Society for Applied Microbiology - a short history

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The Society for Applied Microbiology: a Short History

The Society for Applied Microbiology A Short History

Max Sussman

M. Sussman Blackwell

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Frontispiece. The new Society for Applied Microbiology headquarters, Brickhill Drive, Bedford, 2006

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The Society for Applied Microbiology A Short History

Max Sussman With the assistance of David Post Grahame Gould Fred Skinner

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Š 2006 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd Blackwell Publishing, Inc., 350 Main Street, Malden, Massachusetts 02148-5020, USA Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK Blackwell Publishing Asia Pty Ltd, 550 Swanston Street, Carlton, Victoria 3053, Australia The rights of the Authors to be identified as the Authors of this Work have been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, except as permitted by the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, without the prior permission of the publisher.

First published 2006

ISBN 1-4051-6262-7; 978-1-4051-6262-3 A catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library Set in Minion and Frutiger by Graphicraft Limited, Hong Kong Printed and bound in the United Kingdom by The Charlesworth Group, Wakefield For further information on Blackwell Publishing, visit our website: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com The publisher’s policy is to use permanent paper from mills that operate a sustainable forestry policy, and which has been manufactured from pulp processed using acid-free and elementary chlorine-free practices. Furthermore, the publisher ensures that the text paper and cover board used have met acceptable environmental accreditation standards.

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Aspirations

‘. . . social amenities and informality . . .’

AGM 1939

‘. . . (an) atmosphere of informality and cordiality . . .’

GM 1943

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Contents

List of illustrations Preface To the Reader

viii ix xi

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

1 14 23 27 40 51 57 67 71 79 84 91 99

Origins The Early Years A New World The Spoken Word The Written Word: Beginnings The Written Word: an Experiment and New Ventures The Society Newsletter. D.E. Post Education Lectures, Prizes, Awards and Grants Some Relationships Administration The Society Archives: a Personal View. D.E. Post Into the Future

Appendix 1 Appendix 2 Appendix 3 Appendix 4 Appendix 5 Appendix 6 Appendix 7 Appendix 8 Appendix 9 Bibliography Subject Index Name Index

Obituaries The Foundation Committee and the Membership of 1932 and 1933 Officers of the Society 1931–2005 The Trustees Honorary Members Demonstration Meetings and the Technical Series The Symposium Series Membership and Money The Constitutions

101 132 134 136 137 139 143 145 150 162 163 167

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List of illustrations Frontispiece: The new Society headquarters, Manton Lane, Bedford, 2006.

Cover of a booklet entitled Dairy Bacteriologists Papers 1925–1943.

Group photograph at Ministry of Agriculture Provincial Advisory Bacteriologists Conference, June 1945.

Group photograph at first Summer Conference of the Society, Leeds, 8 July 1932.

Andrew Cunningham, Hon. President 1936–39.

Group photograph at John Robinson & Co. Ltd, Summer Conference, Avonmouth, 7 July 1938.

Group photograph at Summer Conference, Belfast, July 1948.

Group photograph at Summer Conference, Nottingham, September 1950.

Group photograph at Summer Conference, Newnham College, Cambridge, July 1952.

Group photograph at Summer Conference, Aberdeen, July 1957.

Committee members at the Golden Jubilee Summer Conference, Bristol, July 1981.

Committee members and others at the Summer Conference, Manchester, July 1992.

Cover of the Papers Read at the Annual Conference at Leeds, 8th July 1932.

Cover of the Abstracts of Proceedings 1938.

The number of papers published in Letters in Applied Microbiology May 1985 to December 1990.

The earliest printed notice of a meeting on 13 January 1970.

The first Society Newsletter, June 1976.

Notices and News of November 1993.

SAB Notices and News of September 1996.

SAB Newsletter March 1997.

SfAM Newsletter of September 1997.

SfAM News in December 2000.

The first Microbiologist, December 2002.

W.H. (Bill) Pierce 1902–1981.

J.R. Macdonald.

Group photograph at the W.H. Pierce Memorial Symposium 17 March 1993.

Anne Baillie and Susan M. Jones.

The Blore Tower.

The Market Square, Bedford.

The Blore Tower from Bedford town square.

The Archive Room and the Blore Tower clock.

The ‘History Men’.

F.A. Skinner, Editor 1965–91.

The growth of membership up to 1978.

The growth of membership 1931–1990. viii

i 2 4 10 15 28 32 33 34 35 37 38 41 43 55 58 59 61 62 63 64 65 66 72 72 75 88 89 91 92 93 94 140 146 147

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Preface

The Society for Applied Microbiology was the first learned society in Britain to make the scientific study of bacteria its special interest. This historical account of the Society appears in the year it marks its 75th anniversary. Indeed, its publication was planned to coincide with this anniversary and to celebrate it. The first part of the anniversary celebrations took place in July 2006 at the Society’s Summer Conference in Edinburgh, when the 3rd Lewis B. Perry Memorial Lecture in the Royal Museum of Scotland was devoted to an account of the Society’s history.

This written history will make its appearance to coincide with a special celebratory dinner to be held at the House of Commons on 23 November 2006. If this history shows that the Society can look back with pride to its past, it also surely shows that it can look forward to its future with confidence.

My membership of the Society only goes back to 1976 and there are many far more senior members who know a great deal more about it than I do. It was, therefore, an unexpected honour to be asked to write this history.

Readers are entitled to be reminded that I am not a historian. The proper history of the Society remains to be written on a far broader canvas, perhaps jointly by a historian and a microbiologist, as part of the history of microbiology in Britain since the mid-19th century.

The results of microbiological research have made seminal contributions to the whole of biology, particularly through the development of molecular genetics and molecular biology. There are reasons to believe that in several respects classical microbiology is at or near the end of a

long and important era, and the time may be ripe for a detailed historical evaluation. This might be sponsored jointly by the various learned societies with an interest in the subject.

This history is based on the papers and records held by the Society in its Archive Room at its headquarters. David Post, the Honorary Archivist, has, in Chapter 12, written an account of the archives and their development. Nevertheless, a few words are appropriate here to set the scene. Before 1976, some 44 years after its foundation, when Dr Alan Seaman was appointed the first Honorary Archivist, no systematic attempt was made to collect the Society’s papers. At that time before facilities were available to house them, if they were collected at all, they were held unclassified and widely dispersed in the private custody of the Society’s Officers. It is now apparent that for many years, when a formal archive did not exist, much significant correspondence and other important papers were lost. Very little correspondence survives even from comparatively recent years. As a result there are many gaps in this account in relation to very recent events.

This is, therefore, an earnest appeal that one time Officers or other members urgently get in touch with David Post so that any Society papers and other items of interest that remain in their custody can be placed in the archive. In the case of sentimental items, it should be possible to arrange at least for copies to be made and placed in the archive.

The men who in its early days served the Society as its Officers were remarkable in many ways. The obituaries of ten of these are included ix

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in Appendix 1 to provide the kind of ‘colour’ that it is otherwise difficult to achieve in an objective history. It is to be regretted that, with increasing longevity, people in their old age may retreat from the public eye, so that when they die, no one survives to write their obituaries. This may account for the fact that the Society’s Editors did to publish an obituary of Dr. J.G. Davis, who was a very significant influence in the earliest days of the Society and who last intervened in its affairs over fifty years later in 1984 Despite the loss of much material that did not reach the archives, it has taken much effort to work through the many boxes of papers that do survive in the Archive Room, until recently in the Blore Tower in Bedford. The phrase “confined to the Tower” is redolent with meaning in English history. It has also acquired a meaning while this history was in the making.

The assistance of David Post, Grahame Gould and Fred Skinner is, of course, properly acknowledged on the title page but their help must also be acknowledged here. Without their interest, enthusiasm and assistance my task would have been very difficult and terribly lonely “in the Tower”. I am grateful to them not only for their help but also for their friendship and much laughter.

Preface

My visits to Bedford always began with a mug of strong coffee prepared by Julie Wright or Rachel Dowdy. I will treasure the look of amazement on their faces when, on a hot summer’s day, I asked for cold coffee! Their warm and friendly welcome made my work much more pleasant than it would otherwise have been.

More recently Phil Wheat, the Chief Executive, has added his welcome. I shall miss my visits to Bedford and my Walter Mitty existence as a researching ‘historian’.

My association with Blackwells, which began as an author with the late Per Saugman more than 30 years ago, has always been a pleasant one.

More recently, until 1991, it was as the Society’s Hon. Editor. It is, therefore, a special pleasure on this occasion to acknowledge the patient, willing and expert assistance of Rachel Robinson, the Production Manager for this volume.

My wife Jean, who has over many years suffered my distraction while writing and editing, did so again with her usual grace and patience while this book was in the making. The words of the Book of Proverbs Chapter 31verse 28 apply in abundance.

Max Sussman Newcastle upon Tyne October 2006

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To the Reader

Most of the sources relied on for preparation of this history are in the archives of the Society.

Other sources are in the archives of the Society for General Microbiology but these have not been searched. As far as can be established, the archives of the Royal Society, London, do not contain any information about the early history of the Society. Brief historical accounts and fragments about the Society for Applied Microbiology under its previous name, prepared by its archivists, are listed in the Bibliography (page 162).

Much archival material of the Society has not been preserved or has otherwise disappeared, in part because of storage problems before the Society had its own offices. Organization and classification of the Society archive and the preparation of handwritten lists is work in progress. In the meantime, it is necessary to refer to documents as follows.

The Society Minutes are referred to by the prefix ‘C’ for Committee Minutes, ‘AGM’ for Minutes of Annual General Meetings and GM

for Minutes of General Meetings. Early Minutes are referred to by the date in full, e.g. C 23/7/36 (23 July 1936) and AGM Minutes by a short date, e.g. AGM 7/36 (July 1936). Later in a given year Minutes were given sequential numbers and these are referred to by the year and the Minute number, e.g. C 52.38 (1952 Minute 38).

For other items, such as letters, the date is given in full.

In the early chapters, the names of societies are given in full to avoid the potential confusion that may arise from use of the abbreviation ‘SAB’.

Later, when confusion is unlikely, the abbreviation SGM signifies the Society for General Microbiology and where the Society for Applied Microbiology or its predecessors in name are intended, they are referred to simply as ‘the Society’. Other societies are referred to by their name in full or where there can be no confusion as ‘the society’ with a lower case ‘s’.

‘The Committee’ or ‘Committee’ refers to the Committee of the Society, while committee with a lower case ‘c’ refers to other committees.

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CHAPTER 1

Origins

. . . great things from small beginnings grow . . .

John Dryden, Annus Mirabilis (1667)

The Hon. President of the Society of Agricultural Bacteriologists, Dr L.A. Allen1, wrote to its members on 4 April 1945 as it was about to change its name to the Society for Applied Bacteriology. The change of adjective from ‘Agricultural’ to ‘Applied’ was one of several important turning points in the history of the Society and it is reasonable to enquire what ‘applied bacteriology’ is. Dr Allen put it this way: . . . the history of bacteriology has followed a different course from that of most of the other sciences. In chemistry, physics and the older biological sciences, for example, a vast store of fundamental knowledge, acquired by researches of disinterested workers, placed these subjects on a firm foundation before they were used extensively to solve practical problems in industry agriculture and other applied fields. Bacteriology, on the other hand, was studied until comparatively recently, almost entirely as an aid in solving some practical problem, and the fundamental study of the subject was neglected. This resulted in the well known chaos in nomenclature, and in a lack of understanding of the conditions under which bacteria grew and of the chemical changes for which they might be responsible. This, in turn, hampered the solution of many important practical problems.

Pasteur’s early studies of bacterial fermentation had a strong chemical profile. His Études sur le vin, published in 1866, dealt with the so-called ‘diseases’ of wine and their prevention. This may, in part, account for a trend, which continued until recently, for Public Analysts, whose training is principally in various branches of chemistry, including pharmaceutical chemistry, to be concerned with food standards and the study of the phenomena of bacterial spoilage.

Public Analyst posts were first established under the Food and Drugs Act 1875 and Public Analysts until quite recently carried out microbiological examinations for some statutory purposes.

Most of the great discoveries of bacterial human pathogens of the late 19th and early 20th centuries were made by medical men, and the problems associated with the transmission of disease by milk became the concern of the Medical Officers of Health, who were responsible to and under the control of Local Authorities. During the 19th century bacteriological studies of milk quality were conducted under the aegis of the Royal Society of Agriculture and the supervision of chemists. Applied bacteriologists recognisable by their training and their activities did not exist.

The Advisory Dairy Bacteriologists The Society archives hold a small, soft-backed booklet (8.5" × 5", 55 pages), deposited by

1 Hon. Secretary 1939–42; Hon. President 1943–46. First Joint Secretary of the Society for General Microbiology. See obituary in Appendix 1D.

1

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Figure 1. Cover of a booklet entitled Advisory Dairy Bacteriologists Papers published from 1925 to 1943.

Deposited in the Archive by H.J. Bunker in 1977.

Dr H. J. Bunker2 in 1977. It is entitled Advisory Dairy Bacteriologists Papers published from 1925 to 1943 edited by H. Barkworth3 (Figure 1). He is described on the title page as Provincial Advisory Bacteriologist, South-Eastern Provinces. Barkworth was one of the Advisory Dairy Bacteriologists who, in 1930, recom-

2

Chapter 1

mended that a Society of Agricultural Bacteriologists should be founded and he became a member of the Society’s original committee (Appendix 2). The first Minutes of the newly formed Society, in 1931, describe him as Provincial Bacteriologist, South-Eastern Agricultural College, Wye. The book consists of a series of brief narrative accounts and, under the main headings of clean milk production, bacteriology and technology, it paints a picture of dairy science as it was in 1943. It also contains a list of references to the scientific literature and a list of articles of interest in newspapers and magazines directed at the farming and dairy industries. For the purposes of this historical account, the book is of especial interest because it begins with an account, by Dr A.T.R. Mattick4, of the early origins of the appointments of Advisory Dairy Bacteriologists and the contributions they made to the development of the dairy industry. Since the Advisory Dairy Bacteriologists are intimately connected with the origins of the Society for Applied Microbiology, it is appropriate to consider the reasons for their appointment and the developments in which they were involved and which, in a remarkable way, gave rise to the Society.

The way in which the dairy industry was organised at the turn of the 20th century was eventually seen to be unsatisfactory and in 1912 the Research Institute of Dairying (later the National Institute for Research in Dairying, NIRD) was established as a constituent of University College, Reading (Burgess, 1947).

A year later Dr Robert Stenhouse Williams5, a Lecturer in Public Health at the University of

Hon. President 1946–49.

A member of the Foundation Committee. His collection of catalogued papers on agricultural, mainly dairy, bacteriology (‘The Barkworth Collection’) was donated to the Society.

4 First Hon. Secretary 1931; Hon. President 1932–36. Member of the first Committee of the Society for General Microbiology. See obituary in Appendix 1B. 5 First Hon. President 1931. See obituary in Appendix 1 and Burgess (1947).

3

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Origins

Liverpool, took up his appointment as Research Bacteriologist at the Institute.

During World War I the nutritional importance of milk focused attention on the importance of hygiene practices in the production and distribution of clean milk. At that time, these practices were at a woefully low level throughout the country and the milk industry faced serious difficulties that resulted from severe losses by souring and spoilage of milk. These failings were felt to compromise the contribution of the dairy industry to the war effort. It was not until after the war that, for the first time, a concerted effort was made to improve dairy standards by the promotion of clean milk competitions in various parts of the country. The first step was to provide instruction in clean milk production for county dairy advisory staff. They in their turn advised farmers and farm workers on the farms. It soon became necessary to provide facilities for the examination of the milk samples taken in the course of these clean milk competitions. It then became apparent that the instructors themselves needed advice about the proper production and handling of milk.

The origins of NIRD and the part Stenhouse Williams played in its development are described in detail by Burgess (1947). It appears likely that it was Stenhouse Williams’s influence that led the Ministry of Agriculture, in 1925, to appoint the first three Advisory Dairy Bacteriologists.

They were usually attached to the faculties of agriculture of universities or to colleges of agriculture. A further seven such appointments were made in 1926, with the result that ten agricultural educational and research establishments in various parts of the country each had one Ministry-appointed Advisory Dairy Bacteriologist. At first much of their time was taken up with routine testing in connection with the clean milk competitions and in the interpretation of the results. The service rapidly expanded in various directions and became, in effect, an advisory’ service not only for milk

3

producers, but also for the dairy industry at large. Eventually, the influence of the advisers increased further, when they were invited to teach bacteriology at the universities and colleges to which they were attached.

These teaching activities attracted widespread interest and the Ministry of Health suggested that sanitary inspectors, laboratory workers and dairy employees should also receive instruction from the Advisory Dairy Bacteriologists. Larger commercial firms appointed their own bacteriologists and the Advisory Dairy Bacteriologists, by maintaining close contact also with these workers, contributed a great deal to general improvements in the milk and dairy industries.

The advisers also undertook research on dayto-day problems in the dairy industry both in the laboratory and in the field.

As part of these developments, the Ministry of Agriculture promoted regular meetings of the Advisory Dairy Bacteriologists at which papers were read and discussed and joint experiments were planned. These meetings of the Advisory Dairy Bacteriologists, all of whom had been trained at NIRD, were held from time to time after 1925. Amongst those who attended were a number of one-time students and supporters of Stenhouse Williams, who made a practice of sending their laboratory workers to the Institute for training. As a result, NIRD become the focal point of work on improving the hygienic quality of milk. Eventually more formal meetings of some 20 people interested in dairy bacteriology were called by Stenhouse Williams. These meetings, the first of which as we shall see was held in 1929, were almost certainly unconnected with the meetings under the aegis of the Ministry of Agriculture.

Dr Alan Seaman, the first Hon. Archivist of the Society refers to a meeting of the Advisory Dairy Bacteriologists in 1927 at Seale Hayne College, near Newton Abbott (Anon. 1981).

This was probably one of the regular meetings of the Advisory Dairy Bacteriologists under the

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Chapter 1

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Origins

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Figure 2 (on facing page). Ministry of Agriculture Provincial Advisory Bacteriologists Conference at the Pavilion, Brighton, June 1945. Names, employment and addresses of attendees are reproduced below exactly as in the list attached to the photograph in the archive collection.

1 2

5

3 4

7 6

10

8 9

12 11

16 24 26 15 17 28 23 22 14 25 27 18 20 21 19

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1, C.S. Oxley, PAB Eastern Province, Cambridge; 2, Dr L. Clegg, Bacteriology Dept, NIRD Reading; 3, C. Morris, PAB Western Region (Devon & Cornwall), Seale Hayne; 4, A. Rowlands, PAB East Midlands Province, Sutton Bonington; 5, A. Everett, Ministry Dairying Inspectorate; 6, C. Westwater, PAB Northern Province, Armstrong College, Newcastle; 7, S.B. Thomas, PAB Mid & South Wales, Aberystwyth; 8, J. McClemont, PAB Southern Province, NIRD Reading; 9, The Mayor of Brighton; 10, J.W. Edgell, PAB South West Province, Bristol University; 11, Professor H.D. Kay, Director, NIRD Reading; 12, R.G. Druce, PAB for Cheshire, Reaseheath Agricultural College; 13, S. Gibson, Ministry Dairying Inspectorate; 14, R. Black, Chief Executive Officer, Ministry Headquarters; 15, Unknown; 16, P. Clerkin, Northern Ireland Bacteriologist, Belfast; 17, Dr A.T.R. Mattick, Head of Bacteriology Dept. NIRD; 18, Miss Pirie, Bacteriologist, East Anglian Agricultural College, Chelmsford; 19, Miss Sowerby, Executive Officer, Ministry Headquarters; 20, Miss E.R. Hiscox, Bacteriology Dept, NIRD Reading; 21, C.H. Chalmers, PAB Yorks/Lancs Province, Leeds; 22, Mrs P. Hobson, PAB North Wales Province, Bangor; 23, Dr Higginbottom, Bacteriologist, Hannah Research Station, Auchincross; 24, Tiny Anderson, Ministry’s Dairying Inspectorate; 25, Dr McKenzie, East of Scotland Agricultural College, Edinburgh; 26, Elis Jones, Bacteriologist, Wye College, Kent; 27, Dr Lloyd Provan, PAB West Midlands Province, Harper Adams College; 28, Capt. H. Barkworth, PAB South East region, operating from Brighton.

PAB, Provincial Advisory Bacteriologist.

aegis of the Ministry of Agriculture. Society legend has it that at this meeting the Chairman, a Dr Bradshaw, for some unknown reason ruled Stenhouse Williams out of order when he attempted to raise a topic for discussion.

Stenhouse Williams is said to have retorted ‘If you’re going to be so stupid we’ll set up our own society’. He was described by those who knew him as ‘a man of restless energy and imaginative vision’ and, though the truth of the story can no longer be vouched for, all the indications are that it contains a kernel of truth. Stenhouse Williams’s obituary originally published in the Journal of Pathology and Bacteriology in 1932, before the Society had its own journal, is republished by permission in Appendix 1A and a full account of his work has been published by Burgess (1947).

Though it is not clear when the regular meet-

ings promoted by the Ministry of Agriculture began, they are likely to have begun at or shortly after Advisory Dairy Bacteriologists were first appointed in 1925. In any event, it seems likely that the meeting already alluded to and chaired

by Dr Bradshaw was one of these. In the light of the disagreement that appears to have arisen during the meeting between Bradshaw and Stenhouse Williams, it is unlikely that the latter was closely involved in the organization of that meeting.

Certainly, Stenhouse Williams’s remark, ‘we’ll set up our own society’; suggests that two separately organized groups of dairy bacteriologists were involved. This is supported by the fact that as late as June 1945 the Advisory Dairy Bacteriologists were still meeting separately as a professional group together with members of the Ministry of Agriculture staff under its aegis (Figure 2).

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Chapter 1

What is certain is that not long after the 1927 Seale Hayne meeting, Stenhouse Williams took steps to determine whether there would be support for regular, formal meetings of bacteriologists interested in dairy bacteriology.

The Beginnings of the Society On 23 July 1929, Stenhouse Williams, by then Director of the National Institute for Research in Dairying (NIRD), wrote to a number of people interested in the bacteriology of milk. One of these letters, to a Miss K. Lomax6 of Bladen Farms, Briantspuddle, Dorchester, remains in the Society archives. It reads: For a long time I have felt that it would be very helpful if all those who are working on the bacteriology of milk could have an opportunity of meeting together periodically. At the present time there is no Society which offers such an opportunity, not only to those who are engaged in this work on the educational side, but also to those who are studying these problems on behalf of various dairy firms.

Stenhouse Williams later wrote to her again with an invitation to a proposed Conference to take place in Reading later in 1929, if there were ‘. . . enough people anxious that it shall take place . . .’. Altogether, he received 52 replies and some 2 weeks later he wrote to Miss Lomax again: So many have expressed the desire for a meeting of Dairy Bacteriologists next September that we have decided to call that meeting and perhaps we may then consider what further steps shall be taken to organize such conferences at regular intervals.

6 7

The first conference of what was later to become the Society was held in St Patrick’s Hall, University of Reading, on 10 and 11 September 1929. It was attended by 38 bacteriologists but another 13 had submitted their apologies.

Twelve papers were read dealing with the bacteriology of milk and cheese. During the conference visits were made to places of interest to dairy bacteriologists, including the NIRD. At a business meeting held after dinner on the first evening of the conference the decision was taken to hold a further meeting about a year later and a committee of 14 members was elected to represent various areas of Great Britain.

The earliest phases of development of the Society are, for a number of reasons, described here in considerable detail. Though the way in which the Society came into being and the formal organization and mechanisms that were established for its management are, of course, inherently interesting, it is fascinating how, despite 75 years of evolution and great change, it is still possible to perceive echoes of its founder’s intentions in the contemporary ethos of the Society and its arrangements for meetings.

The second conference took place in 1930, once again at St Patrick’s Hall in the University of Reading. On this occasion 13 papers on dairy bacteriology were read. It was during the course of this meeting that ‘the Committee of Dairy Bacteriologists’ finalized plans for the formation of the Society that were put to a general meeting a year later. The Minutes of this meeting are sufficiently significant to be reproduced here in full.

At a meeting of the Committee of Dairy Bacteriologists held on Tuesday September 9th, 1930.

There were present7:Messrs Malcolm, Thomas, Meanwell, Oxley,

An early member of the Society. Later co-opted and then elected to the Committee.

See Appendix 2 for the posts held by the members of the foundation Committee.

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Origins

Barkworth, Mattick, Stenhouse Williams, Miss Erskine, Mr Clerkin representing Mr Wilson of Northern Ireland.

Dr Stenhouse Williams was elected to the chair.

(1) It was recommended that an autonomous association entitled the “Society of Agricultural Bacteriologists” should be formed.

(2) That a subscription of 10/- per annum should be paid to cover the reproduction of all papers bound in one volume and other expenses.

(3) That the next meeting of the Society be held in Reading somewhere between September 9th and 23rd, 1931.

It was agreed that if the Society passed the above resolutions, Dr. A. T. R. Mattick and Dr. Stenhouse Williams should consider the rules which might govern the Society and present suggestions to the committee at its next meeting.

It was also approved that the members of the Society should be asked to send to Dr. Stenhouse Williams the names and qualifications of any persons who they considered might be elected members.

The committee met again on Wednesday 16 September 1931. The Minute reads: It was reported to the Committee that the Society in ‘general meeting’ on 10 September 1930 unanimously adopted the recommendations made by the Committee at its last meeting. . . .

A draft constitution and rules had been prepared by an ad hoc committee during the previous 12 months and these were considered, amended and approved for submission to the Society for its approval. This first Constitution is reproduced in Appendix 9. Dr Jack Hopton, the second Hon. Archivist of the Society, described the founders of the Society as a ‘dissident group of Advisory Dairy Bacteriologists’. He probably based this view on the events at Seale Hayne College in 1927.

8

Hon. President 1949–51. See obituary in Appendix 1I.

7

The committee, as then constituted, consisted of nine members but, since according to the draft constitution it was to consist of a President, Secretary and Treasurer plus nine ordinary members, a further three members were elected to the Committee (Appendix 2).

The following Officers were elected, President, Dr R. Stenhouse Williams, Secretary, Dr A.T.R. Mattick and Treasurer, Mr L.J. Meanwell8. It was resolved that the order of retirement of the Ordinary members of the Committee should be ‘determined among themselves by lot’ and that subsequently retirement should be by ‘seniority in order of election in accordance with Rule 9’.

Finally, a statement of the cash position of the Society was received and approved. This showed a subscription income of £8.10.0 collected from 17 members and projected expenses of £10.1.3 for postage, stationery and wages. At its foundation, the Society was in deficit.

A general meeting of the Society took place in the evening of 17 September 1931. In the course of this meeting, the Chairman, Dr Stenhouse Williams, read out the Minutes of the of the previous day’s Committee meeting. The constitution and rules were adopted on a motion by Dr Norman Wright, seconded by Mr McClemont.

It was pointed out that there was no representation from ‘Southern Ireland’ on Committee but it was decided to leave the matter in abeyance until such time as new members were to be elected to Committee. Finally, the recommendations concerning the appointment of Committee, the Officers and the order of retirement of ordinary members of Committee were adopted. This is this point in the proceedings that is regarded as the foundation meeting of the Society. The final act of the meeting was to decide to arrange the next meeting of the Society either immediately before or after the meeting of the Agricultural Education Association

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Chapter 1

in July 1932 or, alternatively, in Leeds in the September of that year.

During the early years after its foundation, the Society held a conference once a year in summer or autumn. These meetings, which were called Annual General Meetings, were the forerunners of the contemporary Summer Conference.

The Summer Conference has ever since remained as the high point of the Society’s annual round of meetings. The expanded activities of the Society eventually made it necessary to hold more frequent Committee meetings. These eventually became quarterly but their number has recently been reduced to three a year.

Since the Committee meeting on 16 September 1931, Dr Stenhouse Williams had died and Dr Mattick was elected to act as Chairman for the meeting of 7 July 1932 in Leeds, which was effectively the first Summer Conference of the Society. As its Secretary, Mattick, reported to the Committee that ‘the general position of the Society, considering the difficulties it encountered soon after its formation, was eminently satisfactory’. Evidence of the nature of these difficulties no longer survives in Society archives, but they may well have been connected with the death of Stenhouse Williams, a powerful and influential President, in the first year of the Society’s existence. It may also be significant that Mattick indicated that he intended to propose to the Annual General Meeting that the term of office of the Officers should be extended from one to a minimum of three years, to give them ‘an opportunity of gaining experience’.

The Society archives contain a group photograph taken during the Leeds meeting (Figure 3).

The names of some of those in the photograph are written faintly in pencil on the back of the photograph. The archives also contain a partial handwritten list prepared by Dr Thomas Gibson9 9

in ink of those in the photograph (see list attached to Figure 3).

The origins of the Society’s publication programme may be seen in a Committee minute of 1932, that each member had received a copy of the papers read at the 1931 Annual General Meeting (see Chapter 2).

Who Should Be A Member?

The Society had been founded by a group of milk bacteriologists but, according to the Constitution, its objects were ‘. . . to advance agricultural bacteriology and facilitate intercourse between those who are engaged in its study’. It is, therefore, of interest that a discussion took place about whether soil chemists and ‘others associated with agricultural bacteriology could be circularised or approached individually’ presumably to become members. There appears to have been considerable reluctance to include such individuals and it was agreed that it should be left to members of Committee to be ‘in touch with any whom they considered would be suitable candidates’.

At that time laboratory technicians received their training informally as apprentices but they did not receive a formal qualification at the conclusion of their training. Twelve people, one of whom was described as a laboratory attendant, had been proposed for election to membership.

Mattick said that before their names were considered for nomination, Committee ‘should have a clear idea as to what constituted suitability for election as a member’. There was a reluctance to admit these ‘non-professional persons’ to membership, since it ‘it would create difficulties if laboratory subordinates were to be entitled to membership equally with their chiefs’.

Hon. Editor 1936–43; Hon. President 1962–63. See obituary in Appendix 1E.

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It was thought unlikely that ‘a definite limiting clause’ could be drawn up to define the qualifications for membership. The Minutes are tantalisingly uninformative about the discussions but Society anecdote records that the protagonists were Mr Hoy and Dr Cunningham10 and that eventually agreement was reached at 2 a.m. in a hotel bedroom. The final decision was that reliance would be placed on Committee, which would lay down ‘a ruling for its own future guidance’ to ensure that they ‘would not nominate laboratory subordinates for membership of the Society’. The restrictions by training and status of those eligible for membership of the Society seem strange after more than 70 years. The problem reared its head again some time later.

At the first Annual General Meeting of the Society after its foundation, later in the evening of 7 July 1932, the various Officers and the Committee were elected, Dr Mattick was elected President and the Officers were for the first time referred to as ‘Honorary’. Notice was then given that a change of rules would be moved at the following Annual General Meeting to allow the Honorary Officers to serve for three years rather than just one. As judged by the accounts presented to the meeting, there were 34 foundation members in 1931–32. Of these, 16 (including ten Advisory Dairy Bacteriologists) were from universities or agricultural colleges, eight were from the NIRD and ten were from the dairy industry.

At the following Committee meeting on 6 July 1933, considerable pride was evident in that the Society had been invited by the International Institute of Agriculture in Rome to supply particulars for inclusion in its handbook of agricultural organizations.

Since Committee meetings took place on the day of the Annual General Meeting, problems 10 11

Hon. President 1936–39.

Hon. President 1954 –56. See obituary in Appendix 1J.

9

had come to light with regard to the circulation of ballot papers, since the rules required that members should receive ballot papers one week before the Annual General Meeting. This made yet another change in the rules necessary (see Appendix 9). It was also pointed out that the Society Proceedings, consisting of the papers read at the previous annual meeting, had been ‘quoted in various places’. This apparently led to a discussion, the nature of which is not clear, but as a result of which it was decided to continue to circulate the Proceedings only to members.

The fact that the Proceedings, which had only recently been launched, should be quoted by others was seen as an accolade.

Developments reached an interesting stage at about this time. Hitherto, the membership had consisted almost entirely of dairy bacteriologists and on 17 May 1934, Mr S.B. Thomas11, the Provincial Advisory Bacteriologist in Wales, and a member of the Committee, wrote a letter to the Hon. Secretary to suggest that the membership of the Society should be extended to all those ‘interested in the microbiology of “things” agricultural’.

When the Committee met on 10 July 1934 it was reported that the British Standards Institution (BSI) had invited the Society to appoint a representative to the BSI Technical Committee dealing with standards in the dairy industry and Dr L.A. Allen was appointed. This was the first appointment of a member of the Society to a BSI Technical Committee and such appointments have continued ever since.

At the same Committee meeting there was a wide-ranging discussion about a number of matters, in the course of which the Hon. President commented that an expanded membership would make it possible to produce papers more suitable as a permanent record. It is

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Chapter 1

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Origins

11

Figure 3 (on facing page). The first Summer Conference of the Society, Leeds, 8 July 1932. The back of the photograph describes the meeting as ‘Agricultural bacteriologists conference’.

The archive contains the original and a number of copies of this group photograph. As found in the archive, when work on this history began, the photograph was pasted on to heavy dark brown paper on which, below the photograph, was a poorly legible handwritten list in ink of the names (List 1) of those in the photograph. When the photograph was released from the brown paper, a handwritten pencil list of names (List 2) was found on the back. The scripts of Lists 1 and 2 are different and their authors are unknown. Finally, the archive contains an undated, handwritten list (List 3) in ink by Dr Tom Gibson, in which fewer names are identified than in Lists 1 and 2. The almost certain explanation is that Gibson used one of copies of the photograph and that he was unaware of the other lists of names. The surnames as printed in the legends have been corrected according to the Membership List of 1932 (Appendix 2).

List 1 Names on brown paper backing Front W.D. Hoy*; J. McClemont, Miss Hiscox, A.T.R Mattick [President], L. Meanwell, Miss Jones, Holmes* 2nd row Chalmers, Malcolm, Clerkin, L.A. Allen, Miss Erskine, Nichols*, Christian*, Lindsay*, Lomax, Pirrie*, Miles 3rd row McGregor*, Cunningham, Knowles*, Burgess* Back row Robson, Westwater, Gibson, Provan, Barkworth, Thomas, Davis, Ben Davis* * Not members at the time of the Leeds Conference according to the 1932 membership list (Appendix 2).

List 2 Names on back of photograph L to R front W.D. Hoy*; J. McClemont, Hiscox, A.T.R. Mattick, Meanwell, Jones*, Grimes L to R front standing Chalmers, Malcolm, Allen, Erskine, Nichols*, Christian*, Lindsay*, Pirrie* McGregor*, Cunningham, Knowles*, Burgess*, Lomax, Miles Nelson*, Westwater, Gibson, Provan, Barkworth, Thomas, J.G. Davis, Walker * Not members at the time of the Leeds Conference according to the 1932 membership list (Appendix 2).

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Chapter 1

28

29

17 8

9

1

10

2

30

31

18 19 11

3

12

20 13

4

32

33

22

21 14

5

34

15

23 16

6

7

24 25

35

27 26

List 3† Names on Gibson’s list [L to R] Front row 1 Hoy [NIRD technician, not a member], 2 McLemont, 3 Miss Hiscox, 4 Mattick, 5, Meanwell, 6 –, 7 Holmes [Ministry of Agriculture Officer for Advisory Dairy Bacteriologists] 2nd row 8 Chalmers, 9 Malcolm, 10 Clerkin, 11 Allen, 12 –, 13 Nichols, 14 Higginbottom, 15 –, 16 – 3rd row 17 –, 18 McGregor? [Department of Agriculture, Leeds. Not a member], 19 Cunningham, 20 –, 21 –, 22 Miss Lomax, 23 –, 24 Miles?, 25 –, 26 –, 27 Anderson Back row 28 –, 29 Westwater, 30 Gibson, 31 Provan, 32 Barkworth, 33 Thomas, 34 Davis, 35 Walker? † Gibson

identified those who were not members but the others named were not all members according to the 1932 membership list (Appendix 2).

notable that the President’s comment conflated two matters, expansion of the membership and the Society’s publications, both of which have over the years separately occupied and sometimes pre-occupied the attention of the Committee. Recruitment to membership of the Society became an important matter of intermittent but increasing concern, while various matters relating to the publications were an immediate, increasing and constant concern.

Papers had from the beginning been reproduced in cyclostyled form and it was noted that if they were to be printed, ‘greater discrimina-

tion might have to be exercised in the acceptance of papers’. It was agreed that members should be allowed to read papers without restriction and in the decision that the Committee should determine what was published, the first moves can be identified towards peer review of the Society’s publications.

The Committee then turned to Mr Thomas’s letter and agreed to compile as extensive a list as possible of agricultural bacteriologists and it was suggested that members might try to persuade as many of these as they knew to join the Society.

For the first time it was suggested that there

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Origins

might be two Society meetings each year but the decision was deferred until it was warranted by the number of submitted contributions.

Another suggestion made at this time was the establishment of a category of Life Membership but consideration of this suggestion was deferred to allow further consideration by Committee.

At about this time, the first overseas bacteriologists, one German and two Egyptians, were elected to membership of the Society.

From the time of its foundation, the NIRD had acted as the Society’s ‘banker’; Society debts were settled and reimbursed later as subscriptions were collected. However, since in 1934 the Society was solvent for the greater part of the year, a bank account was opened at the Reading branch of the Westminster Bank Ltd and members were encouraged to pay their subscription

by Bankers’ Order.

Speaking of the origin of an idea a historian is said once to have remarked: ‘It is always earlier than you think’. It is, nevertheless, rather surprising that in 1938, a mere seven years after the foundation of the Society, a committee minute suggests that the Society ‘was started in 1929 by the late Dr R.S. Williams’. This clearly relates to the invitation to meet issued in that year to dairy bacteriologists by Stenhouse Williams. It is even more surprising that at the Annual General Meeting in June 1939, C.H. Chalmers, a member of the original Committee of the Society,

13

referred to ‘the inception of the Society in 1925’.

This almost certainly relates to the year of the first appointments of Advisory Dairy Bacteriologists by the Ministry of Agriculture.

Though the early members of the Society must have been fully aware that it was founded in 1931, they also knew that its ultimate origins were to be found in earlier years.

The same unavoidable impression also arises from a reading of the early records. Though the Society of Agricultural Bacteriologists was formally establishment on 17 September 1931, it had for some time had a more informal existence.

The Advisory Dairy Bacteriologists continued to have their own meetings at least until 1945 under the aegis of the Ministry of Agriculture.

Three years earlier, in 1942, Dr H.D. Kay, Director of NIRD approached the Hon. Secretary of the Society with the suggestion that it hold its meetings to coincide with those of the Advisory Dairy Bacteriologists. The President responded by pointing out that the membership of the Society far exceeded the number of Advisory Dairy Bacteriologists and that the smaller number should accommodate itself to the larger number. For this reason it seems unlikely that the Advisory Dairy Bacteriologists met independently after their meeting in Brighton in 1945.

The tables had been turned by the ‘dissident group’ on those from whose number the Society had not long before been founded.

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CHAPTER 2

The Early Years

A tradition established in the mid-1920s by the informal meetings of the Advisory Dairy Bacteriologists, led the Society to hold one General Meeting around the middle of each year and a Committee meeting in the previous evening. The main activities of the Officers and Committee during the rest of the year appear to have been publication of the papers read at the meeting in the previous year and the organization of the meeting to be held in the following year. The origins of the continuing principal activities of the Society can be seen in these annual pre-occupations with the organization of scientific meetings and the publication of the papers read at the meetings.

Not long after the establishment of the Society some members thought that it would be desirable to increase their numbers. We have already noted in Chapter 1, that S.B. Thomas had written to the Hon. Secretary (May 1934) to suggest that membership should be extended ‘to all persons interested in “things” agricultural’. He thought that if membership were to be limited to dairy bacteriologists, the name of the Society should be ‘Society of Dairy Bacteriology’. The membership, Thomas felt, should extend to agricultural bacteriologists in the broadest sense and that an effort should be made to recruit to the membership another 30–60 persons working on agricultural bacteriology. To this end, he suggested that a Sub-Committee should draw up a list of people working in various laboratories including commercial laboratories in Great

1

Hon. President 1952–54.

14

Britain and Ireland, and report in the following year. ‘Finally,’ he wrote, ‘could we rope in some people like, Ellis, Cranston and Blodwen Lloyd of the Royal Technical College, Glasgow, who are more or less ‘pure’ bacteriologists? I should think that they are more akin to our group than to the pathologists!’ The letter was read to the Committee at its meeting in July 1934. The President’s view was that if progress could be made, a larger membership would facilitate the production of papers ‘in a form more suitable to a permanent record than was possible at present.’ It appears that the Committee considered the possibility of printing papers but thought that greater discrimination might have to be exercised with regard to what was accepted for publication. It was finally agreed that there should be no restriction to what members read to the Society but that Committee should determine what should be published. It appears that Thomas’s suggestions were, in principle, accepted.

In spite of the apparent agreement with Thomas’s suggestion to expand the Society’s membership, the matter was not pursued. It was a period when the Society, though anxious to expand, feared the possible effects if its identity were to become ‘diluted’ by the admission to membership of a broader range of professional interests. The debate a year later (C 10/7/35) indicates a wide disagreement about what should be the membership of the Society. Dr J.G. Davis1 pointed out that although the Society described

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The Early Years

Figure 1. Andrew Cunningham, Hon. President 1936–39.

itself as ‘agricultural’ the membership consisted almost entirely of dairy bacteriologists, although a few dairy chemists and physiologists had also been active. He felt that there was a need to found an ‘English Dairy Science Association’ along the lines of the American DSA. Dr Andrew Cunningham (Figure 1) felt that not enough effort had been made to increase the membership along more limited lines and that Davis’s suggestion of a broader membership was premature. He had discussed with Professor T.J. Mackie2 of the Edinburgh Medical School possible affiliation to the ‘Medical Society’, presumably the Pathological Society of Great

15

Britain and Ireland, and had gained the impression that such an approach would be favourably received. Cunningham’s thinking is not clear from the surviving records of the discussions but L.A. Allen thought that it might not be easy to ‘co-operate with medical people’. The President, Mattick, apparently in support of Cunningham and Allen, commented that the Society did not want to ‘lose its identity’. These matters were raised again later (AGM 7/35) but no positive conclusions were reached, except that medical bacteriologists should be allowed to join the Society. The question of the framework in which the Society worked was raised again a year later (C 23/7/36) in a letter from J.R. Burrell, who asked whether the Society might be interested in establishing an ‘Institute of Bacteriology’ similar to other professional bodies. The Committee thought that such a step was inadvisable but the Secretary was instructed to obtain further information. What happened then is not clear but Burrell wrote again in 1937 (reproduced in AGM 7/37) to say that he had lost interest and then added some remarks directed against medical microbiologists. Some of Burrell’s phraseology is colourful, he wrote: ‘. . . you are the only permanently organised body of bacteriologists in existence and if a move is not made by you it will be years before anything to co-ordinate bugwork in this country is done’.

