Walter Baldwin Spencer
Encyclopedia
Sir Walter Baldwin Spencer KCMG
Order of St Michael and St George
The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is an order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince Regent, later George IV of the United Kingdom, while he was acting as Prince Regent for his father, George III....
(23 June 1860 14 July 1929) was a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
-Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n biologist
Biology
Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...
and anthropologist
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...
.
Baldwin was born in Stretford
Stretford
Stretford is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford, in Greater Manchester, England. Lying on flat ground between the River Mersey and the Manchester Ship Canal, it is to the southwest of Manchester city centre, south-southwest of Salford and northeast of Altrincham...
, Lancashire
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
. His father, Reuben Spencer, who had come from Derbyshire
Derbyshire
Derbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire. The northern part of Derbyshire overlaps with the Pennines, a famous chain of hills and mountains. The county contains within its boundary of approx...
in his youth, obtained a position with Rylands and Sons, cotton
Cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....
manufacturers, and rose to be chairman of its board of directors when Rylands became a company. Baldwin was educated at Old Trafford)
Old Trafford, Manchester
Old Trafford is in Greater Manchester, England, which lies south-west of Manchester. The crossroads sites of two old toll gates roughly delineate the borders of the area: Brooks's Bar to the east and Trafford Bar to the west....
school, and on leaving entered the Manchester School of Art. He stayed only one year but never forgot his training in drawing. After leaving the school of arts Spencer went to Owens College and, where Milnes Marshall guided him in his study of biology, he gained a scholarship at Exeter College, Oxford
Exeter College, Oxford
Exeter College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England and the fourth oldest college of the University. The main entrance is on the east side of Turl Street...
. Before going to Oxford he won the Dalton Prize
John Dalton
John Dalton FRS was an English chemist, meteorologist and physicist. He is best known for his pioneering work in the development of modern atomic theory, and his research into colour blindness .-Early life:John Dalton was born into a Quaker family at Eaglesfield, near Cockermouth, Cumberland,...
for natural history.
Spencer began his studies at Oxford in 1881, in June 1884 he qualified for his B.A.
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
degree obtaining first-class honours in natural science
Natural science
The natural sciences are branches of science that seek to elucidate the rules that govern the natural world by using empirical and scientific methods...
. In 1885 he became assistant to Professor Moseley
Henry Nottidge Moseley
Henry Nottidge Moseley, FRS was a British naturalist who sailed on the global scientific expedition of the HMS Challenger in 1872 through 1876....
and shortly afterwards had valuable experience helping him and Professor Tylor to remove the Lane-Fox Pitt-Rivers collection from South Kensington to Oxford. His association with these distinguished men in this task no doubt largely helped to develop his interest in anthropology and museum work. In January 1886 he obtained a fellowship at Lincoln College, Oxford
Lincoln College, Oxford
Lincoln College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It is situated on Turl Street in central Oxford, backing onto Brasenose College and adjacent to Exeter College...
. He had already contributed various papers to scientific journals, one of which, on the Pineal eye
Parietal eye
A parietal eye, also known as a parietal organ or third-eye or pineal eye, is a part of the epithalamus present in some animal species...
in lizards, had aroused much interest, and having applied for the professorship of biology at Melbourne
University of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne is a public university located in Melbourne, Victoria. Founded in 1853, it is the second oldest university in Australia and the oldest in Victoria...
in June 1886 was elected to that chair in January 1887. A few days later he was married to Mary Elizabeth Bowman and left for Australia where he arrived in March. He immediately set about organizing his new school, the chair had just been founded, and succeeded in getting a grant of £8000 to begin building his lecture rooms and laboratories. He showed much capability as a lecturer and organizer, and also took a full part in the general activities of the university. But his interests were not confined to his university duties, he took a leading part in the proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria
Royal Society of Victoria
The Royal Society of Victoria is the oldest learned society in the state of Victoria in Australia.The Royal Society of Victoria was formed in 1859 from a merger between The Philosophical Society of Victoria and The Victorian Institute for the Advancement of Science , both founded...
, the Field Naturalists Club of Victoria
Field Naturalists Club of Victoria
The Field Naturalists Club of Victoria is an Australian natural history and conservation organisation.It was founded in May 1880 by a group of nature enthusiasts that included Thomas Pennington Lucas. Charles French and Dudley Best. It is the oldest conservation group in Victoria...
