| Code | BPS/GB/01 |
| Thumbnail | 
|
| Name | Burt; Sir; Cyril Lodowic (1883-1971); Professor |
| PreTitle | Sir |
| Title | Professor |
| Forenames | Cyril Lodowic |
| Surname | Burt |
| Dates | 1883-1971 |
| Other Names | Cyril Burt |
| Gender | Male |
| Nationality | British |
| DatesAndPlaces | Born London 3 March 1883 Died London 10 October 1971
London 1883-1893
Warwickshire 1893-1902
Oxford 1902-1908
Wurzburg (summer) 1908
Liverpool 1908-1912
Cambridge 1912-1913
London 1913-1971 |
| Address | London |
| Relationships | First child of Cyril Cecil Barrow Burt (b.1857), a medical practitioner, and Martha Evans (nd) of Monmouth.
Younger sister Marion Burt (1891-1978)
Burt married Joyce Muriel Woods (b 1908-?) a former student of his on 9 April 1932 (Demisit sine prole) |
| Activity | Burt's education was in the classics. He attended King's School, Warwick and later Christ's Hospital London. In 1902 he went up to Jesus College, Oxford to read Greats, graduating with second class honours in 1906, which he followed by a teaching diploma and a summer visit to the University of Wurzburg in 1908. There he met the psychologist Oswald Kulpe (1862-1915). At Oxford he had gone to lectures by the psychologist William McDougall (1871-1938) who in 1907 involved him in the anthropometric survey of the British people proposed by Francis Galton (1822-1911), in which he was to work on the standardization of psychological tests. This project brought him into contact with the world of Eugenics, Charles Spearman (1863-1945) and Karl Pearson (1857-1936).
After working in Sir Charles Sherrington's (1857-1952) department at the University of Liverpool where he was lecturer in psychology (from 1908 to1912) and with Charles S. Myers at the psychological laboratory in Cambridge (1912-1913) he was appointed (part time) psychologist to the London County Council (Education Department) from 1913 to 1932. During the First World War his statistical talents were employed by the Ministry of Munitions. In 1919 he became head of the vocational guidance section of the newly formed National Institute of Industrial Psychology. in 1932 Burt succeeded Spearman (1863-1945) as Professor of Psychology at University College. It was about this time that Burt began to suffer from severe Menieres disease. He was President of the Psychological Section of the British Association in 1923, of the British Psychological Society 1941-1943 and psychological consultant to the Civil Service Commission.
Following Burt's suggestion [in his book The Young Delinquent) a child guidance council was set up with Burt in the chair, and by 1928 the London Child Guidance Training Centre opened in Islington, providing training for psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers. As a part time professor of educational psychology at the London Day Training College, Burt also trained child guidance specialists at postgraduate level. In 1946 Burt was knighted [the first psychologist] and he retired in 1950. From 1960 until his death Burt was President of MENSA. He was the first British subject to win the (American) Thorndike Prize, (1971) and Editor and co-editor, British Journal of Statistical Psychology (1947-1963).
Sources: Pauline M.H.Mazumdar, Burt, Sir Cyril Lodowic (1883-1971), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004[accessed 11 Jan 2005]: <available at>http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/30880
Obituary from The Guardian 12 October 1971
Compiled by Mike Maskill, BPS Archivist for the History of Psychology Centre. |
| OtherInfo | As an educational psychologist,Burt contributed to a series of policy making reports on secondary education by the Board of Education consultative committee through the twenties and thirties, beginning with the Hilton Young report of 1919, up to the Spens report of 1938, which prepared for the introduction of tripartite secondary education in 1944. |
| PublishedWorks | Burt published more than 200 articles after his retirement from teaching (1950-1971)
Selected publications;
Burt, C.L. (1909). Experimental tests of general intelligence. British Journal of Psychology, 3, 94-177.
Burt, C.L. (1912). The inheritance of mental characteristics. Eugenics Review, 4, 168-200.
Burt, C.L., & Moore, R.C. (1912). The mental differences between the sexes. Journal of Experimental Ped., 1, 273-84, 355-88.
Burt, C.L. (1921). Mental and scholastic tests. London: P.S. King and Son.
Burt, C.L. (1925). The young delinquent. London: University of London Press.
Burt, C.L. (1935). The subnormal mind. London: Oxford University Press.
Burt C.L. (1940). The factors of the mind: An introduction to factor analysis in psychology. London: University of London Press.
Burt, C.L. (1955). The evidence for the concept of intelligence, British Journal of Educational Psychology, 25, 158-77.
Burt, C.L. (1957). The causes and treatments of backwardness (4th ed.). London: University of London Press.
Burt, C.L. (1966) The genetic determination of differences in intelligence. A study of monozygotic twins reared together and apart, British Journal of Psychology, 57, 137-53
Obituary and biography.
