Colin Matheson, M.A., B.Sc. (1898 - 1979) 70^th President

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Colin Matheson was a stalwart member of the society, who held many posts within the period of his membership. He also gave many lectures and presented a number of papers during that membership. A selection of the dates and events I have gathered from the Transactions is given here: -

1. 1926 - Junior Section - British Frogs, Toads, and Newts
2. 1926-32 - Hon Secretary Junior Section
3. 1928 - Some Notes on the Brown and the Black Rat in the City and Port of Cardiff and Faunistic Survey Report.
4. 1928 - Wales and the Sea Fisheries
5. 1932 - Junior Section - Presidential Address - More Animal wonders at Home and Abroad
6. 1931 - Junior Section - Strange Facts in the Animal World
7. 1935 - Biological and Geological Section - Sea Monsters
8. 1960 - The Roe Deer in Wales

I am sure that there are many more, but that is a sufficient selection to indicate the longevity of his involvement and the value that he brought to the society.

He was a long standing member of staff at the National Museum of Wales, having been appointed Assistant Keeper in Zoology in 1922 and then keeper of zoology in 1926 holding that post for a full 40 years until 1967. Even then he did not stop valuable work for the Museums of Wales as was noted in 1984 in The Transactions of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion: -

After he retired he did work for the newly formed Area Museum's council His survey, published in 1968, described the history and contemporary state of thirty-eight museums and their collections, including the ones affiliated to the National Museum

As with others of his colleagues at the National Museum of Wales he was a prolific author of what would now be termed popular science and this is just a selection of the covers of some of his books

Selection of covers of Colin Matheson books

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Before this... Dennis H. Morgan, O.B.E., F.C.A. (?-1967) 69^th President

Next up... William Rees, M.A., D.Sc., F.S.A., F.R.HIST.S., D.LITT. 71^st President

See our Full list of Presidents

These pages are part of the Cardiff Naturalists' Society 150th Anniversary celebrations and are about our history and are celebrating the people who developed our Society and helped build the city and the cultural heritage of Cardiff. You can read more about that using the links above

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