William Abbott Herdman

The Times, 23 July 1924:

Obituary

SIR WILLIAM HERDMAN

OCEANOGRAPHER AND ZOOLOGIST

We have to announce the death of Sir William Abbott Herdman, D.Sc., LL.D., F.R.S., F.L.S., which took place, from heart failure, suddenly, on Monday night in a small London hotel. He had come to London to attend his second daughter's wedding, and he had intended in a few days to start for Canada to attend the meeting of the British Association at Toronto next month.

William Abbott Herdman was born in Edinburgh in 1858, and was educated at the Academy and University of that city. He had come specially under the notice of Sir Wyville Thomson for his interest in natural history, and on his graduation in 1879 was selected as one of his assistants in the Challenger office, where the results of the great oceanic expedition were being worked out. He was also appointed demonstrator of zoology in the University, but in 1881 was appointed professor of zoology at Liverpool, then a college affiliated to the Victoria University. For the remainder of his active working life he was associated with Liverpool, and was one of a small group of professors whose success in teaching and organization led the way to the college becoming a university on its own account. He remained professor of zoology until 1919, when he endowed a chair of Oceanography in the University and consented to act as the first professor until 1921. He was knighted a year later.

Throughout his life Herdman retained the interest in marine animals which he had acquired under Wyville Thomson in Edinburgh. His first important work was a monograph, chiefly systematic, on the Ascidia, or sea-squirts, which had been collected during the voyage of the Challenger. He helped largely in the establishment of a marine biological station at Port Erin, Isle of Man, and a sea-fish hatchery at Piel, near Barrow. He made many dredging and trawling trips in his private yacht, and described the results in a series of memoirs. He was honorary director to the Lancashire Sea-Fisheries Committee, and conducted a valuable investigation into the diseases of oysters. Early this century he made an elaborate investigation for the Government on the Ceylon Pearl-Oyster Fisheries, the results being published in a report of five volumes, an almost classical study of the economic exploitation of a set of marine creatures.

From 1903 until 1920, when he was elected president, Herdman was one of the secretaries of the British Association. His organizing powers, judgment of men, and geniality were of great service, and his presidency at Cardiff was one of the successes in the history of the Association. He hoped to commemorate this occasion by arranging another great oceanographical voyage on the lines of the Challenger expedition. Zoologists and representatives of all the branches of science concerned embraced the proposal, and the Admiralty took a warm interest in it. In the end, however, it had to be postponed indefinitely, as it was felt that in the existing state of the public finances the necessary expenditure was difficult to justify.

Herdman was president of the Linnean Society in 1904, and foreign secretary of the Royal Society in 1916. He could hardly be described as a great man of science, but he was a competent worker and a devoted organizer. He was married twice, first to Miss Sarah Wyse Douglas, and secondly to Miss Jane Brandreth Holt (who died in 1922), and three daughters survive him.

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Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004):

Herdman, Sir William Abbott (1858-1924), marine zoologist, was born at 32 Danube Street, Edinburgh, on 8 September 1858, the eldest of the four sons of the artist Robert Herdman (1828-1888), and his wife, Emma, née Abbott, of Maryborough, Queen's county, Ireland. He was educated at Edinburgh Academy and from 1875 at the University of Edinburgh, where he obtained the gold medal for comparative anatomy in 1878. After graduating in 1879 he was awarded the Baxter natural science scholarship, and assisted his professor, Charles Wyville Thomson, in work on the deep-sea zoological collections made during the voyage of HMS Challenger. Herdman took as his special study the Tunicates, a group of marine organisms that includes salps and sea squirts, on which he became the leading authority. He acted as secretary of the Challenger expedition committee.

