Editing W. H. R. Rivers (section)

==Biography==

===Family background===

W. H. R. Rivers was born in 1864 at Constitution Hill, [[Chatham, Kent]], son of Elizabeth (née Hunt) (16 October 1834 – 13 November 1897) and Henry Frederick Rivers (7 January 1830 – 9 December 1911).

Records from the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries show the Rivers family to be solidly middle-class, with many [[University of Cambridge|Cambridge]], [[Church of England]] and [[Royal Navy]] associations.<ref name="slobodin">{{cite book | author = Richard Slobodin | title = W. H. R. Rivers: Pioneer Anthropologist and Psychiatrist of the "Ghost Road" | edition = 2nd | year = 1997 | location = [[Stroud, Gloucestershire|Stroud]] | publisher = [[Sutton Publishing]] | isbn = 0-7509-1490-4 }}</ref> Notable members were [[Sailor|Gunner]] William Rivers and his son, Midshipman William Rivers, both of whom served aboard [[HMS Victory|HMS ''Victory'']], [[Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson|Nelson's]] flagship.<ref name="slobodin"/>

[[Image:Turner, The Battle of Trafalgar (1822).jpg|right|thumb|[[HMS Victory|HMS ''Victory'']]]]

The senior Rivers was the master gunner aboard the ''Victory''. He kept a commonplace book (now held in the [[Royal Naval Museum]] library in [[Portsmouth]]); it has revealed and preserved the thoughts of many of the sailors aboard the ''Victory.''<ref name="trafalgar">{{cite book |author1=Tim Clayton |author2=Phil Craig | title = Trafalgar: The Men, The Battle, The Storm |url=https://archive.org/details/trafalgarmenbatt0000clay |url-access=registration | year = 2004 | publisher = Hodder}}</ref>

His son Midshipman Rivers, who claimed to be "the man who shot the man who fatally wounded Lord Nelson",<ref name="slobodin"/> was a model of heroism in the [[Battle of Trafalgar]]. The seventeen-year-old midshipman nearly lost his foot when it was struck by a grenade; it was attached to him only "by a Piece of Skin abought 4&nbsp;inch above the ankle".<ref name="trafalgar"/>  Rivers asked first for his shoes, then told the gunner's mate to look after the guns, and told [[Captain Hardy]] that he was going down to the cockpit.<ref name="trafalgar"/> He endured the amputation of his leg four inches below the knee, without anaesthetic. According to legend, he did not cry out once during that nor during the consequent sealing of the wound with hot tar.<ref name="trafalgar"/> When Gunner Rivers, anxious about his son's welfare, went to the cockpit to ask after him, his son called out, "Here I am, Father, nothing is the matter with me; only lost my leg and that in a good cause."<ref name="trafalgar"/>

After the battle, the senior Rivers wrote a poem about his remarkable son, entitled "Lines on a Young Gentleman that lost his leg onboard the Victory in the Glorious action at Trafalgar":

{{poemquote|May every comfort Bless thy future life,
And smooth thy cares with fond and tender wife.
Which of you all Would not have freely died,
To Save Brave Nelson There Dear Country's Pride.}}

Born to Lieutenant William Rivers, R.N., and his wife, stationed at [[Deptford]],<ref name="slobodin"/> Henry Frederick Rivers followed many family traditions in being educated at [[Trinity College, Cambridge]] and entering the church.<ref name="slobodin"/> Having earned his [[Bachelor of Arts]] in 1857, he was ordained as a [[Church of England]] priest in 1858,<ref name="slobodin"/> and had a career that would span almost 50 years. In 1904, he was forced to tender his resignation due to "infirmities of sight and memory".<ref name="faith's">{{cite book |author=The Council of St Faith's Church, Maidstone, Kent | title = Minutes of Council Meeting| year = 1904 | location = [[Maidstone, Kent]], Centre for Kentish Studies}}</ref>

[[Image:Offham Church.jpg|left|thumb|Image of the stained glass window of the church in [[Offham, Kent]], where Henry Rivers was curate from 1880 to 1889]]

In 1863, having obtained a curacy at Chatham in addition to a chaplaincy of the Medway Union, Henry Rivers was sufficiently established to marry Elizabeth Hunt, who was living with her brother James in [[Hastings]], not far from Chatham.<ref name="slobodin"/> He was later appointed to curacies in Kent at St Mary's, Chatham (1863–69), Tudeley (1877–80) and Offham (1880–9), and subsequently as Vicar of St Faith's, Maidstone from 1889 to 1904.<ref>''Cambridge University Alumni, 1261–1900'' – A Cambridge Alumni Database (ACAD)</ref>

