Lancelot Lionel Ware OBE (5 June 191515 August 2000) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...

and

biochemist Biochemists are scientists who are trained in biochemistry. They study chemical processes and chemical transformations in living organisms. Biochemists study DNA, proteins and Cell (biology), cell parts. The word "biochemist" is a portmanteau of ...

. He co-founded Mensa, the international society for intellectually gifted people, with the

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

n barrister

Roland Berrill Roland Fabien Berrill (1897–1962) was a British-Australian who was the co-founder (with the English barrister Lancelot Ware) of Mensa, the international society for intellectually gifted people. The founding of Mensa Mensa was founded by Be ...

in 1946. It was originally called the "High IQ Club".

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

Life

Ware was born in

Mitcham Mitcham is an area within the London Borough of Merton in South London, England. It is centred southwest of Charing Cross. Originally a village in the county of Surrey, today it is mainly a residential suburb, and includes Mitcham Common. It ha ...

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

, the eldest child of Frederick Ware and Eleanor Emslie. He attended Steyning Grammar School and

Sutton Grammar School Sutton Grammar School (formerly Sutton Grammar School for Boys) is a selective state grammar school for boys aged 11-18 with a Mixed-sex education, coeducational sixth form. Located in South London, the school's main site is in Sutton, London, ...

. He then became a Royal Scholar at

Imperial College London Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...

, reading

mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

, followed by a PhD in

biochemistry Biochemistry or biological chemistry is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology and ...

. In June 1980, at the age of 65, he married Joan Francesca Rae Quint (née Gomez), who survived him. He died 15 August 2000, aged 85.

Career

Ware undertook medical research with Sir Henry Dale at the

National Institute for Medical Research The National Institute for Medical Research (commonly abbreviated to NIMR), was a medical research institute based in Mill Hill, on the outskirts of north London, England. It was funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC); In 2016, the NIMR b ...

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, and extends from Watling Street, the A5 road (Roman Watling Street) to Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland. The area forms the northwest part of the Lon ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, and became a non-clinical medical researcher and lecturer in biochemistry at

St Thomas' Hospital St Thomas' Hospital is a large NHS teaching hospital in Central London, England. It is one of the institutions that compose the King's Health Partners, an academic health science centre. Administratively part of the Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foun ...

. During

World War II 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 ...

, Ware worked at the

Porton Down Porton Down is a science park in Wiltshire, England, just northeast of the village of Porton, near Salisbury. It is home to two British government facilities: a site of the Ministry of Defence's Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl ...

secret research establishment. He then worked as a scientist for the Boots Company in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...

. During this time, he learned about

IQ test An intelligence quotient (IQ) is a total score derived from a set of standardized tests or subtests designed to assess human intelligence. The abbreviation "IQ" was coined by the psychologist William Stern (psychologist), William Stern for th ...

s. At the end of the war in 1945, he started a

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

degree at

Lincoln College, Oxford Lincoln College (formally, The College of the Blessed Mary and All Saints, Lincoln) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford, situated on Turl Street in central Oxford. Lincoln was founded in 1427 by Richard Fleming, the ...

. In 1949, Ware was

called to the Bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. (The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn.) Lincoln ...

and he practised in the Chancery field, specialising in intellectual property, copyright and patent matters. He was also very interested in

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

politics. He became an

Alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many Jurisdiction, jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council membe ...

of the

London County Council London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today kno ...

(LCC) in the 1960s. Ware joined the Athenaeum Club in 1983, a

club. He was appointed an

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(OBE) for services to the

Institute of Patentees and Inventors The Institute of Patentees and Inventors is a United Kingdom-based non-profit making association. It provides support to individuals on all aspects of inventing. See also * Intellectual property organization Intellectual property organization ...

, which he chaired for many years. Ware retired from the Bar in 1987.

Mensa

The origins of Mensa were said to be from a conversation on a train with Roland Berrill, a lawyer with an interest in

phrenology Phrenology () is a pseudoscience which involves the measurement of bumps on the skull to predict mental traits.Wihe, J. V. (2002). "Science and Pseudoscience: A Primer in Critical Thinking." In ''Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience'', pp. 195–203. C ...

. Ware argued that IQ tests were more appropriate and later tested Berrill, finding him to be in the top 1% of the population. They therefore agreed to form a High IQ club, with Berrill providing the funding, and it began on 1 October 1946. Initially the society was intended for the top 1% of the population by intelligence, but a

standard deviation In statistics, the standard deviation is a measure of the amount of variation or dispersion of a set of values. A low standard deviation indicates that the values tend to be close to the mean (also called the expected value) of the set, while ...

computing error meant it ended up being the top 2%, and this criterion has remained since then. By 1950, Ware had left Mensa, disagreeing with the way it was run by Berrill. However, after Berrill died in 1961, he re-joined the society.

References

Encyclopædia Britannica Online entry

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ware, Lancelot 1915 births 2000 deaths English barristers Members of Lincoln's Inn Members of London County Council Conservative Party (UK) politicians People educated at Sutton Grammar School Alumni of Lincoln College, Oxford Alumni of Imperial College London Officers of the Order of the British Empire Mensans 20th-century American lawyers Unitarian Universalists 20th-century English lawyers