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British Chemists Abroad, 1887–1971: the Dynamics of Chemists’ Careers

2009; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 66; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/00033790802201431

1464-505X

Gerrylynn K. Roberts, Anna Simmons,

scientometrics and bibliometrics research

Summary This paper investigates the extent of overseas migration by British chemists over the period 1887–1971. Notwithstanding the ‘brain drain’ alarms of the 1960s, overseas employment was characteristic of some 19% of British chemists’ careers throughout our period, though its nature changed considerably. Our study examines the overseas employment histories of four cohorts of members of the [Royal] Institute of Chemistry in the ‘Chemists’ Database’ at the Open University. Those employed abroad were not only highly qualified but also both geographically mobile and occupationally versatile. Over the period, the pattern of chemists’ migration was broadly similar to that of British migration trends more generally. Except in the interwar years, chemists’ rate of migration was relatively constant. However, the length of time they spent abroad declined markedly over the period: long-term migration became less characteristic than short-term overseas employment for purposes of career development. From the late nineteenth century, British chemists staffed the Empire, but also found employment in the expanding US economy. After 1945, chemists’ destinations shifted more markedly towards North America, including Canada, and later also to Europe. Our work thus provides a new perspective on the dynamics of scientists’ migration and contributes to studies on the brain drain. Notes 1James A. Wilson, ‘The Emigration of British Scientists’, Minerva, 5, no. 1 (autumn 1966), 20–29. See also ‘The Anatomy of the “Brain Drain” Debate in the UK’, http://www.ucl.ac.uk/sts/balmer/balmer-braindrain.htm (accessed 20 September 2006). The Oxford English Dictionary attributes coinage of the term to science correspondent, Peter Fairley, in the Evening Standard, 1 January 1963. OED Online (accessed 28 September 2006). 2James A. Wilson (note 1), 20. The basis for this 1960s rhetoric was questioned in subsequent analyses; Göran Friborg, ed., Brain Drain Statistics: Empirical Evidence and Guidelines, Committee on Research Economics (FEK), Report 6 (Stockholm, 1975). 3This is acknowledged by James A. Wilson (note 1), 20 and in ‘The Brain Drain’, Report of the Working Group on Migration, Cmnd. 3417 (London, 1967), 3–6. For contemporary data, see Advisory Council on Scientific Policy (ACSP), Annual Reports, 1947–1948 to 1963–1964; The Royal Society, Emigration of Scientists from the United Kingdom (London, 1963). On migration generally, see Stephen Constantine, ‘Migrants and Settlers’, in J.M. Brown and W.R. Louis, eds., Oxford History of the British Empire: vol. 4, The Twentieth Century (Oxford, 1999), 163–87. 4An earlier version of this paper was presented by Anna E. Simmons, ‘The Path to Chemical Employment in the British Empire, 1890–1939: A New Opportunity or the Last Resort?’ British Society for the History of Science Annual Conference, Leeds, 15–17 July 2005. See also our broader study of both overseas participants in British chemical societies and Britons abroad: Gerrylynn K. Roberts and Anna E. Simmons, ‘The Overseas Dimensions of British Chemical Societies, c.1890–c.1950’, Historia Scientiarum, 16 (2007), 224–43. 5On the Institute, see Colin A. Russell, Noel G. Coley and Gerrylynn K. Roberts, Chemists by Profession. The Origins and Rise of the Royal Institute of Chemistry (Milton Keynes, 1977). It received the designation ‘Royal’ in 1944. 1971 is the terminal date for this study because there was a major institutional change on 1 January 1972, when the Royal Institute of Chemistry and the Chemical Society committed to amalgamation, with a view to subsequent unification. 6See for example, Office of the Lord President of the Council, Ministry of Labour & National Service, Scientific and Engineering Manpower in Great Britain (London, 1956); James A. Wilson (note 1). Such surveys tended to use a ‘snapshot’ approach, looking at the membership profile in particular years, whereas our work studies the whole of individual chemists’ careers wherever possible. 