George Rolleston

George Rolleston FRS (1829 – 1881) was an English physician and zoologist. He was Professor of Anatomy and Physiology, University of Oxford from 1860 until his death in 1881.

Life

Rolleston was born at Maltby Hall, near Rotherham, Yorkshire, England (30 July 1829). His parents were probably Rev. George Rolleston (rector and squire of Maltby) and Anne Nettleship; and his brother probably William Rolleston, later of New Zealand. [same birth place; uncommon name; limited number of educated families in a small location]

Rolleston was educated at Pembroke College, Oxford and St Bartholomew's Hospital, London. He qualified with the degrees of BA (1850, 1st Class), MA and MD. He became FRCP in 1859, and was elected Fellow of the Royal Society on 5th June 1862.

Rolleston married (1861) Grace, daughter of John Davy FRS and niece of Sir Humphry Davy FRS; they had seven children. He died of uraemic convulsions at Oxford (16 June 1881), and is buried in Holywell Cemetery, Oxford. His anthropological archive came to the Ashmolean Museum, along with the archaeological material resulting from his excavations.

Career

After qualifying as a physician, Rolleston became a Fellow of Pembroke College in 1851, holding posts at the British Civil Hospital, Smyrna (during Crimean War), and Assistant Physician, Children's Hospital, London.

Gradually he became more interested in zoology, and spent the rest of his career as a zoologist, and on the human sciences. His research included comparative anatomy, physiology, zoology, archaeology, and anthropology. He held the positions of Lee's Reader in Anatomy, Christ Church, Oxford (1857); Linacre Professor of Anatomy and Physiology, University of Oxford (1860); and Fellow, Merton College, Oxford (1872).

Huxley and the 1860 BA meeting

As a zoologist, Rolleston was a protegée of Thomas Henry Huxley, and took part in both of the critical sessions at the 1860 BA meeting in Oxford. [Desmond, Adrian 1994. "Huxley": vol 1 "The Devil's Disciple", London: Michael Joseph, p274-6, 280-1] Rolleston was one of the organisers for the meeting: he arranged for Huxley to stay at Christ Church during the meeting, and to have a crocodile skull in Huxley's room for study. Huxley was instrumental in Rolleston's appointment to the Linacre chair that very year, backing him against Owen's candidate. Rolleston wrote him a 'you'll never regret this' letter. [Rolleston to Huxley, Huxley Papers (Imperial College), HP 25.142, 148, 150.]

As an expert on the brain, Rolleston was present on the Thursday, when Huxley denied Owen's claim that human brain had parts that apes did not: T.H. Huxley#Man and ape, and again on the Saturday for the debate on Darwin, where his opponent was Bishop Samuel Wilberforce: T.H. Huxley#Debate with Wilberforce. Rolleston was an Anglican, but a liberal in his religious beliefs, as was Huxley's other supporter in the brain debate, William Henry Flower. Huxley organised his FRS, as he did for Flower; and the two men acted as liaison between the X-Club and the Royal Society. [Desmond, Adrian 1994. "Huxley": vol 1 "The Devil's Disciple", London: Michael Joseph, p306, 329] Rolleston remarked later that whenever he lectured on evolution, he was asked 'Was I an atheist or a Unitarian?' and some of Huxley's attacks on the Old Testament did cause him anguish. [Rolleston to Huxley 1 Jan 1865 HP 25.167] [Desmond, Adrian 1994. "Huxley": vol 1 "The Devil's Disciple", London: Michael Joseph, P331-2]

Rolleston was so identified with Huxley at this time that he appeared as one of 'Tom Huxley's low set' in the ironical skit "Report of a sad case recently tried before the Lord Mayor, Owen versus Huxley" (publ. George Pycraft 1863) as 'Charlie Darwin the pigeon-fancier and Rollstone' cheer on their barrow-boy. This vivid broadsheet was certainly well informed: it mentions Owen's disgaceful maltreatment of Gideon Mantell.

See also:
*T.H. Huxley#Man and ape
*T.H. Huxley#Debate with Wilberforce
*
*Alfred Newton#Reception of the Origin of Species
*1860 Oxford evolution debate

Publications

*1870. "Forms of animal life: a manual of comparative anatomy". Oxford.
*1888. "Scientific papers and addresses". 2 vols, Oxford.

Footnotes

References

*Sources: Bulloch's Roll; DNB; DSB
*Obituaries: Proc Roy Soc 1881-1882 vol 33 pp xxiv-xxvii signed by WHF