, and the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science
Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science
The Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science is an organisation that was founded in 1888 by Archibald Liversidge as the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science to promote science. It was modelled on the British Association for the Advancement of Science...
, and did valuable work for those bodies.
In 1894 a new field was opened up for Spencer when he joined the W.A. Horn scientific expedition
Horn Expedition
The Horn Scientific Expedition was the first primarily scientific expedition to study the natural history of Central Australia. It took place from May to August 1894, with expedition members first traveling by train from Adelaide to the railhead at Oodnadatta in South Australia, then using camels...
which left Adelaide
Adelaide
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
in May 1894 to explore Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. In July he met Francis James Gillen
Francis James Gillen
Francis James Gillen was an early Australian anthropologist and ethnologist.Gillen was born at Little Para South Australia. He entered the public service in 1867, and was employed as a postal messenger at Clare. He was transferred to Adelaide in 1871 where his duties also included telegraph...
at Alice Springs
Alice Springs, Northern Territory
Alice Springs is the second largest town in the Northern Territory of Australia. Popularly known as "the Alice" or simply "Alice", Alice Springs is situated in the geographic centre of Australia near the southern border of the Northern Territory...
with whom he was to be so much associated in the study of the Aborigines. The expedition covered some 2000 miles in about three months and on his return Spencer busied himself with editing the report to which he also largely contributed, it was published in 1896. In November 1896 Spencer was again at Alice Springs beginning the work with Gillen which resulted in the Native Tribes of Central Australia, published in 1899 and partly opposed by Carl Strehlow
Carl Strehlow
Carl Friedrich Strehlow was a German Lutheran missionary in outback Australia who headed the Finke River Mission in Hermannsburg, Northern Territory from 1894-1922. He learnt and documented the languages of the Arrernte and Luritja people, and published together with Moritz von Leonhardi a...
and Moritz von Leonhardi
Moritz von Leonhardi
Moritz Freiherr von Leonhardi was a German anthropologist.-Life and work:Leonhardi was the son of the Minister Plenipotentiary Ludwig Freiherr von Leonhardi and Luise, née Bennigsen. He grew up in Karben and Darmstadt. He studied law in Heidelberg until he had to cancel due to sickness. Since...
. Gillen was a remarkable man who had won the confidence of the natives by his kindly understanding of their point of view. He had learned their language, and the blacks had faith in him. Spencer too was gifted with patience, understanding and kindliness, and soon gained their confidence also. He continued this work with Gillen during the vacations of the two following years. An immense amount of material relating to tribal customs was accumulated, and the book, with the names of both Gillen and Spencer on the title page. It created a great sensation in the scientific world, and although it could not be expected that there would be general agreement as to the conclusions to be drawn from it, all could agree that here was a sound and remarkable piece of research work.
Spencer had been appointed a trustee of the public library in 1895. When Sir Frederick McCoy
Frederick McCoy
Sir Frederick McCoy, KCMG, FRS was an Irish palaeontologist and museum administrator, active in Australia.-Early life:McCoy was the son of Dr Simon McCoy, M.D. and was born in Dublin; some sources have his year of birth as 1823, but 1817 is the most likely...
died in May 1899 he became honorary director of the national museum. He was to do an enormous amount of work in the following years, and to present to the museum many valuable collections of sacred and ceremonial Aboriginal objects collected during his journeys. He 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"...
, London, in 1900 and in 1901 spent 12 months in the field with Gillen going from Oodnadatta to Powell Creek and then eastward to Borraloola on the Gulf of Carpentaria
Gulf of Carpentaria
The Gulf of Carpentaria is a large, shallow sea enclosed on three sides by northern Australia and bounded on the north by the Arafura Sea...
