Alfred Cort Haddon
Encyclopedia
Alfred Cort Haddon, Sc.D.
, FRS, FRGS (24 May 1855 - 20 April 1940, Cambridge) was an influential British anthropologist and ethnologist.
Initially a biologist
, who achieved his most notable fieldwork, with W.H.R. Rivers, C.G. Seligman, Sidney Ray, Anthony Wilkin on the Torres Strait Islands
. He returned to Christ's College, Cambridge
, where he had been an undergraduate, and effectively founded the School of Anthropology
. Haddon was a major influence on the work of the American ethnologist Caroline Furness Jayne
.
In 2011, Haddon's 1898 The Recordings of the Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to Torres Straits were added to the National Film and Sound Archive
of Australia's Sounds of Australia
registry.
and taught zoology and geology at a girls' school in Dover
, before entering Christ's College, Cambridge
in 1875. At Cambridge he studied zoology and became the friend of John Holland Rose
(afterwards Harmsworth Professor of Naval History), whose sister he married in 1883. Shortly after achieving his Master of Arts
degree, Haddon was appointed as Demonstrator in Zoology at Cambridge in 1882. For a time he studied marine biology
in Naples
.
in Dublin. While there he founded the Dublin Field Club in 1885. His first publications were "An Introduction to Embryology" in 1887, and various papers on marine biology
, which led to his being invited to go to the Torres Strait Islands to study coral reef
s and marine zoology, and while thus engaged he first became attracted to anthropology.
, and in after years he used to say that he counted it his chief claim to fame that he had diverted Dr. Rivers from psychology to anthropology. In April, 1898, the expedition arrived at its field of work and spent over a year in the Torres Strait Islands, and Borneo
, and brought home a large collection of ethnographical specimens, some of which are now in the British Museum
, but the bulk of them for one of the glories of the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge
. The main results of the expedition are published inThe Reports of the Cambridge Expedition to Torres Straits. Haddon was convinced that the hundreds of art objects collected had to be saved from almost certain destruction by the zealous Christian missionaries intent on obliterating the religious traditions and ceremonies of the native islanders. Film footage of ceremonial dances was also collected. His findings were published in his 1901 book "Head-hunters, Black, White and Brown".
In 1897, Dr. Haddon had obtained his Sc.D. degree in recognition of the work he had already done, some of which he had incorporated in his Decorative art of New Guinea, a large monograph published as one of the Cunningham Memoirs in 1894, and on his return home from his second expedition he was elected a Fellow of his College (Junior Fellow in 1901, Senior Fellow in 1904). He was appointed Lecturer in Ethnology in the University of Cambridge in 1900, and Reader in 1909, a post from which he retired in 1926. He was appointed advisory curator to the Horniman Museum in London in 1901. Haddon paid a third visit to New Guinea
in 1914, and returned during the First World War. Accompanied by his daughter Kathleen Haddon
(1888–1961), a zoologist, photographer and scholar of string-figures, the Haddons traveled along the Papuan coast from Daru to Aroma. While less discussed then his earlier work in the Torres Straits, this trip was influential in helping shape Haddon's later work on the distribution of material culture across New Guinea. The war effort had largely destroyed the study of Anthropology at the University, however, and Haddon went to France to work for the Y.M.C.A.. Ater the war he renewed his constant struggle to establish a sound School of Anthropology in Cambridge.
Dr. Haddon was president of Section H (Anthropology) in the British Association meetings of 1902 and 1905. He was president of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland
, of the Folk Lore Society, and of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society
was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society
; received from the R.A.I. the Huxley Medal in 1920; and was the first recipient of the Rivers Medal in 1924. he was the first to recognize the ethnological importance of string figures and tricks, known in England as "cats' cradles," but found all over the world as a pastime among native peoples. He and Dr. Rivers invented a nomenclature and method of describing the process of making the different figures, and one of his daughters, Mrs. Rishbeth, who became an expert, has written a book on the subject.
His chief publications, besides those already mentioned, were :— "Evolution in Art" (1895), "The Study of Man" (1898), "Head-hunters, Black, White and Brown" (1901), "The Races of Man" (1909) and a second edition, entirely rewritten in 1924, and "The Wanderings of People" (1911). He contributed to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, Dictionary of National Biography
, and several articles to Hastings
's Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, and a bibliography of his writings and papers runs to over 200 entries, even without his book reviews.
