History of the BIR

Just 9 days after the foundation of The Biometric Society (now The International Biometric Society) on September 6, 1947 at Woods Hole in the United States, the second Council Meeting of the new society took place with discussion of the setting up of a regional organization, envisaging British, ENAR, Indian, WNAR and At-Large Regions (Billard, 2014). There were three individuals from the UK involved in that meeting, R.A. Fisher, J.B.S. Haldane and J.W. Trevan.

On January 3^rd, 1948, a letter was sent to 39 individuals by K. Mather. After introducing The Biometric Society which had appointed R.A. Fisher as its first President, the letter indicated that “It is proposed that a British Region should form one of the constituents of the Society, and the general Council has appointed Dr. J.W. Trevan as Vice-President and myself as Secretary in this region.”  The letter then invited its recipients to a meeting on January 21^st at the Welcome Research Institution “to consider the foundation, organisation and activities of the British Region.

Twelve individuals were present at this meeting; K.H. Coward, G.W. Emmens, E.C. Fieller, D.J. Finney, R.A. Fisher, O.V.S. Heath, K. Mather, L.S. Penrose,, P. Stocks, M.R. Sampford, J.W. Trevan and E.C. Wood with M.S. Bartlett and E.S. Pearson sending letters to be read at the meeting. Fisher described the inauguration of The Biometric Society and a provisional committee for the British Region was set up which included Trevan, Mather, Fisher, Haldane, Wood and Fieller. It was recognized that meetings would be facilitated as these individuals all lived in the London area but it was recognised that the regular committee to be elected later should not be so restricted. 

This provisional Committee then met on January 28^th and agreed various journals in which “an announcement of the Region’s formation should be sent”. A draft letter from Wood inviting his biochemical colleagues to join the Region was seen and other members agreed to send a “suitably adjusted” version of this letter to their colleagues and to approach others for lists of scientists in areas not represented on the committee who could be invited. The Rules of the Region were also discussed and a draft was to be prepared for circulation.

These rules were discussed at the next meeting of the provisional Committee on March 31^st and approved with minor amendments. Modifications to The Biometric Society’s constitution with respect to regions were discussed and these were to be sent to C.J. Bliss, the General Secretary of the Society. It was also agreed to hold the inaugural meeting of the British Region on the 27^th, 28^th or 29^th of April in University College.

On the 29^th April, the inaugural meeting was held with J.W. Trevan in the Chair and 41 others attending. Two presentations were made at the meeting. R.A. Fisher spoke on “Biometry in Britain” and J.W. Trevan on “The comparison of survival times”. A version of Fisher’s talk was subsequently published (Fisher, 1948).

Subsequent regional meetings took place in December 1948, and April 1949 followed by the fourth meeting which was a “Visit to Rothamsted Experimental Station”.

The British and Irish Region

With the International Biometric Society meeting scheduled for Dublin in 2008, the British Region, to more accurately reflect its membership, began to consider a name change to the British and Irish Region in 2005 with a ballot of members followed by BR approval at the AGM in 2005. This change was approved by the IBS and implemented in 2006.

Some memories from Peter Armitage of the early meetings:

I was a regular attender during the early years' meetings at the Wellcome Building, University College, with a trip to Rothamsted thrown in. Austin Bradford Hill (ABH) was not a member and played no part in these meetings, although there were a few regular attenders who were involved in medical statistics. They were very much Fisher-oriented. Fisher (RAF) would always attend, often with Yates, and they would sit in the middle of the front row (his hearing being bad) making a formidable centre piece for any young speaker. I experienced that in a talk on sequential trials, when as usual Fisher was called on to open the discussion, and in a very polite and quiet way he dissected my exposition. (That is an example of the way in which Fisher could be polite and pleasant to anyone not opposed to his ideas, but scathing to others.) It is evidence of the friendship enjoyed at that time by RAF and ABH that if RAF was attending a meeting at or near UCL he would often pop into LSHTM to have a chat with ABH. If the latter was not free, he would try Oscar Irwin, and if he was not in, RAF would appear in my room. His chats were always friendly and welcome, not condescending in any way.

Some memories from David Cox of the early meetings:

My recollection is of being a very junior member from 1950 onwards and going to what I thought was a wholly UK Society meeting 2 or 3 times a year in the Welcome Building in the Euston Road. Fisher and Yates nearly always attended arriving 15 minutes late from their pub lunch. They were interesting occasions with, for those days, a big attendance, 100 perhaps.

Billard L. Sir Ronald A. Fisher and The International Biometric Society. Biometrics 1948, 70, 259-265.

Fisher RA, Biometry. Biometrics 1948, 4, 216-219.