The Eugenics Movement
Eugenics was the name given by Francis Galton (1822-1911) to the improvement of the biological inheritance of man.
The Eugenics Society, formed in 1907, aimed to enhance the inherited qualities in human society. It appealed to those concerned for the improvement of human life, attracting intellectual reformers, doctors and politicians. Among the champions of the movement were some of Britain’s leading socialists, including Sidney and Beatrice Webb, John Maynard Keynes and George Bernard Shaw.
Supporters of eugenics called for government policies to improve the biological quality of the human race through selective parenthood.
During World War II eugenics was used to justify the Holocaust and the superior race policies of Nazi Germany and, along with an increasing emphasis on human rights policies, it fell out of favour.
Fisher and Eugenics
Fisher was one of the founders of Cambridge University’s Eugenics Society. In 1911, at one of their early meetings, he gave a 15-minute talk on ‘Mendelism and Biometry’ which suggested they be combined to study the phenomenon of inheritance.
He was a supporter of positive eugenics and proposed introducing scaled family allowances proportional to parental income to encourage the higher classes to have more children.
Fisher had faith that individuals would choose the eternal good of mankind rather than their own temporary and personal comfort, and that the eugenics advocated a simplification of lives. He promoted the importance of subsistence farming as a way of life, being the only profession that gave a large family a social advantage.
Fisher’s eugenic views fit uncomfortably with contemporary society. It is possible his early interest in eugenics led to his extraordinary advances in statistical and evolutionary genetics.
On display:
- Photograph: R.A. Fisher at the age of 21 as a steward at the First International Eugenics Conference, 1912. Fisher Papers. Series 23. Scrap book re school and later awards, 1901-33
- ‘Some Hopes of a Eugenist’ / R.A. Fisher (Reprinted from Eugenics Review, 1914) Fisher Papers. Series 2: Collected Papers, 3.
Read before the Eugenics Education Society, October 2nd, 1913 - Newspaper clipping: ‘Citizens of the Future …' R.A. Fisher. Letter to The Times 10th April 1939
- Newspaper clipping: ‘Pay Mothers for A1 Babies says R.A. Fisher …’ The Daily Sketch 27 May 1938
“like all healthy philosophies, eugenics urges us to simplify our lives, and to simplify our needs: the only luxury worth having is that of a worthy human environment. We must be ready to sacrifice social success, at the call of nobler instincts. And, even as regards happiness, has any better way of life been found to combine high endeavour with good fellowship?.” Some hopes of a Eugenist’ (1914) Collected Papers, 3.