Philip Street wrote a number of popular books, aimed at all ages, on animals, marine biology and conservation from the 1950s to the late 1970s. His books were very well received and were widely available in public libraries. However I could found virtually nothing about Philip Street even though one of his books, Shell Life on the Seashore, was reprinted to great acclaim in 2019. From his book, Whipsnade, he is shown as having the degree of MSc and was a Fellow of the Zoological Society. Leo Harrison Matthews, then Scientific Director of the Society wrote in an Introduction ‘he is a qualified zoologist’ and ‘a writer of experience’. The 2019 reprint states that he was a member of the Marine Biological Society, but I think this must an error. There is a Marine Biological Association, but not a society.
After searching genealogical sites and local newspapers, I have now discovered who Philip Street was and something about his life. Philip Arthur Richard Street was born 4 February 1915 in Harrow, Middlesex. He was educated at Harrow Weald Primary School, Harrow County School (now Harrow High School) and then University College London from 1933 until 1938. He graduated with a BSc in zoology in 1936 and with an MSc in genetics in 1938. In the 1939 Register he was shown living with his parents at 68 Woodlands Drive in Harrow as a schoolmaster with two years research experience in biology.
At some stage he taught at his old school but was appointed to teach biology at Kingsbury County Grammar School in 1945. In 1953 he was careers master there. In the 1950s he was living with his wife (married in 1945) at 6 Bellfield Avenue, Harrow.
By the late 1950s Philip Street was in Buckinghamshire, giving courses of 12 lectures for the Workers’ Educational Association on wild animals in captivity. In 1978 he was reported at the Chesham and District Natural History Society speaking on animal navigation. Philip Street died on 14 May 1984 at Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, aged 69.
Philip Street’s books had—and with the recent interest in his republished one on seashells still have—a great influence in firing an interest in the natural world. Can anybody provide any further information?
Books by Philip Street:
Between the Tides 1952
Whipsnade 1953
The Seashore for Boys and Girls 1954
The London Zoo 1956
Animal Life 1957
Animal Partners 1958. Reprinted 2010
Shell Life on the Seashore 1961. Updated edition 2019
Mammals in the British Isles 1961
Vanishing Animals - Preserving Nature’s Rarities 1963
The Seashore 1965
Animals in Captivity 1965
Survivants de la préhistoire (French) 1966
The Crab and its Relatives 1966
Burst of Spring 1969
Wildlife Preservation 1970
Animal Weapons 1971
Animal Reproduction 1974
Animal Partners and Parasites 1975
Colour in Animals 1977
Animal Migration and Navigation 1976
Poison in Animals 1978
I think Philip Street taught at the John Colet school in Wendover, Bucks in the 1970s (my mother also taught there). It's lovely to see his work being republished and appreciated.
ReplyDeleteHe was my cousin but can’t say I remember him well. Did sign a couple of books to me when I was a child late 1960’s. My father’s family from Newquay Cornwall say he took photos and made observations on the beaches around Newquay and Perranporth. Not really looked closely at my family tree.
ReplyDeleteHe was admitted a Fellow of The Linnean Society of London on 17th February 1955. https://www.linnean.org/
ReplyDeleteI have a signed copy of his book Between the Tides. He had MSc. and F.Z.S. after his name.
ReplyDeleteHe was also a member of the Marine Biological Association.
ReplyDelete