Burrell and a Mr Crossley of Yeovil had apparently assembled a list of people potentially interested in founding an ‘Institute of Bacteriology’.

Though the Committee was not willing to assist Burrell, they were interested to obtain the lists of interested individuals that he and Crossley had assembled in order to recruit to the membership those on the list but, for reasons that were not given, the list was described as being of no value.

2 Thomas Jones Mackie, CBE, Professor of Bacteriology, University of Edinburgh 1923–1955, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Edinburgh 1953–1955.

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‘Style and Title’ The question of what came to be termed the ‘style and title’ of the Society, arose again in 1938 (AGM 6/7/38). Seen in the light of subsequent history, the style and title, and the discussions about these in the Society and the various attitudes that were adopted, had far-reaching consequences, not only for the Society but also several years later for the foundation of the Society for General Microbiology. J.G. Davis thought that the title of the Society should be simplified in order to broaden its scope to include all bacteriologists, except medical microbiologists, otherwise the recently formed MicroBiological (sic) Panel of the Society of Chemical Industry would have an adverse effect on the Society.

A small Sub-Committee, which included Davis, was appointed to consider the matter and to report before the following AGM. The voice of Davis can be heard in the Sub-Committee report (AGM 6/39) that there would be advantages in widening the scope of the Society.

Indeed, it may have been on his initiative that Dr R.S. Breed3, of the New York Agricultural Experiment Station, had written to ask why the Society did not call itself the Society of British Bacteriologists along the lines of the Society of American Bacteriologists, which had prospered as a result, even though in the USA there was already a Society of Medical Bacteriologists and Pathologists. Breed asked, ‘Are you not unconsciously limiting your possibilities by not taking a broad enough viewpoint for the future?’ This raised protests from the President, Mattick, and Chalmers4, who felt that widening the scope of the Society would turn it into ‘a formal

3

Chapter 2

Conference embracing a large number of people . . . and the social amenities and informality of the Society would be lost.’ It was agreed that Davis should circulate a report giving the reasons why the Society of Agricultural Bacteriologists should widen its scope and status. Davis then proposed that Cunningham, the immediate past President, should circulate a report giving his reasons for opposition to the proposal. The matter was to come back to the following AGM and in the meantime the Sub-Committee was to remain in being.

In Time of War For the first time since the foundation of the Society, the Annual Conference did not take place in 1940. None of the venues that had been considered (Cambridge, Newton Abbot, Birmingham) was suitable because of war conditions and accommodation was not available in Reading. In September 1941 the Society met again, this time at the Midland Agricultural College, Sutton Bonnington, and yet again (AGM 9/41) the status of the Society came up for discussion. Davis and Cunningham both felt that, because of the pressures of war work, meetings of the Society might not be representative of all shades of opinion. Also because of war conditions the Sub-Committee had not been able to continue its work. C.H. Chalmers, President at the time, pointed out that ‘one object of the Society, when it was originally founded, was to retain as far as possible a sociable atmosphere, in which the freedom from restraint would ensure that all members, whether junior or senior in status, would find

Robert Stanley Breed 1877–1956, Microbial Taxonomist. Obituary, Conn (1956) Journal of Bacteriology 71, 383–384.

4 Hon. President 1939 –43.

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The Early Years

no difficulty in making contact with each other.’

It seems that this was the first time that this foundation objective had been clearly articulated and it has echoed charmingly down the years in the way that Society meetings are planned and conducted.

It was resolved that the Sub-Committee that had been formed to consider the style and status of the Society should remain in existence and report after the war. Nevertheless, the matter arose once again (C 27/8/42) when S.B. Thomas submitted a paper with a scheme to recast the constitution, a subject that was deemed to be within the remit of the Sub-Committee originally established in 1938 to consider the name of the Society. Thomas agreed, as had earlier been decided, that the matter should be deferred until after the war, but he raised the matter of the composition of the Sub-Committee, which had so important a remit, and it was agreed that it should be expanded to a membership of six.

A Broad or a Narrow Constituency What had earlier been termed the ‘style and title’ of the Society a little later became the ‘style and status’ of the Society, and it continued seriously to exercise the minds of some of its members. The reasons are to be seen in their view that, if the Society was to be successful, the membership would have to increase significantly and this would only be possible if members could be recruited from a broader constituency of bacteriologists. It appears, however, that an influential group of members was content with a smaller society drawn from those with a more limited range of interests, mainly in dairy bacteriology. It also seems, from the tenor of the record, that the latter group ‘used’ the war as a means for deferring what was for them a potentially threatening decision.

17

The uncertainties of war also led to the passing of a resolution: ‘that, for the period of the war, a year in which there is no meeting, shall not count as a year of office (AGM 9/41)’. A year later (C 27/8/42) the Secretary was moved to remind Committee that members were busy with war work and that time and expenditure would have to be ‘measured with extreme care’.

Another consequence of the war was that overseas members encountered difficulties with remaining in contact with the Society and paying their annual subscription, because many were classed as ‘enemy aliens’. In 1945, when there were 20 overseas members, 14 were in arrears with subscriptions.

It is a sign of the enthusiasm of and for the Society that, in spite of war conditions, the Secretary was able to report considerable progress in its activities (C 8/9/43). The membership was growing, attendance at the Annual Conferences was increasing, the first joint meeting with the Microbiology Panel of the Society of Chemical Industry in January 1943 had been a great success and that such joint meetings were to be repeated. The growth in activity meant that a greater number of papers was being submitted to be read at the annual meeting. To accommodate these more easily, S.B. Thomas wrote to suggest that the Summer Conference should be divided into two parts, one devoted to papers on soil, water and industrial microbiology and the other to dairy bacteriology. For the same reason, he suggested that the Committee should meet two or three times a year and that a second secretary be appointed, so that one would deal with membership matters and the other would arrange meetings and act as secretary to the Committee. These suggestions were not accepted for a number of reasons but it was agreed that, if necessary, an extra evening meeting of Committee could be arranged in January to take place before the joint meeting with the Microbiological Panel of the Society for Chemical Industry.

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The growing importance of the Society’s activities attracted the attention of Nature, which published a report of the annual conference at Leeds in August 1942 (Society of Agricultural Bacteriologists. Nature 1943, 151, 172) and noted that it reflected the influence of wartime conditions. The report notes that the papers, particularly those concerned with dairying, showed that problems of immediate practical importance were being investigated and that the field covered ‘. . . afforded an index of the activities of a society which exists with the object of advancing the study of general, agricultural and related branches of bacteriology’. The report concludes, ‘In spite of difficulties due to the War, this conference was most successful and did not depart from the trend towards greater variety of interests which has characterized annual meetings of the Society’.

A General Microbiological Society Even though discussions of the style and status of the Society had been deferred until after the war, it appears that the matter remained a lively concern well-known beyond the limits of the Society membership. Shortly before the 1943 Committee meeting, on 30 August 1943, Dr Ralph T. St John Brooks5 wrote to the Secretary (C 8/9/43): Dear Dr Allen It would have given me great pleasure to have been able to have attended the Annual Conference of the Society of Agricultural Bacteriologists at Leeds next week but I fear that on account of staff difficulties I cannot leave Elstree for four days at this time.

I should have liked very much to have joined in the discussions, especially if the question had arisen of

5

Chapter 2

widening the scope of’ the Society and of altering its name to ‘Society of Bacteriologists’ with functions similar to those of ’ the Society of American Bacteriologists.

I have discussed this very important matter with several of my colleagues here, and especially with Sir John Ledingham, our late Director, whom I expect you will remember as President of the Second International Congress for Microbiology and in which some thirty-five of your members took part. I had a long discussion with Sir John the other day and we both felt that the time was fast approaching when the kind of Society you suggest should be founded and in which Bacteriologists working in all the various fields might find common ground. The question really is – how should this be brought about? We wondered if the action contemplated by your Society might not delay instead of hasten this happy event. The new Society, at its inception, would, I imagine contain only one medical man, which would perhaps seem strange when one considers the large number of distinguished medical bacteriologists in this country, many of whom are Fellows of the Royal Society and of which the University of ’ Leeds alone contains outstanding examples.

As a concrete proposal I suggest that it might be a good idea to get together a small committee of your members and, say members of the Pathological and Biochemical Societies to discuss the matter and perhaps draw up tentative proposals to form an association of which your Society might well be the nucleus. I should be very glad to know of any decisions your committee may make on this subject and I and my colleagues here will do anything in our power to forward cooperation on the lines suggested.

Yours sincerely, R. St. John Brooks

In his history of the Society for General Microbiology, John Postgate (1994), describes how it came to be founded but he thought that the detailed history leading to its foundation

Curator of the National Collection of Type Cultures, Lister Institute, Elstree.

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The Early Years

was not appropriate for his account. Some of these details, as seen from the vantage point of the Society of Agricultural Bacteriologists are of interest for the present account, mainly because a coherent group of protagonists of the new society were members of the Society of Agricultural Bacteriologists. The history of the development of microbiology and its scientific ideas (Ideengeschichte) that lay behind the foundation of the Society for General Microbiology must, however, be left to someone better qualified to unravel it.

J.G. Davis, who had long thought that the membership of the Society should be broadened, was in favour of the formation of a general bacteriological society but felt that care was necessary in any negotiations to ensure that the Society ‘was not dominated by medical interests’. H.J. Bunker6 supported the idea of an inclusive society and thought that if the bacteriologist members of the Society for Pathology and Bacteriology were included in such a society it would not necessarily mean domination by ‘medical men’; it had not happened in the American society. His opinion was that it would be unwise to close doors to bacteriologists who might wish to join and that the Society should respond favourably to the suggestion by St John Brooks. Since it would be a year before any change of name could be considered by a Society AGM, the interval could be used to discuss the St John Brooks proposal with other interested parties. The view of L.A. Allen was that, in the light of the recent developments, including the creation of university degrees and postgraduate courses in bacteriology, there was a great need for a general bacteriological 6

19

society to allow bacteriologists in different fields to make contact with each other. The urgent need was for a common meeting ground for general and biochemical bacteriologists with those working in areas such as dairying, plant pathology, soil, food, water and sewage. In the meantime efforts to expand should continue, to ensure the strength of the Society in anticipation of further developments, and Allen suggested that the title Society of General and Agricultural Bacteriologists should be adopted.

A note of doubt was sown into the discussion

by Miss E.R. Hiscox7. She supported the idea of the proposed society but doubted that those with a main interest in dairying and the National Diploma in Dairying (NDD) and similar qualifications would feel comfortable in such a society and felt that their interests should be protected.

L.J. Meanwell8 thought that the Society of Dairy Technologists might cater for such individuals.

There was general concern for these members, who were curiously described as ‘junior’, but, overall, the Committee was supportive of the formation of a general microbiological society and it was agreed that the matter should be put to the AGM on the following day.

The Society AGM of 1943 was a lengthy affair that extended over the evening of 8 September and the following morning. The evening session dealt with routine matters, in the course of which Dr St John Brooks and Dr Marjory Stephenson9 were elected to the membership. In the morning of the following day, the future and the title of the Society were considered. St John Brook’s letter of 30 August to L.A. Allen was read out, followed by summaries, prepared

by Bunker and Hiscox, of the discussion that

Hon. President 1946–49. First Treasurer of the Society for General Microbiology.

Bacteriologist, NIRD. 8 Hon. President 1949–52.

9 1885–1948, Chemical Microbiologist, University of Cambridge. Obituary Woods (1950) Biochemical Journal 46, 377–383.

7

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20

had taken place in Committee. Then C.H. Chalmers, the President who was just about to retire, Marjory Stephenson, A.T.R. Mattick and Professor J.W. Macleod10 were each in turn asked for their personal views.

Macleod said that it would be preferable if the new society were formed by a joint effort of several societies rather than the evolution of the Society of Agricultural Bacteriologists.

Marjory Stephenson described microbiology as a ‘Cinderella’ in this country, as compared with America, Denmark and Holland. If it were to take a lead, the Society of Agricultural Bacteriologists should be encouraged but she was of the opinion that ‘microbiology’ was a better term than ‘bacteriology’ to signify inclusiveness; there was no longer any need to fear medical involvement. The various interests in a larger society could be accommodated by the establishment of special panels. As for fears that had been expressed, for younger people in a large society, Stephenson was sure that they should take the lead, rather than the ‘over fifties’!

The questions addressed in the general discussion give a clear impression of the main prevailing concerns. Should the Society expand or should it rather co-operate with others? Persuasive voices emphasized that whatever changes were to take place, the traditional friendly atmosphere and the interests of junior members had to be protected. It is striking that some members were particularly worried by the likely size of the annual subscription. Finally there recurred the perpetual problem of the most suitable title for the Society. The latter was settled by a vote in which the majority were in favour of retaining the word ‘Bacteriologists’. This vote may have been an augury of things to come. As for the other matters, delegates were appointed to explore with other societies and groups the pos-

Chapter 2

Table 1. The names and interests represented by the microbiologists who met under the chairmanship of Sir John Ledingham on 16 November 1943 to consider the possible formation of a ‘general bacteriological or microbiological society’. †Dr L.A. Allen* Dr C.H. Andrews †Dr R. St John Brooks †Mr H.J. Bunker* Mr D.H.F. Clayson Mr C.E. Coulthard Dr J.G. Duncan Professor A. Fleming Dr H.B. Hutchinson Dr B.C.J.G. Knight* Sir John Ledingham (Chairman)*

Dr W.R. Wooldridge Professor J.W. Macleod Mr E.W. Mason *Dr A.T.R. Mattick* Professor A.A. Miles* Dr W.T.J. Morgan Dr Muriel Robertson* Dr Kenneth Smith* Dr A.W. Stableforth* †Dr Marjory Stephenson* Dr H.G. Thornton Dr S.I. Wiltshire*

* Members of the Sub-Committee; † Members of the Society of Agricultural Bacteriologists.

sible formation of a general bacteriological or microbiological society.

The newly appointed President, L.A. Allen, and Dr St John Brooks compiled a list of representatives of different interests in microbiology and a meeting was held on 16 November 1943 at the London School of Hygiene, under the chairmanship of Sir John Ledingham, to sound out opinion about the desirability of forming a ‘general microbiological society’ (C 12/1/44) (Table 1). The committee considered two possible arrangements: that the proposed new society should be a large comprehensive society with the constituent interests represented by Panels, similar to the Society of American Bacteriologists; or that the society should represent all forms of microbiology, but that its scope should be restricted to the more fundamental aspects of the subject. In the course of the discussion it

10 John Walter McLeod, OBE, FRS, 1887–1978, Professor of Bacteriology, University of Leeds. Obituary Wilson and Zinnemann (1979) Biographical Memoirs of the Royal Society 25, 421– 444.

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The Early Years

became clear that the various societies represented were unwilling to merge with the Society, because their interests were in fundamental research rather than in the applied aspects. The committee came to the conclusion that the second alternative was preferable, since it was unlikely that the existing societies would be willing to become panels in the new society.

The unanimous decision was to appoint a Sub-Committee (see Table 1) to consider the formation of a Society for General Microbiology, with the subtitle ‘Society for the establishment and extension of common ground between all forms of microbiology’, and that a journal would be established.

21

consider the future and be ready to take appropriate action when the occasion demanded. It seems likely that the recommendation that the Society ‘should not take premature action’ were inspired by the hope that the Society might yet take or be encouraged to take steps to become or be part of the society that was now in clear prospect. Nevertheless, the subsequent discussion (C 12/1/44) appears to have been concerned mainly with the practical consequences of the foundation of the new society, such as possible joint subscriptions, the formation of a joint council and the possible loss of members to the new society. The possibility of expanding the Society was not mentioned and one cannot avoid the impression that in spite of Allen’s exhortation the possibility had either been discounted or that it was yet to be seriously considered.

The Society for General Microbiology The first meeting of the Sub-Committee took place on 17 December 1943 with Marjory Stephenson in the Chair. Allen later reported to Committee (C 12/1/44) that he and St John Brooks had been appointed Joint Hon. Secretaries of the Sub-Committee The feeling was that the establishment of a large society, which presumably meant an enlarged society based on that of the Society of Agricultural Bacteriologists, was impractical. At the same time it was overwhelmingly clear that there should be a new society for the study of the fundamental aspects of microbiology. A separate and enlarged Society of Agricultural Bacteriologists and various other existing societies would fill the needs of applied microbiologists.

When L.A. Allen, who was already involved in the foundation of the new society, reported the interim conclusions of the Sub-Committee to the Committee of the Society for Agricultural Bacteriologists, he emphasized that no action had yet been taken and that the Society should not take premature action but that it should

Going it Alone A significant point that arose during the discussion was the intention of the new society to found a journal of fundamental microbiology.

The view of the President was that the Society’s Proceedings should be expanded to form a Journal of Applied Bacteriology. He also agreed with Dr Mattick’s view that the title of the Society should be changed.

A further meeting of what now appears to have become an ad hoc committee to consider the formation of a Society for General Microbiology, was due to take place on 1 February 1944. After this second meeting, the ad hoc committee wrote to the secretaries of interested societies and to individual scientists who might be interested in the new society. Significant interest had already been expressed, including that of a number of Fellows of the Royal Society.

The formation of the new society was moving ahead very rapidly.

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The main concern when the Society Committee considered these developments (C 9/5/44) was the long-delayed debate about its future name. The matter was still not finally settled at this stage but the name Society for Applied Bacteriology was coming more clearly into focus. The time was also ripe for a root and branch reconsideration of the Society’s constitution that had served it for the 13 years since its foundation. The Hon. President, Miss Hiscox and Dr Richards were appointed to look into the matter. Finally, it was agreed that the secretary should write to the ad hoc committee that the Society ‘viewed with interest the formation of the new Society and desired to wish it every success.’ At the same time, it was noted that, since the new society was to promote fundamental microbiology, ample scope remained for a society concerned with applied bacteriology.

The Summer Conference of 1944 was again held in Leeds on 8–10 September and again the Society attracted the attention of Nature, which noted changes that had taken place and reported (Society of Agricultural Bacteriologists. Nature 1944, 153, 86 –87):

Chapter 2

The Society of Agricultural Bacteriologists shows each year a fresh increment of growth. This is partly due to the increasing attention which is being given to the study of bacteriology in relation to agriculture and partly to a gradual change in the composition of the Society. For some years it has been attracting a steadily increasing number of bacteriologists working in university departments and research establishments of various types, and in industries other than agriculture. Indeed, all the main branches of bacteriology outside the medical field are now represented among its members. The present policy of the Society is, by opening its membership to bacteriologists in different fields and by making contact with other societies and groups interested in the study of microbiology, to assist in the evolution of an association which will represent all the various branches of bacteriology in Great Britain.

As the story of the Society of Agricultural Bacteriologists unfolds, it is of more than passing interest that Nature reported these developments of the Society and it suggests that the changes were more than very gradual. A necessary evolution was taking place but resistance was not far away.

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CHAPTER 3

A New World

When its sister society was founded, in 1945, the Society of Agricultural Bacteriologists, though the older, was already the smaller and this has remained so ever since. Though it is clear that the members of the Society decided that they wished to remain independent, the record is silent as to how exactly this came about; there was no formal resolution to this effect.

There must have been opposition to enlarging the Society but, other than Dr Cunningham and Miss Hiscox, it is difficult to identify those around whom this opposition had crystallized. As we have seen in the previous chapter, H.J. Bunker, A.T.R. Mattick and particularly L.A. Allen, senior and influential members of the Society, seem to have been in favour of its development into the larger entity about which St John Brooks had written his letter in 1943.

Indeed, all three became members of the first governing body of the Society for General Microbiology that was elected in February 1945.

Part of the opposition to a major change of the Society was the determination to maintain the ‘atmosphere of informality and cordiality’ (GM 1943) of the Society. This is consistent with the view of Professor John Postgate (personal communication 2006), a long-standing member of both societies, that the members of the Society of Agricultural Bacteriologists were fearful that the new society, which included formidable personalities of powerful intellect, would give overwhelming precedence to the fast developing enzymology and what was to become genetics, to the disadvantage of the interests of the applied bacteriologists. Postgate suggests that Allan, Bunker and others preferred

to keep their own ‘old’ Society with its relaxed social tradition and its commercial and lay contacts, going alongside the new society. It is not surprising, therefore, that in 1945 Committee instituted an Annual Committee Dinner to which eventually, in 1968, it was agreed to invite Past Presidents (C 68.48). The Annual Committee Dinner continues to be held, towards the end of each year and, more than 60 years later, it remains the convivial Annual President’s Dinner.

In comparison with the generally haltingly deliberate manner in which the Society of Agricultural Bacteriologists made its decisions and then did things, the Society for General Microbiology made its appearance on the scene with what would now be called a ‘big bang’.

Members of the old Society who were not on the Committee or who had not have been able to attend the General Meetings were likely to have been surprised by the developments of which they read in the circulated Minutes of the Annual General Meeting. So, on 4 April 1945, shortly after the Society for General Microbiology came formally into being, Dr Allen, the Hon. President of the Society of Agricultural Bacteriologists, wrote the following letter, to explain to its members what had happened: Dear Sir or Madam On reading the Minutes of the last Annual General Meeting, which have recently been circulated, it occurred to me that new members, and those who have been able to attend the more recent conferences of the Society, might not realise the reasons for, nor the significance of, the 23

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proposed changes which are embodied in the proposed new Rules. The purpose of this letter is to provide a simple explanation.

As, no doubt you realise, the history of bacteriology has followed a different course from that of most of the other sciences. In chemistry, physics and the older biological sciences, for example, a vast store of fundamental knowledge, acquired by researches of disinterested workers, placed these subjects on a firm foundation before they were used extensively to solve practical problems in the industry agriculture and other applied fields. Bacteriology, on the other hand, was studied until comparatively recently, almost entirely as an aid in solving some practical problem, and the fundamental study of the subject was neglected. This resulted in the well know (sic) chaos in nomenclature, and in a lack of understanding of the conditions under which bacteria grew and of the chemical changes for which they might be responsible. This, in turn, hampered the solution of many important practical problems.

During the last twenty years these shortcomings have gradually been realized and now there is a widespread desire to treat the subject first as a biological science and later in its applications to medicine, agriculture, and industry. This desire is finding expression in the inauguration of University courses leading to a Degree or a Postgraduate Diploma in bacteriology, and in a marked increase in the number of research workers engaged in its basic problems.

It is not surprising, in view of the peculiar development of the subject, to find that in Britain there has in the past been no General Society for bacteriologists, and no bacteriological journal, that bacteriologists have been members of Societies which catered mainly for other sciences, and that many bacteriologists have failed to find a suitable Society at all. For some years past the Society of Agricultural Bacteriologists realising this position and in response to a demand, has widened its scope and has catered for the interests of bacteriologists working in fields other than agricultural.

This process of expansion reached a natural climax at the Annual General Meeting in 1943,

Chapter 3

when the possibility was discussed of moulding the Society on somewhat the same lines as the Society of American Bacteriologists. It was, however, pointed out by Dr St John Brooks that such a project would be more likely to meet with success if it were undertaken by all the interested groups of bacteriologists acting in collaboration, than if it were attempted by a single Society expanding on its own. The force of this contention was realized by the meeting, and I was asked to make contact with Dr St John Brooks and to explore with him the possibility of forming a general society which would include workers in all fields of bacteriology or of microbiology.

We invited some 25 persons, representing different branches of microbiology, to attend a meeting to discuss the project and we met with very enthusiastic co-operation. The general feeling was that a new Society should be formed, that it should provide a common meeting ground for microbiologists in all fields, and that it should deal with the more fundamental aspects of the study of bacteria, viruses, protozoa, micro-fungi, and microscopic algae. This Society has now been inaugurated. With the title of ‘Society for General Microbiology’ it has a nucleus of some 240 original members, and its first President is Sir Alexander Fleming.

After considering the impact of this movement upon our own activities the Committee of the Society of Agricultural Bacteriologists accorded a warm welcome to the new Society. It was decided that, as the new Society would deal with the more fundamental aspects of the subject, our own Society should continue to expand by catering for the activities of the many bacteriologists working in applied fields whose interests were not satisfied by other existing Societies. The Committee realized that the title of the Society should be altered to indicate its wider interests and that the Rules should be re-drafted accordingly. A SubCommittee appointed for the purpose made recommendations, which with minor alterations, were approved by the full Committee. The main change proposed is that the title of the Society should be altered to ‘Society for Applied Bacteriology’. The Rules have been re-drafted so as

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A New World

to be more suitable for a larger Society with wider interests. It is intended, when restrictions on the paper supply are removed and the membership is sufficiently large, to publish a Journal which will be more in accord with the status of the Society than the present Proceedings.

You will see, I think, that the proposed changes are the logical outcome of the progressive development of the science in which we are all working. Such changes are, no doubt, inevitable, but the Committee is keeping firmly in mind the desirability of maintaining the friendly and informal atmosphere which has always characterized our meetings and which, I am sure, none of you will want to change.

This letter is tantalizingly silent about why the Society of Agricultural Bacteriologists did not take the steps that would have transformed it into the ‘general society’ that was thought by some to be desirable. It seems likely, however, if one takes into account the precise terms of the earlier letter by St John Brooks, that Allen all along favoured the expansion of the Society into a general microbiological society. It is possible that, given sufficient time, such a development might have been a possibility. Though the Society Committee had for some time been considering the widening of its interests, it had not at the time considered the possibility of turning itself into a ‘general’ society. It is implicit in St John Brooks’s letter that the development he favoured would require the co-operation of several interested societies. This was clearly also the view of some influential contributors to the debate that took place during the 1943 AGM (see Chapter 2). Discussions about possible changes to the Society of Agricultural Bacteriologists seem always to have been cautious, even over-cautious affairs. The Society was not ready in the very short-term to contemplate such far-reaching changes. It is likely that all along an overriding consideration was the fear that rapid expansion would entail a change

25

in the character of the Society. The Society of Agricultural Bacteriologists chose independence.

A Change of Name The ease of being a small Society did not fit comfortably with its ambitions. These first expressed themselves some time before in the desire to attract a broader spectrum of members, though there were always a few doubting voices. From the earliest days of the Society’s existence these ambitions progressively turned into necessities, because it was apparent that a larger number of members, and the accompanying increased subscription income, were important if not vital to sustain continued development and the improvement of services to members. It was also felt that a larger membership would increase the scope, and raise the standard, of the scientific communications offered at meetings and these in turn would enhance the Society’s publications.

These recurrent considerations eventually became important concerns, which had first been seriously articulated as long ago as the 1938 Annual General Meeting, when J.G. Davis suggested that the Society should broaden its scope and, correspondingly, change its name or as he put it at the time ‘simplify’ its name.

When the Society for General Microbiology was formed, the adjective ‘agricultural’ began to be seen as seriously limiting.

Though the name of the Society had already been considered in 1943, it was in May 1944 that a Sub-Committee was eventually set up, under the Chairmanship of L.A. Allen, to consider the ‘future status, scope and title’ of the Society. The remit of the Sub-Committee was to consider the name of the Society, its Constitution and Rules and the establishment of a journal. The name that had finally re-emerged was ‘Society

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for Applied Bacteriology’. The subject was again seriously discussed by the Committee immediately after the AGM in Leeds in December 1944. The evidence is clear that the formation of the Society for General Microbiology was the final stimulus for changes in the Society of Agricultural Bacteriologists.

At the Annual General Meeting on 23 July 1945, the Hon. President gave a brief account of the history of the Society, in the course of which he described the development of the Society’s Proceedings and its Abstracts. He went on to refer to the expansion of the Society beyond its original core of dairy bacteriologists, which satisfied a need for scientific exchange between a wider range of bacteriologists. Bacteriologists in fields other than purely agricultural bacteriology, such as water, soil and sewage bacteriologists, needed somewhere to discuss their interests, and dairy bacteriologists would benefit from contact with bacteriologists in other fields. Dr Allen thought that, since the Society for General Microbiology provided the means for microbiologists in all fields (emphasis supplied) to discuss fundamental aspects common to all branches of the science, it left a ‘field for expansion which it would be foolish to disregard’. The committee had given a great deal of thought to the matter and had set up a Sub-Committee in May 1944 to consider the ‘Title, Scope and Status of the Society’ and to redraft the Constitution and Rules. The main change proposed was that the title of the Society should become the Society for Applied Bacteriology. It had already been agreed in December 1944 that, to avoid possible confusion, the headed notepaper of the renamed society should for several years bear the addi-

Chapter 3

tional words, ‘Formerly Society of Agricultural Bacteriologists’ and notice of the change of name was to be sent to a number of scientific periodicals. Before the lengthy discussion that followed, Dr Allen appealed to the members to accept the proposals of the Committee.

The discussion dealt mainly with the details of the redrafted Constitution and Rules but Dr Cunningham objected at some length to the removal of ‘the term agriculture’. Until 1944, he had not been able to attend meetings during the war, and he was struck by the ‘change in atmosphere’ that had taken place; he disapproved, for example, of the delivery of invited papers.

Cunningham thought that if the industrial bacteriologists, who comprised about half of the society, felt the need for a society, he had no objection if they were to form their own. There was some support for Dr Cunningham and, as a compromise, he suggested the title ‘Society for Agricultural and Industrial Bacteriologists’ but Allen regarded this as too clumsy, though when the basis of the debate was different in 1943 he had himself suggested Society of General and Agricultural Bacteriologists. The change of name as originally proposed was passed by 44 votes with eight against; the change of name was noted by Nature (1945, 156, 481) Whenever its ‘style and status’ were under consideration, the Society’s publication programme was never far from the discussion.

Publications were an integral part of Dr Allen’s account of the Society’s history and the latter part of the 1945 AGM, which took place on the day after the change of name had been agreed, was devoted entirely to the Society’s publications, which will be considered in Chapters 5, 6 and 7.

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CHAPTER 4

The Spoken Word

The spoken word is the ultimate driving force of the Society. If originally there had not been an annual conference, there would not have been publication of their proceedings. The ultimate origin of the Society is, therefore, to be found in the meetings of the Advisory Dairy Bacteriologists and their discussion of common problems, either under the aegis of the Ministry of Agriculture or in a circle that formed around Robert Stenhouse Williams. It is easy to imagine that with time in both these forums the informal exchanges turned into ‘paper reading sessions’.

The meetings organized by the Ministry of Agriculture were almost certainly always informal while the formation of the Society of Agricultural Bacteriologists led to greater formality of interchange and the publication of the papers that had been read. The precise evolution of the meetings of the Society is now somewhat unclear but what is clear, because it is still the case, is that the meetings are its driving force.

At first the Society met only once a year in the summer and some of the customs and traditions set then continued for some time. In connection with least at some of the Summer Conferences, the participants paid visits to places of interest.

The earliest of these were in the afternoon of the Leeds Meeting on 8 July 1932, when visits were paid to Mr Cooper’s farm, near Harrogate, and Mr Hudson’s farm, near Skipton. The next such visit of which evidence remains in the archives is a visit to John Robinson & Co. Ltd, probably a dairy company of some sort, in Avonmouth in 1938 (Figure 1).

Extensive discussions about the ‘future policy of the Society’ took place in 1950, as a result of

which wide-ranging changes were made in the programme of meetings. The Winter Meeting was seen as too short to allow the planning of a sufficiently attractive programme but because of clashes with other meetings, it was thought that the meeting could not extended. This led to the suggestion that an autumn meeting be held in the third week of October to coincide with the Dairy Show, which a large number of members attended. It was thought that a 1-day meeting should take the form of a symposium on some bacteriological aspect of the dairy industry (C 50.35a). At the time there was also a suggestion that meetings of sub-groups be encouraged but Committee was hesitant about such an arrangement. They were concerned that ‘Committee must have the right to approve any such meeting if any question of Society responsibility or expenditure was involved’ (C 50.35c). Perhaps the most important decision taken at this time was the establishment of the first Programme Sub-committee (C 50.35b) on which G. Sykes, L.F. L. Clegg, J. Meiklejohn, H.J. Bunker were to serve with C.B. Taylor as Convener.

In the early 1950s smoking was still common and Minute C 53.47.3 is both a sign of the times and of things to come. Miss Booth had written complaining about: the ventilation of some of the lecture rooms and appealing for moderation in smoking (and in the type of tobacco used!). This was discussed in some detail and it was agreed that no positive action could be taken, but that at future meetings the Chairman might ask for moderation if the situation seemed to require it. It was pointed out that in some lecture halls smoking is prohibited 27

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Chapter 4

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Figure 1 (on facing page). A site visit to John Robinson & Co. Ltd, Avonmouth, 7 July 1938, during the Summer Conference.

34 23

35 36 25 24

12

11 1

13 2

37

39 27

26

4

40

41

28 16

15

14 3

38

5

42 29

17 6

43 44 45 33 32 31 30 19

18 7

8

20 9

21

22

10

The following incomplete list of names is attached to the photograph in the archives.

5, A.T.R. Mattick; 6, Cunningham; 7, Ling; 12, Chalmers; 14, Miss A.A. Nichols; 15, Miss Hetty Jones; 16, Miss P.M. Hobson; 17, Miss K.L. Lomax (?); 20, Miss E.R. Hiscox; 21, R. Burgess (?); 22, Everett; 23, C.H. Westwater; 24, A. Rowlands; 25, S.B. Thomas; 26, A.L. Provan; 27, Bray (?); 31, L.J. Walker; 32, C.C. Thiel; 33, H.F. Burgess; 36, J. Holmes; 38, H. Barkworth; 39, Anderson; 40, S. Gibson; 41, W.A. Hoy; 43, T. Gibson; 44, F.K. Neave; 45, L.A. Allen. completely, and that this would be the case at tomorrow’s meeting, and also at the next Summer Meeting in Oxford. The Secretary was asked to reply appropriately.

In time, the Summer Conferences changed.

Before about 1980 conferences had more social content and the meetings lasted longer than they do now. One afternoon of the Conference was always devoted to excursions to local places of interest, some were suitable for serious bacteriologists, while others were of a lighter character. It was for those not interested in either of these kinds of outing that Don Whitley encouraged a golf competition for which, in 1987, he presented a trophy in the form of a shield (see Chapter 9).

A paper-reading meeting was started in autumn 1951 as an annual event but it continued only until 1953. Eventually, support for this kind of meeting decreased and, in 1955 it was replaced by the Autumn Meeting, which usually consisted of factory and laboratory visits of interest to bacteriologists. These visits were, for

example to the Central Public Health Laboratory at Colindale, near London, or the Metropolitan Water Board Laboratories at Sadler’s Wells in London. During these visits one of those working at the place being visited would give a talk, which was always followed by tea.

The annual round of meetings was eventually reviewed (AGM 7/61). Meetings had been unchanged since 1950 and the decision was made to retain the January Winter Meeting in its traditional form. The Summer Conference was to consist of a one-and-a-half day symposium the subject of which was not to be too specialized and one day of paper-reading sessions. In addition, the October meeting, which for the previous four years had been only a visit, with the President’s address in alternate years, was reintroduced.

In 1961 these Autumn Meeting visits were replaced by Demonstration Meetings and, in 1965, the Presidential address was moved to the January meeting. The resulting Winter Meetings which, until recently, were always held at the Royal Society of Medicine, in London, typically took the form of a presentation of general

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papers and the AGM and a Presidential Address or an invited talk. In 1968 the first of a short series of Stenhouse Williams Lectures was given

by Professor James Howie. This Lecture was given in alternate years until 1974, and from then a visiting lecturer alternated with the annual Presidential Address. Eventually, the January meetings were so well attended that Ella Barnes during her Presidency, in 1978, introduced the ‘Special Topics’ sessions of which four were held simultaneously and consisted of the reading of papers on a particular theme, rather than a general selection of papers as had been the case before. The Special Topics concept was popular and many meetings of that type have been held.

The Autumn Meetings originally had only an informal scientific content but, for the first time in 1964, the Autumn Demonstration Meeting was planned to make the presented methods and equipment the subject of a book. This gave rise to the Technical Series (see Appendix 6). The Autumn Demonstration Meetings continued until 1992.

A request was received from a number of members in 1975 to hold regular meetings of a pharmaceuticals and cosmetics group under the auspices of the Society. Rather than institute a specialist group, however, it was decided that a forum would be provided for discussion in the form of colloquia that would continue for as long as there was sufficient interest. A pharmacy Colloquium was first held in January 1976 and since then Colloquia have been formed on food and water.

Joint Meetings The Society of Chemical Industry (SCI)(founded 1881), was the ‘applied chemical society’ that in 1942, corresponded to The Chemical Society (founded 1841), the ‘fundamental chemical

Chapter 4

society’. In 1938 the SCI had formed a Microbiology Panel and, in 1942, Professor Harold Raistrick, Professor of Biochemistry in the University of London and Chairman of the SCI Microbiology Panel suggested joint meetings between the members of the Panel and the Society for Agricultural Bacteriologists (C 27/8/42). The first of these took place on 13 January 1943. The papers read by ‘Messrs Meanwell, Clayson and Dowson provoked long and lively discussion’.

The meeting was judged to have been a great success (C 8/9/43) and another joint meeting with the Panel took place in the following year (13 January 1944), when three papers were read, R.F. Montgomerie on ‘The preparation and standardisation of veterinary vaccines and antisera’, E.R. Hiscox on ‘High temperature–short time pasteurisation’ and H.P. Sherwood on ‘Shellfish purification’. These Joint Winter meetings, at which three papers were usually read by members of our Society, continued until 1967.

Since these early days, many joint meetings with other societies have taken place.

Scientific Meetings Of the Society 1941–2001 Below is a list at roughly 5-yearly intervals of the Society meetings that have taken place since 1941. Unfortunately, in some cases the details are no longer available but the list gives a useful impression, first, of the kinds of meetings the Society has organized during 60 years and, second, how these meetings have changed, particularly in the kinds subjects with which the meetings have been concerned.

1941 Summer Annual Conference, Midlands Agricultural

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College, Sutton Bonnington 30 papers submitted – a record

Davis , ‘Dairying’, M. Ingram ‘Food’, H. Proom, ‘Problems of Freeze-Drying’.

1946

1952

Winter meeting – General Meeting at Burlington House, 50 members and visitors attended.

Meeting followed in the afternoon by a joint meeting with the Microbiology Panel of The Society of Chemical Industry. It was proposed that similar meetings be held in January 1947.

Summer meeting – Glasgow. No details of the proposed programme in the Minutes but ‘members of Committee should endeavour to obtain contributions for the September meeting from members in various fields of bacteriology in order to spread the interest of the meeting’

The Summer Conference in July 1952 took place in Newnham College, Cambridge (Figure 4).

1948 and 1950 Figure 2 is a group photograph of those who attended the Summer Conference in Belfast in 1948 and Figure 3 is a photograph of those who attended the Nottingham Summer Conference in 1950.

1956 Winter meeting – Symposium on anaerobes held jointly with the Microbiology Group of the Society of Chemical Industry. ‘7 papers are promised. This later rose to 8.’ (C 55.37) Summer Conference – Reading. Title not given in the Minutes but 15 papers would be presented in three sessions.

Autumn meeting Visit to ‘the National Health Laboratory Service laboratory at Colindale.’ Numbers attending were restricted to 60, so a second venue, United Dairies Central Laboratories, was also planned.

1957 1951 Winter meeting – In the morning papers were read by members and in the afternoon a Joint Meeting was held with the Microbiology Panel of the Society of Chemical Industry on ‘The Cytology of Bacteria.’

Summer Conference – Aberdeen Autumn meeting – A discussion meeting on ‘The Effect of Cold on Micro-organisms.’ Speakers were: A.T.R. Mattick, ‘General Principles’, J.G.

The subject of the Symposium at the Summer Conference which took place in Aberdeen in July 1957 was ‘Formation and Germination of Bacterial Spores’. A group photograph of the participants is shown in Figure 5.

1961 Jan – Joint Meeting with SCI, on ‘Quantitative Bacteriology’

Figure 2. Summer Conference, Belfast, July 1948.

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32 Chapter 4

Figure 3. Summer Conference, Nottingham, September 1950.

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The Spoken Word 33

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Figure 4. Summer Conference, Newnham College, Cambridge, July 1952.

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Figure 5. Summer Conference, Aberdeen, July 1957.

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Chapter 4

July – Symposium on the bacteriology of the intestine and a paper reading session Autumn – Demonstration

1966 Jan – Microbiology of desirable food flavours July – Disinfection Autumn – Demonstration Meeting ‘Groups’

1971 Winter meeting – four sessions are planned (C 70.53) 1.

2.

3.

4.

Micro-organisms as Indicators.

Methane and Hydrocarbon Micro-organisms.

Gel Electrophoresis in Taxonomy.

Current Methods for Assessing Disinfectants and Antiseptics.

Summer Conference – Liverpool.

Symposium on Microbiological Aspects of Pollution and a general paper reading session.

Autumn meeting – Unilever Research Laboratories, Isleworth ‘Sampling – Microbiological Monitoring of Environments’

1981 The Society celebrated its Golden Jubilee in July 1981. A group of Committee members at the time is shown in Figure 6.

1. Irradiation in the Processing of Food.

2. Current Research on Legionella Species.

3. Degradation and Metabolism of Medicinal and Cosmetic Products by Micro-organisms.

4. Some Food and Beverage Biotechnology Developments.

A Guest Lecture was given titled ‘The Application of Genetically Engineered Microorganisms in the Production of Drugs.’

May – Workshop, Mechanism and development of electrical techniques for microbiology Summer Conference Symposium on ‘Changing Perspectives in Applied Microbiology’ Four colloquia: 1. Microbiological Implications of Current Developments in Food Packaging.

