Alfred Cort Haddon

Alfred Cort Haddon, (born May 24, 1855, London—died April 20, 1940, Cambridge,
Cambridgeshire, Eng.), one of the founders of modern British anthropology. Virtually the sole
exponent of anthropology at Cambridge for 30 years, it was largely through his work and especially
his teaching that the subject assumed its place among the observational sciences.

Educated at Christ’s College, Cambridge, he distinguished himself in comparative anatomy and

zoology and in 1880 was appointed professor of zoology at the Royal College of Science, Dublin.
His first book, Introduction to the Study of Embryology, appeared in 1887, followed by many papers
on marine biology.

In 1888 Haddon went to the Torres Strait—the channel between New Guinea and Australia—to
study marine biology but instead found himself irresistibly drawn to the indigenous people;
thereafter, his interests lay in the study of human societies. He moved to the University of
Cambridge in 1893 and began giving lectures in physical anthropology there. In 1898 he organized
and led the Cambridge anthropological expedition to the Torres Strait Islands, New Guinea, and
Sarawak, in which were worked out some of the basic techniques of anthropological fieldwork, in
particular, the use of genealogies. On his return, Cambridge recognized his services by giving him a
lectureship in ethnology, and his college awarded him a fellowship (1901). The Board of
Anthropological Studies in Cambridge was instituted in 1904, and from 1909 to 1926 Haddon held
the position of reader in ethnology at the university.

Haddon’s publications cover virtually every aspect of human social life, from the anthropology of
art to problems of racism. Numbering more than 600, they include Evolution in Art (1895); Head-
Hunters: Black, White and Brown (1901); Wanderings of Peoples (1911); and (with Sir J.S. Huxley)
We Europeans (1936). He also published one of the earliest histories of anthropology, History of
Anthropology (1910).

This article was most recently revised and updated by Elizabeth Prine Pauls.

Citation Information
Article Title:
Alfred Cort Haddon
Website Name:
Encyclopaedia Britannica
Publisher:
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
Date Published:
20 May 2021
URL:
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alfred-Cort-Haddon
Access Date:
December 06, 2021