Tom Harrisson

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Not to be confused with Tom Harrison.

Tom Harrisson (1911-1976) was a British polymath (although often described as an anthropologist his degree studies at Cambridge were in ecology before he left to live in Oxford). In the course of his life he was an ornithologist, explorer, mass-observer, journalist, broadcaster, soldier, ethnologist, museum curator, archaeologist, film-maker, conservationist, and writer.

He was born in Argentina, educated at Harrow School in England, conducted ornithological and anthropological research in the New Hebrides, spent much of his life in Borneo (mainly Sarawak) and finished up in the USA, the UK and France before dying in a road accident in Thailand.

He was involved in the British social research organization Mass-Observation.

During the Second World War Harrisson continued directing Mass-Observation and was Radio critic for a Sunday newspaper, The Observer, from May 1942 until June 1944. For much of this time he was in the army and gave up reviewing on leaving the UK. He had been recruited (some sources say by a confusion of names, despite his apparent suitability) for a plan to use the native peoples of Borneo against the Japanese. He was attached to Z Special Unit (also known as Z Force), part of the Services Reconnaissance Department (SRD: a branch of the combined Allied Intelligence Bureau in the South West Pacific theatre). On March 25, 1945, he was parachuted with seven Z Force operatives from a Consolidated Liberator onto a high plateau occupied by the Kelabit people. An autobiographical account of this operation (SEMUT) is given in World Within (Cresset Press, 1959); there are also reports - not always flattering - from some of his comrades.

Following the war, he was Curator of the Sarawak Museum 1947-1966. In the 1950s and 1960s Tom and Barbara Harrisson undertook pioneering excavations in the West Mouth of the Great Cave at Niah, Sarawak, South-East Asia Niah Caves Their most important discovery was a human skull in deposits dated by radiocarbon to about 40,000 years ago, the earliest date for modern humans in Borneo. The results of their excavations were never published in an appropriate manner leading to uncertainty and doubts as to their results; however, they are largely vindicated by results of excavations carried out by the Niah Cave Project from 2000-2003.

The title of his biography, The Most Offending Soul Alive, gives a flavour of the strong feelings he engendered, but he also had many admirers and is recognised as a pioneer in several areas.

[edit] Publications

As well as numerous papers and monographs in scientific journals, especially the Sarawak Museum Journal, books he authored include:

Harrisson, T.H. (1931). Birds of the Harrow District 1925-1930. Harrow School.
Harrisson, T.H. (1933). Letter to Oxford. The Hate Press: Gloucestershire.
Harrisson, Tom. (1937). Savage Civilisation. Victor Gollancz: London.
Madge, Charles; & Harrisson, Tom. (1937). Mass-Observation. Frederick Muller: London.
Harrisson, Tom. (ed). (1938). Borneo Jungle. An account of the Oxford University expedition of 1932. Lindsay Drummond Ltd: London.
Madge, Charles; & Harrisson, Tom. (1939). Britain by Mass-Observation. Penguin: Harmondsworth.
Harrisson, Tom. (1943). Living Among Cannibals. George G. Harrap & Co: London.
Harrisson, Tom. (ed). (1943). The Pub and the People. Victor Gollancz: London.
Harrisson, Tom. (1959). World Within. A Borneo Story. Cresset Press: London.
Harrisson, Tom. (ed). (1959). The Peoples of Sarawak. Sarawak Museum: Kuching.
Harrisson, Tom. (1961). Britain Revisited. Victor Gollancz: London.
Harrisson, Tom. (1970). The Malays of South-West Sarawak before Malaysia. Macmillan: London.
Harrisson, Tom. (1976). Living through the Blitz. Collins: London.

[edit] References

Green, Timothy (1970). The Adventurers. Four profiles of contemporary travellers.. Michael Joseph. London.
Truscott, Jim (nd) Voices from Borneo. The Japanese War accessed June 2007.
Heimann, Judith M. (1999). The Most Offending Soul Alive: Tom Harrisson and His Remarkable Life. University of Hawai'i Press: Honolulu. ISBN 0-8248-2149-1. Also published (2002) in London by Aurum Press. ISBN 1854108417