Henry Faulds was born in Ayrshire in 1843. He studied medicine at Anderson's College in Glasgow and qualified as a Licentiate of the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow in 1871. He became a Church of Scotland Missionary to India and Japan. He began studying fingerprints in Japan in the 1870's and is credited with the earliest fingerprint identification. His research was published in Nature Magazine in 1880. He asked Charles Darwin (1809-1882) for help in publicising his research but Darwin involved his cousin, Sir Francis Galton 1822-1911), who later claimed the credit for the discovery of fingerprinting. Faulds died in obscurity in 1930.
This collection mainly contains correspondence relating to the campaign led by Sheriff George W. Wilton to gain civil list pensions for the two daughters of Dr Henry Faulds. The campaign involved establishing that Dr Faulds had made a significant contribution in the discovery and development of fingerprinting in criminal investigations.
From the guide to the Papers relating to Dr Henry Faulds (1843-1930), 1951-1964, (Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow)
