of about ten months in 1828 in Edinburgh, Scotland. They were undertaken by William Burke and William Hare, who sold the corpses to Robert Knox for dissection ...

, Knox had been exposed as the anatomist for whom they had procured their victims' bodies. Despite attacks by hostile mobs, he continued as an anatomist despite never regaining such a steady source of dead bodies. He was debarred from running further teaching by the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh after falsifying records and expelled from 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 ...

Polygenism versus monogenism

The real differences between the two societies ran much deeper. The members of the Ethnological Society were, on the whole, inclined to believe that humans were shaped by their environment; when

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English Natural history#Before 1900, naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all speci ...

published his theory of evolution by natural selection, they supported it. They also advocated in

monogenism Monogenism or sometimes monogenesis is the theory of human origins which posits a common descent for all humans. The negation of monogenism is polygenism. This issue was hotly debated in the Western world in the nineteenth century, as the assum ...

and tended to be politically liberal, especially on matters related to race. Hunt and his closest followers tended to be supporters of

and sceptical of Darwin (though they made him an honorary fellow). They found the Ethnological Society's politics distasteful, and (for example) supported the Confederacy in the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

. The issue that most sharply divided the two groups was the "Negro question." In his opening speech to the society Hunt enunciated a strongly racist view:

Whatever may be the conclusion to which our scientific inquiries may lead us, we should always remember, that by whatever means the Negro, for instance, acquired his present physical, mental and moral character, whether he has risen from an ape or descended from a perfect man, we still know that the Races of Europe have now much in their mental and moral nature which the races of Africa have not got.

However he was careful to distance himself from the slave trade:

A serious charge has been made against the American School of Anthropology, when it is affirmed that their interest in keeping up slavery induced the scientific men of that country to advocate a distinct origin for the African race.... I would therefore express a hope that the objects of this Society will never be prostituted to such an object as the support of the slave trade, with all its abuses.

He did this by redefining slavery in such a way that it did not occur in America:

Our Bristol and Liverpool merchants, perhaps, helped to benefit the race when they transplanted some of them to America; and our mistaken legislature has done the Negro race much injury by their absurd and unwarrantable attempts to prevent Africa from exporting her worthless or surplus population.... I cannot shut my eyes to the fact that slavery as understood by the ancients does not exist out of Africa and that the highest type of the Negro race is at present to be found in the Confederate States of America.

According to noted Darwin biographers Adrian Desmond and James Moore, however, founder James Hunt was a paid agent of the

Confederate States of America The Confederate States of America (CSA), also known as the Confederate States (C.S.), the Confederacy, or Dixieland, was an List of historical unrecognized states and dependencies, unrecognized breakaway republic in the Southern United State ...

, as were his friend Henry Hotze and two other council members. Their purpose in founding the society was "to swing London opinion during the merican Civilwar." Hunt and Hotze put pro-slavery pseudoscience into the Anthropological Society library, "bought journalists, printed and distributed thousands of pamphlets,... ran a propaganda weekly in Fleet Street, The Index..." and in general promoted the pro-slavery dogma that black people were a separate species and inherently capable of no higher development than that of enslavement.

Cannibal Club

Hunt and Burton established the Cannibal Club as a gentleman's club, which drew many members from within the ASL.

Merger

In 1864, Hunt attempted to persuade the

British Association The British Science Association (BSA) is a charity and learned society founded in 1831 to aid in the promotion and development of science. Until 2009 it was known as the British Association for the Advancement of Science (BA). The current Chief ...

to rename Section E (Geography and Ethnology) to include Anthropology and in 1865 his attempt to create a new Anthropology sub-section devoted to the study of man was strongly resisted by others. However with the support of

T. H. Huxley Thomas Henry Huxley (4 May 1825 – 29 June 1895) was an English biologist and anthropologist who specialized in comparative anatomy. He has become known as "Darwin's Bulldog" for his advocacy of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. The stor ...

it was created under Biology section D in 1866, and in 1869, Section E dropped the "Ethnology" part of its title. At the same time, Hunt's position was weakened by an allegation made by one of the members,

Hyde Clarke Henry Harcourt Hyde Clarke (14 December 1815 – 1 March 1895) was an English engineer, philologist and author. The son of Henry and Susannah Clarke, he was born at Little Bell Alley, Barbican in London. He edited the ''Railway Register'' from ...

, about the finances of the organisation. Although he managed to satisfy the other members and expel Clarke, the stress seriously affected his health. A merger of the two organisations was already under way before Hunt died early at a young age in 1869, and in 1871 they formed the

Other organisations

In 1863, Richard Burton and others founded a breakaway ''London Anthropological Society'' which for several years published a journal "Anthropologia". Burton said "My motive was to supply travellers with an organ that would rescue their observations from the outer darkness of manuscripts and print their curious information on social and sexual matters out of place in the popular book". There was also an ''Anthropological Society of London'' founded in 1836 by

John Isaac Hawkins John Isaac Hawkins (1772–1855) was a British American inventor and civil engineer who twice emigrated to and ultimately died in the United States, American state of New Jersey. Early life Hawkins was born on March 14, 1772 at Taunton, Somerse ...

which had more to do with

phrenology Phrenology is a pseudoscience that involves the measurement of bumps on the skull to predict mental traits. It is based on the concept that the Human brain, brain is the organ of the mind, and that certain brain areas have localized, specific ...

Publications

*''Memoirs read before the Anthropological Society of London'' Vo
1:1863-42:1865-6
3:1867-9 *''Journal of the Anthropological Society of London'' Vo
7:1868
*''Anthropological Review''. Vol 1
2:1864
3, 4, 5, 6, 7
8:1870
*''Journal of Anthropology''
No. I-III:1870-1
*''The Popular Magazine of Anthropology''. Vo
1
*''Anthropologia''. Vol. 1. London: Baillière, Tindall and Cox. 873-1875