Despite being subsequently sidelined by Bronisław Malinowski, and the new paradigm of functionalism within anthropology, Haddon was profoundly influential mentoring and supporting various anthropologists conducted then nascent fieldwork: A.R. Brown
in the Andaman Islands
(1906–08), Gunnar Landtman
on Kiwai in now Papua New Guinea
(1910–12), Diamond Jenness
(1911–12), R.R. Marrett’s student at Oxford University, as well as John Layard
on Malakula
, Vanuatu
(1914–15), and to have Bronislaw Malinowski stationed in Mailu and later the Trobriand Islands during WWI. Haddon actively gave advice to missionaries, government officers, traders and anthropologists; collecting in return information about New Guinea and elsewhere.
Haddon's photographic archive and artefact collections can be found in the Museum of Anthropology and Archaeology in Cambridge University, while his papers are in the Cambridge University's Library's Special Collections.
His wife died in 1937 and he left a son and two daughters.
Doctor of Science
Doctor of Science , usually abbreviated Sc.D., D.Sc., S.D. or Dr.Sc., is an academic research degree awarded in a number of countries throughout the world. In some countries Doctor of Science is the name used for the standard doctorate in the sciences, elsewhere the Sc.D...
, FRS, FRGS (24 May 1855 - 20 April 1940, Cambridge) was an influential British anthropologist and ethnologist.
Initially a biologist
Biologist
A biologist is a scientist devoted to and producing results in biology through the study of life. Typically biologists study organisms and their relationship to their environment. Biologists involved in basic research attempt to discover underlying mechanisms that govern how organisms work...
, who achieved his most notable fieldwork, with W.H.R. Rivers, C.G. Seligman, Sidney Ray, Anthony Wilkin on the Torres Strait Islands
Torres Strait Islands
The Torres Strait Islands are a group of at least 274 small islands which lie in Torres Strait, the waterway separating far northern continental Australia's Cape York Peninsula and the island of New Guinea but Torres Strait Island known and Recognize as Nyumaria.The islands are mostly part of...
. He returned to Christ's College, Cambridge
Christ's College, Cambridge
Christ's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge.With a reputation for high academic standards, Christ's College averaged top place in the Tompkins Table from 1980-2000 . In 2011, Christ's was placed sixth.-College history:...
, where he had been an undergraduate, and effectively founded the School of Anthropology
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
. Haddon was a major influence on the work of the American ethnologist Caroline Furness Jayne
Caroline Furness Jayne
Caroline Furness Jayne was an American ethnologist. She wrote the best-known book on string figures, String Figures and How to Make Them: a study of cat's cradle in many lands, 1906....
.
In 2011, Haddon's 1898 The Recordings of the Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to Torres Straits were added to the National Film and Sound Archive
National Film and Sound Archive
The National Film and Sound Archive is Australia’s audiovisual archive, responsible for developing, preserving, maintaining, promoting and providing access to a national collection of audiovisual materials and related items...
of Australia's Sounds of Australia
Sounds of Australia
The National Film and Sound Archive's Sounds of Australia is a public registry of recordings that celebrates the unique and diverse recorded sound culture and history of Australia.The Registry was launched in February 2007 with a foundation list of ten...
registry.
Early life
Alfred Cort Haddon was born on 24 May 1855, near London, the elder son of John Haddon, the head of a firm of typefounders and printers. He attended lectures at King's College LondonKing's College London
King's College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the federal University of London. King's has a claim to being the third oldest university in England, having been founded by King George IV and the Duke of Wellington in 1829, and...
and taught zoology and geology at a girls' school in Dover
Dover
Dover is a town and major ferry port in the home county of Kent, in South East England. It faces France across the narrowest part of the English Channel, and lies south-east of Canterbury; east of Kent's administrative capital Maidstone; and north-east along the coastline from Dungeness and Hastings...
, before entering Christ's College, Cambridge
Christ's College, Cambridge
Christ's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge.With a reputation for high academic standards, Christ's College averaged top place in the Tompkins Table from 1980-2000 . In 2011, Christ's was placed sixth.-College history:...
in 1875. At Cambridge he studied zoology and became the friend of John Holland Rose
John Holland Rose
John Holland Rose was an influential English historian who wrote a famous biography of French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte and also wrote a history of Europe, entitled The Development of the European Nations. Rose was the basis for C. P. Snow's fictional character M. H. L...
(afterwards Harmsworth Professor of Naval History), whose sister he married in 1883. Shortly after achieving his Master of Arts
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...
degree, Haddon was appointed as Demonstrator in Zoology at Cambridge in 1882. For a time he studied marine biology
Marine biology
Marine biology is the scientific study of organisms in the ocean or other marine or brackish bodies of water. Given that in biology many phyla, families and genera have some species that live in the sea and others that live on land, marine biology classifies species based on the environment rather...
in Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
.
