Abstract
FRANCIS ARTHUR BATHER, born in 1863,was the eldest son of the late Mr. A, H. Bather. From Winchester he gained a scholarship at New College, Oxford, where he graduated in 1886, taking first class honours in natural science. In 1887 he entered the Department of Geology in the British Museum (Natural History), where his care was chiefly the fossil echinoderms, and notably the crinoids. In 1892 he gained the Rolleston prize of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge for research in biology. His first scientific publica tion of importance was on the Crinoidea of Gotland, in 1893. He was married at Stockholm in 1896; and in 1897 he was awarded the Wollaston fund of the Geological Society. the retirement of Dr. Henry Woodward in 1902, Dr. Bather was appointed deputy-keeper, a position which he held until 1924, when he assumed the keepership vacated by Dr. (now Sir) Arthur Smith Woodward. He was elected fellow of the Royal Society hi 1909; and in 1911 was awarded the Lyell medal of the Geological Society, and served as president of that body in 1926-28. He was also a member of several foreign scientific societies. Retiring from the Museum in 1928, he still visited the Depart ment of Geology to pursue his researches on crinoids, which had been seriously interrupted by his administrative duties as deputy keeper and keeper. Though failing in health during the past year, he was active until the last; and when, after two days’ illness, he passed away on March 20, the sad news came as a shock to his many friends.
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LANG, W. Dr. F. A. Bather, F.R.S. Nature 133, 485–486 (1934). https://doi.org/10.1038/133485a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/133485a0