So are, this is a failure. Lots of little pieces, but no real biographical information. Not even what the initials stand for, leave alone birth or death dates.
In my mother's memoirs, she writes that she worked for the:
but not searchable or viewable online.]
Wikipedia has only the briefest of articles on Shirley Institute, and only mentions the director at the time the British Cotton Industry Research Association (BCRA) merged to form the Cotton, Silk, and Man-Made Fibres Research Association in 1961 (a Dr. Douglas Hill). However, there is also a cross reference to Robert Howson Pickard, who was director from 1937 to 1943, which puts him maybe as an immediate predecessor to Dr. Toy. However, while searching Wikipedia brings up some more recent directors, there are no other references.
Searching for "F.C. Toy" and Shirley shows that Dr. Toy is going to be hard to find. The first several hits that are relevant are all from Google Books, rather then"true" Internet sources. Thus, I find:
There are other hints here and there, but often just in results from scientific papers that are behind firewalls, so once just has the surrounding words on Google hits. So, I start playing around with "F C Toy" and other variations and just Manchester or cotton, etc. and note the following chronological tidbits.
[10/23/2017: Thanks to one reader of this blog, see comments below, I now have Dr. Toy's full name: Francis Carter Toy. This has enabled me to find some more biographical information about him, most significantly an abstract from the Physics Bulletin with the following:
It connected me to a Facebook posting from a distant cousin about a house in Helston (in Cornwall) where he was presumably born:
Born 1892 (MyHeritage.com). [Son of Sir Henry Toy and Catherine Toy nee Breage, and brother of Henry Spencer Toy (born 3 years earlier) and Catherine Mary Toy (born 8 years later). Ancestry.com posting from 1891 census]
Graduated University College, London, 1914. Awarded research scholarship in October 1914.
Enlisted in the Services. Promoted to be Second Lieutenant, 3rd Works Company, Cornwall (Fortress) Royal Engineers; 12th February, 1915. [London Gazette, 26 Feb 1915]
According to editorial notes to Lancashire and Whitehall: The Diary of Sir Raymond Streat, he served from 1914 to 1919.
According to editorial notes to Lancashire and Whitehall: The Diary of Sir Raymond Streat, he worked a a physicist at the British Photographic Research Institution from 1919 to 1929.
From the January 1923 issue of the Journal of the Franklin Institute, in lead article on "Recent Advances in Photographic Theory," there are references to Dr. Toy's affiliation with a research association for photographic research begun in 1918, and his publication of "The Sensitivity of Silver Halide Crystals which are Geometrically Identical," Phot. J.. 45, 1921, "The Quantum Theory of Photographic Exposure : A Criti- cism," B. /.. 69, 1922; "On the Theory of the Characteristic Curve of a Photographic Emulsion," Phil. Mag., 44, 1922.
Following a preliminary note in the May 4, 1929 issue of Nature, published "Photo-Conductance Phenomena in the Silver Halides and the Latent Photographic Image. Part II" F. C. Toy and G. B. Harrison, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series A, Containing Papers of a Mathematical and Physical Character Vol. 127, No. 806 (Jun. 2, 1930), pp. 629-637
According to editorial notes to Lancashire and Whitehall: The Diary of Sir Raymond Streat, he was Deputy Director of the Shirley Institute from 1930 to 1943.
According to the March 6, 1931, issue of The Engineer, "Forthcoming Engagements" included, on March 12, at the Optical Society, Imperial College of Science and Technology, Imperial Institute Road, South Kensington, S. \V, 7: "The Measurement of Optical Density and a Demonstration of a Photo-electric Density Meter," by Mr. F. C. Toy .
In the March 4, 1939, issue of Nature, there is a "News" note that "THE annual general meeting of the Manchester and District Branch of the Institute of Physics is to be held in the Physics Department of the University of Manchester at 7.30 p.m. on Friday, March 17. Immediately after the conclusion of the business of the meeting, Dr. F. C. Toy, chairman of the Branch, will speak on “The Physicist in the Textile Industries”..."
He delivered a lecture at a Joint Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science (Division for the Social and International Relations of Science) and the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society, on June 21st 1939, subsequently published as "The Influence of Science on the Cotton Industry." This presumably is the same paper mentioned in a 1978 PhD dissertation on "The British Association for the Advancement of Science and Public Attitudes to Science 1919-1945" by Peter Michael Digby Collins, in which Collins makes reference to:
According to editorial notes to Lancashire and Whitehall: The Diary of Sir Raymond Streat, he was Deputy Director of the Shirley Institute from 1943 to 1955.
