Hartridge, Professor Hamilton

Lecture notes, drawings, miscellaneous correspondence and "memoirs" (short stories, often with an autobiographical element) covering his career.

1909-1976

2 boxes

A small number of Professor Hartridge's papers were given to the library at Wellcome Collection in July 1988 by his daughter, Mrs G.C. Corden. There was very little in the way of correspondence or notes and the archivist selected examples of lecture notes only. A number of books were given to the Wellcome Institute library, and a small watercolour by Professor Hartridge was included with the records as a further example of his interest in colours and his skill as an amateur painter. W.A.H. Rushton FRS, author of Hartidge's FRS memoir, states that Hartridge's widow lent him "some boxes of very miscellaneous papers". These do not appear to have been amongst the papers found at Professor Hartridge's home in 1988.

Professor Hartridge was a physiologist who made important contributions to knowledge of the mechanisms of hearing and sight as well as inventing apparatus, especially optical apparatus. He worked in the Physiology Department at Cambridge until 1927, then as Professor of Physiology at St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical School 1927-1947 and as Director of an MRC Unit at the Institute of Opthalmology 1947-1951. For further details see "Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society" vol 23, 1977, pp.193-211.