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Richard James Arthur Berry
FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and Literature, letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". ...
FRCSE (1867–1962) was a British-born surgeon, anatomist 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 was well-known in
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
.


Early life

Berry was born on 30 May 1867, in
Upholland Up Holland (or Upholland) is a village in Skelmersdale and is a civil parish in the West Lancashire district, in the county of Lancashire, England, west of Wigan. The population at the 2011 census was 7,376. Geography The village is on a sma ...
in
Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...
, the son of Jane Barlow and James Berry, a coal-merchant. His father died before he was born, and he was largely raised by his grandfather. He was educated at small private schools in
Southport Southport is a seaside resort, seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. It lies on the West Lancashire Coastal Plain, West Lancashire coastal plain and the east coast of the Irish Sea, approximately north of ...
, beginning at Dame’s School and then in 1877 going onto a private school for boys before winning a place at the
University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...
. However, he did not take up his place at the university, instead taking an apprenticeship with a firm of shipbrokers in
Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...
. After some time Berry was granted permission to terminate his contract. In May 1886 he entered the
University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...
to study medicine, graduating with an MBChM in 1891. Berry then took up a role of House Surgeon under
Thomas Annandale Thomas Annandale, Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, FRCS Royal Society of Edinburgh, FRSE (1838–1907) was a Scottish Gaelic, Scottish surgeon who conducted the first repair of the Meniscus (anatomy), meniscus and the first successful ...
, Regius professor of clinical surgery at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary on Lauriston Place. In the same year Berry was elected President of the Royal Medical Society of Edinburgh. The following year Berry was appointed lecturer in anatomy at the School of Medicine of the Royal Colleges of Edinburgh. On receipt of his MD in 1894 he had written a prize-winning thesis on the
Vermiform Vermes (" vermin/vermes") is an obsolete taxon used by Carl Linnaeus and Jean-Baptiste Lamarck for non-arthropod invertebrate animals. Linnaeus In Linnaeus's ''Systema Naturae'', the Vermes had the rank of class, occupying the 6th (and last) ...
appendix. Berry was held in very high regard within the institution and was a greatly respected and well established academic. In 1895 Berry was elected a Fellow of the
Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (RCSEd) is a professional organisation of surgeons. The RCSEd has five faculties, covering a broad spectrum of surgical, dental, and other medical and healthcare specialities. Its main campus is locate ...
and the following year began to lecture in anatomy at the University of Edinburgh. In 1897 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 ...
.


Professor of anatomy

In December 1905 Berry was accepted for a role as Professor of Anatomy at
Melbourne University The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state of Victoria. Its ...
and travelled over with his wife in February 1906 to replace Sir Harry Brookes Allen in his role of Head of Anatomy. The style of teaching was revolutionised by Berry. He taught until 1929. He also served as Honorary Psychiatrist at Melbourne Children’s Hospital. After settling into his new role he became interested in studies of the skulls of the Aboriginals. His collection of skulls and bones was rediscovered in 2003. From this he developed a further interest in the skulls of mentally deficient children. From here he became a consultant psychiatrist to the Royal Melbourne Children’s Hospital in Parkville, close to the University of Melbourne. He was a proponent of
eugenics Eugenics is a set of largely discredited beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetic quality of a human population. Historically, eugenicists have attempted to alter the frequency of various human phenotypes by inhibiting the fer ...
, supporting the killing of "the grosser types of our mental defectives". In 1923 a new Anatomy Department was opened at Melbourne University, and was nicknamed ‘’Berry’s Folly’’’ on account of what was thought to be its over-size, but this proved to be prudent foresight once class sizes swelled after the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. From 1925 to 1929 Berry was the Dean of the Faculty. He strongly advocated a closer physical relationship between the university and the hospital. However this met with opposition from Sir James Barrett. However, in 1927 he toured hospitals of North America with Sir Stanley Argyle the
Premier of Victoria The premier of Victoria is the head of government of the state of Victoria in Australia. The premier leads the Cabinet of Victoria and selects its ministers. The premier is appointed by the governor of Victoria, must be a member of the Vic ...
, and this ultimately led to the plan being adopted.


Later life

In 1929 Berry unexpectedly resigned and returned to Britain to take up the role as Head of Medical Services at Stoke Park Mental Hospital near
Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...
in
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
. He also then took chairmanship of the Burden Mental Research Trust. He represented Queensland and New South Wales in his membership of the council of the
British Medical Association The British Medical Association (BMA) is a registered trade union and professional body for physician, doctors in the United Kingdom. It does not regulate or certify doctors, a responsibility which lies with the General Medical Council. The BMA ...
. He continued studies into mental deficiency until 1940. In 1959, Sir William Upjohn persuaded Melbourne University to grant Berry the title of
Professor emeritus ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retirement, retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". ...
, and Berry, by then virtually blind, returned to receive this honour. Berry died on 30 September 1962 at
Clifton, Bristol Clifton is an inner suburb of Bristol, England, and the name of one of the city's thirty-five Wards and electoral divisions of the United Kingdom, electoral wards. The Clifton ward also includes the areas of Cliftonwood and Hotwells. The easter ...
.