According to Lancashire and Whitehall: The Diary of Sir Raymond Streat, met with Sir Streat on 11 September 1943, was an attendee at conference in the University College Lecture Room on post-war arrangements for international trade, and, while there, spoke with Sir Streat about future of Shirley Institute.
February 26, 1944, issue of Nature. "Forthcoming Events": Thursday, March 2 Institute of Physics (Electronics Group) (in the Reid-Knox Hall, British Institute of Radiology, 32 Welbeck Street, London, W .l), a t 5.30 p.m.—Dr. F. C. Toy : “ Electron Microscope”
According to Lancashire and Whitehall: The Diary of Sir Raymond Streat, on January 9, 1945, Toy was at a lunch party at the Connaught Rooms with Streat [apparently chair of the Cotton Board from 1948 to 1957] and others "to lay the foundation for a new and better financial arrangement" for the Shirley Institute.
From the 70th Annual Report of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, for the year ending May 31, 1946, the Dean of the Philadelphia Textile Institute reports having attended "a luncheon, given in honor of Dr. F. C. Toy of the Shirley Institute of England, by the Textile Research Instituhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1947_New_Year_Honoursstrte at its Princeton Laboratory."
1947 News Years Honors: awarded CBE Civil, as announced on 31 Dec. 1946.
An abstract for the July 1950 issue of Physics Today is: "A welcome and interesting recent visitor to 57 East 55th Street was Dr. F. C. Toy, president of “The Institute of Physics” in Great Britain."
According to "A century of cotton research and development in subSaharanAfrica," Toy visited Tanganyika in 1950.
1951 to 1953. President of the Manchester Statistical Society.
On October 29, 1952, he made the opening remarks at a one-day Conference on Optical and Electron Microsopical Properties of Textile Fibres at the University of Manchester.
During Parliamentary debates on increasing the cotton levy financing the Shirley Institute on March 3, 1953, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade (Mr. Henry Strauss) mentions having been shown around by Dr. Toy.
Conference on Industry and Science held by the Manchester Joint Research Council on July 9, 1954. Its report includes opening remarks by Dr. Toy, as well as authoring Chapter 4.
Dr. Toy was one of the speakers in 1957 at the Manchester Luncheon Club.
On March 22, 1957, wrote to Sir Frank Ewart Smith congratulating Smith on his election as Fellow of the Royal Society and thanking him for "a splendid evening."
Died 1988 (MyHeritage.com)
***
[FYI. Confirmed as NOT related: I found one reference to the death of an F. C. Toy, Jr., born September 25, 1938, died April 1991. And his first name, according grave marker, is "Frank." But, his death notice makes clear that he wasn't son of Dr. F. C. Toy.]
In my mother's memoirs, she writes that she worked for the:
British Cotton Industry Research Association (Shirley Institute) as an Information Officer, doing mainly abstracts from the current literature for our own publication and they were also reprinted in The Journal of the Textile Institute. ... It was a job I really liked; my boss was Dr.Withers, an elderly man, a real teddy bear, his glasses halfway down his nose. ... We were what was known as “Scientific Civil Service”, i.e., we had the best of two worlds: the privileges of the Civil Service (good pension plan etc.) and of Academia (very generous leave time!). ... The Institute also encouraged further education: if you took courses that were approved, you could leave two hours before school started (all evening courses). At first I took just statistics and economics, but then they approved my finishing the degree course, that’s how I ended up with a BA in Public Administration (University of Manchester). In my reference the Director (Dr. Toy) wrote that I “contributed greatly to the textile information of this country”.She mentioned Dr. Toy again recently as the director of the Shirley Institute, so I decided some wandering was necessary to see who he was. Known as "F.C. Toy," it quickly became apparent that between "toy" (as in kids toys) and "F.C." (Football Club), searching was going to be a problem! My initial technique was to combine "F.C. Toy" with Shirley Institute and or Manchester. [I do find that there is a book Story of Shirley: History of Shirley Institute, Manchester, 1919-88
but not searchable or viewable online.]Wikipedia has only the briefest of articles on Shirley Institute, and only mentions the director at the time the British Cotton Industry Research Association (BCRA) merged to form the Cotton, Silk, and Man-Made Fibres Research Association in 1961 (a Dr. Douglas Hill). However, there is also a cross reference to Robert Howson Pickard, who was director from 1937 to 1943, which puts him maybe as an immediate predecessor to Dr. Toy. However, while searching Wikipedia brings up some more recent directors, there are no other references.
