East Malling Research Station - geograph

Sir Ronald George Hatton, (6 July 1886 – 11 November 1965) was a British

horticulturalist Horticulture (from ) is the art and science of growing fruits, vegetables, flowers, trees, shrubs and ornamental plants. Horticulture is commonly associated with the more professional and technical aspects of plant cultivation on a smaller and mo ...

and pomologist.

Life

Hatton was born in

Kilburn, London Kilburn is an area in North West London, North West London, in the London Borough of Camden, London Boroughs of Camden, London Borough of Brent, Brent and the City of Westminster. Kilburn High Road railway station lies 3.5 miles (5.6 km) n ...

.''England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915'' His father Ernest Hatton was a

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...

, and his maternal grandfather William Pearson a KC; his mother Amy was the sister of the

biometrician Biostatistics (also known as biometry) is a branch of statistics that applies statistical methods to a wide range of topics in biology. It encompasses the design of biological experiments, the collection and analysis of data from those experimen ...

Karl Pearson Karl Pearson (; born Carl Pearson; 27 March 1857 – 27 April 1936) was an English biostatistician and mathematician. He has been credited with establishing the discipline of mathematical statistics. He founded the world's first university ...

. Hatton attended

Brighton College Brighton College is a fee-charging, co-educational, boarding and day public school for boys and girls aged 3 to 18 in Brighton and Hove, England. The school has three sites: Brighton College (the senior school, ages 11 to 18), Brighton Co ...

and later Exeter School, and in 1906 went up to

Balliol College Balliol College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1263 by nobleman John I de Balliol, it has a claim to be the oldest college in Oxford and the English-speaking world. With a governing body of a master and ar ...

, Oxford, to read history; he took a fourth in 1910, and his BA in 1912. He went to work as a farm labourer, and in 1913 published a book, ''Folk of the Furrow'', written under the

pen name A pen name or nom-de-plume is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen name may be used to make the author's na ...

"Christopher Holdenby". From 1912 he studied agriculture at the South-Eastern Agricultural College at Wye in

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

. In 1914 the Fruit Experimental Station of the college became the East Malling Research Station; when the director left for the

First World War 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 ...

, Hatton became acting director. He was made director in 1918. In 1914 Hatton married Hannah Rachel Rigden, who was from Ashford. In 1922 they had a son, Christopher, who became a monk. Hatton retired from the East Malling centre in 1949. He died on 11 November 1965 at his home in

Benenden Benenden is a village and civil parish in the borough of Tunbridge Wells in Kent, England. The parish is located on the Weald, to the west of Tenterden. In addition to the main village, Iden Green, East End, Dingleden and Standen Street set ...

, in Kent. He was buried in the churchyard at East Malling, not far from the research station estate.

Work

Hatton was director at East Malling for thirty years. During that time he greatly expanded both its size and its range of activities. His principal achievement was the rationalisation, standardisation and classification of

rootstock A rootstock is part of a plant, often an underground part, from which new above-ground growth can be produced. It could also be described as a stem with a well developed root system, to which a bud from another plant is grafted. It can refer to ...

s for fruit trees. His work led to the establishment first of the

Malling series The Malling series is a group of rootstocks for grafting apple trees. It was developed at the East Malling Research Station of the South-Eastern Agricultural College at Wye in Kent, England. From about 1912, Ronald Hatton and his colleagues ...

, and later, in collaboration with the John Innes Horticultural Institution, of the Malling-Merton rootstocks for apples.

Recognition

Hatton received the Victoria Medal of the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr ...

in 1930. He was made a

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

in 1934, was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

in 1944, and was

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

in 1949.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hatton, Ronald 1886 births 1965 deaths People educated at Exeter School English botanists English horticulturists Pomologists Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Knights Bachelor Fellows of the Royal Society People from Kilburn, London People from Benenden Alumni of Wye College Academics of Wye College