Catalogue description British Museum (Natural History): Department of Palaeontology: Fossil Echinodermata Section: correspondence and papers

This series consists largely of the scientific papers of Francis Arthur Bather (1863-1934).

Bather's papers were arranged in zoological order by L Bairstow in 1937, who allocated complex reference numbers to each item. This scheme has been largely retained, with some amalgamation of small items.

Francis Arthur Bather, (1863-1934)

Access conditions: Subject to 30 year closure

Custodial history: The series was transferred to the archives in 1992.

Obituary notices of the Royal Societ, Lang, W D, 1934, 3: 303-314.

Francis Arthur Bather was educated at Winchester and Oxford, and joined the Museum in 1887 as an Assistant in the Department of Geology. Although he studied a number of invertebrate groups in his early years at the Museum, it was the echinoderms, and particularly the crinoids, that took up most of his time. Bather became Assistant Keeper in 1902 on the promotion of Smith Woodward, and succeeded him as Keeper in 1924, retiring from the Museum in 1928. Bather had wide interests in natural history, taxonomy, literature and museum studies. He travelled widely, and was a regular visitor to Sweden.