7[Royal] Institute of Chemistry, Annual Reports of Council. Annual membership figures reflect losses, by death or resignation, as well as gains. Membership reached 1489 in 1917, 8231 in 1943 and 14641 in 1956. 8‘The Royal Institute of Chemistry: Annual General Meeting’, Chemistry in Britain, 2 (1966), 279–83 (283). British nationality was formally necessary only from 1914, but the specific educational requirements for entry from 1887 resulted de facto in entrants being British nationals so far as we have been able to determine. On definitions of British nationality over our period, see http://www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk/documents/nisec2gensec/ (accessed 4 October 2006). 9Stephen Constantine (note 3), 165, Table 7.2; 166, Table 7.3. 10All data are calculated from Robin L. Mackie's and Gerrylynn K. Roberts's ‘Chemists’ Database’ constructed at the Open University for their project, ‘Studies of the British Chemical Community, 1881–1972: The Three Principal Institutions’, which was initiated with funding from the Leverhulme Trust. The database includes all Council members (c.1900) plus systematic samples with a random start of members at large of the Chemical Society (f. 1841), the [Royal] Institute of Chemistry (f. 1877), or the Society of Chemical Industry (f. 1881) drawn for five periods in their history determined by changes in Institute of Chemistry policies, totalling some 4200 individuals. Biographical information was assembled by record linkage from a wide range of sources. Our data track individuals over the whole of their careers wherever possible. This paper draws on four cohorts of members at large: those joining in the periods 1887–1917, 1918–1943, 1944–1956, and 1957–1971. See ‘Biographical Database of the British Chemical Community’, http://www5.open.ac.uk/ou5/Arts/chemists for a full list of sources used and abbreviated records of, currently, c.4850 individuals. We thank Robin Mackie for comments on drafts of this paper. 11Our work on samples of chemistry graduates from University College London, Imperial College London, Owens College Manchester, the Manchester College of Science and Technology and the University of Cambridge from the period 1904–1956 provides independent confirmation of this level of overseas employment for British chemists. A consistent 18% of these graduates worked abroad at some point. 12The increase in the percentage of members joining the Institute from overseas in our third period consisted mainly of chemists from India, Pakistan, and Ceylon. We exclude a small number of adult immigrants to Britain from Europe joining after naturalization. 13Stephen Constantine (note 3), 167, Table 7.4. 14The differing average durations of chemists’ stays in the settler colonies and elsewhere in the Empire is typical of emigrants generally; Stephen Constantine, ‘British Emigration to the Empire-Commonwealth since 1880: From Overseas Settlement to Diaspora?’, Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, 31 (2003), 16–35. 15For parallels with the overseas activities of other British professional organizations, see, for example, Terence J. Johnson and Marjorie Caygill, ‘The BMA and its Overseas Branches: A Short History’, Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, 1 (1972), 303–29; T.J. Johnson and M. Caygill, ‘The Development of Accountancy Links in the Commonwealth’, in R.H. Parker, ed., Readings in Accounting and Business Research, 1970–1977 (London, 1978), 154–72. 16‘Report of Council’, Proceedings of the Institute of Chemistry, 7 (1883), 7. 17These figures are for all chemists entering the IC during our period who worked overseas, rather than for the more restricted samples used for the detailed analyses in this paper. For those groups, the figures are 5–7% of all members for the Dominions and 10% falling to 4% by the final period for elsewhere in the Empire and Commonwealth. 18Institute of Chemistry of Great Britain and Ireland, Official Chemical Appointments (London, 1906, 1908, 1910, 1912, 1924, 1927, 1931, 1934, 1937). 19[R.B. Pilcher], Official Chemical Appointments (note 18), 1906, 8. 20P.F. Frankland, ‘The President's Address’, Proceedings of the Institute of Chemistry, 31 (1907), Part II, 7–21 (16). 21‘London and South-Eastern Counties’, Journal and Proceedings of the Institute of Chemistry, 48 (1924), 260–66 (260). This meeting coincided with the British Empire Exhibition, which brought many overseas chemists to London. 