Dublin
In 1883 he was appointed Professor of Zoology at the College of ScienceRoyal College of Science for Ireland
The Royal College of Science for Ireland was created as a result of a decision of HM Treasury in 1865 to merge a number of science-oriented education bodies including the Museum of Irish Industry and Government School of Science applied to Mining and the Arts. It was originally based at 51 St...
in Dublin. While there he founded the Dublin Field Club in 1885. His first publications were "An Introduction to Embryology" in 1887, and various papers on marine biology
Marine biology
Marine biology is the scientific study of organisms in the ocean or other marine or brackish bodies of water. Given that in biology many phyla, families and genera have some species that live in the sea and others that live on land, marine biology classifies species based on the environment rather...
, which led to his being invited to go to the Torres Strait Islands to study coral reef
Coral reef
Coral reefs are underwater structures made from calcium carbonate secreted by corals. Coral reefs are colonies of tiny living animals found in marine waters that contain few nutrients. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, which in turn consist of polyps that cluster in groups. The polyps...
s and marine zoology, and while thus engaged he first became attracted to anthropology.
Torres Straight Expedition
On his return home he published many papers dealing with the natives, urging the importance of securing all possible information about these and kindred peoples before they were overwhelmed by civilization. He advocated that in Cambridge (encourage thereto by Thomas Henry Huxley), whither he came to give lectures at the Anatomy School from 1894 to 1898, and at last funds were raised to equip an expedition to the Torres Straits Islands to make a scientific study of the people, and Dr. Haddon was asked to assume the leadership. To assist him he succeeded in obtaining the help of Dr. W. H. R. RiversW. H. R. Rivers
William Halse Rivers Rivers, FRCP, FRS, was an English anthropologist, neurologist, ethnologist and psychiatrist, best known for his work with shell-shocked soldiers during World War I. Rivers' most famous patient was the poet Siegfried Sassoon...
, and in after years he used to say that he counted it his chief claim to fame that he had diverted Dr. Rivers from psychology to anthropology. In April, 1898, the expedition arrived at its field of work and spent over a year in the Torres Strait Islands, and Borneo
Borneo
Borneo is the third largest island in the world and is located north of Java Island, Indonesia, at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia....
, and brought home a large collection of ethnographical specimens, some of which are now in the British Museum
British Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
, but the bulk of them for one of the glories of the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge
Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge
The MAA : Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of Cambridge houses the University's collections of local antiquities, together with archaeological and ethnographic artefacts from around the world...
. The main results of the expedition are published inThe Reports of the Cambridge Expedition to Torres Straits. Haddon was convinced that the hundreds of art objects collected had to be saved from almost certain destruction by the zealous Christian missionaries intent on obliterating the religious traditions and ceremonies of the native islanders. Film footage of ceremonial dances was also collected. His findings were published in his 1901 book "Head-hunters, Black, White and Brown".
In 1897, Dr. Haddon had obtained his Sc.D. degree in recognition of the work he had already done, some of which he had incorporated in his Decorative art of New Guinea, a large monograph published as one of the Cunningham Memoirs in 1894, and on his return home from his second expedition he was elected a Fellow of his College (Junior Fellow in 1901, Senior Fellow in 1904). He was appointed Lecturer in Ethnology in the University of Cambridge in 1900, and Reader in 1909, a post from which he retired in 1926. He was appointed advisory curator to the Horniman Museum in London in 1901. Haddon paid a third visit to New Guinea
New Guinea
New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...
in 1914, and returned during the First World War. Accompanied by his daughter Kathleen Haddon
Kathleen Haddon
Kathleen Haddon was a zoologist, photographer, and scholar of string-figures. She was the daughter of influential British anthropologist and ethnologist A. C. Haddon.-Bibliography:...
(1888–1961), a zoologist, photographer and scholar of string-figures, the Haddons traveled along the Papuan coast from Daru to Aroma. While less discussed then his earlier work in the Torres Straits, this trip was influential in helping shape Haddon's later work on the distribution of material culture across New Guinea. The war effort had largely destroyed the study of Anthropology at the University, however, and Haddon went to France to work for the Y.M.C.A.. Ater the war he renewed his constant struggle to establish a sound School of Anthropology in Cambridge.
