James Wright Correspondence

Collection of letters from F A Bather to James Wright of Kirkcaldy

James Wright was from Kirkcaldy in Fife and was an amateur geologist that became an authority on the British Carboniferous Crinoidea. He concentrated his studies on the Clitheroe crinoids and he would dedicate a week per year to collecting specimens.

Wright produced about 40 scientific papers, illustrating and photographing his own work. He also published a monograph for the Palaeontographical Society titled 'A Monograph on the British Carboniferous Crinoidea'. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and also received the Worth Prize of the Geological Society.

His collections of crinoids are now held by National Museums Scotland.

Francis Arthur Bather was born on 17 February 1863, the eldest son of the late Mr. A. H. Bather. He studied natural science at New College, Oxford, where he graduated in 1886. In 1887 he was employed by the Department of Geology in the British Museum (Natural History), where he worked with the fossil echinoderms.

In 1896 he married in Stockholm. In 1902 he was promoted to Deputy Keeper, and in 1924 Keeper of the Department of Geology. During his career he was awarded the Rolleston prize of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, the Lyell medal of the Geological Society, and was an elected fellow of the Royal Society.

Bather retired from the British Museum (Natural History) in 1928, but continued to visit in order to carry on his research of crinoids. He died on 20 March 1934.

Please make an appointment with the library beforehand. Email library@nms.ac.uk

A Finding List of the archive is available at http://www.nms.ac.uk/media/269224/miscellaneous_correspondence.pdf

Box is labelled FA Bather