Francis Albert Eley Crew

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Brigadier Crew in 1945.

Francis Albert Eley Crew

animal geneticist. He was a pioneer in his field leading to the University of Edinburgh’s place as a world leader in the science of animal genetics. He was the first Director of the Institute of Animal Breeding and the first Professor of Animal Genetics. He is said to have laid the foundations of medical genetics.[1]

Life

Francis Albert Eley Crew was born in Tipton in England on 2 March 1886 the only surviving son of Thomas Crew, a grocer.[2] He attended King Edward's School, Birmingham and the High School in Birmingham. From an early age he took an interest in breeding bantam chickens, and won prizes at local shows.[3] He studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh, studying under Arthur Dukinfield Darbishire and Edward Albert Sharpey-Schafer, and graduating MB ChB in 1912.

In the

First World War he served in the Royal Army Medical Corps, rising to the rank of Major. He was on active service with the 3rd Field Ambulance Service in France. Professor Alan William Greenwood
ran the Institute during Crew’s wartime absence.

In 1920 Sharpey-Schafer approached him, asking him to run the newly created animal breeding research station in

John Burdon Sanderson Haldane, Lancelot Hogben, Julian Huxley, Bertold Paul Wiesner and (as a postgraduate) Honor Fell. At this time the UK’s first Pregnancy Diagnosis Laboratory was also set up under Crew as a tangential area of public benefit, linked to their research. In the 1930s its staff was increased by scientists from Germany and Italy including Hermann Joseph Muller, Charlotte Auerbach and Guido Pontecorvo.[3]

In 1921 he received a doctorate (DSc) on his work on sex-determination in

frogs.[4] He received an MD[5] the same year and a PhD in 1923 on the achondroplasia-like condition met with in cattle, specifically the Dexter cattle breed.[6] In 1928 he was created the first Professor of Animal Genetics at the University of Edinburgh, a chair indirectly funded by the Rockefeller Foundation
.

In 1922, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers were James Cossar Ewart, Edward Albert Sharpey-Schafer, James Hartley Ashworth and Sir Robert Blyth Greig.[7] In 1929 Frederick Hutt travelled from Canada and sought Crew out to specifically study genetics under him, and later was to fill his role in the world of animal genetics.[8] He served as the Society’s Secretary from 1931 to 1936 and as Vice-President from 1936 to 1939. He won the Society's Keith Medal for the period 1937-39. In 1939 he was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of London
.

During the

Sir Thomas Holland, at a ceremony in the University's McEwan Hall
.

On 4 June 1946, Crew attended a special graduation ceremony at the University of Edinburgh marking the 5th anniversary of the Polish School of Medicine's foundation.[10] Professor John Crofton, dean of the medical faculty, said in the opening address: "[...] to bring about the Polish School of Medicine [...] required a substantial pinch of imagination as a catalyst. This un-British ingredient was provided by Professor Frank Crew [...], but of course in respect of imagination Professor Crew is at least a couple of standard deviations from the British mean.[10]"

During the war Crew was also Director of Medical Research for the War Office, with the rank of Brigadier.[3]

In 1944 he succeeded

University of Rangoon.[12]

In 1958 the University of Edinburgh awarded him a Doctor of Letters (LLD).

He died on 26 May 1973.

Publications

  • Animal Genetics: An Introduction to the Science of Animal Breeding (1925)
  • Organic Inheritance in Man (1927)
  • Genetics of Sexuality in Animals (1927)
  • Heredity (1928)
  • Sex Determination (1933)
  • Genetics in Relation to Clinical Medicine (1947)
  • Measurements of the Public Health (1948)
  • Must Man Wage War?: Biological Aspects of War (1952)
  • The Official Medical History of the Second World War (5 volumes) (1953–66)
  • The Army Medical Services: Campaigns Volume I (1956)
  • The Foundations of Genetics (1966)

Family

He married Helen Campbell Dykes, a fellow medical student, in 1912. She died in 1971 and he remarried the following year to Margaret Ogilvie Withof-Keus, who had previously served under him in the RAMC.

Artistic Recognition

His portrait, painted by Alfred Edward Borthwick, forms part of the Edinburgh University Art Collection.[3] The National Portrait Gallery hold a bromide print of Crew taken by Walter Stoneman in 1945.

Other Recognition

The Crew Building on

Kings Buildings
is named after him.

References

  1. ^ "Francis Albert Eley Crew". ed.ac.uk. 31 July 2015.
  2. ^ Proceedings of the Royal Society of London: Obituary by Lancelot Hogben
  3. ^ a b c d "Francis Albert Eley Crew (1886-1973) - Our History". ourhistory.is.ed.ac.uk.
  4. ^ Crew, F. A. E. (1921). "A contribution to the study of sex-determination in the anura". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  5. hdl:1842/22117. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link
    )
  6. Bibcode:1923RSPSB..95..228C
    .
  7. ^ "Biographical index" (PDF). .royalsoced.org.uk. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 January 2013. Retrieved 7 December 2015.
  8. ^ "Bio" (PDF). rse.org.uk.
  9. ^
    ISBN 0-9500173-1-0.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link
    )
  10. ^ a b Tomaszewski, Wiktor (1968). The University of Edinburgh and Poland. Edinburgh. p. 69.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  11. ^ British Medical Journal 1 April 1944
  12. ^ The Lancet: 9 June 1973: obituaries
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