Controversy

Berry was strongly associated with and a vocal supporter of the eugenics movement in Melbourne. He conducted craniometric analysis on the skulls of Aboriginal Australians and people with disabilities with a view towards establishing a relationship between cranium size and intelligence. It was Berry’s intentions to showcase the comparative superiority of certain individuals and of the 'white' race more generally. Berry’s research involved the collection of Aboriginal ancestral remains. His collection is known as the ‘Berry collection and consisted of 400 Aboriginal remains, many of which were taken from traditional graves without consent from traditional custodians. These remains were only rediscovered and made public knowledge in 2003. In 1906 ''The Bulletin'' published a letter protesting at any ‘breathing of regret’ that the Aboriginal population was dying out (Cawte 1986, p. 44), the article queried whether it ‘isn’t it a desirable thing that the inferior races should die out … There isn’t so much spare room on this earth for even the best races…’.   Macdonald states that it is widely believed that Berry left Melbourne because he had made “powerful enemies” (Macdonald 2017, p. 5). Thereafter his work was carried out in Stoke Park as chairman of the Burden Mental Research Trust where he conducted research regarding ‘the problems underlying the cause and inheritance of normal and abnormal mentality’. In March 2017 a group of staff and students from the University of Melbourne led a successful anti-racism campaign to rename the Richard Berry Building for Mathematics and Statistics. As a consequence of this campaign, the University of Melbourne Mathematics & Statistics building was re-named in honour of the “worthy University of Melbourne alumni and great scholar” Peter Gavin Hall. Campaigner's claim that this represented a positive step towards reconciliation and that it is in accordance with the university’s Reconciliation Action Plan which seeks to achieve appropriate recognition of the contributions of Indigenous Australians.


Family

On 7 August 1900 Berry married Beatrice Catherine Brighouse (d.1949), daughter of Sir Samuel Brighouse, whom he had met through his hobby of cycling and mountain climbing. His daughter Beatrice married Professor Ian Maxwell of Melbourne.


Memorials

Berry's portrait, by Justus Jorgensen, hangs in the Anatomy Department of
Melbourne University The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state of Victoria. Its ...
. The building housing the anatomy department at Melbourne University was named the Richard Berry Building in his honour. The building was later used by the Melbourne's mathematics department. Following protests centered around Berry's racist and eugenicist views, the name of the building was changed in March 2017 to instead honour recently deceased mathematician Peter Hall. The Western Australian plant, '' Grevillea berryana'' was named in his honour by
Alfred James Ewart Alfred James Ewart, FRS (12 February 1872 – 12 September 1937) was an English-Australian botanist. Early life and education Ewart was born in Toxteth Park, Liverpool, England, second son of Edmund Brown Ewart, B.A. and his wife, Marth ...
and Jean White.


Publications

*Transactions of the
Royal Society of Victoria The Royal Society of Victoria (RSV) is the oldest scientific society in Victoria, Australia. Foundation In 1854 two organisations formed with similar aims and membership, these being the Victorian Institute for the Advancement of Science (found ...
: ‘’On the Tasmanian crania’’ (1909) *’’A Clinical Atlas of Sectional and Topographical Anatomy’’ (1911) *Transactions of the
Royal Society of Victoria The Royal Society of Victoria (RSV) is the oldest scientific society in Victoria, Australia. Foundation In 1854 two organisations formed with similar aims and membership, these being the Victorian Institute for the Advancement of Science (found ...
: ‘’On the Australian crania’’ (1914) *’’Practical Anatomy’’ (1914) *’’Brain and Mind’’ (1928) *Report on mental deficiency in Victoria (1929) *’’A Cerebral Atlas of Normal and Defective Brains’’ (1938) *’’Your Brain and Its Story’’ (1939)


References

5.   ''K.F. Russell, ‘Berry, Richard James (1867-1962)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/berry-richard-james-5220/text8703, published first in hardcopy 1979, accessed online 20 May 2019.'' 6.   ''Mary Cawte (1986) Craniometry and eugenics in Australia: R.J.A. berry and the quest for social efficiency, Historical Studies, 22:86, 35-53, '' 7. ''MacDonald, Helen. Richard Berry’s disgrace (online). Overland, No. 227, Winter 2017: 11-15.'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Berry, Richard James Arthur 1867 births 1962 deaths Scottish surgeons Australian surgeons Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Academics of the University of Edinburgh British eugenicists British emigrants to Australia British white supremacists Australian eugenicists Australian white nationalists