2. Advances in Rapid Methods.

3. Pathogens in the Environment.

4. Microbial Tracers, Past, Present and Future.

Autumn meeting Demonstration Meeting on ‘Immunological Techniques in Microbiology’

1991 Winter meeting Special Topics

1986

1. Mathematical Prediction of Microbial Growth in Food.

2. Disinfection of Water Supplies.

3. Micro-organisms in Biological Testing.

4. New Diarrhoeal Diseases.

Winter meeting Special Topics:

Presidential Address by Dorothy Jones: ‘What’s in a Name?’

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Figure 6. Committee members during the Golden Jubilee Summer Conference, Bristol, July 1981. From left to right: Susan Passmore, Bob Park, Geoff Carr (Hon. President), Susan Jones, Tom Cross, Peter Walker, Ron Board, Fred Skinner.

Summer Conference Symposium on ‘Ecosystems: Microbes: Food.

Four colloquia: 1. Detection and Significance of Bacterial Toxins.

2. Escherichia coli: A Pathogen.

3. Nucleic Probes in Microbiology – Possibilities, Applications and Problems.

4. Clostridium botulinum.

Autumn meeting Demonstration Meeting on ‘Microbial Adhesion and its Control’

Discussion Meeting on ‘Accreditation and Proficiency Schemes for Microbiology Laboratories’

1992 The Summer Conference in 1992 took place in Manchester. The group photograph in Figure 7 shows the Committee and other senior members of the Society.

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Figure 7. Committee members and others at the Summer Conference, Manchester, July 1992. From left to right, front row: Ann Baillie, Susan Jones, Susan Passmore, Christine Dodds, W.M. Waites, F.A. Skinner, Dorothy Jones, D.E.S. Stewart-Tull, Diane Roberts, M. Sussman; back row: D.E. Post, P. Silley, A. Gilmore, P.N. Green, P. Masters, A.C. Campbell, J. McLaughlin, R.W.A. Park, B.M. Mackey.

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The Spoken Word

1996 Winter meeting Special Topics 1. Microbial Disfigurement of Buildings.

2. Risk Assessment Models for Micro-organisms in Drinking Water Supplies.

3. Reliability and Confidence in Microbiological Analyses.

4. Haemorrhagic Fever Viruses.

Kathleen Barton-Wright Memorial Lecture

by Prof. J. Almond ‘The Molecular Basis of Enterovirus-induced Disease’.

Summer Conference Symposium on ‘The Biology of Streptococci and Enterococci’ Four colloquia: 1. Viricidal Agents.

2. Separation Methods in Applied Microbiology.

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3. Lactococci.

4. Ecology and Physiology of Anaerobic Bacteria.

Autumn meeting Three colloquia: 1. MRSA. 2. Heterotrophic Bacteria in Drinking Water Supplies.

3. Advantages and Disadvantages of Predictive Modelling.

2001 Winter meeting Fungi and actinomycetes in food and water Meningitis – an update Summer meeting Antibiotic and biocide resistance in bacteria: perceptions and realities for prevention and treatment of infection.

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The Written Word: Beginnings

One of the earliest acts of The Society of Agricultural Bacteriologists was to publish the Proceedings of the Annual Conference that had taken place in Leeds on 8 July 1932. These Proceedings, which were the first to be published, consisted of 58 double-spaced, typed and duplicated foolscap pages in a soft-bound, sewn format with a printed title page (Figure 1). The Proceedings consisted of six papers; the first of which was by C.H. Chalmers of the Department of Agriculture, University of Leeds, and entitled ‘The significance of true B. coli and B. aerogenes in samples of milk’. Since the Society was founded by a group of milk bacteriologists, it is hardly surprising that five of the six papers in its first publication were concerned with the bacteriology of milk. Another paper, by A.T.R. Mattick was about the preservative action of sugars and included two ‘charts’ in the form of photographs pasted on to plain paper pages.

The earliest Proceedings were identified by the date of the meeting to which they refer rather than by a volume or serial number. The 1932 issue includes the membership list of original 34 members of the Society (see Appendix 2) and a copy of the Proceedings was sent to each of them as part of the annual subscription. It was with obvious pride that it was minuted in 1933 (C 6/7/33) that the Proceedings had been ‘quoted in various places’.

The conditions under which the still very small society had to work became apparent in 1936 (C 23/7/36). The main activity of the Officers between meetings was the preparation and issue of the Society Proceedings. There had been criticism of the title headings, layout, and 40

lack of uniformity of the Proceedings. These were produced by the NIRD staff at a charge well below commercial rates but the work had to fit in with Institute priorities, which in part accounted for delays in publication. Another reason was delay in the receipt of papers from authors. The seemingly rather ad hoc arrangements for the publication of the Proceedings had become a serious problem and the time had arrived for a number of important decisions (AGM 7/36). The most significant of these was the appointment of Dr T. Gibson as the Society’s first Hon. Editor. Attempts were also made to streamline publication by collecting manuscripts, which were to include an abstract, 6 weeks before the annual conference and to circulate the abstracts soon after the conference.

It soon became apparent that the new arrangements did not work, mainly because few members submitted their papers before the conference. New arrangements were made (C 7/7/37; AGM 7/37) according to which editing of papers was to take place after the meeting.

Those who wished to have their abstracts circulated would have to prepare a sufficient number of copies in conformity with the instructions and, in cases of difficulty; the Editor would act as referee. To facilitate administrative decisionmaking, it was suggested that the Editor might become a member of the Committee but it was noted that this would require a change of the Rules. When it was suggested that abstracts should be submitted by 15 October, the Hon. Secretary remarked that, ‘. . . the Society does not function during the year.’

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Figure 1. The cover of the Papers read at the Annual Conference at Leeds, 8th July 1932, which later became the Proceedings.

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Chapter 5

The style of the Proceedings remained essentially unchanged up to 1937. In 1938 it was again noted (AGM 7/38) that papers read at Society meetings were frequently quoted in scientific literature but that the Proceedings were generally available only to members. The view was that it would be more satisfactory if reference could be made to a printed version but the difficulty was how to finance such a development. The estimated cost for 200 printed copies was £25 and the Society’s annual income was £40 but the decision was taken to go into print provided that the cost was not more than £25.

The Proceedings of the Annual Conference of 6–8 July 1938 in Bristol were the first to be printed (Figure 2). At this meeting 36 papers were read and it was no longer practical, for reasons of cost alone, to publish them in full. As a result the decision was taken, after considerable discussion, to publish only the abstracts of papers, under the title Abstracts of Proceedings.

The first of these, produced as a small booklet (21 × 15.5 cm) extended to 48 printed pages; by this time the list of members consisted of 88 names. It is curious that the 1938 Annual

Conference was described, on the title page, as the tenth. If this were correct, it would place the establishment of the Society in 1928 (see Chapter 1).

In 1939 the title of the abstract publication underwent a slight change to Proceedings of the Society of Agricultural Bacteriologists (Abstracts) and this remained the title until 1945. An analysis of the subjects of the papers published in the Proceedings between 1932 and 1942 is given in Table 1, which shows that in the course of these years the papers presented to the Society were predominantly concerned with milk bacteriology but the beginnings of a broadening of interests are apparent. This widening of the spectrum of interests continued in the following years (Table 2).

Since its foundation, the Society was its own publisher, and the organization and management of the publications was becoming more complex. It was, therefore, again proposed that the Editor should be a member of the Committee, which would require amendment of the Rules (C 28/6/39). Since the Society’s publications were issued free to members, the costs of

Table 1. Subjects of Papers Published in the Proceedings and Abstracts 1932–1942.

Leeds, 1932 Reaseheath, 1933 Newcastle, 1935 Edinburgh, 1937

Milk/Cheese

Silage

Veterinary

Food

Water

Other

Total

5 7 5 8

– – 2 1

– – – 2

– – – –

– – 1 –

1 1 6 3

6 8 14 14

1932–1937

25

3

2

–

1

11

42

Bristol, 1938 Aberystwyth, 1939 Midland Agricultural College, 1941 Leeds, 1942

10 8

3 4

3 1

– –

– –

4 4

20 17

12 6

5 1

1 2

– 3

2 –

7 4

27 16

Total

36

13

7

3

2

19

80

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Figure 2. The cover of the Abstracts of Proceedings 1938. The first Society publication to be printed.

43

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Chapter 5

Table 2. Subjects of abstracts published 1942–1944.* 1942 [17]†

Milk/cheese 3 Methods 6 Mastitis 1 Shellfish 2; Meat pies 1 Bacteriophage 1; spore heat resistance 1; sulphate reduction 1; nitrification 1

1943 [31]

Milk/cheese 14 Methods 8 Silage 1 Mastitis 4; blood transfusion 1 Sewage 1; textile preservation 1; taxonomy (B. subtilis) 1

1944 [16]

Milk/Cheese 4 Methods 6 Fish 1; bacon 1; canning 1 Disinfection 1; factory hygiene 1; standards 1

* The subjects of abstracts published in the early 1940s show a widening range of topics. These are still dominated by milk, cheese and methods but there is a steady increase in other aspects of applied microbiology. † Figures in square brackets are the total number of abstracts for the year.

publication were a perpetual difficulty in the fine balance between subscription income and expenditure. There was great disappointment when in 1942 the Royal Society refused an application for a grant to support publication of the Proceedings (C 27/8/42).

Impending changes were foreseen in late 1944 through the participation of senior members of the Society in discussions about the formation of a ‘general microbiological society’ (Chapter 2) and its immediate plans to found a journal. This led the Committee (C 16/12/44) to set up a Sub-Committee, with L.A. Allen as Chairman, ‘To investigate all the problems connected with the publication of a journal.’ The Sub-Committee reported in July 1945 that the aim should be to publish a full journal but that the time was not right and that in the meantime the ‘size and quality’ of the Proceedings should be increased. Four years later, by which time the Society had changed its name to Society for Applied Bacteriology, the subject returned to

Committee and the view was that expansion of the Proceedings to a Journal of Applied Bacteriology was desirable but caution was necessary because of a shortage of material for publication. Once again a Sub-Committee was set up, this time under the Chairmanship of S.E. Jacobs, ‘To report on the present state of Proceedings in the light of criticism and make recommendations’.

The criticism probably related mainly to delays in publication. The Sub-Committee reported (C 3.50) that the Proceedings were no longer ‘worthy’ of the Society and that they should be expanded to a full journal, though this would require changes ‘on the editorial side’. The recommendation was that the format of the proposed journal be that of journals published

by Cambridge University Press, that the volume of Proceedings for 1938 be regarded as Volume 1 of the journal and that one volume be published each year with an index in the final issue for each year. The Editors were to be Dr T. Richards and Dr S.E. Jacobs, who were to have a panel of assistants, who were decisively not to be called Assistant Editors. As a consequence of these decisions, Proceedings No. 1 for 1950 was in an enlarged format and ‘similar in layout as the majority of journals’.

The life of authors and editors is rarely smooth.

In 1951, Mr E. Gray of Cambridge resigned from the Society because he objected to the editing of an ‘article’ he had written for the Proceedings.

He was informed that the decision of the Editors is final and his resignation was accepted.

The Management of Publications The Editors reported in July 1951 that raising the status of the Proceedings has caused delays in their publication. They added, ‘the Proceedings will soon begin to turn into the regular journal the Society desired it to become’. They added, with due optimism,

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Now that the new style Proceedings has been launched, its quality can be judged by the world at large, and it is to be hoped that the judgement will be favourable, leading to a steady flow of new matter which will give a real justification to our claim to be publishing a full-scale scientific journal.

A need to increase sales to offset costs was also noted.

The management of the Proceedings was a considerable burden on the small Society. Once papers had been submitted, edited and prepared for publication, there remained the onerous task of negotiations with the printer and, finally, distribution to members and subscribers. These problems account for the decision made in early 1952 to appoint someone to oversee the posteditorial management of the Society’s publications. It seems that it took some discussion to arrive at a suitable title for the post. In early discussions of the necessary alteration of the Rules, the post was described as ‘Publications Manager’ (C 52.7) but ‘Business Manager for the Proceedings’ also appears in the records.

It is the former that was finally adopted and it was resolved (C 52.16) that, ‘The Publications Manager shall attend to all business matters concerning the Society’s publications.’ It now seems strange that the designation ‘Manager’ should have been chosen for a voluntary post in a learned society. The Publications Manager was not an Officer of the Society and his term of office appears to have been unlimited.

The first Publications Manager, T.E. Bashford, served from mid-1952 until early 1954, when he submitted his resignation and, a few months later, Mr Whitlock was appointed. He served until early 1957, when A.H. Walters was appointed (C 57.4).

As we saw earlier, publications were a drain on funds and in the latter part of 1952 discussions took place about the possibility of inserting pages of advertisements in the Proceedings (C 52.30) and a Sub-Committee was set up to

45

consider the matter. Dr Jacobs thought that some companies might be prepared to advertise in order to make a ‘gift’ to the Society and that a reasonable charge might be about 4 guineas per page. The enterprise was successful and a year later the Editors reported (C 53.61) that some 14 adverts were to appear in the following two issues of the Proceedings with an income of £100 for the Society. This success led Committee about a year later to alter the Rules to allow for the appointment of an Advertising Manger (C 54.24) and a little later E. Mann was appointed to this new position, which he occupied until 1964.

The Journal of Applied Bacteriology The amount of copy being submitted to the Proceedings was increasing and in October 1953 the decision was taken to publish four numbers by the end of 1954 in order to bring publication up to date but it was a strain on the Society’s finances and a Sub-Committee was set up to look into the matter. It was at this time that general approval was first given to a change of name to Journal of Applied Bacteriology. According to Dr Jack Hopton, there is anecdotal evidence that by the early 1950s the title Proceedings was viewed with disfavour by some members of the Society, because it was seen as a restrictive description of the contents and a hindrance to its wider dissemination. Other members were sceptical about change, possibly because the Society had only as recently as 1945 changed its name. The first recorded initiative was when the Editors suggested in 1953 that the Proceedings be renamed the Journal of Applied Bacteriology (C 53.83 and 53.84).

Although the proposal received ‘general approval’ ‘it was felt that the matter needed further consideration’. Events moved apace, however, and on 9 November 1953 the Officers

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recommended that, subject to the approval of Committee, which was subsequently obtained (C 54.9), a proposal should be put to the Society’s Winter Meeting on 13 Jan 1954. An explanatory note by the President, J.G. Davis, about the proposed change, was circulated to members with the notice of the meeting. The minutes of that meeting briefly record that the change of name had been adopted and that there had been no adverse comments. The new name, Journal of Applied Bacteriology, was instituted from Volume 17 (1954).

At the Society AGM on 6 July 1954; satisfaction was expressed by S.E. Jacobs, the Editorin-Chief. He described the change of title as an important step to ‘bring home to the scientific world at large that the Society really was conducting a full scale Journal and not merely publishing the proceedings at (sic) its own meetings’. He expected that ‘through the change of name worthwhile papers will be attracted, the sales of the Journal will rise and the Society’s membership will increase’. The development of the Journal in terms of the types of papers published in it are shown in Table 3.

Decisions taken during the previous three years had borne fruit and sales of the Journal were increasing. Other things, too, had changed when, in 1954, the Royal Society made a grant of £400 to allow the publication of an additional number of the Journal. When, in 1956, a similar grant request was made to the Royal Society for £580 to allow for publication of the Symposium, it was noted that subscriptions had not recently been raised and that members should be expected to pay to receive the published symposium.

The First Publisher It is most surprising that the Society for so long remained its own publisher. This probably

Chapter 5 Table 3. The subjects of papers published in the Journal of Applied Bacteriology [JAB]/Microbiology [JAM] in the decennia from 1957–2000.

1957 Journal of Applied Bacteriology Volume 20 Dairy 6; Meat/Poultry 3 Methods 10; Water 6; Disinfection/Preservation 5; Taxonomy 5 Spores 2; Bacteriophage 1; Standards 1; Irradiation 1 1967 Journal of Applied Bacteriology Volume 30 Meat 4; Dairy 2 Methods 5; Disinfection 2; Taxonomy 2; Yeasts Spores 6; Physiology/Biochemistry 5; Immunology 3 1977 Journal of Applied Bacteriology Volume 42 Meat 2; Fruit/Wine 2 Methods 10; Preservation/Disinfection 4; Taxonomy 1; Irradiation 1 Spores 3; Physiology/Biochemistry/Genetics 7 Dental 1; Antibiotic resistance 1 1987 Journal of Applied Bacteriology Volume 62 Food/Milk 9; Agriculture 1; Water; Ecology 1 Physiology 10 Medical/Dental/Veterinary 7 1990 Journal of Applied Bacteriology Volume 69 Food/Milk 20; Agriculture 7; Water7; Ecology 5 Physiology 29; Methods 5; Systematics 5; Strerilisation/Disinfection 6 Medical/Dental/Veterinary 10; Antimicrobial agents 1; Plant pathology 1 2000 Journal of Applied Microbiology Volume 89 Food/Milk 29; Agriculture 11; Water 14; Ecology 3 Physiology 32; Methods 20; Systematics 7; Sterilization/Disinfection 6 Medical/Dental/Veterinary 18; Antimicrobial agents 3; Plant pathology 2

accounts for its failure to send copies of Society publications to the Deposit Libraries, as was required under the Copyright Act 1911, though such legal duties go back under Regulations made as far back as the 16th century. Finally, in

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1952 a request was received from the university libraries of Oxford and Cambridge, which are Deposit Libraries, for all back and future copies of the Proceedings.

In early 1960 Academic Press in London offered to undertake the world sales of the Journal to new subscribers at a royalty of 40%, but consideration of the offer was deferred (C 60.43). Since the Journal was at the time in profit, and the Society was able to make its first investment of £2000 there was no urgency to find a publisher. By January 1961, however, matters had come to a head. The Journal was now being published in three parts each year, of which one was the Symposium number. About two-thirds of the cost of printing the Journal was contributed by sales to non-members and the Society Officers had the onerous responsibility of maintaining and increasing sales. In addition, timely publication was a constant problem. Another significant difficulty was that Bradleys, the Society’s printers, were a small concern that could not cope with the Society’s need for rapid responses. As a result, delays in the submission of manuscripts to the printer were immediately reflected in publication delays.

Three possible solutions were considered.

The Society’s printers could continue as before but sales could be contracted out, a publisher might be appointed to take over printing, distribution and marketing of the Journal, or matters could be left as they were. The Officers found these alternatives intimidating and decided to call in professional advice. When the matter came to the Committee, there was some criticism of the recommendation to call in a consultant to advise, presumably because of the costs involved.

The archives are silent about the advice that was received but by July 1961 the Publication Manager had met representatives of Academic Press and Interscience. The decision was made

47

to negotiate with Academic Press and their ‘Heads of Agreement’ were considered by the Committee (C 61.33). The proposed contract, which was to be for 3 years in the first instance and then renewable every 5 years, was at the time standard for this kind of agreement. On signature of the contract £500 would be paid to the Society for the goodwill. Academic Press was to publish the Journal from January 1962 and bear all costs of production, sales and promotion. The Society would retain editorial control and appoint the Editors. After deduction of production costs, advertisement income would be shared equally between Academic Press and the Society. The royalties to be paid to the Society would be 10% of fully paid subscriptions. The Journal would have not more than 500 pages and the selling price would be 5 guineas per volume. After discussion of some minor matters, in which a solicitor was involved, a contract was signed on 31 October 1961 by George Sykes on behalf of the Society. When the 3 years of the agreement had run their course, a new agreement was made with Academic Press towards the end of 1964.

In about October 1964 Academic Press informed the Society that there was a great demand for books on techniques and the possibility was considered of publishing the methods that had been the subject of Demonstration Meetings. This led to the publication by Academic Press of the Technical Series of books for the Society (see Appendix 6). The first of these, Identification Methods for Microbiologists Part A, was based on a Demonstration Meeting held at Imperial College, London on 27 October 1964.

It was edited by B.M. Gibbs and F.A. Skinner and published in 1966. In due course, Technical Series books became more difficult to sell and in 1993 the series finally came to an end with publication of Volume 31, New Techniques in Food and Beverage Microbiology, based on a Demonstration Meeting at King’s College,

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London, in September 1992. The Technical Series was very successful and yielded a valuable stream of royalty income for more than 30 years.

The Proceedings and then the Journal of Applied Bacteriology were, almost from the beginning, available for sale to the public but marketing them was difficult for the small learned society because, they were privately published. When Academic Press became the Society’s publisher in 1961 sales improved. Until then the Society seems always to have found it difficult to market its publications and this in turn affected the geographical regions from which papers were submitted and this to some extent corresponded to where the Journal was sold. In early 1965 Dr Vera Collins carried out an analysis of the papers published in Journal Volumes 25–27 (1962–1964). She found that though 20, 32 and 20%, respectively, of the papers published in those years were from overseas none had been submitted from the USA or Canada. At this time, the Society and its publications seem not to have been known in the New World.

However, Academic Press had a strong position in the USA and Canada and matters very soon improved. By 1970 there were 84 members in the USA and Canada but there remained a strong impression that the Journal was not sufficiently well known in many places overseas, especially the USA, and Academic Press were prevailed upon to increase publicity overseas for the Society’s publications.

Within a few years of appointing Academic Press as its publisher, significant royalty income was being returned to the Society from sale of its publications, with the result that in October 1966 the Committee was able to approve expenditure of £400 for secretarial assistance for the Editors (C 66.34).

In late 1966 some of the problems of success first became evident. Publication delays began to build up because of the increasing number of papers being submitted for publication. The

Chapter 5

number of pages in the Journal, for any given year, is determined with the publisher in the previous year, when the subscription price is agreed. If more than the agreed number of pages is published, the cost must be borne by the Society, because the journal price cannot be adjusted in mid-subscription. This problem has continued from time to time to trouble the Society since it first appointed a publisher. The Society’s Editors have almost always found it impossible to return to authors papers that have been recommended for publication by referees.

Such decisions, in the final analysis, fall to the Editor-in-Chief. In 1966 the publication of unbudgeted pages had led to a loss of £1300 of which the Society had to pay only £300. A similar loss was expected in the next year and the Society offered to pay half the anticipated losses for 1967 (£650).

In October 1967, the decision was taken (C 67.44) that from January 1968 the Journal would appear in four parts, the first of which would contain the papers of the Summer Conference symposium.

The contact with Academic Press had always been negotiated by the Publications Manager, an arrangement that probably dated from the time when the Journal was published ‘in house’.

In 1970 tensions had arisen between the Publications Manager and C.M. Hutt, one of the Directors of Academic Press. Apparently, the Journal had not been displayed at a Congress in Mexico but there was almost certainly also a personal difficulty, of which the details have been obscured in the surviving records. The details from the vantage point of Academic Press are, however, instructive and recorded in the Minutes (C 70.46). Hutt asked to meet Committee personally and said that he had become alarmed by the mistrust of Academic Press. He said that Academic Press had made significant contributions to the Society, for example, by not charging for the Journal

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Cumulative Index that had not sold and members had been charged 16 shillings for it rather than 25 shillings but there had been no thanks.

In future Hutt wanted to be in touch with both the Publication Manager and Committee, who expressed their surprise at developments. The difficulties that had arisen were soon overcome but it was also becoming increasingly evident that, since all of the publishing and marketing functions were the responsibility of Academic Press, there was no raison d’être for a Publication Manager and A.H. Walters resigned in September 1971.

The progress that had been made in the 10 years since 1961, when Academic Press first became the Society’s publisher, is apparent from figures presented to Committee in July 1971 (C 71.38). There were 2666 subscriptions of which 1530 were at the full subscription price to non-members. Whereas in January 1971 it was thought undesirable to produce the Symposium in book form, in July it was agreed that in future Symposia would be published as hardback books. The first Symposium volume, Microbial Aspects of Pollution, Edited by G. Sykes and F.A. Skinner, was published in 1971 (see Appendix 7). In an attempt to deal in some way with the problem of excess pages, it was at this time agreed that the Journal should accept ‘Short Communications’.

The position of Publication Manager had been created in 1952, and in 1972 Committee accepted a suggestion that the Rules be changed to allow for the formation of a Publications Group. This was to consist of those ‘Officers and such members of the Society as the Committee shall direct’. Though the Publications Group functioned for a number of years, its existence was never recognized in the Society Rules.

The contract with Academic Press was due to expire in 1974 and Committee asked the Publications Group to consider alternatives and a plan emerged for bi-monthly issues of a

49

Journal of 1000 pages. The archives include a letter, dated 1 September 1972 by Per Saugman, at the time Managing Director of Blackwell Scientific Publications, to Ann Baillie. They and L.A. Mabbitt had met on the previous day, presumably to discuss the possibility of Blackwells becoming the Society publishers. The letter is interesting for two reasons. First, it is apparent that Saugman had suggested bi-monthly publication, because, as he explained, it gives subscribers the impression that papers are published more quickly, a suggestion that appears to have been picked up later by the Publication Group.

Saugman’s other suggestion was that the name of the Journal would better be Journal of Applied Bacteriology and Microbiology. He appears to have been of the opinion that ‘microbiology’ was more marketable than ‘bacteriology’ but he appears also to have been sensitive to the old sensibilities of the Society about these terms.

It was a time of transition; in January 1973 George Sykes, who had served the Society with great distinction for 25 years as Secretary, President and latterly as Editor announced his intention to retire. The Committee, mindful of the workload of bi-monthly publication, nominated R.G. Board and J.G. Carr as joint Editors to succeed him.

In early 1973 (C 73.15 and 73.17) quotations for a publication contract had been received from Blackwell Scientific Publications and Taylor & Francis, but not from Academic Press.

The preliminary indications were that the proposals from Blackwells were the more attractive.

In July 1973 the Publication Group proposed that the Society’s publications be transferred from Academic Press to Blackwell Scientific Publications. The reasons given were, ‘mainly . . . dissatisfaction with the general attention . . . paid to the Society’s business’. Since Academic Press did not quote for the contract, it may reasonably be assumed that they too felt that the relationship had run its course. The Publication

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Group recommended the contract proposed by Blackwells, which was on a commission basis, for finalization in January 1974.

It was eventually agreed with Academic Press that their contract with the Society should be extended until 31 December rather than end on 23 October 1974. The reason for this arrangement is no longer clear but discussions with Academic Press, in which a solicitor was involved to check the terms of the contract, appear to have continued until finally a contract, with a royalty of 25% of gross profit, was drawn up and signed to become effective on 1 January 1974.

The last vestige of the Society’s original

Chapter 5

publishing arrangements was the Publication Group and the time had come for a change.

On 15 October 1975 the Editors recommended to Committee, who agreed, that Publication Group be disbanded and that in future its functions should be vested in the Editorial Board and that the Editor should meet with the Society Officers once a year to deal with all matters of advertising, distribution and sales. From that time until about 1994, this annual meeting with the Officers was combined with an annual meeting of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Applied Bacteriology and from 1985 also of Letters in Applied Microbiology (see Chapter 6).

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CHAPTER 6

The Written Word: an Experiment and New Ventures An Experiment By the late 1960s rapid developments in the sciences had been accompanied by greatly expanding volumes of scientific literature, with the result that far more information was accumulating than an individual could readily be expected to read and assimilate. It was increasingly difficult to find papers of direct value and there was every indication that these problems of information overload would become increasingly more acute. This led F.A. Skinner, the Senior Editor, and J.R. Norris, the General Secretary, to submit a Memorandum on Publication to Committee in 1969 that outlined a new approach to the publication of scientific literature (C 69.16). Committee agreed that a Working Party, consisting of one or both Editors, the General Secretary and G.W. Gould, be set up to investigate the feasibility of a short-term experiment of a new kind of publication procedure.

The plan of the experiment proposed by the Working Party was that, for one year, all papers submitted for publication in the Journal of Applied Bacteriology should be processed by the Editors in the normal way to the point when the typescripts are ready for submission to the publishers. One copy of the typescript would be sent to the publisher for the normal Journal publication process. A second copy would be submitted to the group running the experiment and a detailed abstract would be prepared and key words designated. These would be incorporated in an abstract sheet of which 1200 copies would immediately be photo-lithographically printed.

At the same time, 200 copies of the full text of

the paper would be printed by the same process from IBM word-processed copy on pre-printed format sheets. Every eight weeks the accumulated abstract sheets would be distributed to members of the Society, accompanied by a request card on which an order could be placed for the full text of papers required by the reader. The ordered papers would on receipt immediately be sent from the stock of 200 copies previously prepared. It was also felt that some publication time might be saved by the use of alternative printing methods. Full records would be kept, so that at the end of the experiment it would be possible to analyse the results of the publication experiment.

In March 1970 a meeting took place at the Department of Education and Science in London, to consider the application by the Society for a grant to implement the Publication Experiment (C 70.20). At this meeting Dr Ann Baillie, Dr G.W. Gould and Dr F.A. Skinner represented the Society and representatives of the Office for Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI) and the National Lending Library were also present. The OSTI representatives were sympathetic to the proposals and made a number of suggestions for their modification.

They indicated that they were not necessarily interested in approving only a minimum grant to enable the experiment to go ahead, but rather they would prefer to ensure that by increasing its scope the experiment would yield more information.

In due course the application was refined to include a detailed account of the necessary financial assistance and on 10 July 1970 a 51

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further meeting with OSTI took place (C 70.36) and a detailed timetable was drawn up for the final submission of the grant application. It appears that the plans for the experiment had not been discussed with Academic Press the Society’s publisher, whose co-operation was essential. In March 1971 Committee was informed that Academic Press doubted whether people would submit their work for publication if a conventional journal was not also to be published. Later that year it was explained to Academic Press that the experiment would not interfere with normal journal publication and, after further revision of the application, it was submitted to OSTI. The Office for Scientific and Technical Information approved a grant of £7500, on 5 September 1972, to be made available over 18 months The results of the experiment would be assessed by OSTI and the Association of Special Libraries and Information Bureaux (ASLIB)(C 72.44) and Academic Press then offered office accommodation for the temporary staff who were to be involved. Committee was in favour of the offer that had been made but, as the publication contract with Academic Press was in the process of renegotiation, the start of the experiment was postponed (C 73.20). In late 1973 SGM expressed an interest in the Experiment and, after discussions with J. Postgate on behalf of SGM, F.A. Skinner was to be invited by SGM for discussions. It appears that while the contract with Academic Press was being negotiated, discussions were also taking place with Blackwell Scientific Publications. Probably as part of these discussions, Blackwells were told of the Publication Experiment and on 3 July 1973 Per Saugman, their Managing Director, wrote to Ann Baillie, the General Secretary , expressing his grave doubts about the project, ‘. . . and would you prefer to see your papers published in a selection/information system or in a prestigious journal of wide potential readership’.

Chapter 6

In view of the possible change of publisher, implementation of the experiment was further delayed and on 26 July 1973 Skinner wrote a letter of explanation to OSTI. On 9 August, R.E. Fairbairn of OSTI, who had been involved in the original formal discussions, wrote to L.A. Mabbitt, the President, saying that he shared Skinner’s frustration and OSTI proposed to withdraw the grant that had been made. A good deal of planning and enthusiasm had been invested in the ‘experiment’ and it seems that it would have been possible to revive it by a complete renegotiation with OSTI but this was not done. One can sense the disappointment but it is also likely that the lack of enthusiasm of the Society’s publisher for the scheme gave cause for thought. After some five years of planning and negotiation, on 16 October 1974, Committee finally abandoned the Publication Experiment (C 74.45.1).

The Society’s Second Publisher In late 1979 Academic Press reminded the Society that their contract was due to expire in 1981 and asked that discussions for a new contract be initiated. To look into the possible alternatives, a group was set up consisting of the Hon Treasurer, Dr Peter D. Walker, Dr Ann W. Cooper, Dr Louis B. Quesnel and the Editor, Dr R.G. Board. Discussions were started with Blackwells and a number of other well-known publishers. After what appear to have been lengthy and laborious discussions, the decision was eventually taken to limit consideration to Blackwells and John Wright as possible Society publishers. The publishing programme had grown to such an extent that that the transfer was likely to be complex and difficult, and in July 1980 Dr Board indicated that an orderly transfer would take about 12 months to

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The Written Word: an Experiment and New Ventures

complete. Since the current publishing contract was due to expire on 12 August 1981 a firm decision was urgent. It seems that Academic Press remained in the frame almost until the final decision was taken. As it emerges from the papers, which are not always explicit, the problem appears to have been the amount of marking up Academic Press expected of the editors.

Frequent changes of sub-editors, which made for difficulties in communication and which were regarded as a management problem, added to the difficulties. Finally, after what seems to have been a difficult discussion in Committee, the decision was taken to leave Academic Press.

Draft contracts were obtained from Blackwells and John Wright. The Editors had visited both publishers but preferred Blackwells for what was described as their ‘business-like attitude’ Indecisiveness still ruled, however, and further discussions and visits to the potential publishers followed, until on 5 May 1981 the contract with Blackwells was finally signed and they took over publication of the Society’s Journal in January 1982. Academic Press in its final report to the Society, in 1981, indicated that book royalties were likely to be about £4500, an increase of 21%, and Journal royalties about £15,000, an increase of 43%. They added that they had enjoyed the relationship with the Society but were hurt by the decision to leave for another publisher. They felt that the Society had behaved badly to a partner of long standing by ‘giving cursory and unsubstantiated reasons for dissatisfaction’ but they bore no grudges and sent their best wishes.

More than 200 papers had been submitted to the Journal in 1980 and an increase was expected in 1981, therefore more pages were needed. At the time larger issues of the Journal were preferred to an increase in their number and it was decided to continue bi-monthly publication with 20 papers in each issue.

It was not entirely by chance but rather

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because of a decision taken long before that publication of Volume 50 of the Journal, in 1981, coincided with the 50th Anniversary of the founding of the Society. It had been decided in 1954 that when the Journal changed its name to Journal of Applied Bacteriology the numbering of its volume would be on the assumption that the first volume of the Abstracts of Proceedings was Volume 1. To celebrate the anniversary 100 copies of Volume 50 Number 3 were hardbound for presentation purposes. The first paper in this number of the Journal was a paper on the history of the Society (Anon. 1981). Though the name of its author is not given, the author of the history was Dr Alan Seaman, the Society’s first Archivist.

The move from Academic Press to Blackwells coincided with the retirement of Ron Board as Editor and it took a little time for the editorial systems of the Society and the publishing systems of Blackwells to interlock smoothly. The murmuring that was at first quite serious, soon subsided and Blackwells have ever since remained the Society’s publishers.

The Technical Series was, however, still being published by Academic Press, which decided in 1984 to transfer all their book production to Orlando, Florida. The Society agreed that Technical Series 19 and 20 would be published

by Academic Press in the USA but with English spelling conventions!

The success of the Journal was the cause of the almost perpetual problem of the progressive build up of a backlog of papers and the resulting shortage of available pages. In May 1984 the estimated cost of eliminating the backlog was £23,000. A decision had, therefore, to be taken to increase the number of Journal pages in 1985.

An administrative change in the editorial arrangements took place in July 1984, when Max Sussman took over as Editor from Ron Board. The decision was taken to set up an editorial office at the Department of Microbiology, which Sussman then headed in the Medical

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School in Newcastle upon Tyne. By this time the projected share of profit for the Society from the Journal was about £64,000 for the year and the administrative and editorial workloads had grown to such an extent that assistance became indispensable. A part-time secretary was appointed to assist the Editor in Newcastle and Chris Collins, who worked from home in Hadlow, Kent, was appointed Executive Editor.

His job was to mark up manuscripts that had been recommended for publication by the editors and to carry out the in-house proofreading.

Chris Collins, who had first joined the Editorial board in 1972, retired as Executive Editor in 1994, greatly honoured for the service he had given to the Society’s publications. Collins was not replaced and his functions were taken inhouse by Blackwells.

An important decision at this time was the transfer the book publishing to Blackwells. This ultimately led to a significant change, in that only one further Symposium, No. 13, Anaerobic Bacteria in Habitats Other than Man (1986) edited by Ella M. Barnes and G.C. Mead, appeared as a hardback book. The cost of hardback symposia, which were effectively monographs, was too high and increasingly beyond the pockets of members and academic libraries, and the series came to an end. Subsequently, symposia continued to appear but as softback publications, produced in the style of the Journal and issued with it. The symposia are numbered to continue the original Symposium Series.

Letters in Applied Microbiology Writing succinctly is not easy, as the readers of this history may be beginning to notice. It may, therefore, not be surprising that the possibility of publishing short notes and papers in the

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Journal, though for long available to authors, was not a popular means of getting into print.

The urge to get into print quickly was, however, increasing in the 1970s and the 1980s and in mid-1984, at a meeting at the London offices of Blackwells, John Norris made the interesting suggestion that the Society should produce a rapid publication journal and, so, Letters in Applied Microbiology was born. The object was to publish short papers within three months.

The title of the new journal emphasized something that had long before been noticed but the implications of which had, in spite of occasional discussion, been avoided. The Society’s long established Journal, which had achieved distinction in the ranks of scientific periodicals, was publishing papers far beyond the confines of the original science of bacteriology but its name was at least consistent with that of the Society that so long before gave it birth.

Finally, in 1997 the Journal of Applied Bacteriology became the Journal of Applied Microbiology.

The older journal had renamed itself after its younger sibling; a sweet paradox but a timely one. It would take a little longer before the parent would follow the example of its offspring.

The scientific world was informed by a full page advert in Nature in December 1984 of the gestation of Letters in Applied Microbiology and its first issue of was to be published in April 1985. In the event, publication of the first issue was delayed until May 1985 because of a shortage of copy. Even before the first issue appeared the possibility of appointing a US Editor was considered. Eventually, Professor Fred Stutzenberger of Clemson University, South Carolina, was identified and later appointed as the first US Editor of Letters. Stutzenberger’s appointment made it possible to speed up the publication of papers submitted by US authors.

Book reviews began to appear in Letters in January 1989 and in February that year the names of the US and the Australasian Editors

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Letters in Applied Microbiology Papers published 1985–1990 140 No. of Papers

120 100 80 60 40

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Microbiology might be marketed separately from the Journal of Applied Bacteriology. The possibility was discussed at the beginning of 1993 (C 93.9) but it was felt that this was not a realistic proposition until the format of the two journals was the same. At the same time, it was recognized that the job of editing the two journals had become sufficiently onerous to merit the appointment of separate Editors-in-Chief but this was not finally implemented until 2001.

20 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 Year Figure 1. The number of papers published in Letters in Applied Microbiology from its foundation in May 1985 to December 1990.

were printed on the inside cover. Another new departure was a plan to publish ‘Opinion’ pieces.

The purpose of these was to allow authors to air their scientific opinions but with a right of reply given to the scientific public; the first was published in April 1989. Another enterprise was to invite the submission of 4-page ‘Mini Reviews’.

By mid-1990 ‘Opinion’ pieces and ‘Mini Reviews’ were appearing and Letters began to outgrow its page allocation. The growth in the number of papers published in Letters in each of the first five years after its launch, from May 1985 to December 1990, is shown in Figure 1.

In October 1991, Sussman was succeeded as Editor by Professor Duncan Stewart-Tull of Glasgow and the editorial office was moved to the University of Glasgow. At the same time, when F.A. Skinner became Hon. President, Sussman succeeded him for a short time as Book Series Editor.

Letters had become a great success and by 1992, in spite of a rejection rate of some 50–55%, it had a publication backlog and was again outgrowing its page allocation. The notion had been about for some time that Letters in Applied

REGEM Quite apart from the excitement it caused in the world of science, the genetic manipulation of micro-organisms soon began to give rise to concerns about the possible consequences of the release into the environment of such modified microbial entities. In early 1986 it was suggested that the time was ripe to air these matters in an international forum. The resulting conference was jointly sponsored by the American Society for Microbiology, SGM and the Society, though the main organizational effort was overseen by the Society. The conference, which was entitled ‘The Release of Genetically-Engineered Microorganisms’ (REGEM) was held in Cardiff, South Wales, from 5 to 8 April 1988. The proceedings were edited by an editorial team appointed by the Society and it was published by Academic Press a mere three months after the Conference (Sussman, Collins, Skinner and Stewart-Tull, 1988). In view of the importance of the subject to the public it was agreed that a ‘Layman’s Guide’ to the conference proceedings would be prepared by Dr Bernard Dixon, and this was published shortly after the conference.

The success of the first REGEM Conference led to discussions in early 1989 (C 89.17) about a possible second conference that came to be known as REGEM 2. On this occasion the

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conference, which was jointly organised by the Society and SGM, took place in Nottingham on 29–31 August1991 and the proceedings were published in 1992 (Stewart-Tull and Sussman, 1992).

Size and Appearance are Important Traditionally, the appearance of learned journals had to be ‘serious’, as would befit the literature they contained; covers were sober and page sizes similar to those of books. The Society’s journals conformed to this style until, in January 1991, the Journal of Applied Bacteriology was changed to the sub-A4 page size and the cover was redesigned to include illustrations, which were as far as possible taken from a papers published in the Journal. In due course Letters in Applied Microbiology followed suit.

Environmental Microbiology Blackwells received a proposal from Professor K. Timmis in 1997 for a new journal to be called the Journal of Environmental Microbiology. Since the proposed journal was related to the scientific interests of the Society’ Blackwells considered it desirable to have a scientific society as a partner in the publication project. The Society was offered the opportunity to be involved in what was, in fact, a commercial venture (C 98.6.3).

The proposed arrangement was that Timmis

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would receive an honorarium and be one of the two editors and that he and the Society would each receive a share of the profits after the initially budgeted five-year period of deficit.

The Society’s share of any initial losses in any year would be defrayed from current income accruing from the Society’s other journals.

In March 1998, when the proposition was discussed with Blackwells, plans for the journal launch in January 1999 were already well advanced. The draft budget for the first 5 years showed a cumulative loss of some £110K after which, in about 2004, the journal would go into profit. Blackwells offered the Society a 25% share of profits but the Society Finance Committee, for its part, recommended that the Society should receive a 30% share. It was finally agreed with Blackwells on 27 April 1998 that the Society would participate and receive a 30% share. The journal was finally launched as Environmental Microbiology in January 1999. In March 2002 the Society was informed that the losses were less than had been budgeted and that the journal would break even in 2003. What started as a speculative venture has been a considerable scientific and financial success for the Society and its development was extraordinary.

The first volume in 1999 consisted of six parts and contained 70 papers. By 2001 the number of papers had grown sufficiently for the volume to consist of 12 parts, while the 2004 Volume contained 132 papers. The background to the launch of Environmental Microbiology is explained by Timmis and Stahl (1999).

