The British Eugenics Society Hall of Fame

Charles Galton Darwin and Dr C P Blacker, at the World Population Conference, Rome, 1954

"Man is gifted with pity and other kindly feelings: he has also the power of preventing many kinds of suffering. I conceive it well within his province to replace Natural Selection by other processes that are more merciful and not less effective." Sir Francis Galton, 1908

The Galton Institute was formerly known as the British Eugenics Society. Here are a list of prominent members. Of course, the Galton Institute does not publish a list of its current members, but I expect it would show up some interesting names. Oh, hang on. The 'News and Forthcoming Events' page has dropped some hints...

'The 2009 Galton Institute conference was a one-day meeting held at The Royal Society on Thursday 1 October discussing William Bateson and his legacy, including his influence on the fields of evolutionary biology, genetics and medicine. The programme includes the following speakers: Professor Sir Walter Bodmer (Quantitative Genetics and Variation), Professor Gabriel Dover (Epistasis and the Co-Evolution of Genetic Networks), Professor David Baulcombe, The Galton Lecturer 2009 (How Nurture Influences Nature), Professor Donald Forsdyke (Bateson's Contributions to Evolutionary Theory), Professor Tim Cox (Bateson and Medicine) and Professor Peter Holland (Homeosis and Evolution).'

Other notable British Eugenics Society members, either in the grave or still with us include:

John Maynard Keynes, Director 1937-1944 V.P. 1937
Arthur Neville Chamberlain, British prime minister between 1937 and 1940
Richard Titmuss
William Beveridge (Author of the Beveridge Report)
David Coleman
Leonard Arthur (Doctor tried for the attempted murder of Down's suffering son, yet acquitted)
Arthur Balfour
Alfred Ploetz, Vice-president (1916)
Julian Huxley, Vice-president (1937-44), President (1959-62) (Brother of Aldous Huxley)
Paul Blanshard
Walter Bodmer (Author of Bodmer report, still alive. In 2005, appointed to lead a £2.3 million project by the Wellcome Trust at the Oxford University to examine the genetic makeup of the UK)
Russell Brain, 1st Baron Brain
Chris Brand (Fellow of Nuffield College, still alive)
Cyril Burt
John Cockburn
Charles D'Arcy
Charles Galton Darwin (Grandson of Darwin, Godson of Francis Galton)
Leonard Darwin (Godson of Charles)
Charles Davenport, Vice President (1931)
Robert Geoffrey Edwards
Havelock Ellis
Hans Eysenck
Ronald Fisher
Charles Goethe
Ezra Gosney
Madison Grant
David Starr Jordan, Vice President (1916, 1931)
Franz Josef Kallmann
John Harvey Kellogg (Of corn flakes, carbolic acid and mutilation to cure masturbation fame)
Richard Lynn
James Meade
Peter Medawar
Naomi Mitchison
Henry Fairfield Osborn and Frederick Osborn
Margaret Pyke (Founder of the British Family Planning Association)
Margaret Sanger (Surprise, surprise! Founder of Planned Parenthood)
Eliot Slater
James Mourilyan Tanner
Frank Yates

The Galton Institute (formerly The British Eugenics Society)

President
Professor Sir Walter Bodmer, FRCPath, FRS (Currently at The Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, founded by Professor David Weatherall in 1989. The three main sponsors of research in the Institute are the University of Oxford, The Medical Research Council and Cancer Research UK. Significant funding also comes from the Wellcome Trust and other medical research charities.

Vice Presidents
Professor Timothy Cox, MD, FRCP, FMedSci (University of Cambridge, Dept of Medicine)
Professor David Galton, MD, FRCP, DSc

Treasurer
Professor John Beardmore, BSc, PhD, F.I. Biol.

Secretary
Patrick James, BSc, MSc, FLS

Council
Melissa Bateson, MA, DPhil (Oxon) (Institute of Neuroscience, Newcastle University)
Professor Robert D Cohen, CBE, MD, FRCP, FMedSci
Tom Dickins, BSc, MSc, PhD (School of Psychology, University of East London)
Professor Dian Donnai, CBE, FRCP, FRCOG, FMedSci (Professor of Medical Genetics, University of Manchester)
Lesley Hall, PhD, DipArchAdmin, FRHistS (Check out her INCREDIBLE webpage!)
Professor Graham A Hitman, MBBS, MD, FRCP (Blizard Institute of Cell and Molecular Disease)
Paul Hurd, BSc (Hons), PhD (School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London)
Professor Marcus Pembrey, MD, FRCP, FRCOG, FRCPCH, FMedSci
Rebecca Sear, BSc, MSc, PhD (Senior Lecturer in Population Studies Department of Social Policy, London School of Economics)