British Imperialism and its Legacies: Scientific research enabled by the Empire

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Glasgow Museums has over 585,000 natural history specimens, from insects and birds to seeds and fossils. Many of these specimens represent historic scientific research, which is often thought of as neutral and separate to society's needs and wants. However, science is never neutral. It is shaped by the culture and society around it.

Many scientific natural history specimens exist because of colonial practices. During the Victorian period, the collecting, labelling and classification of the natural world by scientists helped the British Empire understand what they could exploit and control. The British government funded work that helped the Empire invade, control and subjugate other countries. David Livingstone (1813 - 1873), a Scottish physician and Christian missionary, received government funding to explore eastern and central Africa. These trips allowed Livingstone to map new trade routes, advancing the Empire's reach and geographic knowledge. Livingstone was also able to identify, classify and collect animals, including species new to western science. This consequently improved western scientific knowledge of African wildlife. Glasgow Museums holds some of Livingstone's specimens, including butterflies from sub-Saharan Africa and African elephant tusks from central Africa.

British scientists directly benefited from transatlantic slavery. Anna Atkins (1799 - 1871), a botanist and pioneering photographer, married into a wealthy family who owned plantations and enslaved people in Jamaica. The family's money supported her as she pursued her own botanical research, allowing her independence and the financial means to have servants to support her and the household. Glasgow Museums holds one of the most complete sets of Atkin's algal cyanotypes (an early type of photography) known to be in existence.

The networks and infrastructure set up by the Empire also supported scientific research. Richard Dening (1920 - 2005) was a passionate entomologist and a District Commissioner for the Colonial Administrative Service in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) from 1949 to 1964. Dening was able to travel and collect insects during this time, and in 1954 he collected a damselfly species new to Western science, named Dening's Sprite in his honour. Although Dening did not carry out his scientific work to further colonial goals, his job gave him the stability and means to pursue his scientific research. Denings' insect collection was donated to Glasgow Museums by his widow in 2006.

Broader term

British Imperialism and its Legacies: Exploitation of nature