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CHAPTER 7

The Society Newsletter David Post Hon. Archivist

It is of interest to consider how far the Society has travelled in efforts to keep its members informed of its news and affairs. The first printed notices that have been lodged in the archives date from 1970 (Figure 1). They consist of a single sheet of white paper and give details of the winter meeting, advance notice of the forthcoming Summer Conference to be held in that year at Bristol, and the Autumn Demonstration Meeting scheduled for 28 October at Brunel University. One other item of news is the announcement of a joint meeting with The Society of Dairy Technology but no trace of the more general news that is now a feature.

By January 1972 the notices had expanded almost imperceptibly to carry the actual title ‘Notices’ and, in addition to the notification of future meetings, an invitation was issued to student organisations to apply for affiliated membership of the Society for Applied Bacteriology; presumably an early attempt to encourage the student participation that is now such an important part of Society activities.

Possibly in recognition of the expansion of the publication beyond just details of meetings, in spring 1973 the title of the news sheet became ‘General Notices’. In a further development of student involvement, they were for the first time invited to apply for a grants (George Sykes Summer Conference Studentships) to assist attendance at the Summer Conference (see Chapter 9). This issue included notification of a food microbiology course to be held at the

University of Surrey, the first time an item was published that was not directly related to the Society. This course, which was also supported by the World Health Organisation (WHO) continued to be an important event for many years.

Further development of the general notices saw an increase in the number, so much so that they required their own piece of paper separate from the notification of future meetings; members were sent a two-page document held together by a staple which constituted a considerable advance in presentation!

The December 1975 issue carried an announcement of the intention to form an archive collection and called for a volunteer Archivist. It was announced that SAB Newsletter number 1 would accompany the next General Notices.

By this time the notices included a lengthy list of meetings to be held by other microbiology societies as well as the usual details of forthcoming SAB activities. Newsletter 1 duly appeared in June 1976 (Figure 2), printed on a half sheet of yellow foolscap.

This was apparently the first use of colour in paperwork sent to members. Dr Susan Jones wrote about the object of the Newsletter, it being the intention to encourage personal contact amongst members by providing a forum for exchange of views and to seek and obtain advice on technical matters. This first Newsletter contained the news from Dr Alan Seaman, who had answered the call for an Archivist, that the first donation for the archives had been received.

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Figure 1. The earliest printed notice in the Archive, of a meeting to take place on 13 January 1970.

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The Society Newsletter

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Figure 2. The first Society Newsletter of June 1976. It was printed on half a sheet of yellow foolscap.

Newsletter number 2 was published with the General Notices in September 1976, the size increased to a complete foolscap sheet. It contained the announcement of the formation of a Cosmetics and Pharmaceutical sub-group of

the SAB, presumably a forerunner of the interest groups that are now such an important part of the Society. Amongst a list of useful references on laboratory safety is the report of the Committee of Enquiry into the Smallpox

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Outbreak in London in March and April 1973.

The Newsletter, in keeping with its aims, contained a plea from a Mr Sharkey of Ireland for a second-hand Hirst spore trap. I wonder whether he ever got one!

Unfortunately, the Newsletter did not appear in March of the following year or with any subsequent issue of General Notices. Could it be that the aims of the Newsletter could not be sustained because of a lack of contributions, a situation all too familiar to editors? During 1977 and 1978 General Notices continued on an uninterrupted basis with a gradually increasing number of entries. Minor changes in page size and print style were tried until, by 1982, old-fashioned foolscap had been superseded and all subsequent issues were printed in black on white A4.

During the period 1982–1993 when General Notices reverted to an integral part of notices about meetings the most noticeable development was in the gradual rise in the number of pages and the occasional use of improved paper quality and print style. However, the Society was continuing to develop in other important respects and in June 1982 the appointment of an Administrative Secretary was announced. At that time biotechnology was becoming a major concern and the Notices drew attention to publication of a number of reports on the subject.

November 1993 saw an enormous and eyecatching leap in the presentation of general information to members (Figure 3) made possible by the increased facilities which came with the acquisition of the Bedford office and through the enthusiasm of the Executive Secretary, Dr Ann Baillie. In 1996 the Society news was transformed into a publication with a semi-gloss Royal Blue cover with colour illustrations and with the title SAB Notices and News (Figure 4) – who cared that the ink came off and left one with blue fingers! It was illustrated with black and white photographs and with a profusion of news, accompanied by black

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and white photographs of SAB personalities.

Each subsequent issue came with further improvements in presentation.

Another title change was made, to SAB Notices and News. Paper quality was improved, making possible superior reproduction of black and white photographs. Sections printed on coloured papers made it easier to browse the contents. Most noticeably, the increasing use of coloured photographs meant that the covers became more and more attractive. The content expanded and became more varied when the Society’s present designers (Pollard Creativity) took over the preparation of the artwork from Dr Baillie in March 1997 (Figure 5) and the June 1997 issue carried an eight-page supplement on the Autumn Meeting.

A particularly important contribution by Dr Jack Hopton, my predecessor as Hon. Archivist, traced the development of the Society and noted with pleasure the change in name from Journal of Applied Bacteriology to Journal of Applied Microbiology.

Soon after the name change for the Journal came the name change of the Society, in June 1997. The last issue of Notices and News of the Society for Applied Bacteriology appeared in June 1997 and it then reverted to the title of Newsletter thus restoring the name of the first publication in 1976, which had attempted to widen the scope of information available to members.

By September 1997 the Society had changed its name to Society for Applied Microbiology and the SfAM Newsletter was published for the first time (Figure 6). One further title change occurred, when the SfAM Newsletter became SfAM News, in March 2000 (Figure 7, December 2000 illustrated), and with the quality continuing to improve with each issue the title remained until Microbiologist was born in December 2002 (Figure 8). The rest is already history.

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The Society Newsletter

Figure 3. Notices and News as of November 1993.

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Figure 4. The new SAB Notices and News.

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The Society Newsletter

Figure 5. The cover of ‘SAB Newsletter’ for March 1997. The return to the title ‘Newsletter’.

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Figure 6. The cover of the Newsletter of September 1997, the first after the Society’s change of name in the previous July. The abbreviation had changed from SAB to SfAM.

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The Society Newsletter

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Figure 7. The cover after another name change to SfAM News in March 2000. The cover shown is of December 2000.

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Figure 8. The cover of the first Microbiologist of December 2002.

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CHAPTER 8

Education

From the time of its foundation, the Society has had an interest in education. This may have been due to the educational functions of the Advisory Dairy Bacteriologists, who were its original members. In 1945 the opportunity presented for the Society to contribute to the education and training of bacteriologists. The Ministry of Agriculture had approached Dr Kay, the Director of NIRD, about the training and prospects for applied bacteriologists and he wrote to the Society to enquire whether the training and supply of agricultural bacteriologists came within the remit of the Society (C 7/6/45). At about the same time, it appears that the Headmaster’s Conference had written to Dr St John Brooks, who wrote to the Society (C and AGM 7/45). The sequence and circumstances of the correspondence are not entirely clear but the approach for the first time gave the Society the opportunity to become involved in matters of education.

The Training of Applied Bacteriologists As a result of the correspondence, the Society set up a Sub-Committee to consider the training of applied bacteriologists. When this SubCommittee reported in the following year, its conclusions and recommendations were published in Nature (Anon., 1946). It is of interest to note that though the report refers to ‘applied bacteriologists’, the burden of its reasoning and recommendations are on the importance of a ‘basic’ training for applied bacteriologists.

The background to the work of the SubCommittee was that in 1940 six universities offered degrees in bacteriology. Honours degrees were available in four, of which two also offered Pass degrees and another university was about to establish an Honours degree in bacteriology. Another two universities offered only Pass degrees and, in addition three universities offered post-graduate diplomas in bacteriology. By the end of Second World War it was becoming increasingly evident that there was a growing demand for bacteriologists in a variety of areas.

This was in part due to rapid advances in bacteriology that had a significant impact on industrial research. At the same time, the study of biological subjects had gained increasing importance in academic curricula. There was a growing emphasis on science in society and industry, which made it highly desirable to train bacteriologists to satisfy the growing demand for bacteriologists in different fields. It was increasingly felt that this need should be met by the provision of trained personnel from the various academic centres.

The Sub-Committee set up in 1945, included bacteriologists with experience, in teaching, research and advisory functions, some of whom represented the Society for General Microbiology.

Its members were Dr L.A. Allen*, Prof. B.T.P. Barker, Prof. H.D. Kay, Dr T. Gibson*, Mr D.A. McKenzie*, Dr T. Richards*, Dr R.T. St John-Brooks, Prof. J.F.D. Shrewsbury, and Mr S.B. Thomas* (members appointed by the Society are indicated by an asterisk).

One of the main conclusions of the committee was that there was an urgent need to 67

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recognize bacteriology as an independent biological science. The committee explained that the development of bacteriology had been different from that of the other sciences, which had a long history of fundamental studies before solving practical problems in the field. Bacteriology had until recently been largely concerned with the solution of practical problems to the neglect of the fundamental study of the subject. It was noted that in some quarters there was still a tendency to place bacteriology under the wing of one of the older sciences. This was detrimental to the knowledge base of students and their later status in employment and would best be corrected if bacteriology was to be recognized as an independent biological science. In the training of students, its application to medicine, agriculture and industry can be dealt with later. It was essential to establish chairs of bacteriology independent of what were termed ‘applied’ faculties. To satisfy the need for bacteriologists with experience in research, the committee recommended that research scholarships for postgraduate students be establishment, tenable at universities or research institutes.

The committee identified a disinclination by students to embark on a career in bacteriology because of the uncertain prospects of advancement in industry. This in turn was due to bacteriology being regarded as an adjunct to other sciences rather than an independent one; those responsible for research in industry needed to understand that an adequate training in bacteriology depends on sound basic knowledge, particularly of chemistry and the biological sciences.

Anyone who has received this training is entitled to the same status and prospects as is the chemist or physicist. A clear distinction needed to be drawn between those fit to carry out only routine work in bacteriology, and those who, by thorough training, are fit to become self-reliant research workers.

The final recommendations were: (1) that

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bacteriology should be recognized, as an independent science, (2) that research scholarships in bacteriology should be established in universities and research institutes; and (3) that industry should recognize the value of the trained bacteriologist, who should be offered attractive prospects and status.

It was agreed that L.A. Allen would write the article for Nature (C8/1/46) and this accounts for the striking similarity between the account of the differences between the histories of bacteriology and the other sciences as it appears in Nature and in his letter to members of the Society in April 1945 (see Chapter 3).

The Training of Technicians Five years after publication of the report on the training of applied bacteriologists, the Hon Secretary received a letter from G.E. Jones that referred to a course for a new City & Guilds of London Institute Laboratory Technicians Certificate and noted that bacteriology was not included as a subject. The City & Guilds Institute was, at the time, the most important provider of vocational training for technicians.

The Secretary was instructed to write to the Institute about this omission, to suggest that bacteriology be included and to emphasise the potential demand for such a course (C 22.50). In the meantime, Committee (C 33.50) was informed that the Society for General Microbiology had already set up a Sub-Committee to consider the matter and the Society then asked to be represented on the SubCommittee. Three representatives of the Society eventually attended a meeting in November 1950. It seems that the Sub-Committee had been set up independently of the City & Guilds Institute, which eventually indicated that it was willing to introduce regulations and a syllabus

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Education

for intermediate general microbiology that had been prepared by a three-man panel of the SubCommittee. The syllabus was given provisional approval in February 1952 and, after revision, it was again provisionally approved. At this stage the Institute asked for the panel’s views on a final examination and this was also provisionally approved. The Sub-Committee completed its work on 16 May 1952. Dr George Sykes was then nominated to represent the Society on the Institute Advisory Committee on Laboratory Technical Work (C 52.38).

Nuffield Teaching Scheme In the 1960s the Nuffield Foundation had an interest in Biology A-level curriculum development. In January 1966 the Development Working Party set up by the Society in the previous July looked into how up to £400 of the Society’s income might be used ‘to its advantage’ (C 65.26). In the same year Committee approved a paper that outlined ways in which the Nuffield Teaching Scheme might be assisted in relation to the teaching of microbiology. After some discussion with the organisers of the scheme, J.G. Murray was asked to organise a school activity during the 1967 Summer Conference but this idea appears to have foundered because the Conference coincided with school holidays.

It was then proposed that it might be helpful to demonstrate microbiological techniques to teachers. The subject is not subsequently referred to in the records.

Microbiology in Schools Advisory Committee (MISAC) The idea of establishing MISAC arose from a symposium, ‘Teaching Microbiology in Schools’,

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organized in Leicester in 1967 by the Society for General Microbiology (Journal of Biological Education 1968, 2, 187–195). Apart from the Society, MISAC had a wide membership of societies, including the Society for General Microbiology, the Society for Chemical Industry, the British Mycological Society and others.

Advice was offered to teachers of microbiology in the biology syllabus and ideas were developed from the Oxoid School Microbiology Kit. Plans were also made to contact the Association for Science Education (ASE) to distribute surplus equipment and to publish a list of practical manuals in microbiology in the Journal of Biological Education. Other schemes were to provide information about slides and films, training courses for school science technicians and courses for teachers at universities and colleges. The Society proposed a scheme for local advisers and visiting lectures. MISAC has from the outset been one of the educational interests of the Society and that continues to be the case through a representative nominated

by Committee.

In 1979 the Department of Education and Science was involved in the publication of a pamphlet on the Use of Micro-organisms in Schools, intended to assist teachers. Through MISAC, the Society provided information and more direct assistance to teachers, who were increasingly teaching about microbes in biology courses.

The Society makes regular donations to MISAC and pays for a delegate to attend meetings. In 1990 a donation of £1000 was made to enable a £10 subsidy for 100 schools to purchase the ‘Culture Kit’. These include cultures of algae and protozoa, with concentrated media, illustrated identification handbooks, a teacher’s guide and pupil work cards. MISAC has also been involved in discussions about educational change, such as the DES document Science in the National Curriculum. Many teachers were

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concerned about the microbiology-related content of the syllabus and residential and nonresidential Microbiology/Biotechnology courses for teachers were fully subscribed. Modest grants were made by MISAC to support such courses, which were held during 1989–90 at 12 centres ranging geographically from Aberdeen to Canterbury. Society members were involved in dealing with topics such as fermenter tech-

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nology, monoclonal antibodies, single-cell protein production, plant cell and tissue culture, and treatment of urban and agricultural wastes.

Courses consisted of lectures and visits but most important were practical sessions for ‘hands-on’ experience. The safety aspect was reflected in questions to the panel of 91 local School Microbiology Advisers, who include many Society members.

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CHAPTER 9

Lectures, Prizes, Awards and Grants

The Society has marked, or has had marked for it, sad and happy events in its history. Its first memorial fund was established in 1963 for Stanley Jacobs. At that time the Society’s financial situation did not allow it to set up the fund in perpetuity. The original fund was set up with £200 from Society funds and small additional amounts were added to it but finally it was allowed to run down and it was exhausted in 1971. The extent to which its fortunes had changed 19 years later is shown by the budget of £12,500 made available in 1990 for the then wide variety of the Society’s awards.

The following is an almost chronological account of the lectures, prizes, awards and grants that are in the gift of the Society. It is worthy of particular note that the W.H. Pierce Memorial Prize and the Don Whitley Travel Scholarship are, at least in cash terms, the most valuable awards available to microbiologists in Britain.

Named Lectures The Society has from time to time instituted memorial lectures in the name of particularly distinguished past members. The first of these was the biennial ‘Stenhouse Williams Lecture’ that was instituted in 1968 and named for Professor Robert Stenhouse Williams the foundation President of the Society. The first of these lectures was given in 1968 by Professor (later Sir) James Howie, Director of the Public Health

Laboratory Service. The last of these lectures was given in 1974 and in 1980 the lecture was established as the ‘Professor Maurice Ingram Memorial Lecture’. The ‘Tom Gibson Memorial Lecture’ was given by Professor Maurice Ingram at the Summer Conference in 1974 and the ‘Symposium on Yeasts’ that was held in 1979 was also dedicated to Professor Maurice Ingram. In 2004 the ‘A.D. Russell Memorial Lecture’ was established on the suggestion of J.-Y. Maillard.

The Lewis B. Perry Memorial Lectures Lewis B. Perry was a senior scientist at the National Collection of Industrial and Marine Bacteria and had been a member of the Society since 1968. After his death in 2003, his family donated £1000 per year for ten years to found an annual memorial lecture in his name. The inaugural lecture was given in Cork in 2004 by Dr Eric Hillerton of the Institute of Animal Health, Compton, on ‘Treating Mastitis in the cow – a tradition or an anachronism?’ The second lecture in 2005 was given by Professor Grahame Gould during the Society Summer Conference in Brighton, on ‘History of Science – Sporeforming Bacteria’. The third, Lewis B. Perry Memorial Lecture, ‘Out of a Dusty Archive – from SAB to SfAM the first 75 Years’ was given by Professor Max Sussman during the Society Summer Conference in Edinburgh in 2006 as part of the Society’s 75th Anniversary celebrations.

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Figure 2. J.R. Macdonald, on whose initiative in 1983 the W.H. Pierce Memorial Prize was established.

The W.H. Pierce Memorial Prize Figure 1. W.H. (Bill) Pierce 1902–1981.

The Lapage Systematics Prize (1978) Dr Stephen P. Lapage, was distinguished in bacterial systematics and Curator of the National Collection of Type Cultures. He was a longstanding member of the Society and when he retired in 1978, he presented £50 to the Society, which was to be used to award two prizes, each of £25, in an essay competition for undergraduate and postgraduate students. The subject of the essays, of not more than 2000 words, was to be a topic in bacterial systematics.

To mark the high regard in which W.H. Pierce (Figure 1) was held, the Directors of Oxoid Limited, in 1983, proposed the establishment of an annual ‘W.H. Pierce Memorial Prize’ (C 83.39). The prize consists of a scroll and a prize, which was originally £1500 and is now £2000.

The prize is administered by the Society and its intended recipients are young microbiologists who are judged to have made a substantial contribution to bacteriology. The prize is the most generous available to bacteriologists in the United Kingdom. It was principally on the initiative of Mr J.R. Macdonald (Figure 2), a Senior Manager of Oxoid Limited, that the prize was created. It is particularly appropriate that this prize is in the gift of the Society, because Bill Pierce was pre-eminently an applied

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bacteriologist. He was nominated for membership of the Society on 9 January 1951 and elected in the same year. He served on Committee for a number of years and from 1958 he represented the Society on the SGM Standardisation Committee. Pierce, who for more than 40 years served the Oxoid Company, had many friends in the Society and remained a member for many years.

W.H. (Bill) Pierce was born in 1902. In 1921, he started his career at Oxoid, where he was consecutively Assistant Bacteriologist, Factory Manager and, finally, Chief Bacteriologist. He had no formal training of any kind. Bill Pierce’s research was concerned with the development of powdered bacteriological culture media and their constituents. The historical background to these developments is of interest to bacteriologists.

In the 19th century Justus von Liebig (1803–1873), the distinguished German chemist, described extractum carnis, the meat extract, he was making in the Royal Pharmacy at Munich.

It was intended as a human nutritional supplement but proved too expensive to be made widely available. The problem of cost was solved by making use of the then discarded flesh of animals slaughtered in South America for their hides and fat. In 1861 George Giebert, after discussions with Liebig, established a production plant at Fray Bentos in Uruguay. The success of this establishment led, in 1863, to the formation of Fray Bentos Giebert and Company in Antwerp.

Two years later control of the company was transferred to London when Liebig’s Extract of Meat Company was formed to take over Giebert’s enterprise. The initials of this company are now so well known as the acronym LEMCO. In 1899 an improved product for human consumption was given the trade name OXO, which also gave rise to a variant of the game of ‘noughts and crosses’. At the outbreak of war in 1914, the remaining production of LEMCO in Antwerp was transferred to London and a new company,

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Oxo Limited, was formed. This, in turn created Oxoid, a medical division devoted to the sale of LEMCO meat extract for bacteriological purposes and cattle ductless gland extracts for medical purposes. A little later a LEMCO better suited to bacteriological purposes was marketed as LAB LEMCO. In a report dated 8 January 1943, Pierce considered certain difficulties that had been encountered with the clearing of broth made with LAB LEMCO for use in the Rideal Walker test and, by means of a few simple experiments, he showed that these problems had arisen because of the excessive heating used during its sterilisation.

In the early 1920s, at about the time Bill Pierce joined Oxoid, dried beef was solubilized by hydrolysis to provide an easily digestible product, ‘beef tea’, to ‘strengthen’ convalescent patients and those of ‘delicate disposition’. This product, peptone L37, though slightly modified, is still marketed as ‘Bacteriological Peptone code L37’.

As part of the Second World War effort the Company produced field rations for the armed forces. These had to be tested before release to the troops and this created a need for large volumes of culture media. As far as possible these were prepared from ingredients prepared in-house. It rapidly became apparent that much time and labour could be saved if media were available in a ready-mixed form. As a result, dehydrated media were produced for the domestic bacteriological quality control of foods, an activity in which Bill Pierce was intimately involved. It was not long before bacteriologists heard of these remarkable dried media and, with his characteristic generosity, Bill Pierce supplied many of his bacteriologist friends with their requirements.

By the late 1940s sales of gland extracts had declined and the pharmaceutical department of Oxoid was closed. As a result of the success of dehydrated culture media, based on the

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popularity of Bill Pierce’s donations to his friends, the company’s activities were switched to the production and sale of bacteriological culture media. The first of these were made commercially available in the mid-1940s.

Bill Pierce’s laboratory reports, which are on permanent loan to the Society and are held with pride in its archive, are models of their kind – an editors’ dream – written with great precision, clarity and economy of words. A typical example, dating from early 1953, is a report that arose from a suggestion by a Mr Harbottle of the Leeds Water Co. that MacConkey broth prepared with Evans peptone gave better gas production than ‘Oxoid’ MacConkey broth (CM5a). The claim was laid to rest in a series of simple and decisive comparative experiments in which water from the River Thames was used.

In June 1952 Pierce wrote a short report entitled The Use of ‘Magimix’ Blender in the Bacteriological Laboratory. The problem it addressed arose from the need to sterilize the ‘glass goblet’ in which blending was carried out. After describing the unsatisfactory sterilization methods he had tried, Pierce concluded that, ‘It would be of great value to us if one could obtain goblets made of metal which could be sterilised. . . . over and over again without risk of breakage.

This will be particularly true when we begin to manufacture egg-media.’

Bill Pierce’s work covered a very wide range, including the devising of media, testing their components and dealing with complaints about the behaviour of medium components. It was usually possible to show that there was no problem when they were properly used. Many of the reports were concerned with various aspects of standard food bacteriology. Each report had a brief and clear conclusion and few were more than 2–3 pages in length.

Though, in his youth, Bill Pierce suffered poliomyelitis and had been left with a disabled left arm, his contemporaries described him as

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an outstanding practical laboratory worker.

Many of the media and methods he devised are still in use. Bill Pierce died on 16 November 1981. The first W.H. Pierce Memorial Prize was presented to M.D. Collins in the presence of Mrs J. Pierce at the Society Dinner in 1984.

Winners of the W.H. Pierce Memorial Prize are: 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

M.D. Collins G.B. Shaw C.R. Fricker P.A. West R.G. Kroll T .J. Humphrey J. McLauchlin G.R. Gibson and H.S. Tranter (joint award) P.N. Green C.E.R. Dodd I.S. Roberts E.G.M. Power S.J. Cutler S.J. Foster I.R. Grant D. Bersra and S.F. Park (joint award) F. Jørgensen S. On P. Hill J.-Y. Maillard A. Sails A. McBain

In 1992 the Directors of Oxoid Limited funded a 1-day Symposium to be called the ‘W.H. Pierce Memorial Symposium’ at which the first eight winners (Figure 3) of the award each described the scientific work for which their award had been made. The Symposium took place at the Central Public Health Laboratory on 17 March 1993 and the Proceedings were published by the Society in the following year (Dixon, 1994; Sussman, 1994).

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Figure 3. The W.H. Pierce Memorial Symposium 17 March 1993. Left to right, front row: J.M. Oakton, Fred Skinner, Max Sussman; back row: prize winners (1986–92) Glen Gibson, Peter Green, Jim McLauchlin, Howard Tranter, M.J. Smith (director of Oxoid), Rohan Kroll, Tom Humphrey, Colin Fricker, Paul West.

J.G. Murray Memorial Prize This prize for the best poster at the Summer Conference was established in 1987 to commemorate J.G. Murray, a distinguished member of the Society in Northern Ireland, who was Hon. President from 1967 to 1969. The Prize was funded by Dr Alan Gardner from 1988 until after the Summer Conference in 1992. From 1993 the Society continued to fund the Prize as the ‘SAB Poster Prize’.

to places of scientific and other interest were arranged. Though these outings were popular, a small number of members chose not to attend.

At the Summer Conference in 1987 Don Whitley (see also below), donated a shield to be presented as a trophy for a golf competition for those who chose not to go on the arranged outing. The Wednesday afternoon outings came to an end after 1992 when the Summer Conference was reduced in length.

President’s Fund Don Whitley Golf Prize For many years, on the Wednesday afternoon of the annual Summer Conference, outings

The President’s Fund was established in 1990 to provide limited funding, originally a maximum of £175 (C 91.28.6), currently the maximum

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is £500, for members of the Society of at least one year’s standing, who are unable to obtain support elsewhere to attend scientific meetings.

Applicants must have been members of the Society for at least 12 months and preference is given to those who are contributing to the meeting they wish to attend. An award from the Fund is at the discretion of the Hon. President.

Applicants who have been successful may not apply for another award from the fund for three years from the date of an award.

Anniversary Fellowships To celebrate the 75th Anniversary of its foundation in 1931, the Society has established the Anniversary Fellowships. These Fellowships, which offer grants of up to £1000, are available to private, academic or government laboratories for those who with to train in new techniques.

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in 1997, and further Fellowships have been awarded in subsequent years.

Studentships Each year the Society awards a number of grants to enable students to attend Society meetings, particularly the Summer Conference. These grants from the Stanley E. Jacobs Memorial Fund began to be made in 1963 in memory of a longserving Editor. Grants from the fund ceased when the funds were exhausted in 1971. In that year these studentships became known as the George Sykes Summer Conference Studentships but, though the studentships continue to be awarded, the name is no longer used. These grants include the cost of registration, accommodation and meals, with a contribution for travel.

Eijkman Memorial Award

Food Microbiology Fellowships The Secretary General of IUMS wrote to request financial support for microbiology in developing countries (C 85.8). SGM had already established such a fund and later the Society agreed to support one person to attend the WHO Advanced course in Food Microbiology at Surrey University (C 85.11.6). In 1990, Professor Basil Jarvis made a request for funds to support Third World participants in the same course and the Society agreed to grant £1850 for two awards with travel funds in appropriate cases (C 90.31.3). The Society agreed in 1996 to support Fellowships for scientists from the less developed parts of the world to attend the University of Surrey WHO-sponsored course (96.4). The first two Fellowships were awarded

A proposal from Professor D.A.A. Mossel of Utrecht, a long-standing member of the Society, for the establishment of an award to commemorate the Nobel Laureate Bacteriologist Christiaan Eijkman (1858–1930) was received by Committee in late 1991 (C 91.46). The award, which was to be co-administered by the Society and the Eijkman Foundation of Utrecht, was intended for post-doctoral bacteriologists under the age of 35 years for an outstanding contribution to the microbial ecology of foodstuffs, other environments or food microbiology. The award would be supervised by a committee of five members, of whom three would be appointed by the Society and two by the Eijkman Foundation, which would also made available the necessary funds. In 1993 the award would be worth £500 but it proved to be relatively unattractive and great difficulty was encountered

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in obtaining nominations for the award, which was originally intended to be annual. The award was made only once.

The Don Whitley Travel Scholarship Don Whitley has long been a member of the Society. After posts elsewhere he joined Oxoid where he worked until the early 1970s. He then founded Don Whitley Scientific Ltd and remained a Director until his retirement. The Research Director of Don Whitley Scientific Ltd, Peter Silley, wrote to the Society on 8 July 1994 that to mark his 65th birthday in 1994, the Directors of the company wished to found an annual award of up to £1500 to allow young microbiologists to attend conferences of their choice. There were to be no restrictions on eligibility for the award other than that on the first occasion it should be used to support a delegate to attend the ASM First National Conference on the ‘Molecular Genetics and Pathogenesis of Clostridia’, to be held in Arizona, USA, in January 1995. There was a request, though not a pre-requisite, that a member of Don Whitley Scientific Ltd should be consulted in the selection of the recipients of the award. The award is now available to enable overseas members to attend Society meetings.

The bioMérieux Prizes The Company bioMérieux is a worldwide group that specialises in the field of in vitro diagnostics for medical and industrial applications. In 1993 the Manager of the Microbiology Division of bioMérieux wrote to the Society to say that the Company wished to donate £500 in 1993 and 1994 for a Poster Prize. Since at the time the offer was made it was too late to arrange for a

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prize in 1993, the Company agreed to donate £500 to the SAB/FEMS Food Microbiology Workshop to be held in July 1994 to defray the cost of an East European student.

Two bioMérieux awards are now made at the annual Summer Conference. One is for the best offered poster on display at the meeting and the other for the best student oral presentation made during the offered papers session. Both prizes are presented at the Conference.

Students into Work The Society offers a limited number of grants to full members to enable them to give undergraduate students the opportunity to obtain work experience during the summer vacation. The grant is available to any member able to offer a suitable undergraduate student a work placement for a period of up to ten weeks during the summer. The value of the maximum grant is £1200 and it is intended only to provide subsistence for the student but not for laboratory fees or consumables.

Sponsored Lectures The Society makes available funds, normally of up to £150, for student groups, clubs and societies with an interest in microbiology to assist them to invite notable speakers to give guest lectures. The only condition is that the lecture appears in the group’s programme as ‘The Society for Applied Microbiology’ lecture.

Endangered Culture Collection Fund This recently created Fund is intended to allow UK scientists to visit endangered culture

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collections and provide training and advice. The aim of the Fund is to preserve such culture collections either where they are or elsewhere in the same country. It is also the aim of the Fund to provide short-term relief in the form of technician’s salary costs, basic consumables and/or equipment and to pay for the relocation of any collection to a willing recipient where collections cannot otherwise be maintained. Awards are available only to applicants who have been members of the Society for at least 3 years or whose application has been sponsored by such a member. The awards are usually of up to a total of £2500, which may be for a single award or a number of smaller awards, and may in exceptional circumstances be greater.

Joint One-Day Regional Meeting Grant To promote microbiology in the regions the Society for Applied Microbiology and Society for General Microbiology established a joint initiative with maximum grants of £2000 in support of up to £2000, to encourage one-day microbiology meetings. The two Societies assist by publicising funded events on their websites and in their

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members’ magazines. Grants in support are available for Special Topic Meetings and Local Microbiology Group Meetings. Though there is no restriction on those who attend the supported meetings, at least one of the applicants for a grant must be a member of SfAM or SGM. The grant covers speakers’ expenses for travel and subsistence as well as general costs of administration.

Overseas Development Award Through the recent introduction of this award, of up to £5000, the Society for Applied Microbiology assists microbiologists in developing countries and Eastern Europe. The purpose of the award is to support Society members to visit laboratories and give lectures and training in appropriate areas of applied microbiology, to support overseas microbiologists to visit UK laboratories to receive training in appropriate areas of applied microbiology and to support technology transfer in applied microbiology for which there are no other sources of funding. Applicants or their supporters must have been full members of the Society for at least three years.

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CHAPTER 10

Some Relationships

The years from its foundation until after the Second World War were tumultuous ones for the Society. It had lost its inspiring first President in its first year of existence, it had changed its name and that of its journal but it had chosen to maintain its independence. There were challenges ahead.

The two main activities of the Society from its beginning were the organization of an annual conference and the publication of its Proceedings. Both of these activities had continued and become increasingly complex; what could be amateur at the outset had to become increasingly professional. There was also a strong fellow scientific society in the wings, with the opportunities for co-operation and competition. In this chapter an attempt will be made to trace some of the manifold activities and relationships of the Society in the post-war years.

The Inter-Society Relationship The Society was aware in 1943–1945 that a ‘general society’ was in the making and when, eventually, the Society for General Microbiology (SGM) came into being, the Society sent a message of welcome. The relationship that then developed between the Society and the SGM in its early days appears to have been cordial and the two co-operated in a number of ways. It was a period of rapid developments in the more fundamental aspects of microbiology, some of which now seem ‘elementary’, and much that is now taken for granted was in the making in the

post-war years. Some of these developments, which were concerned with setting basic criteria for culture media and classification, were in areas that the two societies had in common.

These were grounds for them to set up groups of their members to establish these basic principles in various contexts and for various purposes.

These activities were important in that they offered a basis for the development of relationships.

In mid-1947 H. Barkworth, a founder member, wrote to ask whether the Society could produce an agreed classification of the coliform bacteria. This presented an opportunity to invite the SGM to join in the setting up of a SubCommittee to consider the matter. The SubCommittee was established early in 1948 with C.B. Taylor, Miss E.L. Hiscox and E.L. Crossley representing the Society, and J. Cruickshank, E. Windle Taylor and R. Lovell representing SGM. In turn, a year later, the SGM Nomenclature Sub-Committee invited a Society representative to join their panel dealing with anaerobic spore-formers. By September 1949 a draft of what came to be known as the Coliform Report was circulated to Committee for its comments before its publication (Proceedings 1950 No. 1).

Very soon after this SGM appointed a SubCommittee on the standardization of bacteriological culture media and the Society again agreed to collaborate.

But the going was not always smooth.

In 1957 preparations were in hand for the next International Congress of Microbiology at Stockholm and the Society complained to SGM that it had been marginalized in the selection of topics for the congress. Apparently, changes had 79

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been made in previously agreed titles of sessions at the Congress (C 57.36). The rather sharp response was that since its foundation SGM had been ‘the official national committee for microbiology’ and that as such it cannot interfere with congress arrangements, which are the responsibility of the local organizers. The Secretary of SGM wrote that it ‘always intends to consult kindred societies where such consultations may prove fruitful’. The nature and extent of the disagreement may be deduced from a reference at the time to a possible ‘International Congress of Applied Microbiology’ (C 57.16).

A year later a meeting took place between the President and Secretary of the Society and their opposite numbers at SGM. The topics of discussion were the lack of representation at the Stockholm Congress and the exact position of SGM as the national representative body.

The SGM representatives emphasized that they ‘wished and needed’ to co-operate with other interested societies and that there was the possibility of inter-society discussions. It was agreed that in future SGM would give notice of international matters to the secretaries of other societies so that, if necessary, a joint committee could be set up (C 58.17). The corresponding SGM Council Minute (10.6.82) reads (see C 58.52): The President reported on the meeting with Drs Ingram and Sykes. It had been agreed that the Committee of SGM was the legal Committee to function as the national Committee for all microbiologists in this country in connection with the arrangements for International Congresses. It was agreed however that the secretaries of the other societies concerned with microbiology should in future be informed at the earliest possible stage, whenever consultation was desirable, or might modify the programmes or arrangements to be made by the host country. For any congress arranged in this country consultation by correspondence and ad hoc committees was

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particularly desirable, and on particular questions might be required for congresses in other countries.

The Society appears not to have been consulted when it was agreed that SGM should become the legally recognized ‘Committee to function as the national Committee for all microbiologists’.

It seems that the formidable personalities who had founded SGM had taken care to gather authority for their new society and this sudden realization must have come as something of a shock to the older Society. It is likely that these discussions were accompanied by some tension between the representatives of the protagonist societies. When, not long afterwards, in 1959, SGM was making initial preparations for the next International Congress due to take place in Canada in 1962, the SGM Congress Secretary, E.F. Gale, probably mindful of events not long before, wrote to the Society asking for a representative ‘to whom he could refer and if necessary attend any meeting of the National Committee’.

The Society nominated the President, D.A. McKenzie, and the Secretary, Ella Barnes.

Otherwise the spirit of co-operation continued and when, in 1958, SGM decided to revive its Standardization Committee, on which C.B. Taylor and G. Sykes had previously represented the Society, they enquired about possible continued representation. The Society responded by nominating W.H. Pierce and E.L. Crossley, Chairman of the Committee for Standardization in Dairying, to represent the Society.

Apart from joint work on committees and working parties an obvious possible area of joint working was in scientific meetings. The first of these was the Society’s Demonstration Meeting, Identification Methods for Microbiologists, at Imperial College, London, on October 1964, in which the SGM Systematics Group participated (C 64.31).

In subsequent years co-operation continued on a number of committees, including the SGM

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Teaching Group (1967), from which it formed its Schools Committee (1969), and discussions about the re-organization of the International Association of Microbiological Societies (IAMS), after which the two societies wrote jointly to the Secretary of IAMS to express dissatisfaction with certain organizational matters.

The North West European Microbiology Group (NWEMG) had been formed in early 1970 and for some reason the Society chose to enquire from Patricia Clarke of SGM whether it could join the Group. Clarke could see no objection (C 70.42). In early 1971 Clarke told the Society that to join NWEMG it would have to make a formal application, ‘before any detailed discussion took place’.

The Society eventually joined in 1972 but it was a short-lived association, because after the Federation of European Microbiological Societies (FEMS) was formed in 1974, NWEMG was disbanded in 1979.

From time to time informal discussion took place between Officers of the Society and those of SGM. One of these took place, probably in late 1975, between G.W. Gould, President of the Society, and Harry Smith, President of SGM. Whatever transpired during these informal discussions, a few days later Smith wrote to Gould that, ‘. . . the Council of the Society for General Microbiology welcomed the idea of promoting closer liaison with SAB . . .’ The two societies constituted the majority of microbiologists in Britain and both were flourishing and holding meetings of mutual interest. In international matters, in view of the societies common membership of IAMS, FEMS and NWEMG, closer liaison would help in endeavours to promote collaboration in future ventures. After discussion of the matter in the Council of SGM, Smith suggested, ‘. . . that the General Secretaries of both Societies should attend the Council meetings of both Societies, in order to exchange information as fully as possible’. What was

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being suggested was almost a mutual membership of an Officer in the two societies.

Apart from occasional working committees on which the Society co-operated with SGM, there had been only intermittent contacts about international matters and one cannot easily dispel a feeling that the relationship between the two cognate societies was not as close as might have been expected. It was after the earlier contacts and Smith’s letter to Gould that in July 1976 A.T. Bull, the SGM Secretary, attended a Society Committee meeting to initiate ‘the more formal arrangements agreed. . . . for a closer liaison between the Societies’ (C 76.36). These arrangements to formalize the arrangements suggested by the President of SGM in his letter rapidly foundered. When Committee discussed the matter later (C 78.10), the feeling was that ‘current arrangements’ were working well and that there was no need for mutual attendance of the secretaries at meetings.

In 1977 SGM considered the appointment of an archivist and consulted the Society about the arrangements it had made only a few months earlier, when Alan Seaman was appointed the Society’s first Hon. Archivist. Liaison with SGM continued in 1978, when R.G. Board, the Hon. Editor, arranged to discuss matters of mutual interest with the Editor of the Journal of General Microbiology. These occasional contacts and cooperation between the two Societies, though on irregular occasions, seem for practical purposes to have been sufficient but in late 1983 the Society received a letter from SGM asking how links between the two Societies could be encouraged. The President, P.D. Walker, told Committee that he would set up a Working Party to discuss the matter and to report in July of the following year (C 83.46).

The reason for the approach by SGM about links, in late 1983, became clear when it was drawn to the attention of Committee, at its meeting in January 1984, that A.C. Wardlaw,

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the President of SGM, had made the suggestion in SGM Quarterly (1983, Vol. 10, No. 4) that SGM and the Society should merge in 1986, on the occasion of the 14th International Congress of Microbiology. In due course, Wardlaw had conceded that he had little knowledge about the history of the two Societies. J.G. Davis was able to supply necessary information about the history of the Society, and he rejected the notion of a merger; at the time the Society had 1665 members.

External Relationships Over the years the Society has developed many relationships on the national and the international stages of science. These are not, in a real sense, a part of the history of the Society, they are more a part of the history of science, often its political dimensions. The bodies on which the Society was represented in 1999 are listed in Table 1.

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Table 1. External Representation 1999.

Biodeterioration Society Institute of Biology Advanced Genomics Research Committee (European Federation of Biotechnology) British Coordinating Committee in Biotechnology British Standards Institute Technical Committees Federation of European Microbiological Societies International Committees on: Food Microbiology & Hygiene Microbial Ecology Systematic Bacteriology International Union of Microbiological Sciences Microbiological Consultative Committee on Safety Microbiological in Schools Advisory Committee (MISAC) Parliamentary & Scientific Committee UK Federation for Food Science & Technology UK National Committee for Microbiology Advisory Committee on Dangerous Pathogens

5% of gross profits per annum would become due for affiliated journals. NWEMG continued for a time but disbanded in 1979.

Federation of European Microbiological Societies (FEMS) The information that this Federation was to be founded came to the Society from SGM in 1973.

At the foundation meeting, the Chairman, AndrĂŠ Lwoff, explained that its objectives were regular symposia and that member societies would be expected to pay a capitation fee of 1FFr but an income was also expected from publications. European conglomerate groups, such as NWEMG, would have to decide whether to join. The first FEMS council meeting took place in 1974. The Society became associated with FEMS in 1976 (C 76.39) and made an initial payment of ÂŁ500. Subsequently a payment of

International Association of Microbiological Sciences (IAMS) This was an international microbiological conglomerate, which in about 1970 was thought to be likely to change and it was agreed that societies should join IAMS individually. At the time there was uncertainty about the future of the British National Committee for Microbiology, because its international functions were now within the remit of IAMS but it might now deal mainly with domestic matters. In 1973 representation on BNC was raised with Sir Ashley Miles of SGM, who explained that representation

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was not related to the size of a society but rather to ensure that all interests are represented (C 74.34.1). The Royal Society foreign travel fund was administered by four members of British National Committee and there were feelings in the Society that the handling of the fund was not equitable. As a result, James Shewan suggested that the Society should set up its own travel fund for international meetings.

