Hilda Mabel Canter-Lund (1922 – 15 January 2007) was an English mycologist, protozoologist, and photographer. She worked as a mycologist and then as a senior principal scientific officer at the laboratories of the

Freshwater Biological Association The Freshwater Biological Association (FBA) is an independent scientific organisation founded in 1929 in Cumbria by Felix Eugen Fritsch, William Harold Pearsall, Francis Balfour-Browne, and Robert Gurney among others. Whilst originally created to ...

. Canter took photographs and several of them were exhibited in multiple publications and published more than 74 papers of which 25 were in collaboration with colleagues. She received a fellowship from the

Royal Photographic Society The Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain, commonly known as the Royal Photographic Society (RPS), is one of the world's oldest photographic societies. It was founded in London, England, in 1853 as the Photographic Society of London with ...

, the Benefactor's Medal from the

British Mycological Society The British Mycological Society is a learned society established in 1896 to promote the study of fungi. Formation The British Mycological Society (BMS) was formed by the combined efforts of two local societies: the Woolhope Naturalists' Field ...

(BMS) and was elected an centennial fellow of the BMS. A photographic award in Canter's honour was established by the

British Phycological Society The British Phycological Society, founded in 1952, is a learned society based in the United Kingdom promoting the study of algae. Members interests include all aspects of the study of algae, including both natural biodiversity and applied uses. ...

Biography

Canter was born in 1922 in

Highbury Highbury is a district in North London and part of the London Borough of Islington in Greater London that was owned by Ranulf brother of Ilger and included all the areas north and east of Canonbury and Holloway Roads. The manor house was situ ...

, London. She was the daughter of a gas fitter assigned to the

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...

during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, and she was an only child. Canter went to Drayton Park Primary School in London from 1927 to 1933 and then attended

Camden School for Girls The Camden School for Girls (CSG) is a comprehensive secondary school for girls, with a co-educational sixth form, in the London Borough of Camden in north London. It has about one thousand students of ages eleven to eighteen, and specialist- ...

between 1933 and 1940 before she was evacuated to

Grantham Grantham () is a market and industrial town in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England, situated on the banks of the River Witham and bounded to the west by the A1 road. It lies some 23 miles (37 km) south of the Lincoln and ...

when the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

was ongoing. She graduated from

Bedford College, London file:Bedford College in York place - photographer is unknown but guess 1908.png, Bedford College was in York Place after 1874 Bedford College was founded in London in 1849 as the first higher education college for education of women, women in th ...

with an intermediate

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

degree with honours in botany, geography, physics and zoology in 1944 before earning a post-graduate education diploma from the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

the following year and got

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common Academic degree, degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields ...

and

Doctor of Science Doctor of Science ( la, links=no, Scientiae Doctor), usually abbreviated Sc.D., D.Sc., S.D., or D.S., is an academic research degree awarded in a number of countries throughout the world. In some countries, "Doctor of Science" is the degree used f ...

degrees on fungi research at

Wray Castle Wray Castle is a Victorian neo-gothic building at Claife in the English county of Cumbria. The house and grounds have belonged to the National Trust since 1929, and house has opened to the public on a regular basis since 2013. The grounds, whi ...

supervised by

Cecil Terence Ingold Cecil Terence Ingold CMG (5 July 1905 – 31 May 2010) was "one of the most influential mycologists of the twentieth century". He was president of the British Mycological Society where he organised the first international congress of mycologis ...

from

Queen Mary College Queen Mary University of London (QMUL, or informally QM, and previously Queen Mary and Westfield College) is a public university, public research university in Mile End, East London, England. It is a member institution of the federal University of ...