The Hunts, like the Rivers family, were established with naval and Church of England connections.<ref name="slobodin"/> One of those destined for the pulpit was Thomas (1802–1851), but some quirk of originality set him off into an unusual career.<ref name="slobodin"/>  While an undergraduate at Cambridge, Thomas Hunt had a friend who stammered badly and his efforts to aid the affected student led him to leave the university without taking a degree in order to make a thorough study of speech and its defects.<ref name="BoaseODNB">{{cite ODNB |first1=G. C. |last1=Boase |author1-link=G. C. Boase |first2=Roger (revised) |last2=Hutchins |title=Thomas Perkins Lowman Hunt (1802–1851) |year=2004 |id=14208 }}</ref> He built up a good practice as a speech therapist and was patronised by [[John Forbes (physician)|Sir John Forbes MD FRS]]. Forbes referred pupils to him for twenty-four years.<ref name="BoaseODNB"/>  Hunt's most famous case came about in 1842. George Pearson, the chief witness in a case related to an attempted attack on [[Queen Victoria]] by John Francis, was brought into court but was incapable of giving his evidence. After a fortnight's instruction from Hunt, he spoke easily, a fact certified by the sitting magistrate.<ref name="BoaseODNB"/> Hunt died in 1851, survived by his wife Mary and their two children. His practice was passed on to his son, James.<ref name="Stammer">{{cite book | author =James Hunt | title =Stammering and stuttering, their nature and treatment| publisher = London | year = 1861}}</ref>

James Hunt (1833–1869) was an exuberant character, giving to each of his ventures his boundless energy and self-confidence.<ref name="slobodin"/> Taking up his father's legacy with great zeal, by the age of 21 Hunt had published his compendious work ''Stammering and Stuttering, Their Nature and Treatment''. This went into six editions during his lifetime and was reprinted again in 1870, just after his death, and for an eighth time in 1967 as a landmark in the history of speech therapy.<ref name="slobodin"/> In the introduction to the 1967 edition of the book, [[Elliot Schaffer]] notes that in his short lifetime, James Hunt is said to have treated over 1,700 cases of speech impediment, firstly in his father's practice and later at his own institute, Ore House near Hastings.<ref name="schaffer">{{cite book |author1=James Hunt |author2=Elliot Schaffer | title = Stammering and stuttering, their nature and treatment|url=https://archive.org/details/stammeringandst01huntgoog | edition = 8th | year = 1967 | publisher = New York: Hafner Publishing Co}}</ref> He set up the latter with the aid of a doctorate he had purchased in 1856 from the [[University of Giessen]] in Germany.<ref name="BrockODNB">{{cite ODNB |first=W. H. |last=Brock |title=James Hunt (1833–1869) |origyear=2004 |year=2020 |id=14194 }}</ref>

In later, expanded editions, ''Stammering and Stuttering'' begins to reflect Hunt's growing passion for anthropology, exploring the nature of language usage and speech disorders in non-European peoples.<ref name="slobodin"/> In 1856, Hunt had joined the [[Ethnological Society of London]] and by 1859 he was its joint secretary.<ref name="slobodin"/> But many of the members disliked his attacks on the religious and humanitarian agencies represented by missionaries and the anti-slavery movement.<ref name="BrockODNB"/>

As a result of the antagonism, Hunt founded the [[Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland|Anthropological Society]] and became its president.<ref name="BrockODNB"/> Nearly 60 years later, his nephew W. He. R. Rivers was selected for this position.<ref name="langham">{{cite book | author =Ian Langham | title =The building of British social anthropology: W. H. R. Rivers and his Cambridge disciples in the development of kinship studies| publisher =London: Reidel | year = 1981}}</ref> Hunt's efforts were integral to the [[British Association for the Advancement of Science]] (BAAS) accepting anthropology in 1866 as a discipline.<ref name="slobodin"/>

Even by Victorian standards, Hunt was a decided racist.<ref name="slobodin"/> His paper "On a Negro's Place in Nature", delivered before the BAAS in 1863, was met with hisses and catcalls.<ref name="BrockODNB"/> What Hunt considered "a statement of the simple facts"<ref name="negro">{{cite book | author =James Hunt | title =On a negro's place in nature| publisher =London: Trübner | year = 1863}}</ref> was thought by others to be a defence of the subjection and slavery of Africans in the Americas, and support of the belief in the plurality of human species.<ref name="BrockODNB"/>

In addition to his extremist views, Hunt led the society to incur heavy debts.<ref name="slobodin"/>  The controversies surrounding his conduct told on his health and, on 29 August 1869, Hunt died of "inflammation of the brain". <!-- Age? -->He was survived by his widow, Henrietta Maria, and five children.<ref name="BrockODNB"/>

