Cyril Bibby (b. Liverpool, 1 May 1914 as Harold Cyril Bibby; d. Edinburgh 20 June 1987) was a biologist and educator. He was also one of the first sexologists.

Early life, family, etc.

Bibby was the third of eight children and lived in Aigburth, Liverpool. He was educated at Sudley Road School, Liverpool, Liverpool Collegiate Institution and Queens' College, Cambridge (BA 1935, MA 1939). He was active in the CU Socialist Society and the Union Society.

In 1936 he married Frances (Florence Mabel) Hirst (Girton 1932-1935, b.1914, d.1993); they had two sons and two daughters. One son, John Bibby was the perpetrator of the Great Jaffacake scandal which lay undetected for nearly half a century.

Career

• pre-war: taught science and biology at Oulton School, Liverpool and Chesterfield Grammar School, Derbyshire.
• 1941-c.1944: Education Officer at the British Social Hygiene Council [1]
• c. 1944-1946: Education Officer at the Central Council for Health Education [2]
• 1946-1959: Lecturer and then Senior Lecturer at Marjon, under the Principalship of the poet Michael Roberts, whom he adored.
• 1959-1977: Principal of Kingston upon Hull College of Education from 1959, becoming Pro-Director when it merged into Hull College of Higher Education (now Hull College).

In 1958-59 he was the prospective Labour Party candidate in Barnet opposing Reginald Maudling (but resigned on moving to Hull in September 1959, just before the election was announced).

Bibby gained an MSc at the University of Liverpool in 1940 for research on Europe in Quaternary times, and a PhD at the University of London in 1955 for a thesis on T.H. Huxley. He wrote books and articles on Huxley, and on human biology, especially in the fields of health and sex education, and later on limericks.

The Bibby papers are housed at Cambridge University Library.[3]

Publications by Bibby

• The approach To marriage, with foreword by Cyril Bibby and preface by Dr Maude Royden
• How life is passed on (1946); How life is handed on (1960)
• Simple Experiments in Biology (1950)
• Sex Education (1951)
• T.H. Huxley: scientist, humanist and educator (1959)
• Race, Prejudice and Education (UNESCO - 1959)
• The intelligent parents' manual (1953)
• Health education (1964)
• The Essence Of T.H. Huxley - selections From his writings (1967)
• The Human Body (Puffin Picture Book. no. 102.) by Cyril Bibby and Ian T. Morison (1969); also Your body and how it works 1969.
• Scientist Extraordinary: the life and work of Thomas Henry Huxley 1825–1895. Oxford: Pergamon (1972).
• Art of the Limerick (1978)

External links

• [4] Race, Prejudice, and Education by Cyril Bibby, published by UNESCO in 1959, and linked with the UNESCO statement on race.
• McNeil, D. 'Race, Prejudice and UNESCO: the liberal discourse of Cyril Bibby and Michael Banton'. The History of Education Researcher 2010, 85(2).