The Royal Society enquired about the Society’s views with regard to IAMS acquiring Union status. Though support for this was forthcoming, it was thought that the International Council for Scientific Unions (ICSU) would turn this down. Eventually, IUMS was accepted

by ICSU, so the provisional status of British National Committee (BNC) had ended and it

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was now a full British National Committee for Microbiology on which the Society would have two representatives (C 76.37.3).

Microbiological Consultative Committee on Safety This committee was set up initially by SGM to comment on safety matters to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) on Dangerous Pathogens. SGM suggested that chairmanship should rotate and that the President of the Society should succeed Peter Wildy, President of SGM, as Chairman of the Consultative Committee. In January 1981 J.G. Carr, the Society President was nominated.

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CHAPTER 11

Administration

Far-reaching and in parts dramatic changes have occurred in how the Society is administered. At first only one meeting a year was organized and the number of members was quite small. They knew each other personally because most of them regarded attendance at the annual meeting as indispensable. As the Society grew, this familiarity grew less and attendance, at least for some, became less regular. During the war years it was more difficult for some members to attend. Indeed, Dr Cunningham, a past President, was unable to attend for a number of years during the war and in 1940 the Annual Conference could not take place. If one looks back at those days and what the Society is now, the differences are enormous. In this chapter an attempt will be made to trace some of the changes in the administration of the Society in its 75 years.

A discussion paper entitled, ‘Suggestions to promote the usefulness of the Society to members, particularly those unable to attend meetings’ was presented to Committee by C.B. Taylor in 1950. (C 17/2/50). The problem that concerned Taylor was that some 200 members were unable, for a variety of reasons, to attend Society meetings. The solutions that were contemplated were a correspondence column, presumably in the Proceedings but it is not clear how this would have helped, seeing that the Proceedings were an annual publication. Other suggestions were a regular flow of reviews, a ‘Technique Service’ that would note improved or what were described as ‘tentative techniques’ and a ‘specialized subject service’, with abstracts to appear in the Proceedings.

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It also now seems strange that it took 27 years before Committee agreed that the Society should open its first deposit account (C 58.41.6). Before that any money the Society had was held in its bank account at the Westminster Bank in Reading. The opening of the deposit account coincided with a growing complexity of the Society’s financial affairs and Committee passed a resolution to appoint professional auditors.

Previously, senior members of the Society had acted as auditors and signed off the annual accounts. In 1958 Messrs Peters, Elworthy & Moore were appointed the Society’s auditors and they remain its accountants to this day.

Curiously, it was not until the AGM in the following year that the necessary rule change to regularize the ‘appointment of an accountant to audit accounts’ (AGM 7/59).

A Working Party was set up in 1971 to look at the arrangements for the Society’s administration. The membership at the time was 1300 and the burden of running the Society from the offices at the places of employment of the Hon. Officers was growing. The Working Party considered the possibility that all or part of the routine administrative work might be passed on to a business agency or SGM (C 71.47.2). The Hon. Treasurer, P.D. Walker, was concerned about the ‘political’ implications of asking SGM to run the Society administration and Ann Baillie, the General Secretary, was concerned about the expense, and it became clear that a partial transfer was not justified. The final conclusion was that matters should be left as they were until definite plans had been made for the future. The Working Party was asked to obtain

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firm costs for running a Society office. A complicating factor was that the future of the publications had not been settled and this was thought to affect any decision.

The debate within the Society about the arrangements for its administration was probably what led to the initiation of informal discussions between H. Smith, the Treasurer of SGM, and the President about the possibility of using Harvest House office facilities but this was not agreed (C 72.18.2).

The way in which the Society was to be administered remained a lively problem and in November 1975 P.D. Walker, the Hon. Treasurer, produced a paper for the Committee in which he analysed the Society finances. He pointed out that in 1966–71 there had been steady growth but that in 1971–72 and 1972–73 the surplus was small and investment had to be interrupted. The Treasurer argued that the financial condition of the Society needed to be strengthened and that it should seek ‘to gain voice’. It made a significant funding contribution to IAMS, FEMS and, in terms of travelling expenses, for delegates to meetings. He felt that the Society needed additional income in order to set aside larger sums for travel grants to international meetings and to finance delegates.

Since the Society’s main income came from subscriptions, the Journal and royalties, a subscription increase was necessary to support investment. To raise the Society profile it should also appoint an International Secretary.

A year later the Hon. Treasurer produced a breakdown of the Society’s expenditure and showed that it was still heavily subsidized by the institutions that employed the Hon Officers.

The surplus in 75/76 was £7189 and there was a need to reduce expenditure. He made a strong case for the centralization of the Society administration, which though costly was outweighed by the benefits. He concluded, however, that the present arrangements should be continued as

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long as possible. A Working Party set up in 1977 also concluded that revenues had to be increased (C 77.21). At this time, the Journal of Applied Bacteriology became affiliated to FEMS and began to bear a logo on its cover to indicate this affiliation (C 77.50.8), which in due course it was felt had boosted journal income.

By 1980 the cost of running the Society had risen from £20,000 to £26,000 per year and it was only just covering its costs. The matter of the administrative arrangements of the Society were again a matter of concern and in 1980 a Working Party was set up under the chairmanship of D.C. Whitley to look at the future arrangements for the administration of the Society (C 80.54). The Working Party later reported that an Executive Assistant should be appointed, who would need to have some knowledge of the Society. The matter had been investigated and no one in the Society expressed an interest but Mrs Dorothy Harvey, who had assisted the Hon. Treasurer, P.D. Walker at Wellcome, and knew something of how the Society functioned, had expressed an interest.

The Working Party noted that such an appointment had the disadvantage that it might lead to a ‘loss of touch with the day to day running of Society’ (C 81.21.4). In due course Mrs Harvey was appointed and she took up her position on 1 January 1981 (C 81.28.5). In the speculum of history, Mrs Harvey’s appointment was a turning point for the Society. It was the beginning of the centralization of the Society’s administration with all the consequences that would flow from it.

A meeting of the Officers took place in December 1984 to consider the future of the Society and its role in ‘British Microbiology’.

One of the matters considered was the relationship of the Society with SGM. The conclusion was that the two filled quite separate roles and that there no question of a merger. It is not clear what led to the assumptions from which this conclusion followed but any offer of the use of

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administrative facilities would have to be considered in the future (C 85.2). Later that year it was again felt that the Society profile was not what it should be and the President, Alan Paton, thought that the Society needed to acquire a higher profile in the scientific world or, as he put it, ‘greater projection of the Society’ was necessary. The way this was to be achieved was by better advertizing, issue of leaflets for postgraduates for recruitment purposes and an award for best oral presentation at the Summer conference. Another interesting suggestion was that in principle a Publicity Manager should be appointed (C 85.7).

It was not long before the question of membership numbers once again came to the fore and in 1986 Committee again considered recruitment (C 86.19). It was thought important to provide support for students and student microbiology societies. The structure of meetings was considered, and the suggestion was made that more special interest groups should be arranged and that there should be greater flexibility in the arrangement of the Summer conference. To enhance the recruitment effort, A.C. Campbell was appointed to act as Recruitment and Publicity Officer. Campbell later circulated a paper that dealt with the promotion of the Society and suggested mainly the issue of publicity posters, publicity pockets and their distribution in universities (C 86.43).

Later in 1986, P.D. Walker, the Treasurer, once again raised the matter of the future administration of the Society (C 86.36). The membership was now more than 1600 and a permanent office and administrative staff was necessary. The Treasurer thought that by now the Society should have bought a property and established a permanent office. When he returned to more centrally financial matters he expressed the view that the Society subscription was cheap and subsidized by the voluntary work of the Officers. At about this time the Society’s

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investments were valued at about £250,000 and its estimated income, other than dividends, was almost £14,000. The Treasurer was of the opinion that, as a charity, the Society should not accumulate money and a small group under the chairmanship of the President was set to consider the matter and report by January 1987.

Mrs Dorothy Harvey was to retire at the end of December 1987 and, since she was not to be replaced, arrangements were made for membership records to be put on a databank at an outside agency. Each Officer would now be able to obtain local help and he would be provided with a word processor. The cost was estimated to be less than £10,000 (C 87.36.2). The equipment from the Beckenham office was to be moved to the office of J. Banks, who had been appointed Promotion Officer. The closure of Mrs Harvey’s office proved to be complicated and the records note that ‘in future it is ill advised to allow one person to administer all records’ (C 88.2.2).

It had long been the practice for the President to take soundings about the nomination of the Vice-President. In 1988 B. Jarvis, the Hon President made a nomination which was not acceptable to the Committee and the nomination was withdrawn. The President then made an alternative nomination, which was accepted.

This proved to be an awkward situation and it was proposed that an Electoral Sub-Committee of the President, the Past President, the General Secretary and two ordinary members of Committee, should be appointed to identify suitable nominees for Officer positions.

Basil Jarvis, was the next President to raise the matter of the direction the Society was to take in the following years. He asked, ‘what do members require other than “that of a friendly organisation”. “How long can we continue to operate on basis of honorary officers supported by local administrative arrangements?” In a lengthy paper to Committee he considered the expansion of the Society and what the membership

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might require, ‘other than that of a friendly organization which organizes scientific and technical meetings of general or specific interest?’ Because of the change in administrative arrangements expenditure was significantly reduced. At the same time because of increased subscriptions, revenues had increased, with a resulting net surplus greater than before. He foresaw greater involvement with European societies/interest groups; the establishment of specialist technical advisory groups; increasing the frequency of meetings; broadening the basis of meetings to include ‘teach ins’ and courses, especially for ‘grass-roots members’ and the offer to members of grants to attend specific events. He recognized that these suggestions require input from individual members who would be prepared to give time to organizing Society activities. Jarvis also suggested that the Society might establishment a permanent secretariat, though that would have significant associated costs.

In April 1988, Jarvis wrote to Committee about its organization. There was not sufficient time during an ordinary Committee meeting to consider in depth some of the matters that came up for consideration and for rapid responses to official bodies. It seemed desirable to establish a Sub-Committee structure, similar to of the Editorial Board, to co-ordinate the Society responses when necessary. This was the forerunner of the Sub-Committee structure that was adopted later. The fortunes of the Society were improving rapidly later in 1988 and the Treasurer pointed out the need for the Society to work to a budget to be drawn up by the Treasurer (C 88.52).

The Officers met before the scheduled Editorial Board meeting on 15 May 1990, ‘to discuss strategy for administration of the Society’.

There was a discussion of the desirability of a ‘central office’ but there was general agreement that a permanent office was not required. The Officers needed assistance and this might best

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be provided by microbiologists who would be paid. The view was that a network of support was required, rather than a central office. The Officers noted that Ann Baillie was due to retire from office as Hon. Treasurer in July 1992.

Later in 1990, the President, Dorothy Jones, proposed that there should be a Society office with an Executive Secretary and an Assistant Executive Secretary, responsible to the General Secretary (C 90.11). A detailed arrangement was proposed for the distribution of the responsibilities to be covered and the importance of appointing appropriate staff was emphasized.

The proposal was that Executive Secretary should be appointed on a two-thirds time basis and the Assistant on a two-fifths basis. The total cost of salaries was estimated at about £20,000 and the proposal was accepted by the Committee in principle. A few months later it was clear that the load on the Officers was increasing and that paid secretarial help was becoming necessary.

A permanent Society office was considered to be out of the question and the President offered to investigate the alternatives fully and report (C 90.38).

After lengthy investigation, at the end of 1990, the President reminded Committee that Ann Baillie was about to retire from her post as Hon. Treasurer and Susan M. Jones was also about to retire. Much as had been concluded earlier when Mrs Harvey was appointed, the President emphasized that the Society had to be run by a scientist. She then informed Committee that Ann Baillie and Susan Jones had agreed to be considered respectively for the posts of Executive Secretary and Assistant Executive Secretary (C 90.44). The proposed arrangement, to which Committee agreed, meant that the responsibilities of the Officers had to be more clearly defined than was necessary before and this was done. The creation was also proposed of an Honorary Publications Officer, who would be responsible for the Society Notices

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Figure 1. Anne Baillie (left), Susan M. Jones (right).

and their development into a ‘newsletter’. Other arrangements were that the Meetings Secretary would convene the Programme Sub-committee and implement its decisions. The Honorary General Secretary would be Minutes secretary of Committee. The responsibility for the office and Society affairs would that of the Honorary General Secretary. While the Honorary Treasurer would be responsible for the financial affairs of the Society, the day-to-day duties would be handled by the central office.

Ann Baillie and Susan Jones were appointed from July 1991 (Figure 1). Baillie would work from her home in Harrold near Bedford, while Jones would work from Aberdeen. They would not service the Committee but would report to it on an annual basis. These arrangements were to be in place by July 1991 by which time the necessary change to the constitution could be made to allow for a Publications Officer.

In 1994 a working party, to be called the ‘SAB 2000 Working Party’ was set up to look forward and consider the future of the Society with the approach of the Millennium. In early 1995, the Working Party met jointly with Committee.

The most significant proposal, which had been foreshadowed in 1988 during the presidency of B. Jarvis, was that the work of the Committee should be supported by a system of SubCommittees, dealing with finance, publications, meetings and programmes, membership and external affairs. There would also be an Awards Panel (C 95.14).

The view was also taken that the name of the Society needed ‘modernization’, and the name European Society for Applied Bacteriology was proposed and it was resolved to rename the Journal the European Journal of Applied Bacteriology. Not long afterwards, Per Saugman, the Managing Director of Blackwells pointed out

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that if the term European were to be attached to the Journal, US scientists would be deterred from submitting their papers to it and subscribers would also lose interest.

Though it had been agreed in 1991 to establish the post of Publications Officer, this had not been done and in 1995 the need for such a post was emphasized again.

The perennial pre-occupation with the fortunes of the Society eventually led to a piece of ‘market research’ which was carried out at this time by J.R. Norris. He recommended that Society Lectures be advertised in appropriate university departments and that an international fund be launched to allow members to travel abroad. In 1996, the Society agreed to launch its own website (www.sfam.org.uk) and steps were taken to freshen its corporate image with advice from Jane Lewis Associates.

Further changes were foreshadowed when Susan Jones was about to retire in September 1995. With this retirement, the Executive Secretary needed assistance, which could not be housed in her home where her office had been set up at the beginning. Office space was, therefore, rented in Harrold to house an assistant for Ann Baillie. At the same time it was becoming evident that the recently established Sub-Committee system was beginning to function and it was possible to reduce the number of Committee meetings each year from four to three.

The possibility of the purchase of permanent office premises arose again in 1995 and the matter was considered by the Finance Sub-Committee. Before long other possibilities began to emerge; Ann Baillie was a Trustee of the Harpur Trust and she was aware that accommodation in the Blore Tower (Figure 2) was shortly to become available. In early 1997 a lease on the Blore Tower was agreed. This was to run for three years in the first instance but the lease included the possibility of a five-year renewal.

The name of the Society had been under con-

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Figure 2. The Blore Tower.

sideration for some time and in the past many members, particularly the older ones, were attached to the name with which they had lived, since 1945, and which they loved. But time had come for a change and in his address, in January 1997, the Hon. President suggested that the interests of the Society and its constituency was no longer properly described by the term ‘bacteriology’. His own, long established, chair had been in bacteriology but the Society should move forward to become a microbiology society.

In July 1997, at its AGM, the Society voted to rename itself the Society for Applied Microbiology. It was a sort of landmark. Each name change had been long fought over, and this one had been longer fought over than any.

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In February 1998, R.A. Herbert was the President. He had wide experience of the international microbiological scene and he pushed forward a wide-ranging review of the Society’s current activities, to set directions for future and to establish a rolling programme for future development. Later that year he summarized recent developments and noted that increasing pressure in the workplace made it more difficult to attract high-quality recruits to Committee, who under the law were also trustees. The administrative structure of the society must be such as to run efficiently and to leave trustees to devote their time to matters of strategy and policy. Herbert foresaw the need for new arrangements in a number of directions.

Microbiology also faced broader problems in relationships and working with sister societies. It seemed sensible that some rationalization should take place in the many microbiology societies in the UK. The UK National Committee for Microbiology was the correct forum for the debate.

A draft paper, The Next Five Years (C 98.30), was discussed in detail and amended. It was

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considered by Committee on 25 November 1998.

The paper consists mainly of systems to regularise the functions of the Committee and its Sub-Committees. The implementation required only relatively small changes to the Constitution and these were put in place in July 1999.

Ann Baillie had been a member of the Society for a great many years and had served as an ordinary member of Committee, General Secretary and, finally, as Hon. Treasurer. When she retired in 2000 she left behind a well-organized institution, which she had run almost by herself and the workings of which others now had to fathom.

The lease on Blore Tower had run its course in 2001 and it was renewed for another five years but a less than cryptic questioner at an away day in January 2002 asked, ‘Does it have to be in Bedford?’ Clearly the answer to that question was ‘Yes’, because five years later when the lease was not renewed, a lease was taken out on other offices in Bedford. As the print on these pages dries, the Society moves into its new headquarters (see Frontispiece).

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CHAPTER 12

The Society Archives: a Personal View D.E. Post Hon. Archivist

The Society Archives are held on a site of attractive appearance that overlooks the Bedford Market Square (Figure 1). It is an unusual building – a Victorian gothic clock tower (Figure 2) above a modem shopping mall that retains the facade of what was once a grammar school and, thus, it imparts the impression of an ancient college. The developers have done a sensitive job. The archives are housed in a room behind

the clock at the top of the tower; seen from the inside (Figure 3), the clock with its minuscule mechanism belies the grand impression it gives from the Market Square outside. A view of the back of the tower and the team that worked on this history is shown in Figure 4.

When I saw the archives for the first time, and the great amount of paper that has accumulated during the years since 1931, I realised something

Figure 1. The Market Square, Bedford.

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that ought to be blindingly obvious. Those who decide to form a scientific or other association and who subsequently create a record of its activities should give as much thought to appointing an Archivist early on as they do to appointing Officers and a Committee. Minutes of a first meeting are likely to be the first archive material and from then on the generation of records is likely to be relentless and it will gather pace as the organization develops. Unfortunately, unless those responsible are exceptionally optimistic and farsighted about the future of what they have started, this awareness is likely to be absent at the beginning. It is only with the passage of time that the value will be recognized of appointing an Archivist to manage the increasing quantity of records. The passing of time also shows that not everything that is kept has the same historical value and decisions must be made about what must be retained and what can safely be discarded.

The longevity of the Society, the late decision to appoint on an Archivist and, until recently, the lack of a permanent base led to a somewhat chaotic situation. This was due to lack of a policy and guidance concerning retention of papers other than financial records, journals and Committee Minutes and reports. A result was the overlong storage of papers of little or no lasting importance and also an occasional lack of awareness of what might be historically important. This created a paradoxical situation where much paper of little lasting value was retained and items of possible value have almost certainly been lost. A striking feature is that little of the correspondence generated over the years still exists. This is particularly frustrating when it concerns correspondence that was discussed by Committee, and is referred to in its Minutes, but is no longer available to put flesh on the bones of the tantalizingly minimal details as recorded in the Minutes.

The first Committee discussion about the desirability of appointing an archivist appears to

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Figure 2. The Blore Tower as seen from Bedford town square.

have taken place in October 1975, when it was reported that the collection of documents held

by Mr H.J. Bunker had been donated to the Society. An offer was made by J.F. Lowe to hold the collection at his home and he suggested that there should be a call for a volunteer who would be prepared to act as Archivist (C 75.44).

Committee agreed and an invitation was published in the Society quarterly news. The call was answered by Dr Alan Seaman, who took up the position in 1976.

At the time, lack of a single base in which to hold archive material was not perceived as a significant problem. Throughout much of the life of the Society for Applied Microbiology Officers, members of Committee and others held documents that were of particular interest to them. In a report to Committee in July 1985,

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Figure 3. The Archive Room and the Blore Tower clock.

The Society Archives: a Personal View

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Figure 4. The ‘history men’. Left to right: David Post, Max Sussman, Fred Skinner, Grahame Gould.

Dr Jack Hopton, who succeeded Alan Seaman, noted that papers were to be kept by the Officers for 7–10 years, after which they should be passed to the Archivist. He remarked that the records current at the time would be archived at or about the turn of the century. Although it may not have been intentional, this situation constituted a form of compromise between the old way and the new desirable ambition of creating a permanent Archive. It also relieved the immediate pressure of providing archive space, while at the same time giving hope to Officers that their papers would eventually pass out of their hands into safekeeping. Fortunately, now that

better facilities are available, papers can be lodged immediately in the archives. In earlier years as the volume of records grew, a number of academic institutions kindly answered appeals for help, by accommodating parts of the collection.

As a result items were scattered over a number of sites mainly in the Midland counties but also at Seal-Hayne College in Devon. Although this was very helpful in providing much needed storage space, the situation was far from ideal.

Even now a large collection of catalogued reprints, collected by H. Barkworth, a member of the Foundation Committee of the Society, still has to be retrieved. It was almost inevitable

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that with the passing of time, misunderstandings arose about the ownership of documents that had for a long time been held in a library amongst its own special collections. Unfortunately, agreement with Librarians in the late 1980s was often a verbal one and it was only with difficulty and the gesture of a monetary donation that the items were restored to their rightful ownership.

A much more satisfactory situation was created in 1997 when the Society for the first time established its office at the Blore Tower in Bedford. This meant that the entire archive collection could be brought together in one place.

During the period from 1976, until the arrival of the archives at Bedford, tremendous efforts were made first by Alan Seaman and subsequently by Jack Hopton to impose greater order on the mass of paper, while working under what must have been very difficult circumstances. By 1987 Jack Hopton had been able to arrange more storage space with various organizations and, in a report, he notified Committee that the Society for General Microbiology had agreed to house the, by now large, collection of the Society’s Journals at its headquarters in Harvest House, Reading. This Society is grateful for the very helpful gesture by SGM. On his retirement as Archivist Dr Hopton delivered to me the scattered collections retrieved from their various locations and the Journals from Reading. When this material was added to the further papers consisting largely of financial records, Minutes of recent meetings and many items of a more general nature that had been retained by the first Executive Secretary Dr Ann Baillie, it was possible for the first time to see in its entirety what the Society possessed in the way of an archive. The time-consuming process of sorting and classifying the material had been started before its arrival at Bedford but it was much easier to continue with the work when it was all in one place. This process of sorting and

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classifying is still not completed but latterly I have been greatly assisted by the willing help of Professor Grahame Gould and Dr Fred Skinner and Professor Max Sussman, while he was researching this History.

The information held in the archives is diverse. Much of this charts the financial health of the Society from its beginnings to the present day and, incidentally, shows the enormous changes in the value of money over the years.

In Chapter 1 of this History Max Sussman has noted that the membership subscription was initially 10 shillings. Minutes of meetings from the inaugural one held in 1931 to the present day allow an interesting insight into the workings of Committee and all that has concerned the Society throughout its existence. Apart from their historical interest, the Minutes reveal the astonishing amount of work undertaken by the Officers and Committee, and the widening and increasingly sophisticated range of matters with which they have had to deal. Inevitably the simplicity of record keeping of earlier days has been replaced by an inexorable increase in complexity and with it the amount of paper created by committee work, written reports and dealings with official and statutory bodies, such as the Charity Commission.

It is impossible to comment on all the events and business conducted over the years.

Particularly notable, however, are the deliberations that led to the formation of the Society for General Microbiology and the protracted discussions, over many years, that led to the two changes in the name of the Society and its publications. These have been described by Jack Hopton in two short notes, entitled ‘What’s in a name: the Society’ and ‘What’s in a name: the Journal’, that were appended to a notice to members of the proposed change of the Society name and the proposal to amend the Constitution at the Annual general Meeting on 15 July 1997. Also of interest are the steps towards

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the foundation, following a suggestion by Blackwells, our publishers, of Environmental Microbiology as a cooperative venture and the development of the meetings programme aided by the formation of the Special Interest Groups.

Earlier histories by Alan Seaman and others make interesting reading (see the Bibliography).

The evolution of applied microbiology and the more general increase in microbiological knowledge and technology is seen strikingly over time in the titles of published papers and contributions to meetings. It is possible to detect over the years a continuing thread of interest that links the work of many present members with the concerns of the founding members, while at the same time noting how the Society is embracing other fields of applied microbiology as demonstrated by the activities of the special interest groups.

On a less formal and lighter note, amusing items survive amongst the small amount of correspondence that has survived. These are sometimes cross and, with the passage of time and in the absence of the follow-up correspondence, one or two remain mysterious. A feature of the Society that has often been remarked upon is its reputation for friendliness. In my own experience this has led to some memorable late night gatherings at Summer Conferences but these have not always been appreciated by members who would prefer not to party and have written to say so – somewhat forcibly.

Another glimpse of sociability in the past is provided by the impressive collection in the SAB song sheet. Some may think the abandonment of this tradition is an improvement in Conference activities!

Much more sombre information is also to be found in the records. There are obituaries of well known past members whose scientific careers had given them international recognition. Poignantly, there are also death notices and obituaries for young scientists who had

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already established growing reputations but whose potential would never be realised. Amongst these untimely deaths are those of members whose outstanding work had already been recognised by the award of a W.H. Pierce memorial prize. Mention of this prestigious award leads to recalling that the Archive holds a collection of laboratory work books detailing experiments conducted by Pierce, while he was Chief Bacteriologist of what used to be Oxo Limited. The Society is proud and grateful to Oxoid Limited for donating workbooks to be held on permanent loan. A biographical note of Pierce’s life and career is to be found in Sussman (1994) (reproduced in Chapter 9).

A hint of conditions in Britain early in the Second World War is apparent from a report to Committee that it had been impossible to arrange a venue for the conference planned for summer 1940. All suitable accommodation had been reserved by the authorities for training of various bodies involved in the war effort. It may be presumed, but it is nowhere stated, that those members who would otherwise have attended the conference would have been regarded by the same authorities as being in reserved occupations.

The records gathered over the lengthy period of 75 years show the extent to which written English has changed in style and presentation.

Early Minute Books have a charmingly oldfashioned feel about them and, even over the last 20–33 years, changes in the use of language and in presentation are evident. Current Minutes are entirely factual to a point of being minimal and in this writer’s opinion will be far less interesting and informative to read in years to come.

Apparent too are changes in social attitudes that have occurred since 1931. In particular, Max Sussman has referred (Chapter 1) to early discussions that show the extent of the gulf between scientific and technical laboratory staff and the view, sincerely held, that the two should

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not be fellow members in the fledgling Society.

This restrictive attitude was, however, soon to be relaxed; not many years later applicants with technical qualifications began to appear in lists of nominees for membership whose names were submitted for approval to Annual General Meetings. A detailed reading of the Minutes reveals how some of these applicants went on to contribute much to the Society on the Committee and in other work. In later years the Society formed a Technicians Training SubCommittee and produced a joint report with the Society for General Microbiology on training (Minute 52/39). Dr G. Sykes, a distinguished member of our Society (see Appendix 1G) was nominated by the Society as the representative on the City and Guilds Advisory Committee for Technicians Training. This joint contribution from the two British microbiological societies resulted in improvements in the training of technicians in the special requirements for working in microbiology laboratories.

If one takes the great discoveries of the causes of infectious disease during the final decades of the 19th century as the point at which bacteriology had been born, bacteriology had existed as an established science for a significantly shorter period than the age of the Society at the time of its foundation in 1931. The emphasis on isolation and identification of bacteria that cause infection had naturally led to procedures that worked well for this task. It gradually became apparent, however, that they were not always as satisfactory when used in other fields of bacteriology. The new Society offered members the means to make their work on developing satisfactory alternatives widely known and it is fascinating to read the Proceedings of the Society of Agricultural Bacteriologists for descriptions of methods that are now taken for granted. Continuing advance in non-medical applied bacteriology is clearly evident even from a casual survey of paper titles in the early

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Journals separated by a year or so and of the book collections.

Apart from the Society publications, the archive contains a small collection of textbooks of historical value that have been donated by members. These contain much information, which nowadays is easily disregarded because of its age.

What, then, for the future of the archives?

The first priority, after their departure from the room behind the clock at the top of the Blore Tower, is to re-establish them in a new home, when the Society headquarters relocate to their new home in August 2006. Inevitably, this will bring new challenges and it is hoped also new opportunities. Secondly, an amount of classifying and cataloguing and preservation of the present collection remains to be done and this will be a continuing process as future activities generate further material for the archive collection, and as the Society journals turn out scientific literature.

I hope that members will think about the possible historical importance of correspondence and other items they write and of documents they have in their possession, in particular correspondence that may no longer seem of lasting value. Eventually when papers are no longer of use, their donation to the archive is always welcome. The archives already have a few collections built up over the years and we would like to receive more of these. One notable collection we have is of material collected by H.J. Bunker which reveals his wide scientific, technological, cultural and religious activities. Amongst the collection are scraps of paper referring to jokes told in speeches as well as reprints, newspaper cuttings and typescripts of articles and broadcasts. Currently we are in the process of locating the Barkworth collection which was lodged for safe keeping with Seal Hayne Agricultural College, which has now become part of the University of Plymouth.

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Jack Hopton in his 1993 report to Committee presumed that with the increasing use of electronic information storage, disks rather than files will begin to feature more in the records. ‘This could make the Archivist’s job easier in the sense that masses of material can be easily retained in a small volume’. He was right, but

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paper Minutes continue to be created and I imagine will be for some time yet. In the meanwhile transfer of the existing records to electronic storage is a job yet to be faced but it will not happen soon. My successor can look forward to a fascinating and busy future.

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CHAPTER 13

Into the Future

The ‘SAB 2000 Working Party’ had started its work in 1994, with the approach of the Millennium, to look into the future. Most of its proposals dealt with minor organizational matters and its most significant suggestion for a renaming of the Society was not accepted, mainly because there was strong advice against the use of the adjective ‘European’.

More than half a decade after the Millennium the unfulfilled forebodings of likely major difficulties and disasters have, in the main, been forgotten but for the Society great changes were in the making. The first independent Society office had been set up in 1991, with Ann Baillie as its Executive Secretary and in 1997 she established the office in the newly leased Blore Tower in Bedford. At the time of her appointment, Ann Baillie had been a member of the Society for a great many years and had served on Committee. She was elected General Secretary in October 1970 and she retired from the office of Treasurer in 1991. Her period of service began in days when the Society was a ‘do-it-yourself ’ organization and it extended to a time when its complexity required different skills. Apart from her scientific background and work, she was involved in her family business, which afforded her organizational and financial knowledge and experience that is rare amongst scientists and even more rarely at the service of a learned society.

During her nine years as Hon. Treasurer she managed the investment portfolio with consummate skill. When she retired in November 2000 after some 38 years of association with the Society, she left behind a well-organized institution, which she had run almost by herself and of

the workings of which she had the kind of intimate knowledge that it is almost impossible to transfer. Others would now have to acquire the necessary skills to carry on. In the long run, however, what would become increasingly evident was the breaking of a continuity that reached back to 31 years after the founding of the Society.

The post of Executive Secretary was not replaced and another new departure, after lengthy consideration, was the decision to appoint a Chief Executive Officer. Finally, in April 2005, Philip Wheat took up his post as the first CEO of the Society for Applied Microbiology.

The answer to the cryptic question of the January 2002 ‘Away Day’, about where the Society should make its home, had been ‘In Bedford’.

So, four years later, in 2006, when the lease on the Blore Tower had finally run its course, the decision was taken to move to more modern and convenient office quarters not far from the Harpur Centre. The decision was deliberate, because a headquarters in or close to a larger centre might have been seen as having advantages. By September 2006 the Society will have moved and be bedding down in its new headquarters. With new administrative and managerial leadership and a new address the Society moves into a new age.

End note Historians are not and should not try to be prophets. I am not a historian but at the end of 99

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the very long trek through the Archive from the early 1920s, when our story really began, almost up to the present day, the temptation to prophesy has ensnared me.

The Society for Applied Microbiology started from a small homely group under a different name, who met once a year and did their administration for themselves. It is now a larger, but not very large, scientific society with a centralised administration, a substantial annual round of scientific meetings, a very considerable publication programme and not inconsiderable financial resources. What, at the beginning, was a do-ityourself administration, is now done at ‘the centre’ in Bedford under the guidance of a Chief Executive; remarkable achievements, indeed. Members of the Society are spread around the country and around the world; Bedford is not a crossroads and the risks are those of growing remoteness.

Throughout this story, the Hon Officers at remarkably frequent intervals looked, perhaps a bit too introspectively, at their Society and tried to fathom what could be done to raise its status and increase its membership.

But this end note was to be about the future.

Chapter 13

Major challenges lie ahead, not the least of which is ‘Open Access’ of publications, which could, if it comes about and is not carefully managed, lead to a potentially damaging fall in journal sales and income; the solution to that problem will be in the hands of the Society’s publisher. The perennial problem of finding new members and retaining them will be one the Society must solve almost alone. It will not be easy but the solution will depend on how well the centre at Bedford manages to hold together the far-flung reaches of the Society and its members.

When the Society began, it set itself the ambition to be a friendly group of bacteriologists, who would meet to enjoy each others company.

The ravages of time, progress and scale will make these social aspirations less easy to fulfil.

But applied and industrial microbiology present a broad scientific horizon for the Society’s aspirations. In that scientific horizon, the original aims and aspirations may yet have much to offer. With good fortune and a fair wind the future of the Society for Applied Microbiology will be assured.

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APPENDIX 1

Obituaries

Appendix 1A. Appendix 1B. Appendix 1C. Appendix 1D. Appendix 1E. Appendix 1F. Appendix 1G. Appendix 1H. Appendix 1I. Appendix 1J.

Robert Stenhouse Williams Alexander Torovil Robert Mattick, C.B.E., B.Sc., Ph.D. Stanley Edward Jacobs D.Sc. A.R.C.S. L.A. Allen, D.Sc., Ph.D., D.I.C., F.R.I.C., F.I.Biol.

Thomas Gibson, D.Sc. H.J. Bunker George Sykes Maurice Ingram, C.B.E., M.A., Ph.D., D.V.M., F.I.Biol., F.I.F.S.T. Leonard John Meanwe1l S.B. Thomas, OBE

102 104 108 110 112 115 118 121 126 130

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Appendix 1

Appendix 1A

Robert Stenhouse Williams* 1871–1932

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R. Stenhouse Williams was born in April 1871, and educated at Liverpool College and the universities of Liverpool and Edinburgh, where he took the B.Sc., D.Sc. (Hon. Causa), M.B. C.M. etc., and the D.PH. (Cambridge). Later he studied at the Pasteur Institute of Paris, becoming eventually lecturer in public health bacteriology at Liverpool University. It was here that I became first acquainted with him in 1910.

He was a man in every sense of the word, holding very strong views on certain aspects of bacteriology, which occasionally brought him into conflict with his colleagues. He had very little use for the ‘slacker’, and was careful to impress upon all those who asked to work in his laboratory that they came to work and not to play.

In 1912 his appointment as research professor in dairy bacteriology under the aegis of the National Institution for Research in Dairying at University College, Reading, was a recognition both of the practical value of his work in Liverpool and his distinguished academic career. It was here that Stenhouse Williams established for himself the reputation of being one of the greatest living authorities on the milk question.

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He was a pioneer of the great ‘clean milk’ movement, and his researches were mainly directed towards the production of a milk free from tubercular taint.

One or his greatest difficulties was to persuade the farmers to come round to his way of thinking – even though it necessitated an added cost to the price of milk, yet it was well worth it to the community in general. His great belief was that a perfectly fresh milk could be obtained, without sterilization, and used as a universally safe article of diet.

Golf was one of the few forms of recreation he indulged in, taking the game in the same serious way as he worked, yet he possessed a dry sense of humour. Well do I remember, on one occasion, when a class of D.P.H. students were going round the museum of hygiene, undergoing one of Stenhouse’s ‘pipping’ classes, he turned to one of us and said: ‘Well, Dr B., you may know something about golf, but you know nothing about closets.’

A staunch friend, a wise teacher, his death was a tragic loss, and he will be a man difficult to replace.

L. S. A.

* Reproduced from the Journal of Pathology and Bacteriology 1932, 35, 471 by permission of The Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Photograph courtesy of The Museum of English Rural Life, The University of Reading, UK.

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Appendix 1

Appendix 1B Alexander Torovil Robert Mattick, C.B.E., B.Sc., Ph.D.* 1894–1962 The death of A.T.R. Mattick marks the end of an era both for the National Institute for Research in Dairying and for our Society. Stenhouse Williams was responsible for the founding of both organizations and Mattick was his chief assistant in both spheres. Today they have achieved a size and standing quite beyond the thoughts of those days.

Mattick was born on September 4th 1894 and educated at Sexe’s, School, Bruton and University College, Reading, where he took the Diploma in Agriculture and the degree of B.Sc. (Agric.) of the University of London. He joined the staff of the N.I.RD in March 1919, when it occupied three rooms in a house in Redlands Road, Reading. Mattick had been engaged in laboratory work in the RA.M.C. during the 1914– 18 war and for the next 10 years Stenhouse Williams, Mattick and W.A. Hoy were to lay the foundations of the science of clean milk production in this country, work in which they received the whole-hearted co-operation of the Ministry’s Advisory Bacteriologists. This classical work is still of the greatest value today, and its recommendations are still being applied and its wisdom appreciated.

The writer joined the staff of the Bacteriology Department of the N.I.RD. in 1927 and naturally came under his wing. As an academic chemist without any experience of bacteriology I had a lot to learn, not only bacteriology but also about milk production and dairying in general. As a ‘new boy’, my impressions of Mattick at that time were, first, his all-embracing friend-

liness and desire to give me all the help he could in settling down to my new job, and second, the extraordinary width and depth of his scientific knowledge, which went far beyond the extent of the B.Sc. (Agric.) course. I was particularly impressed by his grasp of the fundamentals of physics and chemistry and greatly benefited from many detailed discussions with him. As an example of his interests I may mention how he, W.J. Wiley (then a visiting worker from Australia) and I used to foregather round his desk at the end of the day’s work to study the classical papers of Mansfield Clark on oxidation–reduction potential, then quite an indigestible theme even for physical chemists.

Mattick was endowed with great mental and physical energy and inspired, us all with his enthusiasm in many directions, both in the Institute and outside it.

His well deserved promotion to Head of the Bacteriology Department came in April 1930, and in the same year he obtained his Ph.D. degree (London). It is characteristic of the man that this work was physical and chemical rather than bacteriological, and Mattick had in fact carried out pioneering work on film formation in milk and on copper-induced oiliness.

About this time he was at the centre of two now famous ventures. The Journal of Dairy Research was founded in 1929, and in 1932 Mattick became one of the two editors, serving it in that capacity until 1958. It had become the custom of the Advisory Bacteriologists, teachers of agricultural bacteriology, and others engaged

* Reprinted from the Journal of Applied Bacteriology (1962) 25, 125 –127 Editor’s Note: Dr Mattick’s wife is referred to in the obituary. She was Elfreida Constance Victoria Mattick, neé Cornish (1887–1943). Her obituary is to be found in the Biochemical Journal 1944, 38, 1

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in the dairy industry to come at regular intervals to the N.I.RD. for discussions, and Stenhouse Williams now called an informal meeting on a rather more comprehensive scale at St Patrick’s Hall, Reading University, for this purpose. This particular conference became the Society of Agricultural Bacteriologists and the six papers given in 1931 were subsequently bound in mimeographed form and so may be regarded as the first volume of our present Journal. Over the following 31 years the Society has expanded from the original 33 to nearly 600 members and changed its name, but it is a particular joy to the writer that throughout this time it has retained its character of informality and friendliness, although its size, scope and scientific standing have been enormously enhanced. A large share of the credit for this must go to Mattick, who was its first Secretary and became its second President.

The period from 1927 to 1939 may be regarded as the adolescence of the Bacteriology Department; it slowly passed from the ‘clean milk’ phase to the highly developed state in which it exists today. Progress was inevitably slow because of inadequate knowledge and severely limited apparatus and financial resources. Special permission had to be obtained to spend a few pounds on new equipment (actually often secondhand) and milk had to be saved up over days, a few gallons at a time, to make cheese experiments. Throughout this period, with the help of Miss E.R. Hiscox, Mattick steered us all with the kindest encouragement and friendliest criticism. His own work was largely on pasteurization, especially the H.T.S.T. process, and contemporary dairy scientists cannot appreciate the difficulties, and especially the hostility from some quarters, which surrounded the subject in those days. The Institute gradually played a more important role in the processing side of the dairy industry and paid attention to such aspects as plant and bottle hygiene, milking machines, the survival of tubercle bacilli, the

Appendix 1B

plate count, methylene blue and other tests for bacteriological quality, the design of pasteurizing and manufacturing plant, and problems in the cheese industry, especially slow starter. The outbreak of the Second World War naturally changed the emphasis of Mattick’s work. The National Milk Testing and Advisory Scheme was launched and he became the Chairman of the Technical Committee. The Department was also asked to organize a mobile laboratory to be on call to any farm or dairy desiring its help, and in both activities co-operation with the Advisory Bacteriologists was an outstanding feature; between them they, with the industry’s bacteriologists, virtually controlled the keeping quality of the nation’s milk. These schemes not only maintained bacteriological quality under very difficult circumstances but effected a considerable improvement in the hygienic conditions of cans, pasteurizing plant, tankers and bottles. Other fields of study in which Mattick continually functioned as a leader were: the problems of tests for keeping quality, with Mr A. Rowlands; phage in starters, with Dr A.A. Nichols; chemical sterilizers, with Dr L.F.L. Clegg; the assessment of ‘sterility’ (or, more accurately, a satisfactory bacteriological condition); and antibiotic production by, and the serology of lactic streptococci, the last two with D.A. Hirsch and Dr P.M.F. Shattock.

Subsequently, fundamental studies of the lactobacilli were started with Dr M.E. Sharpe, Dr M. Briggs and Dr D.M. Wheater and of the intestinal flora of farm animals with Dr C.A.E. Briggs.

The early work on rennet and other aspects of cheese making and ripening was renewed and taken over by Dr N.J. Berridge and Dr L.A. Mabbitt.

In 1946 Mattick was appointed DeputyDirector of the N.I.RD. and became the second President of the Society of Dairy Technology.

He was a founder committee member and associate editor of the Society for General

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Obituaries

Microbiology, and Chairman of many committees of the Ministry of Agriculture and of the British Standards Institution concerned with dairy bacteriology. Towards the end of his career he received two well-deserved honours.

