Cedric Dover
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Cedric Cyril Dover (11 April 1904 – 1 December 1961) was a British Indian zoologist and later a writer on social and anthropological matters related to race. He preferred to be called a Eurasian rather than as an Anglo-Indian, both terms used for people of mixed ancestry. He wrote several books on race and sought an international unified action by oppressed races against prejudices.


Life and career

Dover was born in
Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...
to Percy and Sophy Dover (a maternal ancestor included James Skinner). At an early age he took an interest in zoology under the influence of
Thomas Nelson Annandale Thomas Nelson Annandale CIE FRSE (15 June 1876, in Edinburgh – 10 April 1924, in Calcutta) was a British zoologist, entomologist, anthropologist, and herpetologist. He was the founding director of the Zoological Survey of India. Life The eld ...
. After his education at St. Xaviers, St Joseph's College and the Medical College at Calcutta he worked for a while at the Indian Museum in Calcutta. At the age of 17 he wrote a booklet called "The Common Butterflies of India: An Introduction to the Study of Butterflies, and How to Collect and Preserve Them" and took an interest in butterflies. With Annandale's encouragement he joined
Edinburgh University The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the town council under the authority of a royal charter from King James VI in 1582 and offi ...
but returned without completing his studies to Calcutta and joined the
Zoological Survey of India The Zoological Survey of India (ZSI), founded on 1 July 1916 by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change of the Government of India as a premier Indian organisation in zoological research and studies to promote the survey, explora ...
as an entomologist. Some his work was on a survey of Chilka Lake, systematics mainly of the Hymenoptera (but also dealt in Hemiptera, particularly aquatic ones, and mammals) and on applied entomology such as mosquito repellents with one formulation that he developed at the Army School of Hygiene, a mix of citronella oil and vaseline known as "Dover's Cream". He also worked in the oyster experiment station at Kuala Kurau, Perak and briefly served as a lecturer at the Indian Forest College, Dehra Dun. While in Malaya, he explored the
Batu Caves Batu Caves is a 325-m tall mogote with a series of limestone caves in Gombak, Selangor, Malaysia. It is located about north of the capital city of Kuala Lumpur. The cave complex contains many Hindu temples, the most popular of which is a shri ...
from where he collected a bathynellid crustacean which he considered as a "living fossil" and was named as '' Parabathynella malaya'' while also examining the fauna living in the fluid of pitcher plants. The alga ''Micrasterias doveri'' collected from Malaya was named after him by
Kalipada Biswas Kalipada Biswas (3 December 1899 – 29 December 1969) was an Indian botanist who specialized in the algae of the Indian region and worked at the Calcutta Botanical Garden, becoming its first Indian director and heading it from 1937 to 1955. Ea ...
. The mollusc ''Opeas doveri'' , and the pseudoscorpion ''Dhanus doveri'' were also named after him. He married fellow zoologist Mercia Heynes-Wood and they started the periodical ''The New Outlook'' in 1925 aimed at the Anglo-Indian reader. Along with Heynes-Wood he published a catalogue of the Cicindelinae of India, including a description of a new tiger beetle species '' Calomera fowleri.'' He also published a note on the history of entomology in India in 1922. The Dovers had three children but he separated from his family and travelled to Egypt and finally settled in London in 1934 and worked with V.K. Krishna Menon's ''
India League The India League was an England-based organisation established by Krishna Menon in 1928. It campaigned for the full independence and self-governance of British India. It has been described as "the principal organisation promoting Indian nationa ...
''. During World War II he served in the
Royal Army Ordnance Corps The Royal Army Ordnance Corps (RAOC) was a corps of the British Army. At its renaming as a Royal Corps in 1918 it was both a supply and repair corps. In the supply area it had responsibility for weapons, armoured vehicles and other military equi ...
and after demobilization, he became a visiting lecturer on anthropology at Fisk University, Tennessee between 1946 and 1949. His affiliation with communism made it difficult for him to find employment in the US but he was briefly a graduate faculty at the New School for Social Research, New York. He moved back to London in 1949 and in this period wrote admiringly of
Stalinism Stalinism (, ) is the Totalitarianism, totalitarian means of governing and Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist policies implemented in the Soviet Union (USSR) from History of the Soviet Union (1927–1953), 1927 to 1953 by dictator Jose ...
, seeing it as a driver for "''the movement towards coloured unity''" in his book ''Hell in the Sunshine'' and this helped earn him a place in
George Orwell Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950) was an English novelist, poet, essayist, journalist, and critic who wrote under the pen name of George Orwell. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to a ...
's list of unsuitable people for writing propaganda against communism. Orwell described Dover as a “very dishonest, venal person” whose “main emphasis” was “anti-white (especially anti-USA)” and "reliably pro-Russian on all major issues." Dover also took a great interest in eugenics but gave up his ideas after he read
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 ...
's ''We Europeans'' (1935) which critiqued race science. Dover also became a member of ''The Men of the Trees'', an organization involved in afforestation and founded by
Richard St. Barbe Baker Richard St. Barbe Baker (9 October 1889 – 9 June 1982) was an English biologist and botanist, environmental activist and author, who contributed greatly to worldwide reforestation efforts. As a leader, he founded an organisation, Men of ...
in 1924 and edited its journal ''Trees''. In 1954 he was chosen as a delegate to visit China. He married twice again in later life and died from a heart failure in East Surrey Hospital.


Writings

Dover published extensively on zoological topics until around 1934 when his focus shifted increasingly to matters of race. He also had an interest in writing and poetry. He also wrote several obituaries of friends and influences, including of T.N. Annandale, whom he called the "father of freshwater biology in the east". Dover published as many as 300 publications but only a few books including: * '' The Kingdom of Earth'' (1931) * ''
Half-Caste Half-caste is a term used for individuals of Multiracial, multiracial descent. The word ''wikt:caste, caste'' is borrowed from the Portuguese or Spanish word ''casta'', meaning race. Terms such as ''half-caste'', ''caste'', ''quarter-caste'' an ...
'' (1937) * ''Know This of Race'' (1939) * ''Hell in the Sunshine'' (1943) * '' American Negro Art'' (1960)


References


External links


Remembering the Anglo-Indian who fought for people of colour and came to the rescue of WWII soldiers

Dover archives at Emory

Memorial to Dover by W.E.B. Du Bois
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dover, Cedric Cyril 1904 births 1961 deaths People from Kolkata Indian entomologists British Army personnel of World War II Royal Army Ordnance Corps soldiers British people in colonial India British expatriates in the United States