Retirement
On his retirement Haddon was made honorary keeper of the rich collections from New Guinea which the Cambridge Museum possesses, and also wrote up the remaining parts of the Torres Straits Reports, which his busy teaching and administrative life had forced him to set aside. His help and counsel to younger men was then still more freely at their service, and as always he continually laid aside his own work to help them with theirs.Dr. Haddon was president of Section H (Anthropology) in the British Association meetings of 1902 and 1905. He was president of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland
Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland
The Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland is the world's longest established anthropological organization, with a global membership. Since 1843, it has been at the forefront of new developments in anthropology and new means of communicating them to a broad audience...
, of the Folk Lore Society, and of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society
Cambridge Antiquarian Society
The Cambridge Antiquarian Society is a society dedicated to study and preservation of the archaeology, history, and architecture of Cambridgeshire, England....
was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society
Royal Society
The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
; received from the R.A.I. the Huxley Medal in 1920; and was the first recipient of the Rivers Medal in 1924. he was the first to recognize the ethnological importance of string figures and tricks, known in England as "cats' cradles," but found all over the world as a pastime among native peoples. He and Dr. Rivers invented a nomenclature and method of describing the process of making the different figures, and one of his daughters, Mrs. Rishbeth, who became an expert, has written a book on the subject.
His chief publications, besides those already mentioned, were :— "Evolution in Art" (1895), "The Study of Man" (1898), "Head-hunters, Black, White and Brown" (1901), "The Races of Man" (1909) and a second edition, entirely rewritten in 1924, and "The Wanderings of People" (1911). He contributed to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, Dictionary of National Biography
Dictionary of National Biography
The Dictionary of National Biography is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published from 1885...
, and several articles to Hastings
James Hastings
James Hastings was a Scottish Presbyterian minister and biblical scholar.He was born in Huntly, Aberdeenshire.He studied the classics at the University of Aberdeen, attended the Free Church Divinity College in Aberdeen, and was ordained a Free Church minister in 1884.He was founder and editor of...
's Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, and a bibliography of his writings and papers runs to over 200 entries, even without his book reviews.
Despite being subsequently sidelined by Bronisław Malinowski, and the new paradigm of functionalism within anthropology, Haddon was profoundly influential mentoring and supporting various anthropologists conducted then nascent fieldwork: A.R. Brown
Alfred Radcliffe-Brown
Alfred Reginald Radcliffe-Brown was an English social anthropologist who developed the theory of Structural Functionalism.- Biography :...
in the Andaman Islands
Andaman Islands
The Andaman Islands are a group of Indian Ocean archipelagic islands in the Bay of Bengal between India to the west, and Burma , to the north and east...
(1906–08), Gunnar Landtman
Gunnar Landtman
Gunnar Landtman was a Finnish philosopher as well as a sociology and philosophy professor. A pupil of Edvard Westermarck, he graduated from the University of Helsinki in 1905. He later became an associate professor there from 1910 to 1927 and then a temporary professor until his death in 1940....
on Kiwai in now Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea , officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands...
(1910–12), Diamond Jenness
Diamond Jenness
Diamond Jenness, CC was one of Canada's greatest early scientists and a pioneer of Canadian anthropology.-Biography:...
(1911–12), R.R. Marrett’s student at Oxford University, as well as John Layard
John Layard
John Willoughby Layard was an English anthropologist and psychologist.- Early life :Layard was born in London, son of the essayist and literary writer George Somes Layard. He grew up first at Malvern, and in c 1902 moved to Bull's Cliff, Felixstowe. He was educated at Bedales School...
on Malakula
Malakula
Malakula Island , also spelled Malekula, is the second-largest island in the nation of Vanuatu, in the Pacific Ocean region of Melanesia...
, Vanuatu
Vanuatu
Vanuatu , officially the Republic of Vanuatu , is an island nation located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is some east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, west of Fiji, and southeast of the Solomon Islands, near New Guinea.Vanuatu was...
(1914–15), and to have Bronislaw Malinowski stationed in Mailu and later the Trobriand Islands during WWI. Haddon actively gave advice to missionaries, government officers, traders and anthropologists; collecting in return information about New Guinea and elsewhere.
Haddon's photographic archive and artefact collections can be found in the Museum of Anthropology and Archaeology in Cambridge University, while his papers are in the Cambridge University's Library's Special Collections.
His wife died in 1937 and he left a son and two daughters.
External links
- Listen to an excerpt from The Recordings of the Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to Torres Straits. This recording was added to the National Film and Sound ArchiveNational Film and Sound ArchiveThe National Film and Sound Archive is Australia’s audiovisual archive, responsible for developing, preserving, maintaining, promoting and providing access to a national collection of audiovisual materials and related items...
's Sounds of Australia registry in 2011.