Hearnshaw, L.S. (1972) Obituary: Emeritus Professor Sir Cyril Burt, Bulletin of The British Psychological Society, 25,31-33
Hearnshaw, L.S. (1979) Cyril Burt: Psychologist, Hodder & Stoughton |
| Notes | Copyright notice: All images are protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights worldwide. The images may be viewed without payment or further permission (fair dealing), on the understanding that they have been made available by the copyright holder for purposes of private research or educational use only.Any other use requires the specific written permission of the copyright holder. Where possible, assistance will be given in identifying copyright owners, but responsibility for ensuring copyright clearance rests with the user of the material. Applications for permissions of any kind, concerning copyright or fees, should be directed to the History of Psychology Centre. |
| Source | Sources: Pauline M.H.Mazumdar Burt, Sir Cyril Lodowic (1883-1971), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004[accessed 11 Jan 2005]: <available at>http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/30880
Obituary from The Guardian 12 October 1971 |
| Conventions | International Standard Archival Authority Record for Corporate Bodies, Persons and Families - ISAAR(CPF) - Ottawa 1996 ISBN ISBN 0-9696035-3-3
National Council on Archives, Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997 |
| RefNo | Title | Dates |
| BPS/001/12/02/04/02 | British Journal of Statistical Psychology Editor's (Cyril Burt) Correspondence December 1954- November 1955 | 1954-1955 |
| SPEAR/1/1 | Correspondence, notes and remarks. | 1906-1942 |
| AUD/001/48/04 | National Undergraduate Psychology Conference - Recording | 28 March 1972 |
| AUD/001/50 | Cyril Burt on Psychology as a Science - Recording | 1962 |
| PHO/001/06/01/13 | Burt, Cyril - Photograph | 20th century |
| HEARN/1/6/2 | Short History of British Psychology Notes (2) | 1941-1964 |
| PHO/001/02/72 | Burt, Cyril - Photographs | 20th century |
| BPS/004/3 | The Burt Affair 1974-1993 | 1974-1993 |
| AUD/001/47/02 | Burt, Cyril - Recording I | 1961 |
| Wol/001/02/10 | No.10, Medicus et Psychologues | 1930s |
| LIVER/1 | Liverpool University Psychology Department Papers | 1907-2005 |
| KENNA/1/4/9 | D W Harding - Correspondence | 1954-1971 |
| BPS/001/12/02/04/06 | British Journal of Statistical Psychology Editor's (Cyril Burt) Correspondence 1960-1963; 1970 | 1960-1963 | 1970 |
| AUD/002/OHP 06 | Eppel, May - Recording | 15 June 2005 |
| BPS/002/3/02/01 | BPS Education Section Minutes 1926-1956 | 1926-1956 |
| HEARN/1 | Hearnshaw, Leslie Spencer (1932-1990) papers | 1932-1986 |
| AUD/001/47/03 | Burt, Cyril - Recording II | 2 May 1964 |
| AUD/002/OHP 13 | Steinberg, Hannah - Recording | 2 December 2005 - 12 December 2005 |
| AUD/002/OHP 16 | Preston, Phyllis - Recording | 23 May 2006 |
| BPS/001/11/02/10 | BPS Press and Communications Correspondence 1997 | 1997 |
| AUD/001/07 | McKellar, T. Peter H. - Recording | 30 August 1964 |
| AUD/001/47 | Gramophone recordings | 1959-1964 |
| BPS/004/3/03/01 | Burt Redividus Press Cuttings | 1992 |
| AUD | BPS Oral History Collections | 1955 - 2017 |
| HEARN/1/6/1 | Short History of British Psychology Notes (1) | (1817) -1944 |
| KENNA/1/6 | Galton Symposium & Obituary Notices | 1946-1976 |
| PHO/001/04/08/02 | UCL Psychology Department 1945 - Photograph | 1945 |
| PHO/001/04/08 | Historic Group and Event Prints 1898-1987 | 1898-1987 |
| PHO/001/06/01 | Individual Psychologists A to D | Late 19th Century - Early 21st Century |
| AUD/001/46/03 | Gardner, Dorothy E M (1900-1992) - Interview Transcript | 22 June 1967 - 27 June 1978 |
| AUD/002/OHP 04 | Audley, Robert John - Recording | 4 May 2005 |
| AUD/001/24 | Pickford & Hetherington - Recordings | 1973 |
