Ronald George Hatton was a distinguished pomologist, an able administrator and a man who won the affection and esteem of his friends and colleagues alike. Ronald was born on 6 July 1886, in Yorkshire, a county for which he always retained a great affection. He was the youngest child of Ernest Hatton who was a barrister of the Inner Temple. Ronald’s mother was Amy Pearson, a woman of forceful character who came from a similar environment, since she was the daughter of William Pearson, also a barrister, who had taken silk. With such legal forebears on both sides of the family it would scarcely have been surprising if their son had followed the law, but perhaps this hereditary influence manifested itself, in later life, in a marked ability for administration and the handling of finance. But, though Ronald’s ancestry was mainly non-scientific, there was one very distinguished scientist on the mother’s side, namely his uncle, Professor Karl Pearson, F.R.S., the famous statistician and author of
The grammar of science
. The other members of the family were two sisters. The elder of these, Margerie, followed a successful career as a nurse. She became Matron of the Cottage Hospital at Lyme Regis and, later, for a period of thirteen years till the time of her death, was Matron of the hospital at Teignmouth. The younger sister, Dorothy, studied modern languages at Exeter and was indeed the first woman to receive the Batchelor of Arts Degree from the, then newly established, College of the South-West. She next turned her attention to chemistry, though at this time and subsequently, after her marriage, outdoor pursuits always claimed her great interest.
Gaps in social support resources in later life: An adaptational challenge in need of further research