22‘Indian Ordnance Department’, Journal and Proceedings of the Institute of Chemistry, 47 (1923), 25–7, 157–62, 223; 48 (1924), 13; 50 (1926), 129–30; 51 (1927), 17. 23Colin A. Russell, Noel G. Coley and Gerrylynn K. Roberts (note 5), 285. 24‘Honorary Corresponding Secretaries’, Proceedings of the Institute of Chemistry, 35 (1911), 12. 25‘Proceedings of the Council’, Journal and Proceedings of the Institute of Chemistry, 47 (1924), 253–54. 26‘Forensic Chemistry’, Journal and Proceedings of the Institute of Chemistry, 53 (1929), 108–9 (108). For an example from the mid 1960s, see ‘Man and his East African Environment’, Chemistry in Britain, 2 (1966), 527–28. 27On the development of broad, generic training for British chemists, see Robert Bud and Gerrylynn K. Roberts, Science vs Practice: Chemistry in Victorian Britain (Manchester, 1984). On the Institute's requirements, see Colin A. Russell, Noel G. Coley and Gerrylynn K. Roberts (note 5), chapters 9 and 14. 28Institute of Chemistry of Great Britain and Ireland, Register of Fellows and Associates (London, 1926, 1936); W.J. Reader, Imperial Chemical Industries: A History, vol. 2 (London, 1970). 29James P. Hull, Ian D. Rae and Andrew T. Ross, ‘The Development of Chemical Industries in Australia and Canada’, Scientia Canadensis, 17 (1993), 205–54 (207). 30James P. Hull, Ian D. Rae and Andrew T. Ross (note 29), 206. 31Figures here and below dealing with employment sector and location have been calculated by combining the data underlying Tables 1 and 3. 32Alexander Marcan, The Chemist in the Far East (London, 1933), 16. 34UK National Archives, CO 850/110/2, Colonial Chemical Service, 1937–1938, Personnel Unified Chemical Service, note undated. 33 Official Chemical Appointments (note 18), 1912, 1937. 35UK National Archives, CO 885/110/2, Colonial Chemical Service, 1937–1938, Correspondence between R.L. Collett (Assistant Secretary, Institute of Chemistry) and C.J. Jeffries (Colonial Office); CO 885/95, Colonial Chemical Service, Special Regulations by the Secretary of State for the Colonies, 1938. The Colonial Chemical Service was finally established in 1939. 36UK National Archives, CO 850/110/2, Colonial Chemical Service, 1937–1938, List of Chemists employed in the Colonies. 37Our category includes both secondary and tertiary education. 38On Australia, see Ian D. Rae, ‘Chemistry in Australia: Growing Up, Down Under’, Ambix, 52 (2005), 7–25 (13); on Canada, see Sir Robert Robertson's comments, ‘London and South-Eastern Counties’ (note 21), 261; and James P. Hull, Ian D. Rae and Andrew T. Ross (note 29), 233. 39Ian D. Rae, ‘They Had To Go: Australian Chemists Who Took Doctor of Philosophy Degrees in Britain, 1945–1965’, Historical Records of Australian Science, 12 (1999), 331–61. 40Ian Rae (note 38). See also, Allan Maccoll, ‘Australian Chemists at University College London’, Ambix, 36 (1989), 82–90. 41Gerrylynn K. Roberts, ‘C.K. Ingold at University College London: Educator and Department Head’, British Journal for the History of Science, 29 (1996), 65–82 (81). 42Colin A. Russell, Noel G. Coley and Gerrylynn K. Roberts (note 5), chapter 6. 43R.L. Mackie and G.K. Roberts, ‘Career Patterns in the British Chemical Profession during the Twentieth Century’, in David Mitch, John Brown and Marco van Leeuwen, eds., Origins of the Modern Career (Aldershot, 2004), 317–36. 44J.A. Radley, ‘Why Consultancy?’ Chemistry in Britain, 3 (1967), 250–52. 45R.L. Mackie and G.K. Roberts (note 43). 46A.P. Thornton, Doctrines of Imperialism (New York, 1965), 191. 47Bradford Spangenberg, ‘The Problem of Recruitment for the Indian Civil Service During the Late Nineteenth Century’, Journal of Asian Studies, 20 (1971), 341–60; Henrika Kuklick, The Imperial Bureaucrat: The Colonial Administrative Service in the Gold Coast, 1920–1939 (Stanford, 1979), 36. 48Percy Faraday Frankland, ‘President's Address’, Proceedings of the Institute of Chemistry, 30 (1906), Part II, 19–20, 21. 49Colin A. Russell, Noel G. Coley and Gerrylynn K. Roberts (note 5). 50‘London and South-Eastern Counties’ (note 21), 260. 51On the importance of occasional study, see Robert Bud and Gerrylynn K. Roberts (note 27); and James Donnelly, ‘Industrial Recruitment of Chemistry Students from English Universities: A Revaluation of its Early Importance’, British Journal for the History of Science, 24 (1991), 3–20. The Institute required however that its prescribed subjects be studied full-time during the day at university-level institutions, but not necessarily at the same rate as they would be studied for a degree course. 