. Their experiences and studies formed the basis of the next book, The Northern Tribes of Central Australia, which appeared in 1904, dedicated to David Syme, who had given £1000 towards the cost of the expedition. In this year Spencer became president of the professorial board, an office he was to hold for seven years. There was then no paid vice-chancellor at Melbourne university and much administrative work fell on Spencer's shoulders. He carried it competently and without complaint and even found time to take an interest in the sporting activities of the undergraduates. In 1911 at the request of the Commonwealth government he led an expedition in the Northern Territory
Northern Territory
The Northern Territory is a federal territory of Australia, occupying much of the centre of the mainland continent, as well as the central northern regions...
sent to make inquiries into conditions there, and in the following year he published his Across Australia and also accepted the position of special commissioner and chief protector of Aborigines. He explored much little-known territory and got in touch with new tribes. The story of this will be found in Native Tribes of the Northern Territory of Australia (1914).
In 1914 Spencer was honorary secretary for the meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science
British Association for the Advancement of Science
frame|right|"The BA" logoThe British Association for the Advancement of Science or the British Science Association, formerly known as the BA, is a learned society with the object of promoting science, directing general attention to scientific matters, and facilitating interaction between...
held in Melbourne. He was also contriving to do a great deal of work at the national museum. In 1916 at the request of the Felton Bequest
Alfred Felton
Alfred Felton was an Australian entrepreneur, art collector and philanthropist.-Biography:Alfred Felton was born at Maldon, Essex, England, the fifth child of six sons and three daughters of William Felton, a currier, and his wife Hannah...
's committee he went to England to obtain an art adviser for the Felton Bequest. He was also taking an interest in Australian artists and incidentally getting together a remarkable collection of Australian pictures. He had been made CMG in 1904 and in 1916 he was created a KCMG In 1919 he resigned his professorship and in 1920 became vice-president of the trustees of the public library of Victoria. He paid two more visits to the centre of Australia, one in 1923 with Dr Leonard Keith Ward
Leonard Keith Ward
Leonard Keith Ward was an Australian geologist and public servant.Ward was born in Petersham, New South Wales and was educated at Sydney and Brisbane Grammar Schools then the University of Sydney where he was taught by Edgeworth David.Ward work for Broken Hill Proprietary then at the Western...
, the government geologist of South Australia
South Australia
South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
, and the other in 1926. These visits enabled Spencer to revise his earlier researches and consider on the spot various opposing theories that had been brought forward. His The Arunta: a Study of a Stone Age People (1927), confirms the view that his earlier conclusions were in essentials correct; Gillen's name as joint author appeared on the title-page though he had died 15 years before. Wanderings in Wild Australia, published a year later and slightly more popular in form, completes the list of his more important books; a list of his other published writings will be found in Spencers Last Journey. Spencer went to London in 1927 to see these books through the press. Ten years before he had said that he realized he was not getting younger and must regard his field work as finished. But his eager spirit would not allow him to rest. In February 1929, in his sixty-ninth year, he travelled in a cargo boat to Magallanes
Magallanes y la Antártica Chilena Region
The XII Magallanes and Antártica Chilena Region is one of Chile's 15 first order administrative divisions...
and then went in a little schooner to Ushuaia at the south of Tierra del Fuego
Tierra del Fuego
Tierra del Fuego is an archipelago off the southernmost tip of the South American mainland, across the Strait of Magellan. The archipelago consists of a main island Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego divided between Chile and Argentina with an area of , and a group of smaller islands including Cape...
trying to get in touch with the few remaining Indians. In June he went to Hoste Island seeking an old Yaghan
Yaghan language
Yagán , also known as Yámana and Háusi Kúta, is one of the indigenous languages of Tierra del Fuego, spoken by the Yagán people...
woman who was reputed to know a little English. There he became ill and died of heart failure on 14 July 1929. Lady Spencer and two daughters survived him.
An Australian Research Council project is currently underway to aggregate and digitise the original Spencer and Gillen collection.
Australian rules football
Spencer, who had been the President of the Melbourne University Sports Union, was the President of the Victorian Football League from 1919 to 1925.Honours
In 1976 he was honoured on a postage stampPostage stamp
A postage stamp is a small piece of paper that is purchased and displayed on an item of mail as evidence of payment of postage. Typically, stamps are made from special paper, with a national designation and denomination on the face, and a gum adhesive on the reverse side...
bearing his portrait issued by Australia Post
Australia Post
Australia Post is the trading name of the Australian Government-owned Australian Postal Corporation .-History:...
http://www.australianstamp.com/images/large/0011870.jpg.
