George Stapledon
Encyclopedia
Sir Reginald George Stapledon FRS (born Northam, Devon
on September 22, 1882 - died in Bath, Somerset on 16 September 1960) was an English
grassland scientist and pioneer environmentalist
.
, the 14th century Bishop of Exeter
. Educated at United Services College
, Westward Ho!
, and Emmanuel College, Cambridge
(where to took the natural science tripos
of geology
, chemistry
and botany
) he worked in Suez
for the family firm between 1904 and 1906 before giving up the commercial life.
, he returned to the University of Cambridge
in 1907 to study biology
and in 1910 joined the Royal Agricultural College
where he came to argue that grasslands were at the heart of successful agriculture which in turn was at the heart of Britain's economic and spiritual well-being. He moved to University College of Wales in 1912 and whilst there married Doris Wood Bourne, who joined him in his work. Here he headed up a newly created Department of Botany. Between 1914 and 1918 he worked for the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries
in London
and succeeded in getting them to set up a seed testing station.
His longest service however was as director of a plant breeding station in Aberystwyth
, a post he held from 1919 to 1942. This had been set up using a £10,000 grant from Sir Laurence Philipps
, who contributed a further £1000 for the first ten years of the institute's existence. Stapledon came to love the natural beauty of Wales
and indeed argued that anybody who interfered with the 'shapely outline' of the Cambrian Mountains
should be treated as a criminal. Following an ecological
approach he developed a number of new varieties of grass, oats and clover, known as 'S' strains, and increased awareness of the importance of grasslands in agriculture, particularly in New Zealand
where his work was especially influential. He had visited the country in 1926 during a bout of ill health and whilst there made a strong impression on Bruce Levy
who followed much of Stapledon's work. His work was recognised in 1939 when he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society and knighted. His work on grasslands continued during the Second World War when he took up the directorship of the grassland research station at Drayton, Stratford upon Avon in 1942, whilst he was also a founder member and first President of the British Grassland Society. Around this time he became a strong advocate of ley farming
, feeling that it would help to feed Britain during the conflict. He also persuaded the government to set up a grassland research station at Hurley, Berkshire before his retirement in 1946.
should exist only to serve his new rural vision. He was also a strong supporter of the National Parks
movement, arguing that they were an important factor in bringing the city dweller into contact with the countryside. He found kindred spirits in some of the highly conservative rural organisations that existed at the time and was a member of both Rolf Gardiner
's Kinship in Husbandry group and Montague Fordham
's Rural Reconstruction Association
.
. His work was interrupted in 1952 by major surgery and he spent the rest of his life in severe ill health, suffering variously from angina, kidney
problems, bronchitis
, Ménière's disease
and in his final three years profound hearing loss.
His contributions to science were honoured by a number of awards apart from the FRS and knighthood. He was an honorary member of the Highland and Agricultural Society and the Academies of Agriculture of Sweden
and Czechoslovakia
, received the Gold Medal of the Royal Agricultural Society
and, in 1932, the CBE
. Both the University of Nottingham
(1951) and the University of Wales
(1952) conferred honorary doctorates on him, although he was unable to accept the same honour from the University of Durham in 1958 as his ill health meant he was unable to travel to accept the award.
He died without offspring in 1960, having suffered several nervous breakdowns
from 1926 onwards. His life was commemorated by the BBC
who organised a series of tributes entitled 'I Remember Stapledon' for both the Welsh Service and then the Home Service
. His nephew was the science fiction
writer and philosopher Olaf Stapledon
, son of George Stapledon's eldest brother William.
Northam, Devon
Northam is a small town in Devon, England, lying north of Bideford and south of Westward Ho!. It is thought to have been the site of an Anglo-Saxon castle, and is said to have been where Hubba the Dane attacked Devon and was repelled . A little over a mile away along the coast is a town called...
on September 22, 1882 - died in Bath, Somerset on 16 September 1960) was an English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
grassland scientist and pioneer environmentalist
Environmentalist
An environmentalist broadly supports the goals of the environmental movement, "a political and ethical movement that seeks to improve and protect the quality of the natural environment through changes to environmentally harmful human activities"...
.
Early life
The sixth of the seven children born to shipping agent William Stapledon and Mary Clibbert (daughter of shipbuilder William Clibbert), Stapledon also had three half-siblings. The family claimed to be related to Walter de StapledonWalter de Stapledon
Walter de Stapledon , English bishop, was born at Annery in North Devon.On 13 March 1307 Stapledon was chosen Bishop of Exeter, and was consecrated on 13 October 1308. He went on errands to France for both Edward I and Edward II, and attended the councils and parliaments of his time...
, the 14th century Bishop of Exeter
Bishop of Exeter
The Bishop of Exeter is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Exeter in the Province of Canterbury. The incumbent usually signs his name as Exon or incorporates this in his signature....