He was appointed Acting Director of the N.I.R.D. on the retirement of Professor H.D. Kay in 1958, and awarded the C.BE. in the 1960 New Year’s Honours.

Although he had enjoyed good health during a long and distinguished career, his health deteriorated rather rapidly during the last few years.

Those of us who had been intimately working with him felt that he never fully recovered from the death of his wife in 1943. They were clearly devoted to each other, and in the absence of children this loss had the effect of making him rather withdraw into himself socially. However, he maintained his vigorous interest in all things pertaining to dairy bacteriology in general and to the Institute in particular, up to his retirement in 1959.

Mattick was never afraid to say what he thought, either about things or people. He possessed that supreme courage (which few of us have) of saying things to people’s faces and not behind their backs. In spite of this he was never known to lose a friend; the wise appreciate that a candid criticism is more helpful than a hollow flattery. His conversation was brisk, and at times brusque, but a strong sense of humour created an atmosphere that usually smoothed out potential difficulties and in which the

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wounds made by the arrows that occasionally slipped out and found their mark soon ceased to exist. Until the last few years he was strongly extrovert; in other words he enjoyed life and found great pleasure in mutual enjoyment with his friends. The early days when, dairy bacteriologists were few in number, inadequately equipped and financially not so well off as today had their compensations, and those of us who consorted with Mattick in those times will retain many happy memories of those meetings when 20 was a crowd and there was more time for enjoying those activities which have disappeared since the advent of the doubtful advantages of the universal motor car, the aeroplane and the television set. In an age less far removed from the first Elizabethan era, when we made our own amusements, Mattick was always prominent and his laughter and obvious enjoyment always infectious.

His memory will survive for his friends chiefly as an inspiring example of single-mindedness of purpose and devotion to duty. He lived for the Institute and the cause he served.

This is essentially a personal tribute from one who had the happy privileges of his friendship and of working under him. More detailed information about his scientific work is given in Dairy Industries (1955), 415; (1958), 647; the Journal of the Society of Dairy Technology (1959), 12. 232; and Dairy Industries (1960), 516, 588.

J.G. DAVIS

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Appendix 1

Appendix 1C

Stanley Edward Jacobs D.Sc. A.R.C.S. 1905–1963 It is with very deep regret that I report the death of Dr S.E. Jacobs on 27th January in King’s College Hospital; I am sure that all members will extend their sympathy to his widow and to his son.

Stanley Jacobs was born on 23rd June, 1905 and received his first education at Strand School, London. In 1923 he became a student in the Chemistry Department of Imperial College

* Reprinted from the Journal of Applied Bacteriology (1963) 25, 1–2

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and obtained a First Class Honours Degree in 1925; at the same time he was awarded the Frank Hatton Prize for Chemistry. After spending a short time in the Department of Agricultural Chemistry his interests turned to microbiology and he joined the Botany Department of Imperial College as Demonstrator. He assumed the leadership of the Bacteriology Section in 1938 and in 1950 obtained the degree of D.Sc. and became Reader in Bacteriology. He was a member of the College Board of Studies and served on many University Boards. The introduction of an M.Sc. Degree in Microbiology at Imperial College and of a First Degree in Microbiology in the University of London were due considerably to his work and enthusiasm, and there is no doubt that the generations of students who came under his influence will remember him with respect and gratitude.

He was also a member of the Panel on Coordination of Research Contracts on selected topics in radiobiology (which functions under the auspices of the International Atomic Energy Agency) and was a consultant to the Rubber Research Institute of Malaya. In the field of research his detailed and painstaking work, in collaboration with Dr R.C. Jordan, on the dynamics of disinfection is known throughout the world. In more recent years, in collaboration with others, he has been concerned with various aspects of soil microbiology and plant pathogens; with the effects on bacteria of high frequency electric fields and ultrasonic waves; and with the recovery of bacteria damaged by disinfectants.

Stanley Jacobs was a well known and influential member of the Society for Applied Bacteriology; members will recall his frequent contributions to discussions at meetings and his participation, often in the company of Mrs Jacobs, in the social activities of our summer conferences. He became a member in September 1943 and was elected to the Committee at the Annual General Meeting of 1948. In January

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1950 he was persuaded by the Committee to become Joint Editor of the Proceedings of the Society for Applied Bacteriology with the late Dr T. Richards. It was at this time that a change in the format of the Proceedings took place (the title of Journal of Applied Bacteriology was adopted in 1954). Dr Richards resigned in September 1950 because of ill health, and his place was taken by Dr L.F.L. Clegg and, 8 years later, by Dr C.A.E. Briggs.

There is no doubt that Dr Jacobs had an unusual flair for editing which, coupled with his considerable scientific learning, immense patience and attention to detail, was of inestimable value both to the Journal and to its contributors, as those of us who have submitted papers for his editorial scrutiny are well aware.

He often said that he knew nothing about editing when he took on the office, but such was his character and interest in the work that having undertaken it he spared no effort to establish a very high standard; most of his free time was, in fact, spent on Journal matters. It is certain that he was largely responsible for the world wide recognition the Journal enjoys today.

When quite new to editing I was recently introduced to the many facets of the job, I was struck by the facility with which Dr Jacobs could transform a seemingly jumbled typescript or incomprehensible table into something lucid and very much to the point. The kindly and constructive way he modified my own attempts at editing was much appreciated and illustrated to me his undoubted ability as a teacher.

Dr Jacobs will be very much missed by members of the Society both as a friend and colleague and as one whose tremendous contribution has been the mainstay of the Journal for the past 13 years. If we make sure that the Journal is maintained at its present high standard, there can surely be no better way for us to remember the man who did so much for it.

D.J. JAYNE-WILLAMS

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Appendix 1

Appendix 1D

L.A. Allen, D.Sc., Ph.D., D.I.C., F.R.I.C., F.I. Biol. 1903–1964

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With the sudden death of L.A. Allen on 30 December 1964 the Society has lost yet another of its long standing and loyal members. Perhaps to those who did not know him intimately Allen may have seemed remote, but this quietness and reserve was a characteristic which hid only lightly his natural kindness, integrity and depth of understanding, and it is to these attributes that the Society owes much.

Allen was born in 1903 and took First Class Honours in Chemistry at Reading University in 1924. Following this he did postgraduate work at Imperial College, London, and at the Hannah Dairy Research Institute after which, in 1930, he became a Lecturer at Reading in charge of the Department of Agricultural Bacteriology.

In these surroundings it may be imagined that Allen was concerned only with dairy bacteriology, hut his thought was always ranging to the broader aspects of applied and industrial bacteriology and this became manifest in several ways. Whilst at Reading he initiated the postgraduate Diploma in Bacteriology which ultimately blossomed into the present degree course. He also became Secretary of the Society in 1939 when it was the Society of Agricultural Bacteriology and filled with distinction the Office of President from 1943 to 1946. During

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these periods he was alert to see the future trends in bacteriology and this resulted in the scope of the Society being enlarged under the then new title of Society for Applied Bacteriology to include all aspects of non medical bacteriology. At the same time, in close collaboration with the late R. St John Brooks he brought into being the Society for General Microbiology, thus drawing together for the first time all disciplines of microbiology and embracing the fields not only of bacteriology but also of mycology, protozoology, virology and microbial chemistry. Allen and St John Brooks were, in fact, the first joint Secretaries of that Society.

After his period at Reading, Allen left the academic world and in 1938 became chief microbiologist at the Water Pollution Research Laboratory at Watford where he remained for 14 years. After this he joined the research staff of Tate & Lyle Ltd, and in his last years was a private consultant in industrial microbiology.

Allen’s many contributions to the scientific literature are ample witnesses of the depth and breadth of his work.

Thus passes a man perhaps inadequately sung whilst with us.

G.S.

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Appendix 1

Appendix 1E

Thomas Gibson, D.Sc. 1897–1973

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In the recent death of Tom Gibson, microbiology has lost a renowned devotee and another link with the foundation of the Society for Applied Bacteriology has been severed.

Such was the man that all who knew him remembered a quiet, unassuming manner which belied a great strength of character and talent.

His influence on colleagues and students alike was profound, creating a deep feeling for their work which transcended the materialism of library and laboratory and gave learning a purpose and a stimulus. The separation of academic study and practical application was meaningless to him, and research, teaching and advisory work were closely interwoven in his laboratory.

His leadership was essentially one of example, providing standards of self-discipline, accuracy and thought which his associates strove hard, but often vainly, to emulate.

Tom Gibson was born near Edinburgh of a farming family and educated at Edinburgh Academy. After serving in the Tank Corps during the First World War he studied and graduated at Edinburgh University. He joined the teaching staff of the Bacteriology Department of the East of Scotland College of Agriculture in 1923 where he was content to remain until he retired as Head of the Department in 1963.

Thereafter, until the day before his death he remained active in the laboratory.

Shortly after his initial appointment he made a number of visits to the United States – an unusual event for a young scientist of that time.

There he met in adventurous circumstances many of the prominent bacteriologists of that time such as Fred, Waksman and Conn. Meetings such as these initiated international relationships which he fostered for the rest of his life to the obvious benefit of his staff and students.

Tom Gibson’s numerous contributions to the scientific literature over nearly 50 years bear ample testimony to the breadth and depth of his knowledge and understanding of the bacteria

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and their biological activities. During the thirties he published a series of scholarly papers on the ureaclastic micro-organisms of soils. Based on several years of careful, painstaking work, this, his first major investigation, remains a model ecological study some 40 years later.

His studies ranged from a detailed investigation of the effect of environmental factors on urea decomposition in different soil types to an examination of the physiology and taxonomy of the principal micro-organisms concerned in the process. Much of the work was concerned with the more active urea-decomposing Bacillus pasteuri group but one of the more fascinating aspects was his investigation of an unusual coccus Sarcina ureae. Up to that time Beijerinck’s 1901 isolation of a motile, endospore-forming coccus had not been repeated despite numerous attempts by different investigators. Moreover, doubts were expressed about the validity of the early observations of endospore formation in a coccus. However, Gibson devised a simple method for its isolation and showed that S. ureae was numerous in fertile soils. With typical thoroughness he determined the special growth conditions required for endospore formation and established beyond doubt that the organism was a motile, packet- and tetrad-forming coccus which produced heat-resistant endospores.

For his work on the ureaclastic bacteria he was awarded the degree of D.Sc. of Edinburgh University in 1935.

These early studies on aerobic spore-forming bacteria led to a life-long interest in the genus Bacillus. He subsequently published a number of papers on the taxonomy of Bacillus culminating in a revision of the genus, with Dr Ruth E. Gordon, for the forthcoming 8th edition of Bergey’s Manual. He had just finished correcting the proofs of this contribution before his death.

Over the years he became an expert on many bacterial groups and in many aspects

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of agricultural bacteriology. Diverse research projects were undertaken with associates and students and he communicated his enthusiasm to all who worked with him. During and immediately after the Second World War came the extensive studies which contributed greatly to our knowledge of the microflora of raw and pasteurized milk. This was followed by a detailed investigation of the microbiology of silage and the fermentation process. Concurrently there were many research topics undertaken with students including those concerned with soil and soil processes, milk spoilage, plant pathogens, egg spoilage and poultry deep litter. In all these diverse investigations his deep knowledge and understanding of microbial ecology and bacterial taxonomy had a profound influence.

But his contribution to microbiology was much greater than is indicated by his published work. His advice on various problems in microbiology was frequently sought and freely given. Many members of this Society and others benefited from his unsurpassed knowledge of the bacteria. Frequently, his help was of a more practical nature. For example, when Dr S.T. Cowan became Curator of the National Collection of Type Cultures in 1947 Tom Gibson examined every Bacillus strain in the Collection and ensured its correct identity. He was gifted with an excellent memory and had an outstanding knowledge of the literature. Those of us who had the privilege to work with him will remember that when asked a question in the laboratory on some topic or other he would either give an immediate reply or produce in a few minutes a number of relevant references written in his minuscule handwriting on a tiny scrap of paper.

Appendix 1E

Over the years his extensive studies on a wide range of bacterial groups earned him an international reputation as a bacterial taxonomist.

He became a member of the International Committee of Bacterial Nomenclature (ICBN) in 1953 and in 1962 was made a member of the Judicial Commission. In 1970 he was made a life-member of the ICBN. He also served on the ICBN Sub-Committee on the Taxonomy of Staphylococci and Micrococci. In addition to his contribution on the genus Bacillus he prepared revisions of the genera Caryophanon, Sporosarcina and Oscillospira for the forthcoming 8th edition of Bergey’s Manual.

Tom Gibson was one of the founder members of the Society and gave it outstanding support from its early years as the Society of Agricultural Bacteriologists to recent times.

He served as an Editor, Assistant Editor, Committee Member and as President (1963–65) contributing greatly to its development and status. In recognition of these services he was elected an Honorary Member in 1966.

‘Throughout his life Tom Gibson shunned the publicity and recognition due to him. In his family and professional life he was a happy and contented man and to both he gave his best.

His material contributions to microbiology were considerable and the intangible influences of his fertile mind and powerful personality will be proudly borne by his associates and, undoubtedly, passed on to those who succeed them. During his long and fruitful career he was devotedly supported by his wife, Daisie, whom he married in 1926. To her and to their daughter, Aileen, we offer our deepest sympathy.

R.M. KEDDIE A.M. PATON

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Appendix 1F H.J. Bunker* 1897–1975 With the death of Dr H. J. Bunker on 8 August 1975 we lost one of the Grand Old Men of applied microbiology, a member of our Society known with affection to most of us.

He appeared in a different light to different generations. Young members knew him mainly as a jovial after-dinner speaker, much in demand, with a bottomless fund of risqué stories. To their fathers’ generation, he was head of an industrial research laboratory; who became President of the Society for General Microbiology and of the Society for Applied Bacteriology, as well as Chairman of the Microbiology Group of the Society for Chemical Industry; and who wrote mainly about beer and yeast. To the grandfathers, those of his own generation, he was one of the first and leading applied bacteriologists, a creator in Britain of the science of chemical microbiology (as distinct from microbial biochemistry) and one of the main architects of the professional institutions which the applied microbiologist now enjoys.

These different aspects are indeed reflections of distinct phases of a long and varied career.

Henry James Bunker was born in 1897, went in 1915 from grammar school to active service in the infantry in France and emerged as a commissioned officer in 1919. In 1919 he began the Natural Sciences Tripos at Cambridge, from St Catherine’s College, graduating B.A. in 1922 with botany as principal subject. He became M.A. in 1926.

Between 1922 and 1933 he worked as a bacteriologist in the Royal Naval Cordite Factory; though most of his work there was sponsored by the Department of Scientific and Industrial

Research. First, for that Department’s Fuel Research Board, he investigated the conversion of vegetable hemicellulose to pentoses and their bacterial fermentation to ethanol and acetone.

Secondly, for the Fabrics Research Board, he studied in collaboration with A.C. Thaysen the breakdown of textile fibres and other cellulosic materials by bacteria, actinomycetes and fungi.

This work led to a book The Microbiology of Cellulose, Hemicelluloses, Pectin and Gums, a milestone on the way to the fashionable subject of biodeterioration. During this period he showed that no micro-organisms survived in Tut-ankh-amen’s tomb.

In 1933, the Microbiology Unit was transferred from the R.N. Cordite Factory, to become the Microbiology Section in the D.S.I.R.’s Chemical Research Laboratory at Teddington.

Here Bunker began work on sulphur bacteria: first sulphur-oxidizing Thiobacillus strains isolated from pyrites waste; later sulphatereducing species of Desulfovibrio – an electrochemical mechanism for their corrosion of iron pipes was suggested. Because of its economic importance this work became well known.

A Review of the Physiology and Biochemistry of the Sulphur Bacteria, published in 1936, was reprinted after the war in 1951. All this provided a foundation on which Butlin and Postgate later built so successfully. During the thirties, coming events began to cast their shadows before Bunker isolated a vigorous H2S-producing bacterium which caused serious problems in a London brewery; and he took a spare time course in brewing ‘in case it might come in useful’. This, however, was for the future.

* Reprinted from the Journal of Applied Bacteriology (1976) 40, 125 –127

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World War II changed the activities at C.R.L. Besides increased work on corrosion and rotproofing of fabrics, the Microbiology Section became heavily engaged on the large-scale culture of food yeast for the Medical Research Council and Services (the present writer attempted to incorporate the yeast into emergency rations).

Appendix 1F

This was the basis of the pioneering food yeast plant, set up in Jamaica under Thaysen’s direction after the war when Bunker had changed his employment. At the end of the war, he was one of the specialists sent by the British Intelligence Organization to Germany to report on scientific and technical achievements there.

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In 1944 Bunker took the opportunity to create a research department within the Barclay Perkins Brewery at Southwark, where he remained until it was absorbed in a commercial ‘take-over’ in 1956. There, besides the technicalities of processes like filtration or centrifugation, he worked on control of spoilage organisms and on pure culture fermentations; the most significant achievements were not necessarily published. Publications related to brewing were mostly about hygiene, quality control and nutritive value. But throughout this period Bunker’s energies continued to overflow into articles on yeast cultivation, production of fat from yeast and the production of microbial protein, thus anticipating by at least 20 years the present interest in the latter.

All this had given Bunker an unusually diverse and practical experience, so in 1956 he set up an independent consultancy in industrial microbiology. This proved a great success, his services being used by a wide variety of industries, and the practice still continued at the time of his death. During this consultancy, clearly inspired by his earlier experience, he continued to write especially about the potentialities of microbes in relation to the prospective world shortage of food and protein. In all, he published about 80 noteworthy scientific papers.

Throughout, he did a great deal of committee work. Even at the age of 78, he was still a member of some ten committees and Chairman of two of them. He was besides an external examiner for the Borough Polytechnic, the National College of Food Technology and the National University of Ireland.

Perhaps even more worthy of remembrance than his scientific pioneering is his activity in establishing microbiology as a profession. With his wide range of microbiological interests, he

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became acutely aware of the limitations of existing societies for medical bacteriology or for biochemistry or chemistry, and he devoted himself to remedying this deficiency. Thus he was a leading spirit in creating the Society for General Microbiology of which he became founder Treasurer, an early President in 1952 and eventually an Honorary Member. He played his part in enlarging the Society of Agricultural Bacteriologists into the much more broadly based Society for Applied Bacteriology, was our President from 1946 to 1949, and became a Trustee in 1960. Similarly, he pressed for greater recognition of microbiology within the Society of Chemical Industry, and became first Chairman of the Microbiology Group which superseded the Microbiological Panel of that Society. In later life he set out to stimulate a greater interest in microbiology within the Institute of Biology and characteristically – at an age when ordinary men have gone into retirement – he became President from 1967 to 1969. No other individual can have done, or is likely in future to do, so much as Bunker did to create the Societies with their associated journals, in which our presentday applied microbiologist thinks and has his being. His enormous circle of friends in his profession was in some measure his reward.

Academic recognition came late. He was awarded the degree of Doctor of Technology honoris causa by Brunel University in 1969; and of Doctor of Science honoris causa by Bath University in 1970. These honours came only a few years before his death, and one regrets that he had not been able to enjoy them longer.

We, as a Society, extend our sincere sympathy to Mrs Bunker and the family. With his passing the world of microbiology has lost one of the most outstanding practitioners of this century.

M. INGRAM

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Appendix 1

Appendix 1G

George Sykes* In any corporate body there appears from time to time an individual whose particular gifts enable him to exercise a profound and beneficent influence on his colleagues. George Sykes, whose sudden death on 4 April 1976 shocked and saddened all who knew him, was such a man.

George was educated at Nottingham High School and in 1927 joined the Research Department of Boots Pure Drug Co. Ltd. He was

unqualified at that time but sought qualification by spare-time study, never an easy task, and was rewarded with a B.Sc. in 1934. This success was followed by the awards of A.R.LC. (1939), M.Sc. (1940) and F.R.LC. (by election) in 1944. In 1930 he was transferred to the Bacteriology Laboratory and in 1949 was appointed Head of the Microbiology Division of the newly formed Standards Department.

During his long career of nearly 44 years with

* Reprinted from Journal of Applied Bacteriology 1976, 41, 361–362

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the Company he became a recognized authority on disinfection and sterilization procedures and occupied many positions where his understanding and willingness to help enabled him to contribute much of value. He was a member of the Sterile Materials Sub-Committee of the British Pharmacopoeia Commission from 1954 and of its Antibiotics Sub-Committee for some years. He had also been Chairman of the Technical Committee of the British Disinfectant Manufacturers’ Association, Chairman of the City and Guilds Advisory Committee on Laboratory Techniques and an Examiner in Microbiology for City and Guilds Certificates in Microbiological Laboratory Techniques.

Although not a pharmacist he was concerned almost entirely with microbiological aspects of pharmaceutical products and processes, and it is probably true to say that he was better known among pharmacists than among microbiologists of other disciplines, though his reputation extended far. His valuable contribution to the practice of pharmacy received recognition when he was made an Honorary Member of the Pharmaceutical Society in 1967, a distinction that meant much to him.

Probably his most widely-known contribution to microbiology is his book on Disinfection and Sterilization (Spon) which appeared first in 1958 and is now in a second edition (1965): it is recognized as a standard text-book on the subject and there must be few microbiologists who have not consulted it at some time or another. This book, together with some 50 papers on various aspects of disinfection, microbiological assay and detection of microbial contamination bear witness to his energy and dedication to his work.

In 1943 George was elected to membership of the Society of Agricultural Bacteriologists, as the Society for Applied Bacteriology was then called, at the Annual General Meeting held in Leeds, thereby beginning an association that

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continued until his death. It is interesting to note that on the day following his election a special session of the A.G.M. was devoted to a discussion on the future status and title of the Society. This discussion was promoted by a general desire to expand and diversify the activities of the Society and to encourage microbiologists connected with industries other than agriculture to join it. I have no doubt that the proposed changes found favour with so forward-looking a man as George Sykes. In view of the enormous contribution that he was later to make to the Society it is reasonable to conclude that the right man arrived at the right time.

George became a member of the S.A.B. Committee in 1949 and took office as Hon. Secretary from 1951 until 1959, and as President from 1960 until 1962. In January 1960 he was also appointed a Trustee and continued in this capacity until his death. There was little relief from the burden of office (though I doubt if he ever regarded such service as a burden) for in 1963 he became an Editor of the Journal of Applied Bacteriology, filling the gap caused by the death of Dr S.E. Jacobs whose meticulous standards of editorial practice had already made a deep impression on him. During his years as an Editor (he disliked the term ‘Senior Editor’) his scientific knowledge and integrity, and his delight in the use of good, clear English raised the Journal to a new high standard of excellence.

Those of us who were privileged to work with him learned much of the craft of editing – and the learning was always pleasurable. He gave praise unstintingly when merited; criticism was invariably reasoned and courteous. In his time George held nearly all possible offices or positions in the Society, a performance which few can hope to emulate.

His support for scientific societies was not, however, confined to the S.A.B.: he had been a member of Council of the Society for General Microbiology from 1951 to 1955 and a Chairman

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of the Nottingham Section of the Society of Chemical Industry. He became the Jubilee Memorial Lecturer of the latter society in 1962.

He was also a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology from 1957 to 1961.

Following his retirement from the Boots Co. Ltd in 1971 George found rewarding work to do as a Principal Inspector in the Medicines Inspectorate of the Department of Health and Social Security. In this post he was concerned with the setting of microbiological standards for pharmaceutical products, with the inspection of manufacturing plant and premises, and with the training of junior inspectors. Here, too, his editorial skill was put to good use for he edited the microbiological section of the Code

Appendix 1G

of Good Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Practice (the ‘Orange Guide’). It is generally agreed that he did a splendid job as one of the pioneers of the inspectorate.

A long list of impressive achievements can bemuse the reader and almost do disservice by obscuring recollection of the man himself. It is a privilege to redress the balance and place on record my personal tribute to a colleague always cheerful, helpful and informed, of complete integrity and unswervingly faithful to his Christian principles. He enjoyed life to the full, finding relaxation in music and the pleasures of the countryside. To his widow, Lilian, I extend condolences from myself and from the Society that he served so well.

F.A. SKINNER

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Appendix 1H

Maurice Ingram, C.B.E., M.A., Ph.D., D.V.M., F.I.Biol., F.I.F.S.T. With the sudden death of Maurice Ingram at his home in Churchill, Avon, on Tuesday 15 November 1977, the Society for Applied Bacteriology lost one of its mast loyal supporters and food microbiologists throughout the world one of their most distinguished colleagues.

Dr Ingram was born in Bradford, Yorkshire, in 1912, was educated at Bradford Grammar School and did so well there that he was awarded a State Scholarship and an Entrance Scholarship

to Queens’ College, University of Cambridge.

He was a brilliant scholar, obtaining a First Class in both Part I (Chemistry, Physics, Botany and Mathematics) and Part II (Botany) of the Natural Science Tripos. But for an untimely injury he would almost certainly have represented the University at soccer. After 1933 he commenced work at the Low Temperature Research Station for Research in Biochemistry and Biophysics, Cambridge and in 1937 obtained

Reprinted from the Journal of Applied Bacteriology 1978, 45, 317–320.

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his Ph.D. on ‘The Effect of Salts on Bacterial Respiration’. For the next 30 years he continued his close association with Cambridge University, supervising students and participating in various activities and expeditions, many of which were associated with the Botany School.

His early research on bacterial growth and metabolism led to studies of the influence of pre- and post-slaughter stress in pigs on the bacteriological quality and stability of the products after the meat was cured. This in turn led to an interest in the halophilic microflora of curing brines. His research became particularly significant during the Second World War when he was engaged in judging the edibility of imported meat delayed by or salvaged after enemy action. In addition he was concerned in the development of compact military rations from dehydrated foods, and was responsible far designing and getting into factory production about half the items in the standard British 24 h ration issued to Allied armies and to underground organizations in Europe. He later received the Haakon VII Liberty Medal from the Norwegian Government far his contribution to the operation which destroyed the heavy water plant at Rjukan.

His experience during and immediately after the war gave him an interest in many different aspects of food spoilage and preservation. Work for the Ministry of Food on yeast spoilage of concentrated orange juice took him in an advisory capacity to manufacturers in Israel, Italy and Spain, and gave him a continuing interest in yeasts, particularly osmophilic ones. His book, An Introduction to the Biology of Yeasts was published in 1955. The use of sulphur dioxide for preserving the orange juice led to basic studies on the mode of action of chemical preservatives which were subsequently extended to antibiotics for preserving foods and the problems of antibiotic resistant floras. With the formation of a radiation section in 1950 to study the use

Appendix 1H

irradiation for the sterilization or pasteurization of foods his interest was widened to include factors affecting the radiation resistance of clostridia and other organisms.

Immediately after the war when food was in short supply he was also concerned with studies of whalemeat for human consumption.

Investigations were carried out in Norway and the Low Temperature Research Station also sent teams to the Antarctic on two occasions. His observations (Robinson et al. 1953) an the involvement of both clostridia and faecal streptococci in the deep spoilage of whalemeat led to a continuing interest in the role of the intestinal flora in the spoilage of raw and cured meats, the origin of the organisms present and, in the case of the faecal streptococci, the differentiation of strains of human or animal origin, and their use as indicators of faecal contamination.

The observation that clostridial multiplication in the deep muscle tissues of the whale did not occur until after the onset of rigor, whether this occurred in 2 h or 15 h, led to further studies of factors, especially Eh, affecting the incidence and growth of clostridia particularly Clostridium perfringens in the deep muscle tissue of meat carcasses. Subsequently this work was extended to considerations of factors such as pH, nitrite and salt in the control of Clostridium botulinum in cured meats, particularly pork.

In 1951 Dr Ingram became Head of the Microbiology Department with the broad responsibility for all microbiological work at the Low Temperature Research Station and subsequently in 1958 also took charge of the Radiation Section. In the reorganization in 1951 he changed microbiology from the commoditybased servicing unit it had become during the war and concentrated on studying the basic principles governing food spoilage such as temperature, pH, water activity or gaseous environment and preservation whether this was by heat,

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irradiation or the use of chemical preservatives or antibiotics. He was a creative thinker rather than a bench worker (despite an interest in gadgets, and considerable manual manipulative ability) and collected around him a team of research workers individually specializing in the many different aspects of food microbiology (B.P. Eddy, E.M. Barnes, J.A. Barnett, A.G. Kitchell, M.J. Thornley and T.A. Roberts arrived in that order). Overseas visitors were always welcome for long or short stays and made a significant contribution to the research work of the department. His ability to develop and co-ordinate ideas led to the publication of many carefully thought out papers only a few of which are mentioned below.

Throughout his life he retained his interest in mathematics and statistics and whilst in Cambridge often accepted Diploma in Statistics students for microbiology projects. This led to several studies concerning the accuracy of various counting techniques and best methods for selecting representative colonies for further identification. Unfortunately many of the results were not published or alternatively they were buried in the most unlikely papers. For example, the method be developed for calculating the numbers of organisms present in the sample from the colony counts at different dilutions, which is known as the ‘Weighted Average’, is contained in a paper on the survival of Bacillus subtilis spores in the baking of bread (Farmiloe et al., 1954) and is only now being adopted in official standard methods.

In 1963 Dr Ingram was appointed first Director of the projected Meat Research Institute then still in Cambridge and in 1965 the last director of the LTRS. He moved with his staff to the new Institute in Langford, Bristol in 1968, while the rest of the Low Temperature Research Station staff moved to the new Food Research Institute in Norwich in the same year. Dr Ingram remained Director of MRI until 1973 and was

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also Professor of Applied Microbiology in the University of Bristol. After his retirement at the age of 61 he was once more able to concentrate on his scientific activities rather than the ever increasing load of administration which he did not really enjoy.

Although many would consider him a reserved man, he had a mischievous sense of humour and he firmly believed in the need to discuss and communicate ideas, both at the national and international level. He was an active member of a number of Scientific Societies including the Society for General Microbiology, the Society of Chemical. Industry and the Institute of Food Science and Technology of which he was a Fellow, but it was probably in the Society for Applied Bacteriology that he felt most at home. He joined in 1949 at a time when traditional agricultural and dairying microbiology was being broadened to include other foods and the Society itself was widening its interest to include many different aspects of applied microbiology. He immediately gave his support to the organization and running of the Symposia on special topics which have now become so much a feature of the Society’s meetings, often being one of the main contributors.

He was a Committee member from 1952–55 and President from 1956–58. He later became a Trustee and served in this capacity until his death. He attended meetings regularly and unstintingly gave much of his time to the affairs of the Society as well as encouraging his staff to become actively involved. When he took the Chair at a meeting one could be sure that the proceedings would never be dull. He was not afraid to express his views and could be devastatingly critical at times. On the other hand, one of his greatest virtues was that he would freely admit if he was wrong.

In 1953 together with Dr R. Buttiaux, Dr D.A.A. Mossel and others he pioneered the formation of the Food Microbiology and Hygiene

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Section of the IAMS and became the first President, a position which he held until 1968.

He presided over and contributed to a number of the Symposia organized by the Section on a wide variety of topics the first being held in Lille, France, in 1954, on the ‘Bacteriology of Semi-preserved Meats’. He participated in the formation of the International Commission for Microbiological Specifications of Foods (ICMSF) which originated as part of the Food Microbiology and Hygiene Section in 1962. The ICMSF has already published two books which are important guide-lines for food microbiologists, the second, Micro-organisms in Foods: 2 Sampling for Microbiological Analysis: Principles and Specific Applications 1974, ICMSF, University of Toronto Press, was one with which Dr Ingram with his statistical interest was particularly concerned. At the time of his death he was involved in the writing of the third book Micro-organisms in Foods: Microbial Ecology and Spoilage.

He had a good knowledge of languages and was perhaps at his best when presiding over the smaller international meetings. Many of our overseas colleagues remember with gratitude his patience with their hesitant English and the help he often gave them over the scientific papers they were preparing for publication in books or journals where English was the required language. On a number of occasions he served on Expert Advisory Panels for FAO, WHO and the International Atomic Energy Agency.

He was an excellent teacher and often participated in the WHO course on food held annually at the Institute Pasteur, Lille, France. He was particularly glad to co-operate in the institution of the biennial 3 week advanced course in food which held its first meeting in 1973 at the University of Surrey and since then in 1975 and 1977 and has been attended by people from many parts of the world. As Chairman of the

Appendix 1

Organizing Committee he played a very active part in the actual running of the course going into residence with the students for a high proportion of them, giving some of the basic lectures, assisting in practical classes and generally participating in discussions.

He was a man of wide interests and ability and was endowed with a remarkable memory.

Apart from his profession of microbiologist he was also a botanist, master beekeeper, amateur astronomer, motor mechanic, litterateur, pianist and an enthusiastic sportsman. Colleagues and friends throughout the world will remember him and his wife Joyce for their generous hospitality and friendship. He was awarded the CBE in 1974 and an honorary degree of Doctor of Veterinary Medicine was conferred on him by the Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich in the same year. In September 1977 he received the Polish Society of Microbiology Gold-Medal of Honour for ‘most outstanding services to microbiology’ – a fitting tribute to a scientist of distinction and a man of great personal achievement and integrity.

A full list of Dr Ingram’s publications; of which there are more than 200, is deposited with the Society archivist but can, also be obtained from the A.R.C. Meat Research Institute, Langford. Bristol, BS18 7DY. A selection of his papers which illustrates the breadth of his interests is listed below.

ELLA M. BARNES

Selected Publications FARMILOE, F.J., CORNFORD. S.J. COPPOCK, J.B.M. & INGRAM, M. 1954 The survival of Bacillus subtilis spores in the baking of bread.

Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture 6, 292–304.

INGRAM, M. 1951 The effect of cold on microorganisms in relation to food. Proceedings of the Society for Applied Bacteriology 14, 243–260.

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INGRAM, M. 1957 Microorganisms resisting high concentrations of sugars and salts. In Microbial Ecology ed. Williams, R.E.O. & Spicer, C.C. pp. 90–133. The 7th Symposium of the Society for General Microbiology Cambridge. Cambridge University Press.

INGRAM, M. 1962 Microbiological principles in prepacking meats. Journal of Applied Bacteriology 25, 259–281.

INGRAM, M. 1962 I. Post mortem changes in redox potential and pH of meat. II. The importance of redox potential in the microbiology of meat.

III. The importance of pH in the microbiology of meat. Supplement to Medlemsblad for Den Norske Veterinaerforening 14, 1–32.

INGRAM, M. 1969 Spore-formers as food spoilage organisms. In The Bacterial Spore ed. Gould, G.W. & Hurst, A. pp. 549–610. London: Academic Press.

INGRAM, M. 1971 Microbiological standards for foods. Food Industries of South Africa 24, 8–9,11 & 13.

INGRAM, M. 1971 The Microbiology of Food Pasteurization. SIK Rapport No. 292, AI-A44 ‘Pastorisering A V Livsmedel.

INGRAM, M. 1976 The microbiological role-of nitrite in meat products. In Microbiology in Agriculture, Fisheries and Food eds. Skinner, F: A. and Carr. J.G. pp. 1–18. Society for Applied Bacteriology Symposium Series No. 4. London: Academic Press.

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INGRAM, M., BUTTIAUX, R. & MOSSEL, D.A.A. 1964 General microbiological considerations in the choice of anti-microbial food preservatives.

In Microbial Inhibitors in Food pp. 381–392. 4th International Symposium on Food Microbiology.

SIK, Goteborg, Sweden. Stockholm: Almquist & Wiksell.

INGRAM, M. & ROBERTS, T.A. 1966 Microbiological principles in food irradiation. Proceedings of Symposium on Food Irradiation pp. 267–285.

Karlsruhe June 1966. Vienna: International Atomic Energy Agency.

INGRAM, M. & ROBERTS, T.A. 1971 Application of the ‘D-concept’ to heat treatments involving curing salts. Journal of Food Technology 6, 21–28.

INGRAM, M. & ROBERTS, T.A. 1976 The microbiology of the red meat carcass and the slaughterhouse. Royal Society of Health Journal 96270 –276.

INGRAM, M. & FARKAS, J. 1977 Microbiology of foods pasteurised by ionising radiation. Acta Alimentaria 6, 123–185.

MOSSEL, D.A.A. & INGRAM, M. 1955 The physiology of the microbial spoilage of foods. Journal of Applied Bacteriology 18, 232–268.

ROBINSON, R.H.M., INGRAM, M., CASE, R.A.M., BENSTEAD, J.G. & DANIELS, H.E. 1953 Whalemeat: Bacteriology and Hygiene. Special Report No. 59 Food Investigation Board, D.S.I.R. London: H.M.S.O.

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Appendix 1

Appendix 1I

Leonard John Meanwell 1901–1978 Mr L.J. Meanwell, who died in June 1978, was a founder member of the Society of Applied Bacteriology and his career in research on various aspects of dairying began soon after the First World War and lasted until 1971. Thus, Mr Meanwell’s working life began in the infancy of dairy bacteriology in the UK and the work that he did during his career helped to shape its development over a wide range of topics.

During the First World War he enlisted in the Gordon Highlanders, although a Londoner by birth and upbringing, and in 1918 he became

a farm pupil, and then Dairy Manager before studying at Reading University for the National Diploma in Dairying and the Certificate of Agriculture, qualifying with honours in both these. He joined the staff of the National Institute for Research in Dairying in 1923, soon after it was established on the Shinfield site, and became a colleague of Dr A.T.R. Mattick and Mr W.A. Hoy. Mr Meanwell remained at the NIRD until 1927, as Research Assistant in the Bacteriology Department. The main field for his work during this time was on the effect of heat

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on tubercle bacillus in naturally infected milk.

Although he was by no means the first to determine the heat-resistance of tubercle, two of the points which he made during the reporting of his research illustrate his practical approach to tackling any problem. The first point was that naturally occurring bacterial flora can show marked differences in properties from laboratory cultures used to re-infect products, and the second was the importance he attached to reproducing in the laboratory the commercial conditions under which the milk was processed.

At the end of his time at the NIRD he became Advisory Dairy Bacteriologist for the Reading Province and during this time was involved with others in work on clean milk production. The bacterial counts obtained on raw milk during this work were correlated with the keeping quality of the milk when held at 15.5ºC. Fifty years later, this approach is still adopted over a range of dairy products and its value remains.

His next appointment, in 1928, was with the London Sterilised Milk Company, then in 1930 he joined United Dairies as Research Bacteriologist at their newly formed Central Laboratory.

He was to spend the rest of his career with United Dairies (later Unigate), most of the time based in London, but with the wartime years spent at Ellesmere.

Mr Meanwell’s work at United Dairies was concerned with the bacteriology of milk, but with his move to a processing company the emphasis moved away from raw milk as such towards the effect of pasteurization on bacterial content of milk. Here the work which he had done at the NIRD found an application, and he devised the ‘laboratory pasteurization’ test for raw milk which is still the Ministry approved test for estimating the thermoduric bacteria in an incoming milk supply. As the pasteurization process at this time was still the ‘holder’ method, the laboratory pasteurization time/temperature combination chosen by Mr

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Meanwell was that of the legally approved process, so that the laboratory testing procedure was directly linked to the commercial process.

The results of bacterial counts made on both raw and laboratory pasteurized milk were anomalous in some cases, where decimal dilutions did not give the expected ten-fold difference in counts using Standard Methods agar.

Incorporating 0.5% milk in the agar was found to overcome these anomalies, and so the Milk Agar used by dairy bacteriologists since that time was devised and introduced.

It was during these years that Mr Meanwell became a Founder Member of the Society of Agricultural Bacteriologists, and he also served as the first Treasurer of the Society. As well as attending the meetings of the Society, he also participated in the 2nd International Congress of the International Society of Microbiologists, which was held in London in 1936. Two of the other papers given at this Congress were by Dr J.G. Davis, who joined the staff at the NIRD about the time that Mr Meanwell left, and Hugh Whitehead, from the then Massey Institute of New Zealand. Although Mr Meanwell’s paper was on the thermal death of bacteria, Whitehead had by then published his first work demonstrating bacteriophage attack against the lactic streptococci used in cheese making. The wartime move of Mr Meanwell to Ellesmere, a cheese factory of United Dairies, was to lead to his fruitful work on starter cultures and bacteriophage.

With the onset of war, the emphasis throughout the dairy industry in the UK shifted from liquid milk processing to the manufacture of dried milk and cheese, which had the advantage of a long shelf life compared with liquid milk.

Mr Meanwell’s secondment to, Ellesmere began his involvement with cheese manufacture, and to his tackling of the problems which caused slowness during cheese making and so gave uneven quality in the finished cheese. He first reported on the problems of bacteriophage in

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cheese starters in 1941, in the Proceedings of the Society of Agricultural Bacteriologists, and in 1942 he published a comprehensive paper in which he detailed laboratory procedures both for monitoring the performance of cheese starter cultures and for detection of bacteriophage. He introduced the ‘activity’ test for measuring acid developed by starter cultures, using inoculation levels and incubation conditions similar to those used in factory cheesemaking. By incorporating the addition of ‘phage suspect material’ within the framework of activity tests on starter cultures (the Phage Detection Test) he was able to get quantitative results of the effect of phage on starters within the cheesemaking period. By the use of the Phage Detection Test he was able to establish cross relationships between the starter cultures then in use, also new isolates of lactic streptococci which he was obtaining from raw milk, and this information led him to introduce rotation of starter cultures in cheese factories, and so help minimize build up of bacteriophage in production areas. He also established the length of time which bacteriophage survived in whey at both neutral and acid pH levels, and the 29 day period which was necessary before a significant decrease in number occurred showed one of the reasons why bacteriophage is an ever present menace in cheese manufacture.

During investigations into the effect of raw milk flora on cheesemaking he discovered that certain of the lactic streptococci he isolated were inhibitory towards cheese starter cultures, and so caused slowness in cheesemaking. Streptococcus cremoris strains were handed to Professor Oxford who extracted and purified the antibiotic ‘diplococcin’. This did not become an antibiotic with commercial applications, but Mr Meanwell’s former colleague, Dr A.T.R. Mattick, was associated with Dr Hirsch in work on S. lactis strains which led to the production of Nisin, an antibiotic which inhibits a greater variety of bacteria

Appendix 1I

than did diplococcin and has wide commercial applications in the food industry generally.

