Call Number: Mss 242 (A.06-85)

Title: G.E.H. Barrett-Hamilton fonds.

Date: 1898-2007.

Extent: 0.12 m of textual records.

Biographical sketch: Major Gerald Edwin Hamilton Barrett-Hamilton was a renowned British zoologist. He was born in 1874 and received a science degree at Trinity College, Cambridge in 1896. That same year he became a commissioner for the British Bering Fur Seal Enquiry. As the commissioner he traveled extensively throughout Japan, Kamachatka, and the North Pacific Islands. He lived in Kilmanock, England for the period 1903-1913, where he collected material on the mammals of the British Isles. He published several articles about his research expeditions and a book titled A History of British Mammals (1910). The book is still a valuable reference source. In 1913 he was commissioned by the Colonial Office and the British Museum to investigate the killing of whales in the Falkland Islands and South Georgia. While on the research expedition, he contracted pneumonia. He died in 1914 at the age of 41.

In 2005, the Major G.E.H. Barrett-Hamilton Memorial Scholarship was
established by Michael Nesbitt, G.E.H. Barrett-Hamilton's grandson. Nesbitt
wanted to pay tribute to his grandfather and his mother, Geraldine Margaret
Barrett-Hamilton Nesbitt, the first woman in Winnipeg to graduate with honours
in zoology and chemistry.

Custodial history: The fonds was donated to the University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections by Michael Nesbitt in 2006.

Scope and content: The fonds consists of G.E.H. Barrett-Hamilton's articles, publications and correspondence about the G.E.H. Barrett-Hamilton Scholarship.

Restrictions: There are no restrictions on this material.

Accruals: No further accruals to this fonds are expected.

Finding aid: A printed finding aid is available in the Archives reading room and an on-line finding aid is available at the link below:

MSS 242 (A.06-85).