. Educated at United Services College
United Services College
United Services College was an English private boys' public boarding school for the sons of military officers, located at Westward Ho! near Bideford in North Devon...
, Westward Ho!
Westward Ho!
Westward Ho! is a seaside village near Bideford in Devon, England. The A39 road provides access from the towns of Barnstaple, Bideford and Bude...
, and Emmanuel College, Cambridge
Emmanuel College, Cambridge
Emmanuel College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge.The college was founded in 1584 by Sir Walter Mildmay on the site of a Dominican friary...
(where to took the natural science tripos
Natural Sciences (Cambridge)
The Natural Sciences Tripos is one of the several courses which form the University of Cambridge system of undergraduate teaching...
of geology
Geology
Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...
, chemistry
Chemistry
Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....
and botany
Botany
Botany, plant science, or plant biology is a branch of biology that involves the scientific study of plant life. Traditionally, botany also included the study of fungi, algae and viruses...
) he worked in Suez
Suez
Suez is a seaport city in north-eastern Egypt, located on the north coast of the Gulf of Suez , near the southern terminus of the Suez Canal, having the same boundaries as Suez governorate. It has three harbors, Adabya, Ain Sokhna and Port Tawfiq, and extensive port facilities...
for the family firm between 1904 and 1906 before giving up the commercial life.
Grassland sciences
Developing a strong support for the idea of agricultural autarkyAutarky
Autarky is the quality of being self-sufficient. Usually the term is applied to political states or their economic policies. Autarky exists whenever an entity can survive or continue its activities without external assistance. Autarky is not necessarily economic. For example, a military autarky...
, he returned to the University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
in 1907 to study biology
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 in 1910 joined the Royal Agricultural College
Royal Agricultural College
The Royal Agricultural College is a higher education institution located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, UK. Established in 1845, it was the first agricultural college in the English speaking world...
where he came to argue that grasslands were at the heart of successful agriculture which in turn was at the heart of Britain's economic and spiritual well-being. He moved to University College of Wales in 1912 and whilst there married Doris Wood Bourne, who joined him in his work. Here he headed up a newly created Department of Botany. Between 1914 and 1918 he worked for the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries
Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food
The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food was a United Kingdom government department created by the Board of Agriculture Act 1889 and at that time called the Board of Agriculture, and then from 1903 the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, and from 1919 the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and succeeded in getting them to set up a seed testing station.
His longest service however was as director of a plant breeding station in Aberystwyth
Aberystwyth
Aberystwyth is a historic market town, administrative centre and holiday resort within Ceredigion, Wales. Often colloquially known as Aber, it is located at the confluence of the rivers Ystwyth and Rheidol....
, a post he held from 1919 to 1942. This had been set up using a £10,000 grant from Sir Laurence Philipps
Laurence Philipps, 1st Baron Milford
Laurence Richard Philipps, 1st Baron Milford , was a British peer.Philipps was the sixth son of Reverend Sir James Philipps, 12th Baronet St Davids, and his wife the Hon. Mary Margaret . John Philipps, 1st Viscount St Davids, and Owen Philipps, 1st Baron Kylsant, were his elder brothers...
, who contributed a further £1000 for the first ten years of the institute's existence. Stapledon came to love the natural beauty of Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
and indeed argued that anybody who interfered with the 'shapely outline' of the Cambrian Mountains
Cambrian Mountains
The Cambrian Mountains are a series of mountain ranges in Wales, reaching from, and including, the South Wales mountains of the Brecon Beacons, north Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion, the Black Mountains of eastern Wales, to Snowdonia in North Wales...
should be treated as a criminal. Following an ecological
Ecology
Ecology is the scientific study of the relations that living organisms have with respect to each other and their natural environment. Variables of interest to ecologists include the composition, distribution, amount , number, and changing states of organisms within and among ecosystems...
approach he developed a number of new varieties of grass, oats and clover, known as 'S' strains, and increased awareness of the importance of grasslands in agriculture, particularly in New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
where his work was especially influential. He had visited the country in 1926 during a bout of ill health and whilst there made a strong impression on Bruce Levy
Bruce Levy
Sir Enoch Bruce Levy OBE was a botanist from New Zealand who became widely known for his work on improving pastures....
who followed much of Stapledon's work. His work was recognised in 1939 when he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society and knighted. His work on grasslands continued during the Second World War when he took up the directorship of the grassland research station at Drayton, Stratford upon Avon in 1942, whilst he was also a founder member and first President of the British Grassland Society. Around this time he became a strong advocate of ley farming
Ley farming
Ley farming is an agricultural system where the field is alternately seeded for grain and left fallow. Other name for the method is "alternate husbandry"....
, feeling that it would help to feed Britain during the conflict. He also persuaded the government to set up a grassland research station at Hurley, Berkshire before his retirement in 1946.
