This book is about the life and legacies of Sir Francis Galton. This Birmingham born Victorian polymath made important discoveries and inventions across a wide area of knowledge, including exploration, statistics, meteorology and fingerprinting. However, the main focus of his life's work was on the understanding of heredity, and its application to what he called 'eugenics', the science of good breeding. He suggested that the quality of a particular race - and by extension the whole human species - could be improved over several generations, by encouraging the procreation of the eminent, and discouraging the procreation of the less well-endowed. Unfortunately, these ideas were adapted by various groupings - notably the Nazis in Germany - in an inhuman way. Galton's name and achievements were tarred with the same brush and, as a consequence, were not to be mentioned in polite society. Fast forward to today, however, and we see how many important issues, from birth control through education, unemployment and racism to assisted dying - are rooted in eugenics. David Allen argues that it is time to re-examine what Galton actually said and, in the process, restore the reputation of this inspiring Brummie.
About the Author: David Allen, CBE. MPhil, has now retired after a career in industry, which began as a commercial apprentice with a Black Country engineering group, and the highlight of which was as financial director of Cadbury Ltd., based in Bournville, Birmingham. Thereafter he took on various non-executive roles in both the private and public sectors. He is a Fellow and a past president of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, and a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and of the Royal Society of Arts. He was for ten years a visiting professor at Loughborough University Business School, where his specialist topic was Strategic Financial Management. He was awarded the CBE in recognition of his contribution to the world wide accountancy profession by way of his work for the International Federation of Accountants. In retirement, he was the founder treasurer (and later chairman) of Blossomfield (Solihull) U3A, and took particular pleasure in setting up its History Group, which continues to thrive. The first 'outing' of the material in this book was as a lecture to that group, which led on to similar presentations to the full U3A membership and, indeed, to other U3As, history societies, church groups and the like. The response he has received at these talks has prompted him to elaborate the ideas into this book. All proceeds from the talks and royalties from the sale of this book are donated to Canine Partners, a charity which trains assistance dogs for the disabled.