Person MacBride; Ernest William (1866 - 1940); marine biologist and eugenicist MacBride Ernest William marine biologist and eugenicist 1866 - 1940 British Male Belfast, Ireland, Europe 12 December 1866 18661212 Westbank, Alton, Hampshire, England 17/11/1940 19401117 Burial: St Lawrence's Church, Westbank, Alton, Hampshire, England (25 November 1940)

Marine biologist Marine biology Eugenics Evolution Morphology Embryology Education: Royal Belfast Academical Insitute; spent a year at Neuwied on the Rhine; Queen's College in Belfast; University College, London BSc (1889); St John’s College, Cambridge, BA (1891) Career: Spent a year at Stazione Zoologica, Naples; demonstrator in animal morphology, Cambridge University; appointed professor at McGill University, Montreal (1897); appointed assistant to Adam Sedgwick (FRS 1886), professor of zoology at Imperial College, London (1909); succeeded Sedgwick at Imperial College (1914) and developed a successful postgraduate research school, remaining there until his retirement (1934); prominently involved in the Eugenics Society (1920s). Memberships: Board of Agriculture and Fisheries (1913) Eugenics Society VP (1920s) Marine Biological Association Awards/Medals: Walsingham Medal (1893) Parents: Samuel MacBride, linen manufacturer, and Mary, daughter of a Presbyterian minister. Spouse: Constance Harvey, daughter of H. Chrysler KC, an Ottawa barrister (1902). Children: Two sons. Established his scientific reputation on his study of the embryology of invertebrates, especially the echinoderms, including starfish and sea-urchins. Demonstrated that the cushion star, Asterina, passes through a larval stage in which it is attached to the sea-bed, attributing it to an evolutionary stage in which the ancestors of the echinoderms gave up their free-swimming beds and began to degenerate into radial symmetry. Among the first to recognise that ancestors of the echinoderms must have been closely related to the earliest chordates, from which the vertebrates have descended. One of the last to defend Lamarckian evolution. He endorsed claims that persons of “inferior” character should be prevented from reproducing, as a method of purifying the population, and argued for the compulsory sterilisation of the least fit members of the British population, whom he identified as those of Irish descent. Fellow 11/05/1905 39 Sidney Frederic Harmer; Adam Sedgwick; Alfred Newton; William Bateson; Joseph Jackson Lister; Sydney John Hickson; William Abbott Herdman; Walter Frank Raphael Weldon; Henry Woodward Sources: Bulloch's Roll; DSB; DNB Obituaries: Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society 1939-1941 vol 3 pp 747-759, plate, by W T Calman References: Milo Keynes, 'Lancelot Hogben, FRS (1895-1975): A Review of his Autobiography', review of Adrian and Anne Hogben, Lancelot Hogben - Scientific Humanist in NR 1999 vol 53 pp 361-369 R W Home, 'The Royal Society and the Empire: the colonial and Commonwealth Fellowship. Part 2. After 1847' in NR 2003 vol 57 pp 47-84 MacBride E W, IM Maull 002856.jpg ©The Royal Society International Standard Archival Authority Record for Corporate Bodies, Persons and Families - ISAAR(CPF) - Ottawa 1996 ISBN 0-9696035-3-3 National Council on Archives, Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsbm.1941.0032 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/action/doSearch?ContribAuthorRaw=MacBride%2C+Ernest+William RCN 53844 RCN 25348 RCN 53841 RCN 53842 RCN 53843 RCN R63453 RCN R63457 RCN 15239 https://pictures.royalsociety.org 12 Dec 1866 - 17 Nov 1940 The past Fellows entries are under continuous revision. If you have queries or additional information to contribute, please contact Library@royalsociety.org. Content in external sources is not controlled by the Royal Society and historical sources may include content that is now unacceptable. Reviewed on 21/02/2024 as part of the Name Authority Project update. NA6369 21/11/2001 Andyg Pmab 21/02/2024 RS_NET\VidaM Yes http://viaf.org/viaf/15166980 af3013db-f125-4817-b3a5-a9b9cb758896