Roland Fabien Berrill (1897–1962) was a British-Australian who was the co-founder (with the

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 Lancelot Ware) of Mensa, the international society for intellectually gifted people.

The founding of Mensa

Mensa was founded by Berrill and Lancelot Ware at Lincoln College, Oxford, England on 1 October 1946. They originally called it the "High IQ Club". Lance Ware had the initial idea for the society, but Berrill founded Mensa in the usual sense: he supplied the start-up cash, wrote some initial idiosyncratic pamphlets and became Mensa's first Secretary. Berrill was an unashamed elitist, who regretted the passing of an aristocratic tradition. He regarded Mensa as "an aristocracy of the intellect". He noticed with some disappointment that a majority of Mensans appeared to have come from humble homes. At an early Mensa organizational meeting, one of the people present proposed that black people be excluded from Mensa. This was met by shocked silence. Then Berrill proposed that the motion be amended to exclude "green people with yellow stripes" instead. This amended motion passed, with one vote against. If the minutes of that meeting had not been lost, that statute might still be on the books of Mensa. Berrill died a few years later, having recruited in total around 400 people by self-administered IQ tests.

Personal life

Berrill was born in Australia in 1897, but left with his family in 1901 and went to London. Although he was called to the bar, he never practised as a barrister but lived on the dividends of his investments. He spent most of the rest of his life in England. He had brief trips to

Tangier Tangier ( ; ; ar, طنجة, Ṭanja) is a city in northwestern Morocco. It is on the Moroccan coast at the western entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar, where the Mediterranean Sea meets the Atlantic Ocean off Cape Spartel. The town is the capi ...

in 1936,

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in 1937 and

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, South Africa in 1959. On 22 November 1948 he spoke at the Socratic Club at

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, combining with Father Victor White, on the topic "Beyond Myth and Dogma" at Lady Margaret Hall in the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

. Berrill was thick-set and sturdy, with a full dark beard and moustache. He believed in

palmistry Palmistry is the pseudoscientific practice of fortune-telling through the study of the palm. Also known as palm reading, chiromancy, chirology or cheirology, the practice is found all over the world, with numerous cultural variations. Those who ...

, phrenology,

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and

dianetics Dianetics (from Greek ''dia'', meaning "through", and ''nous'', meaning " mind") is a set of pseudoscientific ideas and practices regarding the metaphysical relationship between the mind and body created by science fiction writer L. Ron Hub ...

. These views were not popular within Mensa, and he was regarded by Mensans as "deficient in normal scepticism". Berrill was a member of the men's dress reform movement; he desired more colour in men's clothes, and objected to the uniformity common in those days. He never married.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Berrill, Roland 1897 births 1962 deaths Australian barristers Australian emigrants to the United Kingdom Mensans Date of birth missing Date of death missing