Carlos Paton Blacker MC GM FRCP (8 December 1895 – 21 April 1975), also known as C. P. Blacker, was an eminent

war hero A hero (feminine: heroine) is a real person or fictional character who, in the face of danger, combats adversity through feats of ingenuity, courage, or strength. The original hero type of classical epics did such things for the sake o ...

psychiatrist A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry. Psychiatrists are physicians who evaluate patients to determine whether their symptoms are the result of a physical illness, a combination of physical and mental ailments or strictly ...

and

eugenicist Eugenics is a set of largely discredited beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetics, genetic quality of a human population. Historically, eugenicists have attempted to alter the frequency of various human Phenotype, phenotypes by ...

who worked with R.A. Fisher and

Lionel Penrose Lionel Sharples Penrose, FRS (11 June 1898 – 12 May 1972) was an English psychiatrist, medical geneticist, paediatrician, mathematician and chess theorist, who carried out pioneering work on the genetics Genetics is the study of ...

. He was the elder son of Carlos Blacker (c.1859-1928) and his wife Caroline (`Carrie`) nee Frost. Blacker was educated at Eton and

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

where he attained distinction in biology under the tutelage of

Julian Huxley Sir Julian Sorell Huxley (22 June 1887 – 14 February 1975) was an English evolutionary biologist, eugenicist and Internationalism (politics), internationalist. He was a proponent of natural selection, and a leading figure in the mid-twentiet ...

. He served with the

Coldstream Guards The Coldstream Guards is the oldest continuously serving regular regiment in the British Army. As part of the Household Division, one of its principal roles is the protection of the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, monarchy; due to this, it often ...

during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, was twice

mentioned in dispatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face of t ...

, and was awarded the

Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level until 1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) Other ranks (UK), other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth of ...

for action in which he was involved on 15 September 1916. Twelve months previously he had lost his only sibling, a brother Robin, at Loos. Robin had also been an officer in the Coldstream Guards. C. P. felt that war was dysgenic because it killed people who tended to be above the physical average and deterred thoughtful people from parenthood. He was deeply shaken by his war experience and, in coming to terms with it, with the loss of his brother and many of his contemporaries, acknowledged a debt to Freud's writings, which stimulated in him an interest in psychiatry. Qualifying in medicine in 1925, Blacker became a registrar in

Guy's Hospital Guy's Hospital is an NHS hospital founded by philanthropist Thomas Guy in 1721, located in the borough of Southwark in central London. It is part of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust and one of the institutions that comprise the Kin ...

's psychiatric department for three years and continued his study at the Maudsley Hospital. He later became a part-time member of its teaching staff and was later the first chairman of the newly established Simon Population Trust. In 1943, on active service, Blacker was awarded the

George Medal The George Medal (GM), instituted on 24 September 1940 by King George VI,''British Gallantry Medals'' (Abbott and Tamplin), p. 138 is a decoration of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth, awarded for gallantry, typically ...

. The official citation read: From 1931 to 1952, Blacker was secretary of the Eugenics Society and he gave it a new focus on birth control and population planning

His appointment as Secretary was "not without some misgivings of [Leonard">Leonard Darwin, [LeonardDarwin, its chairman. The differences in outlook, aspirations and in judgement of these two men during their partnership in office in the Eugenics Society led to tensions which have been ably traced by Richard Soloway. Two prominent issues here were Darwin's reluctance to endorse Blacker's deep-rooted conviction that research and provision of contraception should be a major feature in the Eugenic Society's strategy to reduce the fecundity of the lower, less able classes and his disagreement with Blacker's aspiration to redirect more of the Eugenic Society's effort from education and propaganda to research and promotion of contraception."

Carmen Blacker Carmen Blacker Order of the British Empire, OBE Fellow of the British Academy, FBA (13 July 1924 – 13 July 2009) was a British Japanologist. She was a lecturer in Japanese at the University of Cambridge. Life Blacker was born in Kensington in ...

(1924-2009), a scholar in the

Japanese language is the principal language of the Japonic languages, Japonic language family spoken by the Japanese people. It has around 123 million speakers, primarily in Japan, the only country where it is the national language, and within the Japanese dia ...

and Ann Thetis Blacker (1927–2006), the painter and singer, were daughters of Carlos Blacker.

References

External links

Codebreakers: Makers of Modern Genetics: the Carlos Paton Blacker papers

Nobody Better! The life of Robin Blacker 1897–1915
*

Sources

Carlos Paton Blacker's personal papers archive
is available for study at the Wellcome Collection (some of the material is digitised and digitally accessible via the website). {{DEFAULTSORT:Blacker, Carlos 1895 births 1975 deaths People educated at Eton College Alumni of the University of Oxford Coldstream Guards officers British Army personnel of World War I British eugenicists British psychiatrists Recipients of the Military Cross Recipients of the George Medal Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians Royal Army Medical Corps officers British Army personnel of World War II