With the ending of the war, Mr Meanwell moved back to London, but retained his interest in cheese starter cultures as well as being responsible for bacteriological research and quality control of dairy products. His publications of this time were mainly on aspects of liquid milk handling and included the introduction of the High Temperature Keeping Quality test for pasteurized milk to enable a rapid assessment to he made of the shelf life of pasteurized milk. Further work on cheese starter cultures included the seasonal effect of milk on acid development, the variation in the proportion of strains within mixed starter cultures, the development of phage-resistant starters and the suppression of phage multiplication, and the protective effect of a rennet gel on starter cultures infected with bacteriophage. An incidental observation during this work on the apparent stimulatory effect of rennet on acid production of certain uninfected starter cultures led to the work by Dr J. Tramer, a colleague at United Dairies Central Laboratory, on how the agglutinins present in milk acted on certain lactic streptococci, causing the cells to clump, and so render them unable to metabolize lactose as efficiently as cells evenly distributed throughout milk.

During his early days with United Dairies Mr Meanwell had begun a culture collection of bacteria of interest and importance to the dairy industry. Possibly the most widely known of these is the strain of Streptococcus thermophilus which is now used in the officially approved tests for penicillin in milk in the UK. Many strains were lodged with the National Collection of Dairy Organisms at the NIRD, including 924, used until very recently in experimental cheesemaking at NIRD, and in the immediate postwar years he exchanged with Dr Whitehead of New Zealand proven single strain cultures of

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lactic streptococci. Dr Whitehead re-labelled some of the strains received from Mr Meanwell MLI to ML8, and one strain, ML8, is still of commercial interest to cheesemakers.

It was during the immediate post-war period that Mr Meanwell became President of the Society for Applied Bacteriology, as the Society of Agricultural Bacteriologists had become, an honour which pleased him greatly. He also played the part of Louis Pasteur in a film which was made by United Dairies at about this time.

Not only did he have a strong resemblance to Pasteur, but he also read the publications of Pasteur in French – no mean achievement.

Among his other non-scientific qualities was a love, and a talent, for music. He had a sonorous speaking voice, remembered well by all who knew him throughout his career, and a fine singing voice. In fact he considered

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becoming a professional singer, having studied under Plunkett-Greene during the 1920’s and he gave a recital in the Wigmore Hall at this time.

Mr Meanwell, then, was a man who during his career had many achievements in his chosen field of dairy bacteriology. S.B. Thomas, in a letter to me, gave a summing up of him in the following words ‘Leonard Meanwell was a rare character, who was a source of inspiration to his colleagues who had the joyful privilege of studying dairy bacteriology during its pioneer development’. As someone who worked under Mr Meanwell towards the end of his career I certainly found inspiration and pleasure in my association with him, and with other colleagues from United Dairies and Unigate wish to express gratitude for his memory.

NORAH SHAPTON

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Appendix 1

Appendix 1J

Mr S.B. Thomas OBE On 31st August 1984 in his 85th year Mr Samuel Bowen Thomas of Brynhyfryd, 8, Maes Hendre, Aberystwyth died at Bronglais Hospital. Sympathy is extended to his wife Blodwen, his daughter Betsan, his grand-daughters Gwen and Rhiannon and his son-in-law Ken. Mr Thomas was generally in robust health throughout his life although his eyesight failed in recent years. Fortunately, the close harmony between himself and his wife (nĂŠe Dr Blodwen Fox) gave him much courage and support, and it enabled him to maintain his interest in research and

to publish scientific and technical articles until long after his retirement.

S.B. or Sam, as he was affectionately known to his many friends and colleagues, had a warm and friendly personality and was a man of steadfast principle and conviction. He was a pioneer in dairy bacteriology and clean milk production, and he displayed motivation and tremendous enthusiasm in all his fields of work.

The son of a dairy farmer, he was born at St Clears, Carmarthenshire, and attended Whitland County School. He served in the

Reprinted from the Journal of Applied Bacteriology (1985) 58, 243–244

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Obituaries

Welsh Regiment during the first World War and with the Army of the Rhine, and then studied at the University College, Aberystwyth where he obtained the degrees of B.Sc. in Agriculture and M.Sc. in Botany. He was Advisory Dairy Bacteriologist at the University College, Aberystwyth from 1925 until he was appointed Regional Bacteriologist for Wales when the NAAS was instituted in 1946. During the Second World War, from 1939, he was a training officer of the University College’s ‘Officer Training Corps’ and he also served prominently in the Cardiganshire Home Guard.

He was awarded the OBE in the New Year’s Honours List 1965.

In his academic career he was called upon to serve on many important committees and he acted as external examiner in bacteriology at several universities. His services as speaker and lecturer were often in demand at home and overseas. Mr Thomas was President of the Society for Applied Bacteriology from 1954 to

131

1955, a past President of the UCW Agricultural Society, and a founder member of the Society of Dairy Technology for UK & Ireland and as a tribute to his services to the SDT he was made Hon. Life Member in 1970. S.B. will also be remembered for his numerous publications on soil microbiology, water bacteriology and dairy bacteriology. Dairy Industries Publication has benefited from his many technical articles from the first year of its publication. He was a keen librarian and took a leading role in setting up and maintaining the agricultural library at Trawscoed and in establishing the records of the UCW Agricultural Society journals. Knowledge of heathers was one of his specialties and it was always a joy to himself and a pleasure to visitors to see the various varieties in his garden.

We shall miss S.B.’s counsel, support and comradeship that were available and willingly given.

T.I. JONES

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APPENDIX 2

The Foundation Committee and the Membership of 1932 and 1933 The members of the Foundation Committee of the Society, as listed in the minutes of 16 September 1931, were: Dr R. Stenhouse Williams, Director, National Institute for Research in Dairying.

Mr H. Barkworth, Provincial Bacteriologist, South Eastern Agricultural College, Wye. Mr P. Clerkin, Assisting Bacteriologist, Ministry of Agriculture for Northern Ireland, Belfast.

Mr C.D. Oxley, Provincial Bacteriologist, School of Agriculture, Cambridge.

Mr S.B. Thomas, Provincial Bacteriologist, Agricultural Buildings, University College of Wales, Aberystwyth.

Mr L.T. Meanwell, Bacteriologist, United Dairies (London) Ltd, Scrubs Lane, Willesden.

Mr J.F. Malcolm, Bacteriologist, West of Scotland Agricultural College, 6 Blytheswood Square, Glasgow.

Miss G.W. Erskine, Bacteriologist, Midland Counties Dairy Ltd, Corporation Street, Birmingham.

Dr A.T.R. Mattick, Head of Bacteriological Laboratory, National institute for Research in Dairying.

The original constitution determined that the Committee was to consist of 12 members, including the Officers. To allow appointment of the Officers and to complete the Committee the following were duly elected to the Committee by the Society after they had been nominated by the Committee: Dr N.C. Wright, Director, Hannah Dairy Research Institute, Auchencrieve, Ayr. 132

Mr C.H. Chalmers, Provincial Bacteriologist, University of Leeds.

Dr L. Provan, Provincial Bacteriologist, Harpers Adams Agricultural College, Newport, Salop.

Early membership lists The lists of the members of the Society of Agricultural Bacteriologists for the years 1932 and 1933 are reproduced below as published in the Proceedings and early Minutes of the Society.

These lists are of interest to confirm the names of some of who appear in the early Society photographs (see Chapter 1) and whose names have been reconstructed from various partially legible lists prepared from memory, sometimes long after the photographs were taken.

LIST OF MEMBERS 1932 Allen, L.A. Barkworth, H. Barton, A.L. Chalmers, C.H. Christian, Miss M.I. Clerkin, P. Crossley, E. L. Cunningham, A. Davies, W. L. Davis, J.G. Erskine, Miss E.W. Fischer, Miss B.M.A. Gibson, T. Grimes, M. Hiscox, Miss E.R.

(C) (C) (C)

(C)

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The Foundation Committee and the Membership of 1932 and 1933

Hunt, Miss M.A. Little W.L. Lomax, Miss K.L. Malcolm, J.F. McClemont, J. Mattick, A.T.R. Meanwell, L.J. Miles, C.S. Morris, C.S. Oxley, C.D.

(C) (Secretary) (Treasurer)

(C)

Procter, F. Provan, L. Robson, R. Steer, T. Stenhouse Williams, R. Thomas, S.B. Todd, Miss M.E. Walker, L.J. Wright, N.C.

LIST OF MEMBERS 1933 Allen, L.A. Barkworth, H. Barton, A.L. Chalmers, C.H. Christian, Miss M.I. Clerkin, P. Crossley, E.L. Cunningham, A. Davies, W.L. Davis, J.G. Dowson, W.J. Erskine, Miss E.W. Fielding, Miss M. Fischer, Miss B.M.A. Gibson, T. Grimes, M. Henderson, D.W. Hiscox, Miss E.R. Hunt, Miss M.A. Jones, Miss H. Jones, Miss M. Knowles, N.R. Lindsay, Miss D.S.

Little, W.L. Lomax, Miss K.L. Malcolm, J.F. McClemont, J. Mattick, A.T.R. Meanwell, L.J. Miles, C.S. Morris, C.S. Nichols, Miss A.A. O’Mand, J. Oxley, C.D. Pirrie, Miss M.E. Procter, F. Provan, L. Reed, G.A.M. Robson, R. Simon, Miss E. Steer, T. Thomas, S.B. Todd, Miss M.E. Walker, L.J. Westwater, C.H. Wright, N.C.

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(C)

(President)

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APPENDIX 3

The Officers of the Society 1931–2005

Honorary Presidents

General Secretaries

1931 1932–36 1936 –39 1939–43 1943–46 1946–49 1949–52 1952–54 1954 –56 1956 –58 1958 –60 1960 –62 1962–64 1964–67 1967–69 1969–71 1971–73 1973 –75 1975 –77 1977–79 1979–81 1981–83 1983 –85 1985 –87 1987–89 1989–91 1991–93 1993–94 1994 –95 1995 –97 1997–99 1999–2002 2002–05 2005 –

1931 1932–38 1939–42 1943–50 1951–58 1959 1960–62 1963 1964–69 1970 1971–72 1973–78 1979–88 1988–97 1997–98 1998 1999–2004 2004–

134

R. Stenhouse Williams A.T.R. Mattick A. Cunningham C.H. Chalmers L.A. Allen H.J. Bunker L.J. Meanwell J.G. Davis S.B. Thomas M. Ingram D.A. McKenzie G. Sykes T. Gibson Joan Taylor J.G. Murray J.M. Shewan L.A. Mabbitt E.G. Morris G.W. Gould Ella M. Barnes T. Cross J.G. Carr P.D. Walker A. Paton B. Jarvis Dorothy Jones F.A. Skinner W.M. Waites M. Sussman (Acting) M. Sussman R.A. Herbert A. Gilmour P. Silley Margaret Patterson

A.T.R. Mattick G. McClemont L. A. Allen D. A. McKenzie G. Sykes G. Sykes/Ella M. Barnes Ella M. Barnes Ella M. Barnes/J.R. Norris J.R. Norris J.R. Norris/Ann Baillie Ann Baillie Ann W. Cooper Susan M. Jones A.C. Campbell E. Power Margaret Patterson (co-opted) Margaret Patterson A.C. Hilton

Honorary Treasurers 1931–48 1949–50 1951 1952–57 1958–66 1967–82 1982–91 1991–95 1995–2001 2001–04 2004–

L.J. Meanwell T.E. Bashford T.E. Bashford/C.S. Miles C.S. Miles G. Elis Jones P.D. Walker Ann Baillie L.B. Quesnel P. Silley Geraldine Schofield Valerie Edwards-Jones

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The Officers of the Society 1931–2005

Editors* 1936 –43 1944 –45 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 –52 1953 1954–57 1958 –59 1960 –61 1962 1963 –64 1965–70 1971–72 1973–74 1975 –76 1977 1978 –82 1982–83 1983 –84 1984–85 1985 –88 1988–91

T. Gibson J. Rowlands J. Rowlands/T. Richards (Assistant) J. Rowlands/T. Richards T. Richards T. Richards/S.E. Jacobs S.E. Jacobs/L.F.L. Clegg S.E. Jacobs S.E. Jacobs/L.F.L. Clegg S.E. Jacobs/C.A.E. Briggs S.E. Jacobs/D.J. Jayne-Williams S.E. Jacobs/D.J. Jayne-Williams/ G. Sykes G. Sykes/D.J. Jayne-Williams G. Sykes/F.A. Skinner F.A. Skinner/G. Sykes F.A. Skinner/R.G. Board/J.G. Carr R.G. Board/J.G. Carr R.G. Board/C.H. Collins R.G. Board/C.H. Collins/Susan M. Passmore F.A. Skinner/C.H. Collins/Susan M. Passmore F.A. Skinner/C.H. Collins/M. Sussman M. Sussman/F.A. Skinner/C.H. Collins/G.I. Barrow M. Sussman/F.A. Skinner/G.I. Barrow M. Sussman/G. I. Barrow/ F.A. Skinner/R.G. Board

* At various time the titles Editor or Editor-in-Chief were used. In the list above, the first named was Editor or Editor-in-Chief and the others were Senior Editors, until 2001, when the first named was Editor of the Journal of Applied Microbiology and the second was Editor of Letters in Applied Microbiology.

135

1991–2001 2001–2005 2005–

D.E. Stewart-Tull A. Godfree/C.R. Harwood A. Godfree/J.-Y. Maillard

Book and Review Editors 1980–91 1988–91 1991–93

F.A. Skinner – Book Editor R.G. Board – Editor with responsibility for reviews M. Sussman – Book Editor

Meetings Secretaries 1964–67 1968–72 1973–77 1978 1979–82 1982–91 1991–93 1993–99 1999–2004 2004–

Ella M. Barnes G.W. Gould T.A. Roberts T.A. Roberts/R.W.A. Park R.W.A. Park Susan M. Passmore P. Masters Diane Roberts Margaret Harrison M. Adams

Membership Secretaries* 1992–95 1995 –96 1997–98

A. Gilmour Deirdre Devine Charlotte Lindhardt

* The position of Hon, Membership Secretary was abolished in 1998.

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APPENDIX 4

The Trustees

The appointment of Trustees was not foreseen in the Society’s first constitution of 17 September 1931. By July 1945 the Society had developed financially and it was clear that arrangements for the appointment of Trustees were necessary and Rule 34 of the second Constitution of the Society, which was adopted on 23 July 1945, states, ‘The Committee shall be empowered to appoint Trustees in whom the funds of the Society shall be vested’ (Appendix 9). In July 1959 the Hon Treasurer informed Committee that the Society had been able to make its first investment of £1000 in 5% Defence bonds, which had been bought on 1 June 1959. It had also been agreed that a further £1000 of bonds would be bought on 27 July (C 59.34). The General Secretary then reminded Committee that since the Society now had investments, Rule 34 required that Trustees, in whom the funds should be vested, must be appointed. The first Trustees were appointed in 1960. In the mid-1990s the law changed and the Committee collectively became the legal trustees of the Society’s assets. Since investments are usually bought by named individuals,

136

the Society’s Trustees were renamed Custodian Trustees to distinguish them from the legal trustees of the Society’s assets.

The following are the dates of appointment and retirement of the Society’s Trustees: H.J. Bunker D.A. McKenzie G. Sykes C.H. Westwater M. Ingram E.O. Morris F.A. Skinner J.G. Davis J.G. Murray Joan Taylor Muriel Rhodes-Roberts

1960–1970 1960–1976 1960–1976 1960–deceased 1971–1977 1976–1979 1976–2005 1978–deceased 1980–1985 1980–1990 1990–2005

The Trustees at the time of the Society’s 75th Anniversary are: G.W. Gould B. Jarvis P. Silley

1990– 2005– 2005–

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APPENDIX 5

Honorary Members

Since the foundation of the Society its Constitution included a Rule that allowed the election of appropriate individuals to honorary membership. The first such proposal was made

by A.T.R. Mattick in 1938 (C 6/7/38) for the election of Professor C. Gorsini of the College of Agriculture in Milan. The Minute reads, ‘it was pointed out. . . . that the Society had never yet exercised its power to elect Hon. Members and it was decided that for the present the Committee were not prepared to recommend that the power be exercised’. Surprisingly, Committee also resolved that they, ‘. . . would, however, be glad to consider an application from Professor Gorsini for election as an ordinary member’. The list below shows that Hon. Members were not elected until 1947, when Professor Gorsini was the first to be so elected; this was 9 years after his name was first put forward by Dr Mattick.

With the death of Dr Lochhead in 1980, Committee noted (C 80.38) that there were only three surviving Hon. Members and that it would be appropriate to make appointments at the Jubilee meeting in 1981, when nine Hon. Members were elected. When the matter came up for consideration again, in 1984, Barbara M. Lund was asked to prepare a paper, in which she suggested the following criteria for the nomination of Hon. Members: (1) a long connection with the Society, e.g. founder members, (2) eminent UK microbiologists with some SAB connection, (3) eminent overseas workers, and (4) those who have been and continue to be associated with the Society. It is usual for past Presidents to be elected Hon. Members and

there is a maximum of twenty Hon. Members at any one time.

Proposals for Hon. Membership are made to Committee for consideration. When a proposal is accepted a nomination is made to the immediately following Annual General Meeting.

Professor C. Gorsini Dr R.T. St John Brooks Dr R.S. Breed Dr H.L. Jensen Professor A.J. Kluyver Dr A.J. Lochhead, FRSCan Professor H.D. Kay, CBE, FRS Sir Graham Wilson, FRS Dr A.T.R. Mattick Dr T. Gibson Dr Joan Taylor Mr S.B. Thomas, OBE Dr L.A. Mabbitt Professor J.C. Ayres Dr Ella M. Barnes Dr J.G. Davis Dr Betty C. Hobbs Professor D.A.A. Mossel Professor J.R. Postgate, FRS Dr J.M. Shewan Dr F.A. Skinner Dr (later Professor) P.H.A. Sneath Professor L.F.L. Clegg Dr J.H.B. Christian Dr W.B. Hugo Dr A.G. Kitchell Dr M. Elizabeth Sharpe Professor R.R. Colwell Dr R.G.E. Murray

1947 1947 1951 1951 1951 1951 1956 1956 1958 1966 1968 1969 1974 1981 1981 1981 1981 1981 1981 1981 1981 1981 1984 1987 1987 1987 1987 1988 1988 137

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138

Professor A.M. Paton Dr Muriel E. Rhodes-Roberts Professor B. Jarvis Professor A.H. Linton Professor R.G. Board Professor J.R. Norris Professor P.D. Walker

Appendix 5

1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1993

Dr C.H. Collins Dr Dorothy Jones Professor W.M. Waites Professor M. Sussman Professor G.W. Gould Professor R.A. Herbert Professor A. Gilmour

1994 1995 1995 1999 2000 2000 2003

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APPENDIX 6

Demonstration Meetings and the Technical Series

The Demonstration Meeting was instituted in the early 1960s. As the name implies, these meetings were designed to demonstrate laboratory methods and equipment and other aspects of practical applied microbiology, including by way of poster displays. At first no attempt was made to publish accounts of these meetings in book form. Then, in 1964, the decision was made to hold a demonstration meeting that would result in a special publication.

The meetings were held annually, usually in the autumn and most commonly in London.

Based on these meetings, beginning in 1966, a series of hardback books, the Technical Series, was edited and published, at first by Academic Press and from 1987 by Blackwell Scientific Publications. Eventually, it became increasingly difficult to market the Technical Series and the last Demonstration Meeting, of which the proceedings were published, took place at King’s College, London in September 1992; it was published in 1993 as Number 31 in the Series.

The individual volumes in the Technical Series were edited by the organizers of the Demonstration Meetings with the assistance of a Book Series Editor appointed by the Society.

The first Book Series Editor, F.A. Skinner (Figure 1), oversaw the Series to publication for the first 26 years (1966–1992) of its existence.

He was followed for the final 2 years by M. Sussman until the series ceased publication.

The following is a list of the Technical Series Volumes, their editors and, where available, the places and dates of the Demonstration Meetings.

Academic Press 1 Identification Methods for Microbiologists Part A 1966 Eds B.M. Gibbs and F.A Skinner (Imperial College, London, 27 October 1964) 2 Identification Methods for Microbiologists Part B 1968 Eds B.M. Gibbs and D.A. Shapton (School of Pharmacy, London, 26 October 1965) 3 Isolation Methods for Microbiologists 1969 Eds D.A. Shapton and G.W. Gould (Unilever Research Laboratory, Isleworth, London, 24 October 1967) 4 Automation, Mechanization and Data Handling in Microbiology 1970 Eds Ann Baillie and R.J. Gilbert (Imperial College of Science and Technology, London, October 1968) 5 Isolation of Anaerobes 1971 Eds D.A. Shapton and R.G. Board (Queen Elizabeth College, London, 22 October 1969) 6 Safety in Microbiology 1972 Eds D.A. Shapton and R.G. Board (Brunel University, London, 28 October 1970) 7 Sampling – Microbiological Monitoring of Environments 1973 Eds R.G. Board and D.W. Lovelock (Unilever Research, Isleworth, 27 October 1971) 8 Some Methods for Microbiological Assay 1975 Eds R.G. Board and D.W. Lovelock 139

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140

Figure 1. F.A. Skinner, Editor 1965 –91.

Appendix 6

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Demonstration Meetings and the Technical Series

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

(Unigate Central Laboratories, 25 October 1972) Microbial Aspects of the Deterioration of Materials 1975 Eds R.J. Gilbert and D.W. Lovelock (Polytechnic of the South Bank, London, 24 October 1973) Microbial Ultrastructure: the Use of the Electron Microscope 1976 Eds R. Fuller and D.W. Lovelock (University College, London, October 1974) Techniques for the Study of Mixed Populations 1978 Eds D.W. Lovelock and R. Davies (National College of Food Technology, Weybridge, Surrey, October 1975) Plant Pathogens 1979 Eds D.W. Lovelock (National College of Food Technology, Weybridge, Surrey, October 1976) Cold Tolerant Microbes in Spoilage and the Environment 1979 Eds A.D. Russell and R. Fuller (Brunel University, London, October 1977) Identification Methods for Microbiologists (2nd edn) 1979 Eds F.A. Skinner and D.W. Lovelock (Revision of Volumes 1 and 2) Microbial Growth and Survival in Extremes of Environment 1980 Eds G.W. Gould and Janet E.L. Corry (Polytechnic of the South bank, London, 18 October 1978) Disinfectants: Their Use and Evaluation of Effectiveness 1981 Eds C.H. Collins, M.C. Allwood, Sally F. Bloomfield and A. Fox (Polytechnic of the South Bank, London, 24 October 1979) Isolation and Identification Methods for Food Poisoning Organisms 1982 Eds Janet E.L. Corry, Diane Roberts and F.A. Skinner

141

18

19

20

21

(University College, London, 24 September 1980) Antibiotics: Assessment of Antimicrobial Activity and Resistance 1983 Eds A.D. Russell and L.B. Quesnel (Welsh School of Pharmacy, University of Wales Institute of Science and Technology, Cardiff, 23 September 1981) Microbiological Methods for Environmental Biotechnology 1984 Eds J.M. Grainger and J.M. Lynch (Brunel University, London, 22 September 1982) Chemical Methods in Bacterial Systematics 1985 Eds M. Goodfellow and D.E. Minnikin (Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, July 1983) Isolation and Identification of Microorganisms of Medical and Veterinary Importance 1985 Eds C.H. Collins and J.M. Grange (University of Birmingham, 21 September 1983)

Blackwell Scientific Publications 22 Preservatives in the Food, Pharmaceutical and Environmental Industries 1987 Eds R.G. Board, M.C. Allwood and J.G. Banks (Chelsea College, University of London, 17 October 1984) 23 Industrial Microbiological Testing 1987 Eds J.W. Hopton and E.C. Hill (Thames Polytechnic, London, 16 October 1985) 24 Immunological Techniques in Microbiology 1987 Eds J.M. Grange, A. Fox and N.L. Morgan (South Bank Polytechnic, London, 15 October 1986)

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142

25 Rapid Microbiological Methods for Foods, Beverages and Pharmaceuticals 1989 Eds C.J. Stannard, S.B. Petitt and F.A. Skinner (University of Bath, 30 September 1987) 26 ATP Luminescence: Rapid Methods in Microbiology 1989 Eds P.E. Stanley, B.J. McCarthy and R. Smither (University of Sussex, Brighton, 2-day Symposium, 14–15 April 1988) 27 Mechanisms of Action of Chemical Biocides 1990 Eds S.P. Denyer and W.E. Hugo (AFRC Institute of Food Research, Reading, 19 October 1988) 28 Genetic Manipulation: Techniques and Applications 1991 Eds J.M. Grange, A. Fox and N.L. Morgan

Appendix 6

(South Bank Polytechnic, London, 18 October 1989) 29 Identification Methods in Applied and Environmental Microbiology 1992 Eds R.G. Board, Dorothy Jones and F.A. Skinner (University of Bath, 26 September 1990) 30 Microbial Biofilms: Formation and Control 1993 Eds S.P. Denyer, S.P. Gorman and M. Sussman (Department of Food Science and Technology, University of Reading, 25 September 1991) 31 New Techniques in Food and Beverage Microbiology 1993 Eds R.G. Kroll, A. Gilmour and M. Sussman (King’s College, London, September 1992)

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APPENDIX 7

The Symposium Series

For many years the Society has devoted a major part of its Summer Conference to a Symposium on a topic of general interest. Until 1970 the papers presented at the Symposium were published in an issue of the Journal of Applied Bacteriology. In 1971 lengthy discussion took place to consider how the papers delivered at the summer symposium might be published. The matter had become urgent (C 71.26) because in 1970 the journal had exceeded by 120 pages its permitted length of 750 pages and Academic Press had not charged for the overrun. A similar overrun was predicted for 1971 and Committee had been told that on this occasion a charge would be raised and that postage and packing would be added to the cost of the Journal.

Academic Press indicated that they would be prepared to publish the symposium papers with hard covers. The final decision of Committee (C 71.38) gave rise to the hardback volumes known as the Symposium Series, first published

by Academic Press until 1984 and from 1986 by Blackwell Scientific Publications.

Academic Press No. 1 No. 2

No. 3

Microbial Aspects of Pollution (1971) Eds G. Sykes and F.A. Skinner Actinomycetales: Characteristics and Practical Importance (1973) Eds G. Sykes and F.A. Skinner The Normal Microbial Flora of Man (1974) Eds F.A. Skinner and J.G. Carr

No. 4

No. 5

No. 6 No. 7 No. 8

No. 9

No. 10

No. 11

No. 12

Microbiology in Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1976) Eds F.A. Skinner and J.G. Carr Inhibition and Inactivation of Vegetative Microbes (1976) Eds F.A. Skinner and W.B. Hugo Aquatic Microbiology (1977) Eds F.A. Skinner and J.M. Shewan Streptococci (1978) Eds F.A. Skinner and L.B. Quesnel Microbial Classification and Identification (1980) Eds M. Goodfellow and R.G. Board Biology and Activities of Yeasts (1980) Eds F.A. Skinner, S.M. Passmore and R.R. Davenport Bacteria and Plants (1982) Eds Muriel Rhodes-Roberts and F.A. Skinner Food Microbiology: Advances and Prospects (1983) Eds T.A. Roberts and F.A. Skinner The Revival of Injured Microbes (1984) Eds M.H.E. Andrew and A.D. Russell

Blackwell Scientific Publications No. 13

Anaerobic Bacteria in Habitats Other than Man (1986) Eds Ella M. Barnes and G.C. Mead

Thereafter, the Symposia were published by Blackwell Scientific Publications as a supplement to the Journal of Applied Bacteriology (JAB) in a soft back format.

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No. 14

No. 15

No. 16

No. 17

No. 18

No. 19

No. 20

No. 21

No. 22

No. 23

Appendix 7

Microbial Aspects of Water Management (1985) Supplement to JAB Volume 59 Eds W.R. White and Susan M. Passmore Micro-organisms in Agriculture (1986) Supplement to JAB Volume 61 Eds Mary Bateson, C.L. Benham and F.A. Skinner Changing Perspectives in Applied Microbiology (1987) Supplement to JAB Volume 63 Eds C.S. Gutteridge and J.R. Norris Enterobacteriaceae in the Environment and as Pathogens (1988) Supplement to JAB Volume 65 Eds Barbara M. Lund, M. Sussman, Dorothy Jones and M.F. Stringer Filamentous Fungi in Foods and Feeds (1989) Supplement to JAB Volume 67 Eds M.O. Moss, B. Jarvis and F.A. Skinner Staphylococci (1990) Supplement to JAB Volume 69 Eds Dorothy Jones, R.G. Board and M. Sussman Pathogens in the Environment (1991) Supplement to JAB Volume 70 Ed B. Austin Ecosystems: Microbes: Food (1992) Supplement to JAB Volume 73 Eds R.G. Board, Dorothy Jones, RG. Kroll and G.L. Pettipher Microbial Cell envelopes: Interactions and Biofilms (1993) Supplement to JAB Volume 74 Eds L.B. Quesnel, P. Gilbert and Pauline S. Handley Fundamental and Applied Aspects of Bacterial Spores (1994) Supplement to JAB Volume 76

No. 24

No. 25

No. 26

No. 27

No. 28

No. 29

No. 30

No. 31

No. 32

Eds G.W. Gould, A.D. Russell and D.E.S. Stewart-Tull Microbial Fermentations: Beverages, Foods and Feeds (1995) Supplement to JAB Volume 79 Eds R.G. Board, Dorothy Jones and B. Jarvis Mycobacterial Disease – Old Problems, New Solutions (1996) Supplement to JAB Volume 81 Eds C.H. Collins, J.M. Grange, A.D. Russell and P.W. Andrew The Biology of Streptococci and Enterococci (1997) Supplement to JAB Volume 83 Eds P.W. Andrew and T.J. Mitchell Toxins (1998) Supplement to JAB Volume 84 Eds T.J. Mitchell, A.F. Godfree and D.E.S. Stewart-Tull Aquatic Microbiology (1999) Supplement to JAB Volume 85 Eds D.E.S. Stewart-Tull, P.J. Dennis and A.F. Godfree E. coli – Friend or Foe (2000) Supplement to JAB Volume 88 Eds H. Chart, M. Sussman and D.E.S. Stewart-Tull Campylobacter, Helicobacter and Arcobacter (2001) Supplement to JAB Volume 90 Eds J.G. Coote, C. Thomas and D.E.S. Stewart-Tull Antibiotic and Biocide Resistance in Bacteria (2002) Supplement to JAB Volume 92 Eds P. Gilbert, J.-Y. Maillard and A. Godfree Pathogens in the Environment and Changing Ecosystems (2003) Supplement to JAB Volume 94 Eds D. Sartory, K. Jones, K. Semple and A. Godfree

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APPENDIX 8

Membership and Money

Membership It goes almost without saying that the number of the membership is the one of the most important aspects of a society. Since it determines the subscription income, it determines the limits of expenditure on activities. The first Constitution adopted on 17 September 1931 and the second Constitution adopted on 23 July 1945, both provided for two classes of membership, Ordinary Members and Honorary Members (Appendix 9).

For some time after its foundation, probably under the guidance of a few influential members, the Society adopted a somewhat restrictive view about the necessary qualifications for election to membership. The qualifications of those nominated for election were carefully scrutinized and not infrequently objections were raised and nominees withdrew or were rejected. Thus, as long as 19 years after the foundation of the Society (September 1950), the election of two applicants was deferred so that further details could be sought, because they had not given sufficient information ‘to justify the Committee approving their application’ (C 50.24) and in July 1951, two applications were rejected, because their qualifications were insufficient. The origin of this policy and its general background are described in Chapter 1. It is not possible to establish when the policy to restrict election to membership on the basis of qualification and/or employment status came to an end. No Committee resolution to this effect is recorded and it is most likely that the early informal rule did not require a formal resolution to rescind it, and that it was simply allowed to go into desuetude.

The second original membership class was that of Honorary Members. It is hardly surprising that the young and still small Society did not for some time exercise its ability to appoint an Honorary Member; it did so for the first time in 1947 (Appendix 5).

In early 1970 it appears to have been realized that the student body was a good potential source of members. A survey of 26 university Departments of Microbiology was carried out for their reaction to a proposal that the Society might introduce a class of ‘student member’ or to create a class of ‘affiliated member’ through membership of a student microbiology society.

The response rate was 50% and indicated that about 20% of full-time undergraduate students and about 10% of post-graduates were interested in student membership at a subscription of 5 shillings per year. Of the eight student societies, with a total membership of some 870, that were asked, six expressed an interest in affiliated membership. Nevertheless, Committee decided not to introduce student membership but steps were to be taken to change the Rules to allow affiliated student membership (C 70.21).

At the end of 1979 it was noted that members tended to resign at the time of their retirement.

In order to avoid the loss of older and valued members it was suggested that a class of ‘Retired Member’ be created. After some consideration, it was decided that those retiring after at least 10 years full membership should be allowed to become Retired Members and that they should receive notices free of charge. When retired membership was originally introduced, John Norris agreed to keep in regular touch with these members.

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146

Appendix 8

Table 1. Corporate Members of the Society 2006.

1400 1200

Membership

CABI Bioscience Lab M Ltd Barloworld Scientific AstraZeneca Bio-Rad Laboratories Ltd Quadratech Diagnostics Ltd Pro-Lab Diagnostics BioConnections Chr. Hansen, Denmark Becton Dickinson UK Ltd CCFRA TCS Biosciences Ltd Invitrogen Corporation Mast Group Ltd Don Whitley Scientific Ltd Oxoid Ltd

1600

1000 800 600 400 200

Currently there are five classes of membership: Ordinary, Honorary, Full Student, Associate Student and Corporate. Corporate Membership was introduced in January 2000 and consists of companies with an interest in the objects of the Society that are elected to corporate membership at the discretion of the Committee.

From its outset, the Society and its individual members have had connections with microbiologically based industries and the Corporate Members are a continuation of that tradition.

The first Corporate Members were Oxoid and Biosystematica. The current Corporate Members are listed in Table 1.

Membership growth At the time of its foundation in 1932, the Society had 34 members and in 1933 there were 46 (Appendix 2). With increasingly broad views about the branches of bacteriology that qualified for election to membership, the membership

1930

40

50

60

70

80

Figure 1. The growth of membership of the Society up to 1978. The vertical bars show overseas membership.

grew fairly rapidly. The growth of total and overseas membership of the Society from the foundation until 1978 is shown in Figure 1, which is interesting in several respects. The illustration was found in the Archive but it has not been possible to establish whether and where it may previously have been published.

Curiously, the plot appears to show a small membership in 1930, before the Society was founded. The probable explanation may relate to a view that the Society actually had an existence before it was formally established (Chapter 1), alternatively, it may merely reflect the scale of the drawing.

During a ‘lag phase’ of about 10 years from 1931 to about 1941, membership grew in

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147

rapid recovery, for which there is no evident explanation.

At the time of the Society’s Diamond Jubilee, Jack Hopton produced a different kind of illustration of the development of membership numbers (Figure 2, from Hopton 1991). This shows a distinct ‘maximum stationary phase’.

On frequent occasions, while Peter Walker held the office of Hon. Treasurer (1967–82), he argued that the membership was increasing at a sufficient rate to justify administrative arrangements appropriate for a large society and in July 1980 he predicted that the membership was approaching 2000 (C 80.26). It has been clear for some time that membership growth was not as good as many would have liked it to be. The membership of the Society in its various classes from 1994 to 2006 is shown in Table 2.

2000

No. of members

1000 500 200 100 50 20 10 1930 40

50

60

70

80

1990

Figure 2. The growth of membership of the Society 1931–1990. °, Total membership; •, overseas membership.

small increments, after this there was an ‘exponential phase’ of growth with increasingly large annual increments. In the mid-1970s there was a decline of growth (‘deceleration phase’) and a sudden dip in the membership followed by a

Money If the membership is the basis of a society, its finances are the fuel on which it runs. The following brief account of the Society’s finances

Table 2. Membership of the Society 1992 to 2006 Total membership

Honorary members

Ordinary members

Student members

Student members associate

Retired members

1992

1783

17

1574

99

104

1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001

1711 1732 1757 1731 1770 1749 1765 1768

20 19 20 19 18 19 18 20

1500 1466 1449 1421 1436 1411 1418 1393

79 124 141 149 172 175 177 182

26 26 29 29 30 39

112 123 123 116 115 115 121 129

2006

1337

26

929

179

47

140

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Appendix 8

is intentionally a fragmentary overview; it would be impossible in a short appendix to provide a detailed account of what has over the years become a complex financial framework.

When the Society began, its annual subscription was 10 shillings per year and on 17 September 1931, some 10 months before is formal foundation, it had a subscription income of £8.10.0 from 17 members. At the first AGM there were 34 members and a subscription income of £17.0.0. Amongst the earliest items of expenditure was £1.5.0 for a wreath for Dr Stenhouse Williams. At the following AGM on 6 July 1933 the subscription income was £19.10.0 but one member was in arrears. The expenditure was on travel (£3.13.1), postage (£4) and stationery, including the preparation of the Proceedings; the excess of income over expenditure was £5.14.8.

In the early years the main income was from subscriptions and, in due course, from sales of the Proceedings. Since the Society was its own publisher, the costs of printing and distribution were an outlay before any income was received.

Thus, though the income rose gradually between 1950 and 1960, the accounts were in deficit in a number of years (Table 3).

Table 3. Income and expenditure 1950 –1960* IncomeExpenditureBalance 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1958 1959 1960

394 389 807 767 1616 1887 2025 4263 3398 4075

292 359 1082 641 1759 1670 2185 3386 2333 3696

* Figures in brackets indicate a deficit.

102 30 (275) 126 (179) 217 (160) 877 1065 379

It also now seems strange that it took 27 years before it was agreed that the Society should opened its first deposit account (C 58.41.6).

Before that any money the Society had was held in its bank account at the Westminster Bank in Reading. The opening of the deposit account coincided with a growing complexity of the Society’s financial affairs and Committee passed a resolution to appoint professional auditors.

Previously, senior members of the Society had acted as auditors and signed off the annual accounts. In 1958 Messrs Peters, Elworthy & Moore were appointed the Society’s auditors and they remain its accountants to this day.

Curiously, it was not until the AGM in the following year that the necessary rule change to regularize the ‘appointment of an accountant to audit accounts’ (AGM 7/59).

In July 1960 the first investment was made of £2000 in Defence Bonds. In the following year Academic Press was appointed the Society’s publisher and the income from publications rose quite rapidly. In July 1965 there was a cash balance of more than £9000 and John Norris was asked to convene a Development Working Party to ‘examine the possibility of employing up to £400 of the Society’s income per annum to the advantage of the Society’. The Working Party eventually suggested that the money be put to an educational purpose and the Nuffield Teaching scheme was chosen or support. This was the beginning of the Society’s support for charitable purposes, of which another example is the support for MISAC (Chapter 8).

In January 1976 the Hon. Treasurer reported that to keep pace with inflation it would be necessary to reinvest £5000 each year, which was twice that predicted two years earlier. Two years later, the cost of administering the Society had reached £1500–2000 and the appointment of an Assistant Treasurer was being considered.

By July 1982, income from subscriptions and the Journal amounted to £41,626, which

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Table 4. Investment value and income (1986–2005) Market value

May 1986 May 1988 May 1989 May 1990 May 1991 May 1992 May 1994 May 1997 May 1998 May 1999 May 2005

£249,550 £309,882 £393,674 £430,973 £482,328 £654,376 £814,024 £1215,436 £1435,965 £1567,951 £2328,140

Table 5. Grants made by the Society (1988 –1990)

Estimated income (annual)

1988/89 1990/91 1991/92 1992/93 1993/94 1995/96 1996/97 1997/98 1998/90

£13,868 £17,182 £20,586 £24,262 £27,307 £34,193 £30,462 £43,597 £44,353 £50,935 £84,754

£37,740 £12,500 £4200 £4200 £28,760 £29,246 £12,281 £17,787 £11,250

poses rather than let it accumulate; the Society’s annual expenditure on grants and scholarships in 1988–1990 is shown in Table 5.

The opening of the Society office, first in Ann Baillie’s home in 1991, and later in the Blore Tower in 1997, involved a significant increase in expenditure. Thus, the total of set up costs and the annual running costs of the Blore Tower for the first year amounted to over £14,000.

The Society is a financial success story and Table 6 shows some of the details for the years 1993–2004. Clearly, the financially most successful part of the Society’s work has been its publication programme.

represented a surplus of £3983. Taken together with the income from sales of the Technical Series and dividend income, this amounted to a total surplus of £22,398. At the time the total assets of the Society amounted to £107,837. The development of the Society’s investments and investment income is shown in Table 4. In recent years the Charity Commission has made it clear that charities should apply a reasonable proportion of their income to charitable purTable 6. An overview of the Society finances 1993–2004

Income Subscriptions Publications Expenditure Salaries Office costs Meetings Donations and Studentships Excess income/ expenditure

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2003

2004

50,147 56,567

45,875 71,634

46,842 133,659

44,742 150,793

44,352 178,355

60,112 210,657

58,065 242,925

72,992 271,279

69,476 436,749

59,288 484,935

22,330 10,848 15,518

38,920 11,156 3,254

35,426 17,394 62,784

33,455 23,718 42,237

31,261 26,233 56,709

58,981 48,470 65,398

62,396 50,897 150,815

78,981 41,016 108,433

67,339 68,102 63,152

44,968 79,868 156,514

9,200

24,200

6,114

27,395

2,319

19,878

32,422

17,535

20,330

59,495

73,950 102,249

89,224

70,043

103,284

75,849

1,154

67,348

241,145

210,554

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APPENDIX 9

The Constitutions

Constitutions are the legal background against which organizations function and they define their name, aims and objectives, and the rules they must observe. The society that started as the Society of Agricultural Bacteriologists, has changed its name twice, as is seen in the Constitutions reproduced here. During the course of the last 75 years many amendments have been made to the Constitution and following three constitutions are now recognizable.

4. Any person who is engaged in the study of agricultural bacteriological problems shall be eligible for election as an ordinary member.

5. Any person of distinction who has contributed to the advancement of agricultural bacteriology shall be eligible for election as an honorary member.

2. RULES Office Bearers and Committee

The First Constitution At a committee meeting of Tuesday, 9 September 1930, it was agreed that if the resolutions drawn up at the meeting were passed by the general body, Dr A.T.R. Mattick and Dr Stenhouse Williams should consider ‘the rules which might govern the Society’. A draft constitution and rules were submitted for the consideration of the Committee on 16 September 1931. After some amendment the following was approved for submission to the Society, who approved it at a General Meeting on 17 September 1931.

