1910s Timeline - John Innes Centre

1936 A staff crisis at JIHI
results in major reorganisation
Antagonism has developed
between the Director A D Hall
and some of the old Batesonian
staff, and between J B S
Haldane and Hall. While the
senior member of the old
Batesonians, Caroline Pellew, is
away in South Africa, the affairs
of the Institution come to a
head.
Supported by their colleagues, C
D Darlington and Dorothy
Cayley present proposals to the
Governing Council for a new
deal. Their demands include
that Staff should have written
contracts and a fixed age of
retirement as in Universities. In
breach of normal procedure, the
proposals are put direct to the
Council, not through the
Director.
The reorganisation that follows
results in the establishment in
1937 of four new departments:
Genetics, Cytology, Pomology
and Biochemistry, each with a
head and one permanent
assistant. Darlington is made
head of the Cytology
Department.
Hall is asked to stay on as
Director following an interview
between Haldane and the
Council at which Haldane fails to
impress with his plans for the
Institution. Haldane leaves to
fight in Spain in December 1936;
his parting shot is a letter to
Dame Helen Gwynne-Vaughan,
head of the Botany Department
at Birkbeck College in London,
giving his opinion that while Hall
is Director the JIHI should not be
recognized by the University of
London as a place for training
PhD students in genetics.
Haldane, who had originally
been appointed on the
understanding that he would
succeed Hall, formally resigns
on 1 October 1937 and takes the
Weldon Chair of Biometry at
University College, London.
During his time at JIHI Haldane
has improved standards of
accuracy in experimental work,
introduced new mathematical
approaches to the handling of
biological data, and facilitated
the development of biochemical
approaches to genetics.
Audio-clip from B
Harrison’s interview with
C D Darlington
describing the
circumstances of the dispute
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