His speech therapy practice was passed onto Hunt's brother-in-law, Henry Rivers, who had been working with him for some time.<ref name="BrockODNB"/> Rivers inherited many of Hunt's established patients, most notably The Reverend Charles L. Dodgson (better known as [[Lewis Carroll]]), who had been a regular visitor to Ore House.<ref name= Kath>{{cite book | author = Katharine Rivers | title = Memories of Lewis Carroll | location = [[Hamilton, Ontario]] | publisher = University Library Press, [[McMaster University]] | year = 1976 | oclc = 2319358 }}</ref>

Hunt left his books to his nephew William Rivers, who refused them, thinking that they would be of no use to him.<ref name="PsychEth">{{cite book | author =W. H. R. Rivers (with an introduction by Grafton Elliot Smith)| title = Psychology and Ethnology| publisher =London | year = 1926}}</ref>

===Early life===
William Halse Rivers Rivers was the oldest of four children, with his siblings being brother Charles Hay (29 August 1865 – 8 November 1939) and sisters Ethel Marian (30 October 1867 – 4 February 1943) and Katharine Elizabeth (1871–1939).

[[File:Tonbridge School 2008.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|[[Tonbridge School]] where Rivers and his brother Charles were day-boys]]

William, known as "Willie" throughout his childhood,<ref name="slobodin"/> appears to have been named after his famous uncle of ''Victory'' fame; there was also a longstanding family tradition whereby the eldest son of every line would be baptised by that name.<ref name="slobodin"/> The origin of "Halse" is unclear. There may be some naval connection, as it has been suggested that it could have been the name of someone serving alongside his uncle.<ref name="slobodin"/> Slobodin states that it is probable that the second "Rivers" entered his name as a result of a clerical error on the baptismal certificate, but since the register is filled in by his father's hand, and his father performed the ceremony, this seems unlikely.<ref>[[s:Baptismal Record|Copy of Rivers's baptismal certificate]]</ref> Slobodin notes a mistake on the registry of his birth, but it is that his name was changed from the mistaken "William False Rivers Rivers"<ref>[[s: Birth Register|Birth Register of "William False Rivers Rivers"]]</ref> to its later form, with "Halse" as the second name. This suggests that "Rivers" was intended as a given name as well as a surname.

Rivers had a stammer that he never fully conquered. He had no [[sensory memory]], although he was able to visualise to an extent if dreaming, in a half-waking, half-sleeping state, or when feverish.<ref name="instinct">{{cite book | author =W. H. R. Rivers| title = Instinct and the Unconscious| publisher =British Psychological Society | year = 1919}}</ref> Rivers noted that in his early life- specifically before the age of five- his visual imagery was far more definite than it became in later life. He thought it was perhaps as good as that of the average child.<ref name="instinct"/>

At first, Rivers had concluded that his loss of visual imagery had resulted from his lack of attention and interest in it.<ref name="instinct"/>  But, as he later came to realise, while images from his later life frequently faded into obscurity, those from his infancy still remained vivid.<ref name="instinct"/>

As Rivers notes in ''Instinct and the Unconscious'', he was unable to visualise any part of the upper floor of the house he lived in until he was five. By contrast, Rivers was able to describe the lower floors of that particular house with far more accuracy than he had been able to with any house since. Although images of later houses were faded and incomplete, no memory since had been as inaccessible as that of the upper floor of his early home.<ref name="instinct"/>  Given evidence, Rivers came to conclude that something had happened to him on the upper floor of that house, the memory of which was entirely suppressed because it "interfered with [his] comfort and happiness".<ref name="instinct"/> In addition to that specific memory being inaccessible, his sensory memory in general appears to have been severely disabled from that moment.

{{wikisource|Instinct and the Unconscious}}

If Rivers ever did access the veiled memory, he did not appear to make a note of it. The nature of the experience is open to conjecture. Author [[Pat Barker]], in the second novel of her ''[[Regeneration Trilogy]]'' related to Rivers and his work, ''[[The Eye in the Door]]'', suggested through her character Billy Prior, that Rivers's experience was traumatic enough to cause him to "put his mind's eye out".<ref name="barker2">{{cite book | author =Pat Barker| title = The Eye in the Door| publisher =[[Penguin Books]] | year = 1994}}</ref>

Rivers was a highly able child. Educated first at a Brighton preparatory school and, from the age of thirteen, as a dayboy at the prestigious [[Tonbridge School]], his academic abilities were noted from an early age.<ref name="slobodin"/> At the age of 14, he was placed a year above others of his age at school<ref>The Tonbridge school magazine – ''The Tonbridgian'' – from October 1878 notes that him to be in the IV form, usually reserved for 15 and 16&nbsp;year olds, when he was just 14</ref> and even within this older group he was seen to excel, winning prizes for [[Classics]] and all around attainment.<ref name="TonOct1878">{{cite journal |author=Tonbridge School |date=October 1878|title=Skinners' Day |journal=The Tonbridgian |pages=334–335}}</ref> Rivers's younger brother Charles was also a high achiever at the school; he too was awarded with the Good Work prize.<ref name="TonOct1878"/> He studied and became a [[civil engineer]]. After a bad bout of [[malaria]] contracted whilst in the [[Torres Straits]] with his brother, he was encouraged by the elder Rivers to take up outdoor work.<ref name="slobodin"/>