Searching for "F.C. Toy" and Shirley shows that Dr. Toy is going to be hard to find. The first several hits that are relevant are all from Google Books, rather then"true" Internet sources. Thus, I find:
- an article from the New Scientist (1/17/1957) on "The Key to Lancashire's Future" which, in quoting "F.C. Toy" refers to him as "a former director of the Shirley Institute."
- a book by Michael Polanyi "Personal Knowledge" referencing a letter dated March 13, 1951, from Dr. Toy footnoting a statement about Dr. Toy as "then director of the Shirley Institute."
- a book "The Beginnings of Electron Microscopy" edited by Peter W. Hawkes referencing a meeting (1945?) which Dr. Toy hosted, in which he is represented as director of the Shirley Institute and President of the Institute of Physics.
- March 9, 1955, written answers in the House of Commons, where Dr. Toy is listed among those on the Sub-committee on Technology of the University Grants Committee, and identified as "C.B.E., Director of Shirley Institute"
There are other hints here and there, but often just in results from scientific papers that are behind firewalls, so once just has the surrounding words on Google hits. So, I start playing around with "F C Toy" and other variations and just Manchester or cotton, etc. and note the following chronological tidbits.
[10/23/2017: Thanks to one reader of this blog, see comments below, I now have Dr. Toy's full name: Francis Carter Toy. This has enabled me to find some more biographical information about him, most significantly an abstract from the Physics Bulletin with the following:
A Cornishman, Dr. Toy was educated at Launceston College, Cornwall, and University College, London. Graduating in 1914 and awarded a research scholarship in October of that year, Dr. Toy interrupted his career to join the Services. At the end of the war he obtained the M.Sc. degree of London University and the D.Sc. in 1922, later becoming a Fellow of University College.It also has allowed me to find my first photograph of Dr. Toy (from Google Books reproducing page from 125 Years: The Physical Society & The Institute of Physics, By John L. Lewis, showing past presidents):
The Willows Church Hill Helston, the home of Sir Henry Toy my 7th cousin 2 x removed. Henry was the son of Mary Jane Toy born Helston 1842 and the dau of John Toy a blacksmith of Meneage Street. Does anyone recall Henrys son Henry Spencer Toy who died in the property in 1980 and his dau Catherine Mary who died there in 1979. Would also be interested if any one knows how he became a Sir as I can find no reference to this but he was a Bank Manager. His other son Francis Carter Toy was a scientist.Chronology
Born 1892 (MyHeritage.com). [Son of Sir Henry Toy and Catherine Toy nee Breage, and brother of Henry Spencer Toy (born 3 years earlier) and Catherine Mary Toy (born 8 years later). Ancestry.com posting from 1891 census]
Graduated University College, London, 1914. Awarded research scholarship in October 1914.
Enlisted in the Services. Promoted to be Second Lieutenant, 3rd Works Company, Cornwall (Fortress) Royal Engineers; 12th February, 1915. [London Gazette, 26 Feb 1915]
According to editorial notes to Lancashire and Whitehall: The Diary of Sir Raymond Streat, he served from 1914 to 1919.
According to editorial notes to Lancashire and Whitehall: The Diary of Sir Raymond Streat, he worked a a physicist at the British Photographic Research Institution from 1919 to 1929.
From the January 1923 issue of the Journal of the Franklin Institute, in lead article on "Recent Advances in Photographic Theory," there are references to Dr. Toy's affiliation with a research association for photographic research begun in 1918, and his publication of "The Sensitivity of Silver Halide Crystals which are Geometrically Identical," Phot. J.. 45, 1921, "The Quantum Theory of Photographic Exposure : A Criti- cism," B. /.. 69, 1922; "On the Theory of the Characteristic Curve of a Photographic Emulsion," Phil. Mag., 44, 1922.
Following a preliminary note in the May 4, 1929 issue of Nature, published "Photo-Conductance Phenomena in the Silver Halides and the Latent Photographic Image. Part II" F. C. Toy and G. B. Harrison, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series A, Containing Papers of a Mathematical and Physical Character Vol. 127, No. 806 (Jun. 2, 1930), pp. 629-637
According to editorial notes to Lancashire and Whitehall: The Diary of Sir Raymond Streat, he was Deputy Director of the Shirley Institute from 1930 to 1943.
According to the March 6, 1931, issue of The Engineer, "Forthcoming Engagements" included, on March 12, at the Optical Society, Imperial College of Science and Technology, Imperial Institute Road, South Kensington, S. \V, 7: "The Measurement of Optical Density and a Demonstration of a Photo-electric Density Meter," by Mr. F. C. Toy .
