It is almost exactly one hundred years – 1904, to be precise – since the University of Cambridge established a Board of Anthropology. What stimulated a university, renowned then (but not now, of course) for its conservatism, to create such a novel area of study and research, outside the realm of orthodox scientific or humanistic approaches to humanity? One answer, unsatisfactory from the point of view of intellectual history perhaps, but undoubtedly largely correct, is that it came from the determination of some energetic figures at the time. On the one hand there was strong support from powerful figures in the University: Alexander MacAlister, the professor of anatomy, being a key person, William Ridgeway, the then Disney Professor of Archaeology, being another, and James Frazer, the renowned Victorian anthropologist, a third. But above all, there was the figure of A.C. Haddon, zoologist turned anthropologist, and founding father of anthropology at Cambridge (Figure 1). It is clear that his intellectual and practical talents inspired the support of senior Cambridge professors and also, once the Board was established, ensured its success.

Another reason, though, comes from what it was that Haddon and his colleagues were trying to do with anthropology. Again the answer, in terms of many aspects of modern anthropology, will be deeply disappointing.