The teenage Rivers, whilst scholarly, was also involved in other aspects of school life. As the programme for the Tonbridge School sports day notes, on 12 March 1880 – Rivers's sixteenth birthday – he ran in the mile race. The year before this he had been elected as a member of the school debating society, no mean feat for a boy who at this time had a speech impediment which was almost paralytic.<ref name="TonOct1879">{{cite journal |author=Tonbridge School |date=July 1879|title=Debating Society |journal=The Tonbridgian |pages=59}}</ref>

[[Image:Young Rivers.jpg|left|thumb|A young W. H. R. Rivers]]

Rivers was set to follow family tradition and take his [[University of Cambridge]] entrance exam, possibly with the aim of studying classics.<ref name="slobodin"/> But at the age of sixteen, he contracted [[typhoid fever]] and was forced to miss his final year of school.<ref name="Eagle1922">{{cite journal |author=L. E. Shore |year=1922 |title=W. H. R. Rivers |journal=The Eagle |pages=2–12}}</ref> Without the scholarship, his family could not afford to send him to Cambridge. With his typical resilience, Rivers did not dwell on the disappointment.

His illness had been severe, entailing long convalescence and leaving him with effects which at times severely disabled him.<ref name="Eagle1922"/>  As L. E. Shore notes: "he was not a strong man, and was often obliged to take a few days rest in bed and subsist on a milk diet".<ref name="Eagle1922"/> The severity of the sickness and the shattering of dreams might have broken lesser men but for Rivers in many ways the illness was the making of him. Whilst recovering from the fever, Rivers had formed a friendship with one of his father's speech therapy students, a young Army surgeon. His plan was formed: he would study medicine and apply for training in the Army Medical Department, later to become the [[Royal Army Medical Corps]].<ref name="slobodin"/>

Inspired by this new resolve, Rivers studied medicine at the [[University of London]], where he matriculated in 1882, and [[St Bartholomew's Hospital]] in [[London]]. He graduated at age 22, the youngest person to do so until recent times.<ref name="slobodin"/>

===Life as a ship's surgeon===
After qualifying, Rivers sought to join the army but was not passed fit. This was a byproduct of typhoid fever. As Elliot Smith was later to write, as quoted in a biography of Rivers: "Rivers always had to fight against ill health: heart and blood vessels." Along with the health problems noted by Shore and Smith, Rivers struggled with "tiring easily".

His sister Katharine wrote that when he came to visit the family, he would often sleep for the first day or two. Considering the volume of work that Rivers completed in his relatively short lifetime, Seligman wrote in 1922 that "for many years he seldom worked for more than four hours a day".<ref name="Geog1922">{{cite journal |author=C. G. Seligman |date=August 1922|title=Obituary: W. H. R. Rivers |journal=The Geographical Journal|volume=60 |pages=162–163}}</ref> Rivers's biographer [[Richard Slobodin]] says that "among persons of extraordinary achievement, only [[Descartes]] seems to have put in as short a working day".{{citation needed|date=September 2020}}

Rivers did not allow his drawbacks to dishearten him,<ref name="Geog1922"/> and he chose to serve several terms as a ship's surgeon, travelling to [[Japan]] and North America in 1887.<ref name="odnb">{{cite ODNB |first1=Michael |last1=Bevan |first2=Jeremy |last2=MacClancy |year=2015 |origyear=2004 |title=Rivers, William Halse Rivers (1864–1922) |id=37898 }}</ref> This was the first of many voyages; for, besides his great expeditions for work in the [[Torres Straits]] Islands, [[Melanesia]], [[Egypt]], [[India]] and the [[Solomon Islands]], he took holiday voyages twice to the [[West Indies]], three times to the [[Canary Islands]] and [[Madeira]], to the United States, [[Norway]], and [[Lisbon]], as well as making numerous visits to [[France]], [[Germany]], [[Italy]], and [[Switzerland]], and lengthy ones to visit family in [[Australia]].<ref name="Eagle1922"/>

Such voyages helped to improve his health, and possibly to prolong his life.<ref name="slobodin"/> He also took a great deal of pleasure from his experiences aboard ship. On one voyage he spent a month in the company of playwright [[George Bernard Shaw]]; he later described how he spent "many hours every day talking – the greatest treat of my life".<ref name="slobodin"/>