Politics and writing
As well as producing a number of scientific papers Stapledon also produced a number of works that were more political in tone, notably The Land: Now and Tomorrow (1935), The Way of the Land (1943), and Disraeli and the New Age (1943). In these he developed his idea of renewing society by making farming the central part of economic life. Looking for a return to small-holdings based on some of the social reforming ideas of Benjamin Disraeli, Stapledon argued that capitalismCapitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
should exist only to serve his new rural vision. He was also a strong supporter of the National Parks
National parks of the United Kingdom
National parks of the United Kingdom are a devolved matter with each of the countries of the United Kingdom having its own policies and arrangements. There are 15 of these managed areas of outstanding landscape where habitation and commercial activities are restricted, with 10 in England, 3 in...
movement, arguing that they were an important factor in bringing the city dweller into contact with the countryside. He found kindred spirits in some of the highly conservative rural organisations that existed at the time and was a member of both Rolf Gardiner
Rolf Gardiner
Henry Rolf Gardiner was an English rural revivalist and sympathizer with Nazism. He was founder of groups significant in the British history of organic farming, as well being a participant in inter-war far right politics.-Early life:...
's Kinship in Husbandry group and Montague Fordham
Montague Fordham
Montague Edward Fordham was an English agriculturalist and advocate of rural reform. He belonged to the Religious Society of Friends....
's Rural Reconstruction Association
Rural Reconstruction Association
The Rural Reconstruction Association was a British agricultural reform movement established in 1926 with Montague Fordham as its Council Secretary, a post he held for 20 years....
.
Later life
Given the low-levels of pensions for government science workers he was forced to return to work in 1947, accepting the position of Science Adviser to the Messrs Dunn's Farm Seeds company in SalisburySalisbury
Salisbury is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England and the only city in the county. It is the second largest settlement in the county...
. His work was interrupted in 1952 by major surgery and he spent the rest of his life in severe ill health, suffering variously from angina, kidney
Kidney
The kidneys, organs with several functions, serve essential regulatory roles in most animals, including vertebrates and some invertebrates. They are essential in the urinary system and also serve homeostatic functions such as the regulation of electrolytes, maintenance of acid–base balance, and...
problems, bronchitis
Bronchitis
Acute bronchitis is an inflammation of the large bronchi in the lungs that is usually caused by viruses or bacteria and may last several days or weeks. Characteristic symptoms include cough, sputum production, and shortness of breath and wheezing related to the obstruction of the inflamed airways...
, Ménière's disease
Ménière's disease
Ménière's disease is a disorder of the inner ear that can affect hearing and balance to a varying degree. It is characterized by episodes of vertigo and tinnitus and progressive hearing loss, usually in one ear. It is named after the French physician Prosper Ménière, who, in an article published...
and in his final three years profound hearing loss.
His contributions to science were honoured by a number of awards apart from the FRS and knighthood. He was an honorary member of the Highland and Agricultural Society and the Academies of Agriculture of Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
and Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
, received the Gold Medal of the Royal Agricultural Society
Royal Agricultural Society
The Royal Agricultural Society of England was established in the United Kingdom in 1838 with the motto "Practice with Science". The RASE aim is to promote the scientific development of agriculture. The society received its Royal Charter from Queen Victoria in 1840.From its early days the society...
and, in 1932, the CBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
. Both the University of Nottingham
University of Nottingham
The University of Nottingham is a public research university based in Nottingham, United Kingdom, with further campuses in Ningbo, China and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia...
(1951) and the University of Wales
University of Wales
The University of Wales was a confederal university founded in 1893. It had accredited institutions throughout Wales, and formerly accredited courses in Britain and abroad, with over 100,000 students, but in October 2011, after a number of scandals, it withdrew all accreditation, and it was...
(1952) conferred honorary doctorates on him, although he was unable to accept the same honour from the University of Durham in 1958 as his ill health meant he was unable to travel to accept the award.
He died without offspring in 1960, having suffered several nervous breakdowns
Mental breakdown
Mental breakdown is a non-medical term used to describe an acute, time-limited phase of a specific disorder that presents primarily with features of depression or anxiety.-Definition:...
from 1926 onwards. His life was commemorated by the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
who organised a series of tributes entitled 'I Remember Stapledon' for both the Welsh Service and then the Home Service
BBC Home Service
The BBC Home Service was a British national radio station which broadcast from 1939 until 1967.-Development:Between the 1920s and the outbreak of The Second World War, the BBC had developed two nationwide radio services, the BBC National Programme and the BBC Regional Programme...
. His nephew was the science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
writer and philosopher Olaf Stapledon
Olaf Stapledon
William Olaf Stapledon was a British philosopher and author of several influential works of science fiction.-Life:...
, son of George Stapledon's eldest brother William.