| BPS/001/12/02/04/05 | British Journal of Statistical Psychology Editor's (Cyril Burt) Correspondence 1959 | 1959 |
| AUD/002/OHP 25 | Ann and Alan Clarke (The Clarkes) - Recording | 29 August 2007 |
| KENNA/2/8 | Offprints and Journals | 1947-1997 |
| AUD/001/29 | Broadhurst, Peter L. - Recording | 1979 |
| BPS/001/12/02/04/03 | British Journal of Statistical Psychology Editor's (Cyril Burt) Correspondence 1956 | 1956 |
| Sum/001 | Summerfield, Sir Arthur (1923-2005) papers | 1957-1959 |
| AUD/001/08 | Burt, Cyril - Recording | 1961 |
| AUD/001/30 | Eysenck, Hans J. - Recording | 1979 |
| AUD/002/OHP 12 | Conrad , R - Recording | 20 October 2005 |
| AUD/002/OHP 59 | Venables, Peter H. - Recording | 3 August 2010 |
| AUD/002/OHP 11 | Ingham, Jack - Recording | 4 November 2005 |
| BPS/001/3/02/01/27 | BPS Council Papers 1972 | 1972 |
| BPS/002/3/02 | BPS Education Section 1926-2001; Psychology of Education Section | 1926-2001 |
| BPS/001/4/01/02/02 | BPS Professional Affairs Board PAB Papers 1978-1980 | 1978-1980 |
| PHO/001/04/08/01 | Cyril Burt Retirement Party 1950 - Photograph | 1950 |
| SPEAR/1/1/10 | Spearman-Burt, Correspondence | 1909-1939 |
| BPS/001/12/02/04/01 | British Journal of Statistical Psychology Editor's (Cyril Burt) Correspondence 1954 | 1953-1954 |
| BPS/004/3/02 | Burt Affair BPS Correspondence | 1977-1981 |
| BPS/001/12/02/04/08 | British Journal of Mathematical and Statistical Psychology Correspondence 1967-1974 | 1967-1974 |
| BPS/001/12/02/04 | BPS British Journal of Statistical Psychology correspondence and minutes 1954-1979 | 1954-1979 |
| BURT01 | Burt, Cyril | Mid 20th century |
| AUD/002/OHP 41 | Claridge, Gordon - Recording | 24 June 2008 |
| SEM/001/01 | Semeonoff, Boris (1910-1998) Reminiscences & BPS Publications Committee | 1953-1997 |
| HEARN/1/3/9 | Military and War | 1932-1961 |
| HEARN/1/5/3 | Miscellaneous Notes | 1947-1955 |
| BPS/001/12/02/04/04 | British Journal of Statistical Psychology Correspondence and Minutes 1954-1957 | 1954-1957 |
| BPS/002/2/06/05 | BPS English Division of Professional Psychologists (Education and Clinical) Standing Sub-Committee on Training V | 1962-1964 |
| BPS/002/3/02/01/03 | Versey and Sir Cyril Burt letters concerning BPS Education Section 1970-2001 | 1970-2001 |
| BPS/001/12/02/04/07 | British Journal of Mathematical and Statistical Psychology Correspondence 1964-1973 | 1964-1973 |
| AUD/001/09 | Pear, Thomas H. - Recording | 1957-1978 |
| BPS/001/3/02/01/01 | BPS Council Papers 1946 | 1946 |
| BPS/001/12/02/03 | BPS British Journal of Educational Psychology Ltd Minutes and Constitution 1930; 1972-1994; 1996-1997 | 1930-1974 |
| BPS/001/12/04/01/02/03 | BPS Standing Committee on Publications Minutes and Papers 1980-1983 | 1980-1983 |
| BPS/001/12/04/01/03/04 | BPS Standing Committee on Publications Correspondence 1981-1983 | 1981-1993 |
| BPS/001/12/02/04/10 | British Journal of Mathematical and Statistical Psychology Correspondence 1977-1979 | 1977-1979 |
| Ing/001 | Jack Ingham (1923-2020) Correspondence | 1948-1949 |
| BPS/001/12/02/04/09 | British Journal of Mathematical and Statistical Psychology Correspondence 1970-1977 | 1970-1977 |
| KENNA/2/4/1 | Joseph Jacobs & the Digit Span Test | 1967-1987 |
| BPS/004/3/01 | Burt Affair Press Cuttings | 1974-1978 |
| AUD/001/48/02 | Various - Recordings I (Compilation of Bartlett, McFarlane, Jones, Burt and Pear) | 1957-1970 |
| AUD/002/OHP 50 | Joynson, Bill - Recording | 20 July 2009 |
| AUD/002/OHP 24 | Oswald, Ian - Recording | 16 October 2007 |
| BPS/001/6/01/03/03/10 | BPS London Conference - Press Releases 1992 | 1992 |
| BPS/001/11/03/01/11 | BPS Press Releases 1992 | 1992 |
| KENNA/1/3 | Correspondence (I) | 1940-1984 |
| HEARN/1/4/4 | Recent Trends in Psychology Lectures and Pamphlets | 1936-1982 |
| GRA/001/01/03 | Correspondence | 1957-1977 |