| AdminHistory | Although Osteology was not formally named as an independent section until 1962, it has its origins in the appointment of William Plane Pycraft (1868-1942) to look after osteological material in 1907. He had previously been assistant to E Ray Lankester at Oxford. When the Vertebrate Section was split up in 1920, Pycraft became a member of the Mammal Section, but with distinct duties in osteology. He was a popular speaker and broadcaster, and wrote 'The Courtship of Animals' (1931), among many other books. He was succeeded by Francis Charles Fraser (1903-1978), a Scot who had studied zoology at Glasgow University, and who specialised in the Cetacea. Responsibility for human osteology passed to Kenneth Oakley when the Anthropology Section was set up in 1953. |