From 1880 to 1881 Herdman was demonstrator in zoology in the University of Edinburgh, before being appointed late in 1881 as first Derby professor of natural history in the University (then University College) of Liverpool. In Edinburgh he had been active in local field work, carrying out dredgings in the Firth of Forth and publishing several papers on its fauna. In Liverpool he undertook similar studies, but sought to implement more ambitious and wide-ranging objectives, the long-term aim being to bring scientific studies of the Irish Sea to bear on the practical problems of the fishing industry. This became his life's work. In 1885, with support from the local scientific community, he founded the Liverpool Marine Biology Committee, which two years later opened a research laboratory at Puffin Island, off Anglesey. Herdman's enthusiasm inspired many amateur naturalists besides his own students, and led to a series of publications on the fauna of Liverpool Bay and the Irish Sea. In 1892 the station was moved from Puffin Island to a more advantageous position at Port Erin, Isle of Man, where it was later rebuilt to meet the growing demands of research workers. The move also reflected Herdman's growing attachment to the Isle of Man, where he had a summer home for forty years. He made a considerable contribution to the life of the island, and involved the Manx government in the work of the Port Erin laboratory. As a result, a grant of £2000 was given in 1901 to rebuild the laboratory (which included a government-run sea-fish hatchery). Herdman had few interests that were not in some way related to his work, but he developed an active interest in the prehistory of the island. With his friend P. M. C. Kermode he carried out several archaeological investigations, and their book Manx Antiquities was published in 1904. Herdman was largely instrumental in the foundation of the Manx Museum at Douglas and became one of the trustees.

Herdman was first married on 6 July 1882 to Sarah Wyse Douglas (1861–1886), daughter of David Douglas, an Edinburgh publisher and bookseller. They had two daughters. Following her death, he married on 28 December 1893 Jane Brandreth Holt (d. 1922), daughter of Alfred Holt, a Liverpool shipping magnate. They had a son and a daughter.

In 1891 the recently founded Lancashire Sea Fisheries Committee invited Herdman to lecture to fishermen. This led to the organization of a marine research laboratory in the University of Liverpool, and, in 1897, to the establishment of a biological station and fish hatchery at Piel Island near Barrow in Lancashire. The latter soon became a centre of instruction for fishermen in biology, navigation, and seamanship, and much faunistic and statistical work was carried out. Specially noteworthy were the researches into plankton, which were carried out in collaboration with the Irish fishery authorities.

In 1901 Herdman went to Ceylon, at the request of the Colonial Office, to investigate and report on the pearl oyster fisheries of the Gulf of Mannar. His work resulted in various recommendations being made to the government of Ceylon regarding the future of the fisheries, and led to the establishment of a marine research station at Trincomalee.

Returning to his investigations in the Irish Sea, Herdman concentrated on a study of the plankton; using his steam yachts, he extended the survey northwards to the west coast of Scotland. When the First World War restricted work at sea, he became chairman of the grain-pests committee of the Royal Society. In 1916, with his wife, he founded the George Herdman chair of geology in the University of Liverpool, in memory of their son, who was killed at the battle of the Somme; and in 1919 they endowed a chair of oceanography at Liverpool, of which Herdman became the holder for one year, after resigning in 1919 the chair of natural history. In retirement he briefly served as vice-chancellor of Liverpool University. When his second wife died in 1922 he donated money to build a geological laboratory for the university in her memory.

Herdman was a mainstay of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, serving as general secretary from 1903 to 1919, and as president at the Cardiff meeting of 1920, when the theme of his address was a plea for a new Challenger expedition. He received honorary degrees from several universities, and was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1892, served on its council from 1898 to 1910, and was foreign secretary from 1916 to 1920. He was president of the Linnean Society from 1904 to 1908. He was made a CBE in 1920 and was knighted in 1922.

As well as numerous scientific papers and the section on Ascidia in the Cambridge Natural History, Herdman published a work of more general interest, The Founders of Oceanography (1923). He died suddenly from heart failure at 161 Drummond Street, London, on 21 July 1924, and was buried in Highgate cemetery, Middlesex, later that month.

Herdman was described as ‘a very pleasant companion, never ruffled, cheerful and bright’ (Shipley). ‘In physique he was rather small, but he had an arresting eye and somewhat of a presence’ (ibid.). Shipley also described him as ‘a man of simple habits, a doer rather than a philosopher’. Cole speaks of him as a man of ‘volcanic energy’ who by force of character brought and held together ‘a heterogeneous and industrious company of marine biologists’. He was at his best in the Isle of Man, working at sea or in the laboratory with his associates. But he also made firm friendships with various scientists, such as William E. Rutter and Charles A. Kofoid from the University of California, and enjoyed being part of the wider British scientific scene, especially at the meetings of the British Association. Ill health in his final years was exacerbated by the loss of his son and his wife.