52Twenty-one per cent of IC-Only entrants to the Institute in the first period who worked abroad stayed overseas for more than ten years. The figure for the 1957–1971 cohort is 5%. 53Of our samples of chemistry graduates (note 11), 41% joined the Institute. 54Subject returns made to Parliament from 1901 and by the University Grants Committee [UGC] from 1925 onwards show chemistry as the largest of the pure science graduate cohorts throughout our period. The annual number of chemistry graduates grew from 408 in 1938–1939 to 1027 in 1955–1956, when a further doubling by 1970 was projected, though that was achieved by 1966–1967. The eventual peak in our period was 2679 graduates in 1968–1969. ‘Reports from University Colleges participating in the Grant made by Parliament for University Colleges in Great Britain’, [slight variations in annual titles] (London, 1900–1901 to 1921); Great Britain, University Grants Committee, [various series titles] (London, 1925–1962); latterly, First Destination of University Graduates (London, 1962–1963 to 1970–1971). 55This was apparently the principal concern in the brain-drain discussions of the 1960s. The Royal Society's report, Emigration of Scientists from the United Kingdom, included data only for Ph.D.s and reported heads of academic departments’ views that “we seem to be losing an unduly high proportion of our best people” (note 3), 11. 56Figures for doctorates are also found in the UGC sources in note 54. 57Sixteen per cent of entrants to the Institute with Ph.D.s in the first period who worked abroad stayed overseas for more than ten years. The figure for the 1957–1971 cohort is 5%. 58On Australia, for example, see Ian D. Rae, ‘Chemical Organizations in Australia and New Zealand’, Ambix, 42 (1995), 28–49; and David Philip Miller, ‘Hybrid or Mutant? The Emergence of the Chemical Engineer in Australia’, Historical Records of Australian Science, 9 (1994), 317–33. On the practical contexts of Canadian science, see Trevor H. Levere and Richard A. Jarrell, ‘General Introduction’ in A Curious Field-book: Science and Society in Canadian History (Toronto, 1974), and James P. Hull, Ian D. Rae and Andrew T. Ross (note 29), 234. 59‘London and South-Eastern Counties’ (note 21), 261–62. Bruce Sinclair, Norman R. Ball and James O. Peterson, Let Us Be Honest and Modest: Technology and Society in Canadian History (Toronto, 1974); Paul Axelrod, Making a Middle Class: Student Life in English Canada in the Thirties (Montreal, 1990). 60List of Chemists employed in the Colonies (note 36). 61This is based on a calculation which combines the data underlying Tables 5 and 6. 62Mrs J. Cox, ‘Consumer Points of View on the Brain Drain Statistics’ in Göran Friborg (note 2), 11–12, argues that overseas economic demand coupled with the extent of overseas educational provision are the key determinants in migration. On migratory pressures in an increasingly qualified society, see F. Musgrove, The Migratory Elite (London, 1963). 63A. Young, ‘International Movement of Scientists and Engineers in the 1960s as an Aspect of the Mobility of Highly Qualified Manpower’, in Göran Friborg (note 2), 99–187 (123). 64For a similar approach, see Roy MacLeod, ‘“Instructed Men” and Mining Engineers: The Associates of the Royal School of Mines (ARSM) and British Imperial Science, 1851–1920’, Minerva, 32 (1994), 422–39 (423). 65Stephen Constantine (note 3) and Stephen Constantine (note 14); see also A. Young (note 63). 67British Library, Asia, Pacific and Africa Collections, Transcript of Interview with Sir Ridgeby and Lady Foster, 28 June 1973, MSS Eur/T.30. As far as we know, Foster never joined the IC. 66Gerrylynn K. Roberts, ‘“A Plea for Pure Science”: The Ascendancy of Academia in English Chemistry, 1841 to 1914’ in D.M. Knight and H. Kragh, eds., The Making of the Chemist: The Social History of Chemistry in Europe, 1789–1914 (Cambridge, 1998), 107–19 (117); Gerrylynn K. Roberts, ‘Physical Chemists for Industry: The Making of the Chemist at University College London, 1914–1939’, Centaurus, 39 (1997), 291–310. On graduate employment in industry more generally, see Michael Sanderson, The Universities and British Industry (London, 1972). 68Alexander Marcan (note 32), 18. On the issues facing scientists overseas, see John Jenkin, ‘William Henry Bragg in Adelaide: Beginning Research at a Colonial Locality’, Isis, 95 (2004), 58–90. 