Victor Branford
| Victor Branford | |
|---|---|
_1911.jpg) |
|
| Born |
25 September 1863 Oundle, UK |
| Died | 22 June 1930 (aged 66) Hastings, UK |
| Fields | Sociology |
| Institutions | Sociological Society |
| Alma mater | Edinburgh University |
| Known for | General Sociology |
| Influences | Patrick Geddes |
| Notable awards | Honorary Member of the American Sociological Society, 1926 |
Victor Branford (25 September 1863 – 22 June 1930) was a British sociologist. He was the founder of the Sociological Society and was made an Honorary member of the American Sociological Society, now the American Sociological Association.
Victor Verasis Branford was born in Oundle, Northamptonshire, on 25 September 1863. His father was William Catton Branford (1837–1891), who worked as a veterinary surgeon in Oundle. In addition to Victor, William Branford had one daughter and a further three sons: Mary Ann Kitchen (1861–1907), Lionel William Ernest Catton (1866–1947), Benchara Bertrand Patrick (1868–1944), and John Frederick Kitchen (1869–1946). Branford began his schooling at Oundle School, but transferred to Daniel Stewart’s College when the family moved to Edinburgh in 1869 on his father’s appointment as Professor of Anatomy at the veterinary college in that city.
While studying at Edinburgh University, Victor Branford came under the influence of the charismatic Patrick Geddes, who was working as a demonstrator in the science faculty at the University. This contact with Geddes changed the direction of his life and led to his lifelong commitment to the development of sociology.
Working as a journalist in Dundee he met Matilda Elizabeth Stewart (1852–1915), widow of James Farquharson Stewart the editor of the "Dundee Advertiser", and the two were married in 1897. The Branfords lived in Amersham while Victor was working as an accountant in London, but the marriage did not last and Branford secured a divorce under American law in Goldfield, Nevada, in 1910. Branford had already met Sybella Gurney, an activist in the cooperative movement and the Garden Cities movement, and they were married in Philadelphia that same year.
When not in the United States, the Branfords lived in Hampstead Garden Suburb, where Gurney Drive was later named in memory of Sybella's involvement in the building of the Suburb. In 1912 they adopted two boys from a family unable to look after them and the boys were named as Archer Robert Branford and Hugh Sydney Branford. The family moved to Richmond, Surrey, in 1920, taking a summer home at New Milton, Hampshire, and in 1921 they settled in Hastings. Both Victor and Sybella experienced serious illnesses during the 1920s. Sybella died in 1926 and Victor in 1930.
Branford's sister Mary became an actress and married the stage and film actor Joseph Frederick Powell, known professionally as Joynson Powell and who appeared in Alfred Hitchcock's Murder (1930). Lionel and John both entered the Church, while Benchara was principal of Sunderland Technical College (now the University of Sunderland) and then Divisional Inspector for Mathematics at the London County Council. Mary's son Frederick Victor Branford became a significant war poet.
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