Charles Chamberlain Hurst: Correspondence and Papers

Charles Chamberlain Hurst (1870-1947) was a pioneer geneticist, who began work on the hybridisation of orchids at his father's nursery business at Burbage in Leicestershire in the 1890s. He also worked on the breeding of poultry, rabbits and horses, and set up the Burbage Experimental Station when he inherited the business. He was involved in the early development of Mendelian genetics, which brought him into contact with William Bateson at Cambridge and many other leading geneticists.

The effects of the First World War, in which Hurst served as a signals expert, brought about the closure of the Burbage Station. Hurst moved to Cambridge in 1922 as a Fellow Commoner of Trinity College, to work on cytogenetics, concentrating on roses. His wife died during the War and he subsequently married his cousin and assistant Rona. He wrote Experiments in Genetics (Cambridge, 1925), The Mechanism of Creative Evolution (Cambridge, 1932), and Heredity and the Ascent of Man (Cambridge, 1935).

Hurst lost his private fortune in the Depression of the 1930s, and left Cambridge for Horsham in 1933. He continued to work on roses and orchids, and also did work on potato viruses for Dr R.N. Salaman.

Letters and papers of C.C. Hurst, with annotations made by his wife Rona, who also compiled lists of files and summaries of the correspondence (section A), and used Hurst's letters to write a book, The Evolution of Genetics (section 23).

The correspondence was presented by Mrs Rona Hurst in 1974, with a second deposit of notebooks made in 1976, and two small further deposits in 1977.

Please cite as Cambridge University Library, Department of Manuscripts and University Archives, Charles Chamberlain Hurst: Correspondence and Papers, MS Add.7955

There are card indexes to correspondents in the Manuscripts Reading Room.