1. CONSTITUTION 1. The Society shall be called the Society of Agricultural Bacteriologists.

2. The objects of the society shall be to advance agricultural bacteriology and facilitate intercourse between those who are engaged in its study.

3. The society shall consist of ordinary and honorary members.

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1. The society shall elect a President who shall hold office for two years, and shall be eligible for reelection for a further period of two years. A President who has held office for four consecutive years shall not be eligible for re-election till one year has elapsed after his demission from office.

2. The society shall elect annually one of its members as secretary and another as treasurer. These officers shall be eligible for re-election.

3. The secretary shall keep minutes of the proceedings of the society’s meetings and of the meetings of committee, and at the annual meeting shall report on the work done by the society during the previous year.

4. The treasurer shall collect the subscriptions of members, and shall notify to the committee the cases of any members whose subscriptions are two years in arrear. He shall pay accounts due by the Society, and shall at the annual meeting

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5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

present his accounts for audit along with a balance-sheet showing the financial position of the society. In the case of any expenditure the advisability of which he doubts, he shall take the opinion of the committee.

The business of the society shall be conducted by a committee, consisting of the President, the Secretary, the Treasurer and nine ordinary members.

Five members shall form a quorum at a meeting of the committee.

Questions arising at any meetings of the committee shall be determined by a majority of votes of the members present, and in case of an equality of votes the chairman shall have a second or casting vote.

The committee shall meet previous to every meeting of the society. The secretary shall be responsible for calling meetings of the committee, and shall send to members a note of the agenda. He shall, on receiving at any time a request to that effect from five ordinary members of the committee, summon an extraordinary meeting of the committee.

Each year the three ordinary members of the committee, senior in order of election, shall retire from office, and shall not be eligible for re-election till one year has elapsed after their demission from office.

Names of members to serve on the committee may be suggested by any member sending a name or names, to the secretary at least three weeks before the annual meeting.

Rule 9, along with the names of the existing committee and of the retiring members, shall be printed in the notice of the annual meeting to be issued by the Secretary under Rule 25. One full week before the annual meeting the secretary

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shall send to each member a balloting paper containing (1) the names of the committee, (2) the names of retiring members, (3) the names of those suggested to fill the vacancies.

11. The society shall from the names submitted to it, select by ballot three members to fill the vacant places. In the case of any incidental vacancy occurring in the committee, this shall be filled up by the committee by the election of another member. This member shall only hold office for the remainder of the period of office of the member whose place he takes, and shall be eligible for re-election.

3. MEMBERSHIP Ordinary Members 12. Any member may submit to the committee (through the Secretary) the name of any person desirous of election to the society, along with evidence of the suitability of the candidate for election. The committee may nominate such person as a candidate for election.

13. Candidates who have been duly nominated shall be balloted for by the Society at any meeting.

14. One full week before the meeting the secretary shall send to each member a balloting paper containing the names of the candidates nominated.

15. Any member unable to attend the meeting at which a ballot is to take place can vote by sending his balloting paper, enclosed in a sealed envelope bearing his name to the secretary so that it shall reach him on or before the day of the ballot.

The chairman of the meeting shall open such envelope, and the contained paper shall be added to those handed in by members present.

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16. To vote for a candidate a member must prefix a cross to that candidate’s name; to vote against a candidate he must erase that candidate’s name. Members who do not wish to record a vote either for or against a candidate must leave the name untouched.

17. One adverse vote in five shall exclude.

18. If at any time the committee shall be of the opinion that the interests of the society require the expulsion of a member, they shall submit the question to the annual meeting or to a special meeting at which, two-thirds of the members present vote by ballot for the expulsion of the member in question, his subscription for the current year shall (if it has already been paid) be returned to him, and he shall thereupon cease to be a member of the society. No visitor shall be present at any meeting when such a matter is discussed.

Honorary Members 19. Honorary members may be elected at the annual meeting on the nomination of the committee, notice being given on the agenda paper. The number of such honorary members shall not exceed twenty, of whom not more than six shall be resident in the United Kingdom. Honorary members shall have the right of attending the meetings of the society and of taking part in the discussions, but shall have no vote.

4. ORDINARY MEMBERS’ SUBSCRIPTIONS 20. Each ordinary member shall pay an annual subscriptions of 10/-.

21. The subscription is payable in advance, and becomes due on the first of October in each year. The first payment by an

Appendix 9

elected member shall be due on his election. .

22. Any member whose subscription is two years in arrear, and who has been duly notified of the fact, shall, if the committee see fit, be removed from the membership of the society.

5. MEETINGS 23. (a) The scientific work of the society shall be carried on at general meetings, which shall be called ordinary general meetings. (b) An ordinary general meeting shall be held once in every year at such time (not being more than 15 months after the holding of the last preceding general meeting) and at such place as may be recommended by the committee and approved by the society in general meeting. (c) The above mentioned ordinary general meeting shall be called the Annual General Meeting. (d) At the annual general meeting, the number of ordinary general meetings to be held during the ensuing year, their places and approximate dates shall be determined, the chairman of the meetings shall be nominated, the secretary shall present his report, the treasurer shall submit his accounts, and the office bearers shall be chosen. Any candidates for membership shall be balloted for, and the rules may be revised. (e) The committee, may, whenever they think fit, convene either general meetings, which shall be called extraordinary meetings and they shall convene an extraordinary general meeting on. the requisition in

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writing of not less than one fifth of the members of the society. Such requisition shall state the purpose for which this meeting is required.

24. The ordinary meetings of the society shall be held in such laboratories in different parts of the United Kingdom as may from time to time be available.

The work of a meeting shall consist of the making of communications and the discussion of these, and of the giving of demonstrations. No communication shall exceed fifteen minutes in duration, unless the consent of the meeting be obtained through the chairman. The general arrangements for the meeting, including the settling of the order in which the items of work are to be taken, shall be in the hands of the chairmanand the secretary. The meeting shall be divided into morning and afternoon sessions, and it shall be the duty of those charged with the arrangements to see that in these sessions separate and sufficient time is set apart for the demonstrations.

In the event of it appearing to the chairman and secretary that one day is insufficient for the papers and demonstrations offered, it shall be competent for them to arrange for the extension of the meeting over more than one day, in such a way as may appear to them best, notice being given in the agenda.

25. The secretary shall give one month’s notice of the place and date of a meeting, and shall at the same time intimate a date by which notice of intended communications and demonstrations must reach him, One clear week before the meeting he shall issue the agenda paper.

26. With the consent of the chairman of the meeting members may introduce visitors to the ordinary meetings of the society,

153

27.

28.

29.

30.

31.

32.

and may also arrange with the secretary for communications or demonstrations being given by visitors.

A register of the members present at each meeting of the society shall be formed by members signing their names in a book to be kept for the purpose, and in this book members shall also enter the names of any visitor introduced.

Whenever it is possible to make suitable arrangements, the members of the society shall dine together on the evening of the day of the meeting; when the meeting extends over more than one day the dinner shall be held on the evening on which it appears that the fullest attendance shall be secured. Each member shall defray the expense of his own dinner and of that of any guest he may introduce.

Members shall give three days notice to the secretary of their intention of being present at the dinner, and shall, at the same time send in the names of any guests they intend to introduce.

The committee may bring up before any meeting any matter of business which they consider requires the attention of the society. Notice of such business shall be given on the agenda paper.

Subject to the provisions of rules 12 to 18, questions arising at any general meeting of the society shall be determined by a majority of votes of the members present, and in case of an equality of votes the chairman shall have a second or casting vote.

The committee may invite any scientific society to join in the work of a meeting.

6. ALTERATION OF RULES 33. The rules of the society may be altered only at the annual general meeting, and

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Appendix 9

only after notice has been given at a general meeting which has taken place at least two months previously.

Early Changes The burden on the officers, particularly of a small society without a salaried staff, is an onerous one. The administrative work must be fitted into moments of spare time in an otherwise busy day and the number of those willing to do this is small. That makes it necessary to establish a balance between terms of office of reasonable length and the need to offer regular opportunities of service to the membership at large.

On 7 July 1932 Committee recommended to the Society that the President, Secretary and Treasurer should each serve for 3 years and that they, apart from the President, should be eligible for re-election. This required amendment of Rules 1 and 2 as follows: Amended Rule 1 The Society shall elect a President who shall hold office for three years and who shall not be eligible for immediate re-election.

Amended Rule 2 The Society shall elect every three years one of its numbers (sic) as Secretary and another as Treasurer. These officers shall be eligible for re-election.

The Society appointed its first Hon. Editor, Dr T. Gibson, in 1936. About 5 years later it became apparent that, since the Society did not have a publisher, the duties of the Editor and his involvement in organisational and financial matters was such as to make it desirable for him to be an executive member of the Committee (AGM 12/9/41). This made necessary amend-

ment of Rule 2, insertion of a new Rule 5 and renumbered Rule 6 to be amended Amended Rule 2 The Society shall elect every three years one of its members as Secretary, another as Treasurer, and another as Editor of the Society’s publications. These officers shall be eligible for re-election.

New Rule 5 The Editor shall be responsible for approving and editing all papers submitted to the Society and for arranging for the subsequent publication of such papers or of abstracts thereof in accordance with such procedure as may from time to time be laid down by the Committee.

Present rule 5 to be Rule 6 and amended The business of the Society shall be conducted by a Committee, consisting of the President, the Secretary, the Treasurer, the Editor, and nine ordinary members.

In 1942 it was decided that the executive officers of the Society should remain on the Committee ex officio at the end of their term of office (C 27/8/42 and following AGM). The Constitution was amended accordingly.

Addition to Rule 6 In addition, on retiring from office the President, Secretary, Treasurer and Editor shall automatically become members of Committee for a period of one year.

The Second Constitution When the Society of Agricultural Bacteriologists renamed itself the Constitution was redrafted

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The Constitutions

and became the first Constitution and Rules of the Society for Applied Bacteriology. In the original, held in the Society Archive, the word ‘DRAFT’ is crossed out in pencil at the top right hand corner and below it the following is written by hand in ballpoint pen: ‘Approved by members at the Annual General Meeting – Midland Agric College. 23rd July 1945 (see Minute of Conference)’. It appears that this copy in the Society Archive was the one amended during the AGM. In the text reproduced below, ballpoint pen alterations are italicized. In the margin of each of Paragraphs 11, 12 and 13 there is an asterisk, the significance of which is no longer apparent.

1. SOCIETY OF AGRICULTURAL BACTERIOLOGISTS

155

2.

3.

4.

5.

New Constitution and Rules recommended by the Committee 1. The Society shall be called the Society for Applied Bacteriology.

2. The objects of the Society shall be solely to advance the study of bacteriology, particularly in its applications to problems in Agriculture and other industries, and to facilitate intercourse between those who are engaged in its study.

3. The Society ‘shall consist of Ordinary and Honorary Members.

4. Any person who is engaged in the study of bacteriological problems shall be eligible for election as an Ordinary Member.

5. Any person of distinction who has contributed to the advancement of bacteriology shall be eligible for election as on Honorary Member.

6.

2. RULES Office Bearers and Committee 1. The Society shall elect a President who

7.

shall hold office for three years and shall not be eligible for immediate re-election.

The Society shall elect every three years one of its members as Secretary, another as Treasurer, and another as Editor of the Society’s publications. These officers shall be eligible for re-election.

The Society shall appoint two auditors annually, to audit the accounts of the Society.

The Secretary shall keep minutes of the proceedings of the Society’s meetings and of the meetings of the Committee, and at the Annual General Meeting shall report on the work done by the Society during the previous year.

The Treasurer shall collect the subscriptions of members, and shall notify to the Committee the cases of any members whose subscriptions are two years in arrear. He shall pay accounts due by the Society, and shall at the Annual General Meeting present his audited accounts along with a balance-sheet showing the financial position of the Society. Payments of any sums in excess of five pounds shall only be made against cheques bearing the signature of the Treasurer and of the President or Secretary.

The Editor shall be responsible for approving and editing all papers submitted to the Society for publication and for arranging for the subsequent publication of such papers or of abstracts thereof in accordance with such procedure as may from time to time be laid down by the Committee. The Editor shall be assisted by [The following words are deleted: Assessors, who shall be elected by the Committee] one or more Assistant Editors who shall be elected by the Committee.

The business of the Society shall be conducted by a Committee, consisting of the

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Appendix 9

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

President, the Secretary, the Treasurer, the Editor and nine ordinary members.

In addition, on retiring from office, the President, Secretary, Treasurer and Editor shall automatically become members of Committee for a period of, one year.

Five members shall form a quorum at a meeting of the Committee of whom two shall be office bearers of the Society.

Questions arising at any meetings of the Committee shall be determined by a majority of votes of the members present, and in case of an equality of votes, the Chairman shall have a second or casting vote.

The Committee shall meet at least once a year. The Secretary shall be responsible for calling meetings of the Committee and shall send to members a note of the agenda. He shall, on receiving at any time a request to that effect from five ordinary members of the Committee, summon an extra-ordinary meeting of the Committee.

Each year the three Ordinary Members of the Committee, senior in order of election shall retire from office, and shall not be eligible for re-election until after a lapse of one year. Any member may nominate another member or members to serve on the Committee, (provided he has obtained the consent of the nominee or nominees,) such nominations to reach the Secretary at least three weeks before the Annual General Meeting.

Rule 11, along with the names of the existing Committee and of the retiring members shall be included in the notice of the Annual General Meeting to be issued by the Secretary under Rule 28.

Two full weeks before the Annual General Meeting, the Secretary shall send to each member-a balloting paper containing (1) the names of the Committee, (2) the names of the retiring members, (3) the

names of those suggested to fill the vacancies.

13. The Society shall, at the Annual General Meeting, from the names submitted to it, select by ballot three members to fill the vacant places. In the case of any incidental vacancy occurring in the Committee, the Committee shall fill this vacancy by the election of another members. This member shall only hold office for the remainder of the period of office of the member whose place he takes, and shall be eligible for re-election. Those members who are unable to attend the meeting may send their balloting papers by post to reach the Secretary not later than the first day of the meeting, at the address indicated on the ballot paper.

3. MEMBERSHIP Ordinary Members 14. Ordinary Members may propose candidates for election to ordinary membership. Such proposals, which must be seconded by another Ordinary Member, must state the names and qualifications of such candidates on the proposal forms provided and must be forwarded to the Secretary. The Committee may nominate such candidates for election. The Committee may also nominate such other suitable candidates as may apply for election if they are, through special circumstances not personally known to two members of the Society.

15. Election of candidates who have been duly nominated by the Committee shall be by ballot or by show of hands and shall take place either at an ordinary meeting or at the Annual General Meeting. One adverse vote in every five recorded shall exclude the candidate from election.

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16. When a person has been elected a member of the Society, the Secretary shall inform him of his election and shall send him a copy of the Rules.

17. The Committee may recommend the removal of a member from membership of the Society if in their opinion the interests of the Society require it. such recommendation must he submitted to a meeting of the Society and shall become effective if at least two-thirds of those voting are in its favour. No visitor shall be present at any meeting when such a matter is discussed.

Honorary Members 18. Honorary Members may be elected at the Annual General Meeting on the nomination of the Committee, notice being given on the agenda paper. The number of such Honorary Members shall not exceed twenty, of whom not more than six shall be resident in the United Kingdom. Honorary Members shall have the right of attending the meetings of the Society and of taking part in the discussions, but shall have no vote.

4. ORDINARY MEMBERS’ SUBSCRIPTIONS 19. Each Ordinary Member shall pay an annual subscription which shall entitle him to such of the Society’s publications as the Committee may direct.

20. The subscription shall be payable in advance, and shall become due on the first of October in each year. No Ordinary Member shall be admitted to any of the privileges of the Society until after payment of the first annual subscription.

21. Any member whose subscription is two years in arrear, and who has been

157

duly notified of the fact, shall, if the Committee see fit, cease to be a. member of the Society.

5. MEETINGS 22. The Society shall hold meetings, the dates and places of which shall be decided by the Committee. The time of any meeting and the order of procedure thereat may be decided by the Secretary, in consultation with the President.

23. A general meeting shall be held once every year at such time (not being more than 15 months after the holding of the last preceding general meeting) and at such place as may be recommended by the Committee and approved by the Society in general meeting. This meeting shall be called the Annual General Meeting.

24. The meetings of the Society, other than the Annual General Meeting, shall be called Ordinary General Meetings.

25. At Ordinary General Meetings scientific papers shall be communicated and the ordinary business of the Society transacted, including the election of new members. No communication shall last longer than 15 minutes unless the consent of the meeting be obtained through the Chairman. The general arrangements for the meeting, including the settling of the order in which the items of work are to be taken, shall be in the hands of the President and the Secretary. In the event of it appearing to the President and the Secretary that one day is insufficient for the papers and demonstrations offered, they shall have power to arrange for the extension of the meeting.

26. At the Annual General Meeting the number of Ordinary General Meetings

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27.

28.

29.

30.

31.

Appendix 9

during the ensuing year, their places and approximate dates shall be determined, the Secretary shall present his report, the Treasurer shall submit his accounts, the Office Bearers shall be chosen, and the Rules may be revised.

The Committee may, whenever they think fit, convene other General Meetings, which shall be called Extra-Ordinary General Meetings. They shall also convene a Extra-Ordinary General Meeting at the request in writing of not less than one fifth of the members of the Society.

Such requisition shall state the purpose for which this meeting is required.

The Secretary shall give one month’s notice of the place and date of a meeting, and shall, at the same time intimate a date by which notice of intended communications and demonstrations must reach him. He shall issue the agenda paper one clear week before the meeting.

Each ordinary member shall have the right to vote upon all questions submitted to any meeting of the Society at which the member is present, to introduce visitors to the meeting with the approval of the Secretary, and to present a paper on behalf of any visitor so introduced. The names of members and of visitors attending each meeting shall be entered in a book kept for the purpose.

Whenever it is possible to make suitable arrangements, the members of the Society shall dine together on the evening of the day of the meeting; when the meeting extends over more than one day, the dinner shall be held on the evening on which it appears that the fullest attendance shall be secured.

Subject to the provisions of Rules 15, 17 and 18, questions arising at any general meeting of the Society shall be

determined by a majority of votes of the members present, and in case of an equality of votes, the Chairman shall have a second or casting vote.

32. The Committee may invite, or accept an invitation from, any scientific Society to participate in a joint meeting.

6. ALTERATION OF CONSTITUTION & RULES 33. The constitution and rules of the Society can be altered only at an Annual General Meeting, and only after notice has been given at a general meeting which has taken place at least two months previously. An intimation of such notice shall be sent, by the Secretary to all members of the Society at least one month before the Annual General Meeting. No alteration shall be made unless at least twothirds of those voting are in its favour.

7. TRUSTEES 34. The Committee shall be empowered to appoint Trustees in whom the funds of the Society shall be vested.

A new Constitution adopted in 1984 was amended several times. The currently operative Constitution is reproduced below. It is of interest to note that its length is 72% that of the original Constitution.

The Current Constitution The Society for Applied Microbiology (Registered Charity 326509) adopted this Constitution on 11 January 1984. Revisions were made on 19 January 1990, 16 July 1991, 13 July 1994, 15 July 1997 and 14 July 1999.

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1. NAME The Society is called ‘The Society for Applied Microbiology’.

(b)

2. OBJECT To advance for the benefit of the public the science of microbiology, particularly bacteriology in its application to the environment, agriculture and industry.

(c)

3. MEMBERSHIP The Society shall consist of Honorary, Ordinary, Student and Corporate Members.

Only persons and companies who are interested in the object of the Society shall be eligible for election to membership. Any person of distinction who has contributed to the advancement of microbiology shall be eligible for election as an Honorary Member. a) Ordinary and Student Members: Admission to Ordinary and Student Membership is at the discretion of the Committee, so long as such admission is not unreasonably withheld, and is subject to receipt of the appropriate subscription annually. b) Corporate Members: Companies with an interest in the objects of the Society may be eligible for election as corporate members of the Society. Admission to corporate membership of the Society is at the discretion of the Committee and is subject to receipt of the appropriate membership subscription annually.

4. HONORARY OFFICERS AND COMMITTEE (a) The business of the Society shall be conducted by a Committee consisting of the President, the Vice-President, when that office is filled, the General Secretary, the Meetings Secretary, the Treasurer,

(d)

(e)

the Publications Officer, the Editors-inChief of the Society’s publications and nine Ordinary Members.

Five members shall form a quorum at a meeting of the Committee of whom two shall be office bearers of the Society.

Questions arising at any meetings of the Committee shall be determined by a majority of votes of the members present, and in case of an equality of votes of the members present, the Chairman shall have a second or casting vote.

The Committee shall meet at least once a year. The General Secretary shall be responsible for calling meetings of the Committee and shall send to members a note of the agenda. He/she shall, on receiving at any time a request to that effect from five ordinary Members of the Committee, summon an extraordinary meeting of the Committee.

The funds of the Society, other than those required for current use, shall be vested in not more than four and not less than three Custodian Trustees, each of whom shall be appointed by the Society at an Annual General Meeting after hearing nominations from the Committee. Each appointment shall be until the resignation or death of the member, or until it is terminated by a majority vote of the Society at an Annual General Meeting.

The funds so vested shall be administered by the Custodian Trustees by mutual consent between the Committee and the Custodian Trustees, and any income or benefit accruing thereto shall be applied exclusively towards the promotion of the aims of the Society as set forth in its Constitution. The securities for any funds invested shall be deposited with the Society’s Bankers or such nominees of registered members of the London Stock

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Exchange as appointed from time to time by the Committee.

A certificate from the General Secretary shall be sufficient evidence of the appointment of a Custodian Trustee. (f ) The title to all real property which may be acquired by the Society shall be Vested in a Corporation lawfully entitled to act as Custodian Trustee or in not less than three or more than four individual persons (Custodian Trustees, not being members of the Committee).

5. ELECTION OF HONORARY OFFICERS AND COMMITTEE Only full members of the Society shall be eligible to serve as Honorary Officers or members of the Committee.

The Society shall elect a President who shall hold office for three years and shall not be eligible for immediate re-election. The Society shall elect a Vice-President who shall take office at the beginning of the third year of office of the President and who shall succeed to the Presidency one year after election.

The Society shall elect from its members a General Secretary, a Meetings Secretary, a Treasurer, a Publications Officer and Editorsin-Chief of the Society’s publications. These Officers shall serve for a period of five years and shall not be eligible for immediate re-election.

There shall be nine Ordinary Committee Members. Each year three Ordinary Members of Committee, senior in order of election, shall retire and shall not be eligible for reelection until after a lapse of one year.

Nominations must be made by full members in writing and must be in the hands of the General Secretary at least eight weeks before the Annual General Meeting. Should nominations exceed vacancies, election shall

Appendix 9

be by a system of postal voting arranged by the Committee.

In the case of any incidental vacancy occurring in the Committee, the Committee shall fill this vacancy by the election of another member. This member shall only hold office for the remainder of the period of office of the member whose place he takes and shall be eligible for re-election.

6. MEETINGS The Society shall hold meetings, the dates and places of which shall be decided by the Committee. A general meeting shall be held once in every year, at such time (not being more than fifteen months after the holding of the last preceding general meeting), and at such a place as may be recommended by the Committee and approved by the Society in General Meeting.

The meeting shall be called the Annual General Meeting. All other meetings shall be called Ordinary General Meetings.

At the Annual General Meeting the number of Ordinary General Meetings to be held during the ensuing year, their places and approximate dates, shall be determined; the Secretaries shall present their reports, the Treasurer shall submit his/her accounts, and the Office Bearers shall be chosen.

The Committee shall have the power to adopt and issue rules for the Society. Such rules shall come into operation immediately provided always that they shall be subject to review by the Society in General Meeting and shall not be inconsistent with the provision of this Constitution.

7. ALTERATIONS TO CONSTITUTION The Constitution of the Society can be altered only at a General Meeting, and only after notice has been given in a General Notice to

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the membership issued at least two months previously provided that no alteration shall be made which would have the effect of causing the Society to cease to be a charity at law.

Such notice shall also be included on the agenda of the General Meeting which shall be sent by the Secretaries to all members of the Society at least one month beforehand. No alteration shall be made unless at least twothirds of those voting are in its favour.

8. DISSOLUTION If the Committee, by a simple majority, decide at any time that on the grounds of expense or otherwise it is necessary or advisable to dissolve the Society, it shall call a meeting of all members of the Society of which meeting not less than twenty-one days notice (stating the terms of the resolution to be proposed thereat) shall be given. If such decision shall be confirmed by a two-thirds majority of those

161

present and voting at such a meeting, the Committee shall have the power to dispose of any assets held by or on behalf of the Society.

Any assets remaining after all liabilities have been met will not be distributed amongst the members but will be transferred to such charitable organisation or organisations having objects similar to those of the Society as the Society shall determine, provided that the prior approval of the Charity Commissioners for England and Wales shall be obtained to the proposed disposal.

9. NOTICES Any notice may be served by the General Secretary on any member either personally or by sending it through the post in a prepaid letter addressed to such member at his or her last known address, and any letter so sent shall be deemed to have been received within ten days of posting.

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Bibliography

1 Histories of the Society Anon. (1981). The Society for Applied Bacteriology: the First Fifty Years. Journal of Applied Bacteriology 50, 435–431.

Davis, J.G. (1983). Personal recollections of developments in dairy bacteriology over the last fifty years. Journal of Applied Bacteriology 55, 1–12.

Hopton, J.W. (1991). Sixty years of the Society for Applied Bacteriology: a story of growth, enterprise and consolidation. Journal of Applied Bacteriology 71, 2–8.

Rhodes-Roberts, M. (1990). Applied Bacteriologists – Relevant or Redundant? National Centre for Biotechnology Education Newsletter.

Summer No. 9, 14–16.

Thomas, S.B. (1963). The History of the Society for Applied Bacteriology from 1931 to 1945.

Journal of Applied Bacteriology 26, 66 –68.

2 General References Anon. (1946). The Training and Supply of Applied Bacteriologists. Nature 13 (April), Vol. 157, 490.

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Burgess, H.F. (1947). Robert Stenhouse Williams and the origin and early development of the National Institute for Research in Dairying. British Medical Bulletin, 5, 222–225.

Dixon, B. (1994). The media man. British Medical Journal, 309, 545.

Jones, D. (1991). Note by President on 60th anniversary. London: Society for Applied Microbiology.

Postgate, J.R. (1994). Fifty Years On. London: Society for General Microbiology.

Stewart-Tull, D.E.S., Sussman, M. (1992) The Release of Genetically-Modified Micro-organisms – REGEM 2. FEMS Symposium No. 63. New York: Plenum Press.

Sussman, M. (1994). The W.H. Pierce Memorial Symposium. Proceedings of a Symposium held on 17 March 1993. pp. 1–2.

London: Society for Applied Bacteriology.

Sussman, M., Collins, C.H., Skinner, F.A., Stewart-Tull, D.E.S. (1988). The Release of Genetically-Engineered Micro-organisms.

London: Academic Press.

Timmis, K., Stahl, D. (1999). The birth of environmental microbiology. Environmental Microbiology 1, 1–2.

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Subject Index

Page references that refer to the appendices are given in bold italics. Appendices 2–7 contain lists, including lists of names that are not included in the Name Index.

Abstracts of Proceedings 26, 42, 44 Academic Press 46–50, 52–53 Administration 84–90 Administrative Secretary 60 Advertising Manager 45 Advisory Dairy Bacteriologists 1, 3, 5, 13, 14, 27, 67 Agricultural Education Association 7 Agriculture, Ministry of 13, 27, 67 Royal Society of 1 Applied bacteriology, nature of 1 Applied Bacteriology, Journal of 21, 44–50, 51, 56, 60 Applied Bacteriologists, training of 67–68 Applied Microbiology, Journal of 60 Letters in 50, 54–55, 56 Archives 91–98, 100 Archivist 57, 92, Hopton, J. 7, 45, 60, 94, 95, 98 Post, D. E. 57, 90 Seaman, A. 3, 52, 57, 80, 81, 92, 95, 96 Association for Science Education (ASE) 69 Autumn Meeting 29, 30 Awards, Overseas Development 78 Eijkman Memorial 76

Bacteriologists, Advisory Dairy 1, 3, 5, 13, 14, 27, 67 Bacteriology, applied, nature of 1 university degree courses 67–68 history of 24 Institute of 15 Barkworth Collection 94, 97 Bedford Market Square 91 Biochemical Society 18 Blackwells 49, 52–54 Blore Tower 89, 97, 99 British Mycological Society 69 Chief Executive Officer 99 City & Guilds Institute 68–69 Technician Training Advisory Committee 69, 97 Colloquia 30 Committee Dinner 23 Foundation 132 Conference, Release of Genetically engineered Microorganisms (REGEM) 55–56 Constitution 22, 25, 26 draft of 7, Constitution of 1932 150–154 Constitution of 1945 154–158 Constitution of 1999 158–161 Copyright Act 1911 46, Custodian Trustees 136 Dairy industry, organization of 2 163

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Dairy Technologists, Society of 19 Demonstration Meetings 29, 30, 47, 57, 80, 139–142 Deposit Libraries 46– 47 Editors, 135 Book and Review 135 Executive 54 In-Chief 48, 55 Editorial Board 50 Education 67–70 Education and Science, Department of 51, 69 Electoral Sub-Committee 86 Endangered Culture Collection Fund 77–78 Environmental Microbiology 56, 96 Executive Assistant 85 Editor 54 Secretary 87, 95 Federation of European Microbiological societies (FEMS) 81, 85 Fellowships, Anniversary 76 Food Microbiology 76 FEMS 81, 82 Finances 147–149 Food and Drugs Act 1875 1 Foundation Committee 132 General Notices 57, 59–60 Golf competition 29, Grants, Regional Meeting 78 Students into Work 77 Joint 1-day Regional Meeting 78 Headmaster’s Conference 67 Institute of Bacteriology 15 International Association of Microbiological societies (IAMS) 81, 82–3

Subject Index

Investments 149 Journal of Applied Bacteriology 85 of Applied Microbiology 60 of Biological Education 69, of General Microbiology 81, Layman’s Guide (REGEM) 55 Lectures, A. D. Russell, Memorial 71 Lewis B. Perry Memorial 71 Professor Maurice Ingram Memorial 71 Sponsored 77 Stenhouse Williams Memorial 58, 71 Tom Gibson Memorial 71 Letters in Applied Microbiology Australasian Editor 54 US Editor 54 Libraries, Deposit 46–47 Local Authorities 1 Manager, Advertising 45 Business 45 Publications 45, 47, 48–49 Publicity 86 Medical Officers of Health 1 Meetings 27–39 Demonstration 29, 30, 47, 52, 80, 139–142 Joint 30 Secretaries 135 Members, Honorary 137–138 Members, in 1932 132–133 in 1933 133 Membership, conditions for 8–9 growth of 14, 17 life 13 Secretaries 135 Memorial Fund, Stanley E. Jacobs 58, 71, 76

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Subject Index

Microbiological Consultative Committee 83 Microbiologist 60 Microbiology Advisers for Schools 70 Microbiology in Schools Advisory Committee (MISAC) 69–70 Milk quality 1 ‘Mini-reviews’ 55 Ministry, of Agriculture 3, 5, 13 of Health 3 MISAC 69–70 National Institute for Research in Dairying (NIRD) 2, 3, 6, 30 as Society ‘banker’ 13, Stenhouse Williams, Director of 6 Nature (London) 54, 68 reports of Society activities in, 18, 22, 26, 67 Notices and News 60 News, SfAM 60 Newsletter 57–66, Newsletter, SfAM 60 North West European Microbiology Group (NWEMG) 81 Notices, General 57, 59–60 Nuffield Foundation, Teaching Scheme 69 Obituaries, Allen, L. A. 110–111 Bunker, H. J. 115–117 Gibson, T. 112–114 Ingram, M. 121–125 Jacobs, S. E. 108–109 Mattick, A. T. R. 104–107 Meanwell, L. J. 126–129 Stenhouse Williams, Robert 102–103 Sykes, G. 118–120 Thomas, S.B. 130–131 Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI) 51–52 Officer, Chief Executive 99 Officers of the Society 1931–2005 134–135

165

‘Opinion pieces’ 55 Oxoid Company 73 Pathological Society 18, 19 Presidents, Honorary 134 President’s, Address 29, 30 Dinner 23 Fund 75 Prizes, J. G. Murray Memorial 75 bioMérieux 77 Don Whitley Golf 75 Eijkman Memorial Award 76 Lapage Systematics 72 SAB Poster 75 W. H. Pierce Memorial 71, 72–74, 96 Proceedings of the Society of Agricultural Bacteriologists 9, 26, 40–44, 53, 79, 84 Programme Sub-Committee 27 Public Analysts 1 Publication, Experiment 51–52 Group 49–50 Officer 87–88, 89 Publications, management of 44–45 Reading, St. Patrick’s Hall 6 University College 2 University of 6 Recruitment and Publicity Officer 86 REGEM 55–56 REGEM 2 55 Research Institute of Dairying 2 Royal Society of London 44, 46, 83 of Agriculture 1 SAB Notices and News 60 Scholarships Don Whitley Travel 71, 77 George Sykes Summer Conference 57, 76

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Seale Hayne College 3 Secretaries, General 134 Secretary, Administrative 60 Executive 99 SfAM News 60 SfAM Newsletter 60 SGM International Congress of Microbiology 79–80 Quarterly 82 Standardisation Committee 73 Smoking 27 Society for Chemical Industry 17, 30, 69 Chemical Industry, Microbiological Panel 17, 30 General Microbiology (SGM) 16, 18–21, 23, 24, 25, 26, 52, 67, 68, 69, 79–82, 85, 95, 97 Society Officers 1931–2005 134–135 Society of American Bacteriologists 20, 24 Special Interest Groups 96 ‘Special Topics’ 30 Studentships, George Sykes Summer Conference 76

Subject Index

Summer Conference 57 ‘style and title’, ‘style and status’ 15, 16, 17, 26 Sub-committee Electoral 86 Programme 27 Summer Conference 27, 29, 57 Summer Conference Studentships 57 Symposia 49 Symposium 27 Series 49, 54, 143–144 W.H. Pierce Memorial 74 Technical Series 30, 47–48, 53, 139–142 Technicians, training of 68–69, 97 Training, in applied bacteriology 67–68 of technicians 68–69 Treasurers, Honorary 134 Trustees 136 UK National Committee 89 Winter Meeting 27, 29, 30 Working Party, SAB 2000 88, 99 World Health Organisation (WHO) 57

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Name Index

The names listed here are those mentioned in the main text, whether they were members of the Society or not. The names are listed as they appear in the archival records, where in some cases only a surname is given. Further details to complete the names may in future be found in other, so far unidentified, independent sources.

In the Society’s early days, women were often referred to only by their surname, sometimes with the title ‘Miss’ or ‘Mrs’. That convention is followed below when no other information is available. Otherwise, in the case of women, the first given name is reproduced in full.

The names that appear in the appendices are not included in this name index, other than the subjects of obituaries, which are indicated by bold italics. Access to names listed in the appendices can be obtained by way of the Table of Contents and the Subject Index.

Allen, L.A. 1, 9, 11, 12, 15, 19, 20, 21, 23, 25, 26, 29, 44, 67, 68, 110–111 Almond, J. 39 Anderson 5, 29 Andrews, C.H. 20 Baillie, A. 51, 52, 60, 87, 88, 89, 90, 95, 99 Barker, B.T.P. 67 Barkworth, H. 2, 5, 7, 11, 12, 29, 79, 94 Barnes, Ella M 30, 54, 80 Bashford, T.E. 45 Besra, D. 74 Black, R. 5 Board, R.G. 37, 49, 52, 53, 81 Booth, Miss 27

Bradshaw, 5 Bray, 29 Breed, R.S. 16 Bull, A.T. 81 Bunker, H.J. 2, 19, 20, 23, 27, 92, 97, 115–117 Burgess, H.F. 29 Burgess, R. 11, 29 Burrell, J.R. 15 Campbell, A.C. 86 Carr, J.G. 37, 49, 83 Chalmers, C.H. 5, 11, 12, 13, 16, 29, 40 Christian, 11 Clarke, Patricia 81 Clayson, D.H.F. 20, 30 Clegg, L.F.L. 5, 27 Clerkin, P. 5, 7, 11, 12 Collins, C.H. 54, 55 Collins, M.D. 74 Collins, Vera 48 Cooper, Ann W 52 Coulthard, C.E. 20 Cross, T. 37 Crossley, E.L. 15, 79, 80 Cruickshank, J. 79 Cunningham, A. 9, 11, 12, 15, 16, 23, 29, 84 Cutler, S.J. 74 Davis, B 11 Davis, J.G. viii, 11, 12, 14, 16, 19, 25, 31, 46, 82 Dixon, B. 55 Dodd, Christine E.R. 74 Dowson, 30 Druce, R.G. 5 Duncan, J.G. 20 167

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Name Index

Edgell, J.W. 5 Eijkman, C. 76 Erskine, Miss 7, 11 Everett, A. 5, 29

Jones, G.E. 68 Jones, Miss Hetty 11, 29 Jones, Susan M 37, 57, 59, 87, 88 Jørgensen, F. 74

Fleming, A. 20 Foster, S.J. 74 Fricker, C.R. 74, 75

Kay, H.D. 5, 13, 67 Knight, B.C.J.G. 20 Knowles, 11 Kroll, R.G. 74, 75

Gale, E.F. 80 Gardner, A. 75 Gibbs, B.M. 47 Gibson, G.R. 74, 75 Gibson, S. 29 Gibson, T. 5, 8, 11, 12, 29, 40, 67, 112–114 Giebert, G. 73 Gould, G.W. 51, 58, 71, 81, 94, 95 Grant, I.R. 74 Gray, E. 44 Green, P.N. 74, 75 Grimes, 11 Harvey, Dorothy 85, 87 Herbert, R.A. 90 Higginbottom, 5, 12 Hill, P. 74 Hillerton, E. 71 Hiscox, Miss E.R. 5, 11, 12, 19, 22, 23, 29, 30, 79 Hobson, Mrs P.M. 5, 29 Holmes, J. 11, 12, 29 Hopton, J. 7, 45, 60, 94, 95, 98 Howie, J.W. 30, 71 Hoy, W.D. 9, 11, 12, 29 Humphrey, T.J. 74, 75 Hutchinson, H.B. 20 Hutt, C.M. 48–49 Ingram, M. 31, 71, 80, 121–125 Jacobs, S.E. 44, 45, 46, 71, 108–109 Jarvis, B. 76, 87, 88 Jones, Dorothy 36, 87 Jones, E. 5

Lapage, S.P. 72 Ledingham, J. 20 Liebig, J. von 73 Lindsay, 11 Ling, 29 Lomax, Miss K.L. 6, 11, 12, 29 Lovell, R. 79 Lowe, J.F. 92 Lwoff, A. 82 Mabbitt, L.A. 49, 52 Macdonald, J.R. 72 Mackie, T.J. 15 Macleod, J.W. 20 Maillard, J.-Y. 71, 74 Malcolm 6, 11, 12 Mann, E. 45 Mason, E.W. 20 Mattick, A.T.R. 2, 5, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 15, 16, 20, 21, 23, 29, 31, 40, 104–107 McBain, A. 74 McClemont, J. 5, 7, 11, 12 McGregor, 11, 12 McKenzie, D.A. 5, 80 McLauchlin, J. 74, 75 Mead, G.C. 54 Meanwell, L. 6, 7, 11, 12, 19, 30, 126–129 Meiklejohn, J. 27 Miles, 11, 12 Miles, A.A. 20, 82 Montgomerie, R.F. 30 Morgan, W.T.J. 20 Morris, C. 5

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Mossel, D.A.A. 76 Murray, J.G. 69, 75 Neave, F.K. 29 Nelson 11 Nichols, Miss A.A. 11, 12, 29 Norris, J.R. 51, 54, 58, 89 Oakton, J.M. 75 On, S. 74 Oxley, C.S. 5, 6 Park, R.W.A. 37 Park, S.F. 74 Passmore, Susan 37 Paton, A. 86 Pearce, W.H. 72–74, 80 Perry, L.B. 71 Pirie, Miss 5, 11 Post, D.E. 57, 91, 94 Postgate, J. 23, 52 Power, E.G.M. 74 Provan, A.L. 11, 12, 15, 29

169

Shrewsbury, J.F.D. 67 Silley, P. 77 Skinner, F.A. 37, 47, 49, 51–52, 55, 75, 94, 95 Smith, H. 81, 85 Smith, K. 20 Smith, M.J. 75 Sowerby, Miss 5 St John Brooks, R.T. 18–21, 23, 25, 67 Stableforth, A.W. 20 Stenhouse Williams, R. 2–8, 13, 27, 102–103 Stephenson, Marjory 19, 20, 21 Stewart-Tull, D.E.S. 55, 56 Stutzenberger, F. 54 Sussman, M. 53, 55, 56, 71, 75, 94, 95, 96 Sykes, G. 27, 47, 49, 69, 80, 118–120 Taylor, C.B. 27, 79, 80, 84 Thiel, C.C. 29 Thomas, S.B. 5, 6, 9, 11, 12, 14, 17, 29, 67, 130–131 Thornton, H.G. 20 Timmis, K. 56 Tranter, H.S. 74, 75

Quesnel, L.B. 52 Raistrick, H. 30 Richards, T. 22, 44, 67 Roberts, I.S. 74 Robertson, Muriel 20 Robson, 11 Rowlands, A. 5, 29 Sails, A. 74 Saugman, P. 49, 52, 68 Seaman, A. 3, 53, 57, 92, 94, 95, 96 Sharkey, 60 Shaw, G.B. 74 Sherwood, H.P. 30

Walker, L.J. 11, 12, 29 Walker, P.D. 37, 52, 81, 84, 85 Walters, A.H. 45, 49 Wardlaw, A.C. 81 West, P.A. 74, 75 Westwater, C.H. 5, 11, 12, 29 Wheat, P.F. 99 Whitley, D.C. 29, 77, 85 Whitlock, 45 Wildy, P. 83 Wilson, 7 Wiltshire, S.J. 20 Windle Taylor, E. 79 Wooldridge, W.R. 20