R. N. Rudmose Brown, rev. Margaret Deacon

Sources S. J. H. [S. J. Hickson], PRS, 98B (1925), x-xiv · J. J. [J. Johnstone], ‘Sir William A. Herdman’, Nature, 114 (1924), 165–6 · A. E. Shipley, ‘Sir William Abbott Herdman’, Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London, 137th session (1924–5), 78–80 · E. C. Herdman, biographical notes on W. A. Herdman, c.1925, U. St Andr. L., special collections department, D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson MS 40640 · W. A. Herdman, letter to James Cossar Ewart, 25 June 1915, U. Edin. L., special collections division, Cossar Ewart MSS, Gen. 139 · The Times (23 July 1924) · J. Johnstone, introduction and general account of the scientific work, Report for 1924 on the Lancashire Sea-Fisheries Laboratory at University College, Liverpool (1924), 1–23 · F. J. Cole, ‘“J. J.” — a biographical note’, in James Johnstone memorial volume, Lancashire Sea-Fisheries Laboratory (1934), 1–11 · T. A. Norton, ‘Fisheries research at Port Erin and Liverpool University’, British marine science and meteorology: the history of their development and application to marine fishing problems (1996), 47–60 · Proceedings of the Isle of Man Natural History and Antiquarian Society, 2 (1924), 364–6 · Isle of Man Examiner (25 July 1924) · Isle of Man Weekly Times (26 July 1924)

Archives U. St Andr., corresp. | Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, Plymouth, letters to E. T. Browne · Oxf. U. Mus. NH, letters to Sir E. B. Poulton

Likenesses photograph, c.1892, RS · W. Stoneman, photograph, 1917, NPG · R. D. Herdman, oils, U. Lpool · photograph, repro. in , ‘Sir William A. Herdman’, facing p. 10

Wealth at death £38,282 2s. 11d.: probate, 5 Nov 1924, CGPLA Eng. & Wales

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Who Was Who:

HERDMAN, Sir William Abbott, Kt. Cr. 1922; C.B.E. 1920; D.Sc., Hon. D.Sc., Harvard, Durham, Sydney, and Western Australia, Hon. LL.D. Edinburgh, F.R.S., F.L.S.; Professor of Natural History, University of Liverpool 1881-1919; Professor of Oceanography 1919-1921; b. Edinburgh, 8 Sep. 1858; e. s. of Robert Herdman, R.S.A.; m. 1st, Sarah Wyse Douglas; 2nd, Jane Brandreth Holt (d. 1922); three d. Educ: Edin. Academy and University. Graduated 1879; assist. to Sir Wyville Thomson in "Challenger" Expedition office; Demonstrator of Zoology in Edinburgh University, 1880; President Zoological Section British Association, 1895; General Secretary British Association, 1903; President of British Association for 1920; President of Linnean Society, 1904; Foreign Secretary Royal Society, 1916; has (along with others) established a Marine Biological Station at Port Erin, Isle of Man, and a Sea-Fish Hatchery at Piel, near Barrow; is Honorary Director of Scientific Work to the Lancashire Sea-Fisheries Committee; was sent to Ceylon in 1901-2 to investigate the Pearl-Oyster Fisheries for the Government. Publications: Report upon the Tunicata collected during the voyage of the "Challenger," 3 vols. 1882-89; The Invertebrate Fauna of the First of Forth; (with others) The Fauna of Liverpool Bay, 5 vols. 1886-1900; Oysters and Disease, 1896-99; The Phylogenetic Classification of Animals; Fishes and Fisheries of the Irish Sea, 1902; Report to the Government on the Ceylon Pearl-Oyster Fisheries, Royal Society, 5 vols. 1903-5; Spolia Runiana I.-V. and about fifty other papers on Zoological subjects. Recreations: yachting (S. yacht Runa); much interested in early archaeology. Address: Croxteth Lodge, Liverpool; Rowany, Port Erin, Isle of Man. T.A.: University, Liverpool. T.: Wavertree 691. M.: O 7464. Clubs: Athenaeum, University, Athenaeum, Liverpool; Royal Mersey Yacht.

(Died 21 July 1924.)