In the March 4, 1939, issue of Nature, there is a "News" note that "THE annual general meeting of the Manchester and District Branch of the Institute of Physics is to be held in the Physics Department of the University of Manchester at 7.30 p.m. on Friday, March 17. Immediately after the conclusion of the business of the meeting, Dr. F. C. Toy, chairman of the Branch, will speak on “The Physicist in the Textile Industries”..."
He delivered a lecture at a Joint Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science (Division for the Social and International Relations of Science) and the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society, on June 21st 1939, subsequently published as "The Influence of Science on the Cotton Industry." This presumably is the same paper mentioned in a 1978 PhD dissertation on "The British Association for the Advancement of Science and Public Attitudes to Science 1919-1945" by Peter Michael Digby Collins, in which Collins makes reference to:
A long-standing element in the British Association's defence of science was reflected in the appointment of a sub-committee of the Division to deal with 'the influence of scientific and technical developments on the relative importance of different industries and on the total volume of employment', matters also of concern to the nascent T. U. C. Scientific Advisory Committee. The sub- committee arranged for two papers to be given at a public meeting of the Division held joirrtly with the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society on 21 June - F. C. Toy on the cotton industry and V. E. Yarsley and E. G. Couzens on the plastics industry. The T. U. C. was invited to send a representative to the meeting and chose George Woodcock, then secretary of its research and economic department, for the task. (121) Actually, neither paper considered seriously the question of technological unemployment, though Yarsley and Couzens did point out that, compared with the chemicalor rubber industries, the plastics industry was relatively labour intensive; both papers dealt with the contributions of science to their respective industries.
According to editorial notes to Lancashire and Whitehall: The Diary of Sir Raymond Streat, he was Deputy Director of the Shirley Institute from 1943 to 1955.
According to Lancashire and Whitehall: The Diary of Sir Raymond Streat, met with Sir Streat on 11 September 1943, was an attendee at conference in the University College Lecture Room on post-war arrangements for international trade, and, while there, spoke with Sir Streat about future of Shirley Institute.
February 26, 1944, issue of Nature. "Forthcoming Events": Thursday, March 2 Institute of Physics (Electronics Group) (in the Reid-Knox Hall, British Institute of Radiology, 32 Welbeck Street, London, W .l), a t 5.30 p.m.—Dr. F. C. Toy : “ Electron Microscope”
According to Lancashire and Whitehall: The Diary of Sir Raymond Streat, on January 9, 1945, Toy was at a lunch party at the Connaught Rooms with Streat [apparently chair of the Cotton Board from 1948 to 1957] and others "to lay the foundation for a new and better financial arrangement" for the Shirley Institute.
From the 70th Annual Report of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, for the year ending May 31, 1946, the Dean of the Philadelphia Textile Institute reports having attended "a luncheon, given in honor of Dr. F. C. Toy of the Shirley Institute of England, by the Textile Research Instituhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1947_New_Year_Honoursstrte at its Princeton Laboratory."
1947 News Years Honors: awarded CBE Civil, as announced on 31 Dec. 1946.
An abstract for the July 1950 issue of Physics Today is: "A welcome and interesting recent visitor to 57 East 55th Street was Dr. F. C. Toy, president of “The Institute of Physics” in Great Britain."
According to "A century of cotton research and development in subSaharanAfrica," Toy visited Tanganyika in 1950.
1951 to 1953. President of the Manchester Statistical Society.
On October 29, 1952, he made the opening remarks at a one-day Conference on Optical and Electron Microsopical Properties of Textile Fibres at the University of Manchester.
During Parliamentary debates on increasing the cotton levy financing the Shirley Institute on March 3, 1953, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade (Mr. Henry Strauss) mentions having been shown around by Dr. Toy.
Conference on Industry and Science held by the Manchester Joint Research Council on July 9, 1954. Its report includes opening remarks by Dr. Toy, as well as authoring Chapter 4.
Dr. Toy was one of the speakers in 1957 at the Manchester Luncheon Club.
On March 22, 1957, wrote to Sir Frank Ewart Smith congratulating Smith on his election as Fellow of the Royal Society and thanking him for "a splendid evening."
Died 1988 (MyHeritage.com)
***
[FYI. Confirmed as NOT related: I found one reference to the death of an F. C. Toy, Jr., born September 25, 1938, died April 1991. And his first name, according grave marker, is "Frank." But, his death notice makes clear that he wasn't son of Dr. F. C. Toy.]
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It's Francis Carter Toy - see London Gazette, 31 Dec 1946, Supplement p. 12
ReplyDeleteThanks! This has brought to some more information and have updated this post accordingly.
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