Huxley, Thomas Henry

71 autograph letters by Thomas Henry Huxley (1825-1895), numbered 1-70 plus 60A. Correspondents include [William Hepworth] Dixon (1821-1879), historian and traveller (nos.1-3); 'Kingsley', probably George Henry Kingsley (1827-1892), physician and author (no.14); Frederick William Farrar F.R.S. (1831-1903), writer, philologist and divine, later Dean of Canterbury (nos.15-22); Thomas Campbell Eyton (1809-1880), natural historian (no.28); Henry Denny (1803-1871), entomologist (no.33); Philip Lutley Sclater (1829-1913), naturalist (nos.44-45); 'Spottiswoode', probably William Spottiswoode (1825-1883), mathematician and physicist (no.49); 'Simon', probably Sir John Simon F.R.C.S. (1816-1904), pathologist and sanitary reformer (no.61); Richard Bowdler Sharpe (1847-1909), naturalist (no.62); 'Hooker', possibly Sir William Jackson Hooker (1785-1865), botanist and Director of Kew Gardens (no.68).

Some material undated.

Thomas Henry Huxley was born on 4 May 1825. He studied at Charing Cross Hospital from 1842, and in 1845 announced his discovery of the layer of cells in the root-sheath of hair which now bears his name. After obtaining his M.B. at London University in 1845, he served as assistant surgeon to H.M.S. Rattlesnake on a surveying cruise in the seas between Australia and the Great Barrier Reef, 1846-1850. As a result of this work he was elected F.R.S. in 1851, and granted the Royal Society's medal in 1852. In 1851 he published two memoirs on the Ascidians, and in 1853 published On the Morphology of the Cephalous Mollusca. These expositions of the morphology of three widely different groups of animals established Huxley's reputation as a scientific anatomist of the first rank.

Huxley was appointed lecturer on natural history at the Royal School of Mines in 1854, and was Hunterian professor at the Royal College of Surgeons, 1863-1869, and Fullerian professor at the Royal Institution, 1863-1867. His interest in the problem of education led him to become a member of the newly-instituted school board for London from 1870 to 1872. He was Rector of Aberdeen University, 1872-1875, and President of the Royal Society, 1881-1885, but was forced to give up public work in 1885 due to ill-health. He was created hon. D.C.L. of Oxford in 1885, and in 1892 he accepted the office of Privy Councillor. He died on 29 June 1895.

At Wellcome Collection:

MSS.5271, 5376-5401, 5421, 5424; Autograph Letter Sequence under 'Adams, James'.