's Department of Botany in 1948 and 1955 respectively. She had attended a botany course at Wray Castle on the shores of

Windermere Windermere (sometimes tautology (language), tautologically called Windermere Lake to distinguish it from the nearby town of Windermere, Cumbria (town), Windermere) is the largest natural lake in England. More than 11 miles (18 km) in leng ...

in 1943 and observed that much of the

phytoplankton Phytoplankton () are the autotrophic (self-feeding) components of the plankton community and a key part of ocean and freshwater ecosystems. The name comes from the Greek words (), meaning 'plant', and (), meaning 'wanderer' or 'drifter'. Ph ...

that was collected had been infected by fungi. Canter noticed a saprophytic chytrid she was unable to identify and contacted Ingold to send him a sample that he described as '' Chytriomyces elegans''. She thereon began to investigate chytrids and other algae-associated fungi with initial guidance from Ingold. Canter was appointed mycologist for the laboratories of the

(FBA) in 1948. She was employed part-time in an honorary position from 1956 to 1962 so she could look after her family, financed by a grant from the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

allowing her to continue studying at home. Canter was FBA's senior principal scientific officer between 1976 and 1987. In 1965, Canter received an fellowship from the

, and an individual special merit proclamation from the Department of the Civil Service eleven years later. Several of her photographs of algae were exhibited and published in publications such as on the front cover of the ''

Radio Times ''Radio Times'' (currently styled as ''RadioTimes'') is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in May 1923 by J ...

'' magazine announcing the

David Attenborough Sir David Frederick Attenborough (; born 8 May 1926) is an English broadcaster, biologist, natural historian and author. He is best known for writing and presenting, in conjunction with the BBC Natural History Unit, the nine natural histor ...

television series ''Life on Earth'' broadcast on

BBC Television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios from 193 ...

from January 1979. Canter published more than 74 papers and 25 of them were in collaboration with her colleagues. She and G. W. Beakes conducted experiments with the ''Rhizophydium planktonicum'' parasitic and grew more chytrid species in culture for ultrastructural studies and the results of this experiment were published in ''Annals of Botany'', ''Mycological Research'' and other journals from 1979 to 1993. In 1990, Canter was appointed an honorary research fellow of the FBA, and was awarded the Benefactor's Medal from the

(BMS) a year later. She and John Lund compiled ''Freshwater Algae: Their Microscopic World Explored'' in 1995, and the two received the Prescott Award from the

Phycological Society of America The Phycological Society of America (PSA) is a professional society, founded in 1946, that is dedicated to the advancement of phycology, the study of algae. The PSA is responsible for the publication of ''Journal of Phycology'' and organizes an ...

"for publication of the best book about algae" in 1997. Canter was elected an centennial fellow of the BMS in 1996 and became an honorary member of the FBA.

Personal life

She married the phycologist John W. G. Lund in 1949, and the couple had two children. Canter died from

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegeneration, neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in short-term me ...

on 15 January 2007 in

Ambleside Ambleside is a town and former civil parish, now in the parish of Lakes, Cumbria, Lakes, in Cumbria, in North West England. Historic counties of England, Historically in Westmorland, it marks the head (and sits on the east side of the northern ...

Westmorland Westmorland (, formerly also spelt ''Westmoreland'';R. Wilkinson The British Isles, Sheet The British IslesVision of Britain/ref> is a historic county in North West England spanning the southern Lake District and the northern Dales. It had an ...

. Her funeral was held at Lancaster & Morecambe Crematorium on 29 January.

Legacy

Canter's husband described her as having "an international reputation for the technical excellence and brilliance of the pictures she took down her microscope and an international reputation in her field of study." The

established the Hilda Canter-Lund Annual Photography Award that awards a monetary prize "for a photograph on a phycological theme that best combines these informative, technical and aesthetic qualities" of either an image taken of a micro- or macroalga, marine, freshwater or terrestrial in her honour. The FBA Archives hold a collection of Canter's personal and scientific correspondence and work-related papers and photographs from the 1930s to the 1980s.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Canter, Hilda Mabel 1922 births 2007 deaths 20th-century English women 21st-century English women People from Highbury English mycologists English women photographers Photographers from London English women biologists People educated at Camden School for Girls Alumni of the University of London Alumni of Queen Mary University of London