When I saw the photograph of the model of the snake’s jaw made by Eric Thomas Brazil Francis (1900-1993) for the Cole Museum of Zoology at the University of Reading (see previous article here), I was immediately struck by the fact that I had seen something very similar but made of plywood mounted on board but without the spring mechanism. It was in the biology library at school. Nobody knew anything about its origin other than it predated the arrival of James John Key (1917-1876) as senior biology master at the Henry Mellish Grammar School in 1950.
I am now pretty certain that it must have been the work of John Robert Upton who taught both biology and handicrafts—the ideal combination to come up with a fret-sawed model in wood. Born on 18 April 1910 in West Ham, at that time in Essex, Upton was a pupil at Sir George Monoux's Grammar School in Walthamstow in 1926-1929; he was awarded a county scholarship to King’s College, London, to study science. He joined the Mellish staff in 1933. While there he wrote a book The Microscope: Its Construction and Its Use in Biology (John Murray 1937). The only copy I have been able to track down is for sale in Australia with a very high postage cost so apart from the contents page I know nothing of its coverage. However the blurb reads:
The book was designed to provide the reader with the information necessary to use a microscope in a biological laboratory or classroom. It was intended for teachers with no academic training in biology who found themselves required to teach the subject in their schools.
I am also pretty certain that it was Upton who had the job of introducing biology proper to the curriculum. Boys’ schools often or usually did not offer biological subjects until well into the 20th century and it was not until 1953 that dedicated laboratories were built at the Mellish. I now realise that it must have been Upton who acquired a number of bits of equipment that languished in the biology store in the early 1960s, for example, a Flatters & Garnett vasculum for botanical trips and a very simple brass microtome (one chapter of Upton’s book I see is devoted to its use). Museum specimens, bottled dissections of frog and dogfish by Gerrard, for example, were also from the 1930s.
Upton married Ivy Ann Hutchins (also known as Wall) in 1939 in Worthing, Sussex. They are shown (she as ‘Ann’) in the 1939 Register as living at 39 Glendon Drive, Nottingham
Upton left the Henry Mellish in 1942 as described in the school magazine, The Centaur:
Mr. J. R. Upton, who joined the school staff in 1933, has left us, to join the staff of the County School, Tottenham. Our school has lost a good friend. Besides being the Senior Biology Master, Mr. Upton was largely responsible for the successful establishment and development of the school gardens. His all-round ability enabled him to take charge of the Handicraft Department for some time. Mr. Upton will, however, probably be best remembered as “School and Camp Doctor”, binding wounds, putting limbs into slings or administering various medicines. He was at all times kindly and sympathetic in or out of the classroom. We thank him for all he did for the School, and we wish him and Mrs. Upton all happiness in the future.
In 1955, The Centaur noted that Upton was then Head at Farnham County Secondary School.
John Robert Upton then of The Badgings, Cherry Lane, Higher Odcombe, Somerset. died on 28 February 1980. His wife died in 1988 in Hampshire.
There is a photograph of Upton on ancestry.com.
Back to the models of the fang-erecting mechanism we thus have (or had) two made around the same time. Could there have been an article published somewhere, which inspired both Francis and Upton to build their models? Or did Francis publish the making of this model and Upton then follow? Does anybody have any information at all on other models or articles from that time?
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