Serendipity: a personal tale of two biographies, William Richard Gowers (1845–1915) and his son Ernest (1880–1966)

Abstract

Between 2004 and 2012, the author wrote two biographies, the first of 20th century civil servant Ernest Gowers and the second of his father the Victorian neurologist William Richard Gowers. This article describes the author’s experience conducting the research for two biographies at a time when the research tools available were rapidly shifting from paper-based to digital records. Technological aids have made the preliminary research of historians easier, but they have not taken the place of hard copy archive-based research. While the paper will focus primarily on the biography of William Richard Gowers, the author describes the research methods she employed to help reveal the personalities, strengths and weaknesses of both men, each of whom left his own intellectual legacy.