69Alexander Marcan (note 32), 18. 70W.D. Raymond, ‘The Colonial Chemical Service’, Journal of the Royal Institute of Chemistry, 76 (1952), 183–88 (183). 71For summary biographical details, see Robin L. Mackie and Gerrylynn K. Roberts, ‘Biographical Database of the British Chemical Community’ (note 10). 72Ronald Bentley, ‘Hans Thacher Clarke (1887–1972): Chemist and Biochemist’, Journal of Chemical Education, 78 (2001), 185–90. Individuals who became naturalized citizens of other countries after becoming IC members could retain their membership. 73 Journal of the Royal Institute of Chemistry, 85 (1961), 258; see also Roy MacLeod, ‘The “Arsenal” in the Strand: Australian Chemists and the British Munitions Effort, 1916–1919’, Annals of Science, 46 (1989), 45–67. 74 Journal of the Royal Institute of Chemistry, 78 (1954), 331–32. 75 Journal of the Royal Institute of Chemistry, 79 (1955), 672. 76S.V. Ley and R.M. Myers, Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, 48 (2002), 1–23. 77The Royal Society (note 3), 5, 9. The term ‘temporary emigrants’ reveals the report's perspective that all migration was tantamount to emigration. 78Advisory Council on Scientific Policy, Annual Report, 1953–1954, Cmnd 9260, 8. This was based on a brief investigation of postgraduates in the period 1947–1952. 79Advisory Council on Scientific Policy, Annual Report, 1956–1957, Cmnd 278, 14, 17. 80Advisory Council on Scientific Policy, Annual Report, 1957–1958, Cmnd 897, 11. The majority went to North America, in the first place, to Canada. 81Advisory Council on Scientific Policy, Annual Report, 1962–1963, Cmnd 2163, 7. 82A similar point was made at the ‘Brain Drain “Witness Seminar”’ held at University College London on 23 May 2006 in connection with the project ‘The Anatomy of the “Brain Drain” Debate in the UK’ (note 1). What changed were attitudes—overseas migration came to be regarded as a loss to Britain instead of a contribution elsewhere. We look forward to the outcomes of this project. 83A. Young (note 63), 123, 139. Young referenced data from Department of Trade and Industry, Persons with Qualifications in Engineering, Technology and Science, 1959–1968, Studies on Technological Manpower No. 3. 84Table 2 implies correctly that a large proportion of British chemists returned to the UK, but our data do not enable us to quantify this. Indeed, our concentration on British nationals prevents our estimating inflows more generally. About 2% of members joining the Institute in 1944–1956 and 1957–1971 were naturalized foreign immigrants who worked in the UK. A further 2% in the final period, but negligible numbers previously, were Empire-born chemists who worked briefly in the UK. 85Stephen Constantine (note 3), 167, table 7.4. Sixteen per cent, 17%, 23%, and 18% of chemists joining over the four periods who worked abroad were employed in Canada. 86ACSP, 1956–1957 (note 79), 18. 87For a review of developments in the history of Empire and science, see Roy MacLeod, ed., Nature and Empire: Science and the Colonial Enterprise, Osiris, 15 (2001), especially MacLeod's, ‘Introduction’, 1–13. 88Elisabeth Crawford, Terry Shinn and Sverker Sörlin, ‘The Nationalization and Denationalization of the Sciences: An Introductory Essay’, in idem, eds., Denationalizing Science: The Contexts of International Scientific Practice (Sociology of the Sciences, vol. 16) (Dordrecht, 1993), 1–42. 89Alexander Marcan (note 32), 3, 10, 18. 90K.S. Inglis, ‘“Going Home”: Australians in England, 1870–1900’, in David Fitzpatrick, ed., Immigrants in Colonial Australia: Visible Immigrants (Canberra, 1992), 105–30. 91Ernst Homburg, ‘Shifting Centres and Emerging Peripheries: Global Patterns in Twentieth-Century Chemistry’, Ambix, 52 (2005), 3–6 (6). 92Stephen Constantine (note 3). 93Roy MacLeod, ‘Passages in Imperial Science: From Empire to Commonwealth’, Journal of World History, 4 (1993), 117–50 (148); see also, Roy MacLeod, ‘On Visiting the “Moving Metropolis”: Reflections on the Architecture of Imperial Science’, Historical Records of Australian Science, 5 (1982), 1–16. 94On preference for local candidates, see for example, Ian D. Rae, ‘Appointing a Professor: Reflections on Filling the Chair of Organic Chemistry at the University of Sydney in 1948’, Historical Records of Australian Science, 18 (2007), 19–42.