Ryder, Michael Lawson, 1927-2015
Dates
- Existence: 1927 - 2015
Biography
Michael Lawson Ryder was born in Leeds in 1927. His schooling at Leeds Grammar School was interrupted by his evacuation to the Yorkshire Dales during the Second World War. After completing his National Service in West Africa between 1945 and 1948, Ryder enrolled at the University of Leeds, receiving his BSc in 1951. In the same year, he began work in the biology department of the Wool Industries Research Association in Leeds, but also continued his studies at the University of Leeds, gaining his MSc in 1954 and PhD in 1956.
From 1960 to 1962 Ryder was a senior lecturer in Livestock Husbandry at the University of New England in Armidale, Australia. The following year, he returned to the UK to take up the position of Principal Scientific Officer at the Animal Breeding Research Organisation in Edinburgh. He remained at ABRO for twenty years, also becoming an Honorary lecturer at the University of Edinburgh in 1966. In 1984, he left ABRO to work for three years at the Hill Farming Research Organisation.
Ryder became known as an international expert on sheep and wool, publishing over 220 academic papers and several academic books, including 'Wool Growth' (1968) and the acclaimed 'Sheep and Man' (1983), which combined anthropology, archaeology, geography and folklore as well as biology and agriculture. The book encapsulated Ryder's lifelong interest in the domestication and spread of sheep among ancient civilizations, in the European middle ages the Islamic world. Ryder also made significant contributions to archaeozoology with his book 'Animal Bones in Archaelogy' (1961) and other papers. He continued to use his knowledge to analyse and interpret preserved ancient wool and textile remains, such as the finds from the site of Hallstatt in Austria in 2007.
After his retirement, Ryder relocated to Hampshire and continued to reseach and travel widely. He died on 6 February 2015.
Found in 86 Collections and/or Records:
Ancient Scythian wool from the Crimea, 13 April 1973
Located in A.B.R.O. Reprints 1973 - 1974. Volume 8 of 19.
Autoradiographic studies of wool growth rate in Wensleydale crossbred lambs: absence of a marked Circadian rhythm, 1981
Located in A.B.R.O. Reprints 1981. Volume 15 of 19.
British medieval sheep and their wool types, 1981
Located in A.B.R.O. Reprints 1981. Volume 15 of 19.
Changes in epidermal and wool pigmentation in autografts of sheep skin, May 1979
Located in A.B.R.O. Reprints 1979. Volume 13 of 19.
Changes in the fleece of sheep following domestication (with a note on the coat of cattle), 1969
Located in A.B.R.O. Reprints 1969 - 1970. Volume 6 of 19.
Characteristics of some less-common breeds of sheep in Southern Europe: a preliminary survey, 1977
Located in A.B.R.O. Reprints 1977. Volume 11 of 19.
Coat colour inheritance in Soay, Orkney Shetland sheep, 1974
Located in A.B.R.O. Reprints 1973 - 1974. Volume 8 of 19.
Coat growth in Red deer (Cervus elaphus) exposed to a day-length cycle of six months duration, 1978
Located in A.B.R.O. Reprints 1978. Volume 12 of 19.
Coat structure and seasonal shedding in goats, June 1966
Located in A.B.R.O. Reprints 1965 - 1966. Volume 4 of 19.
Coat structure in Soay sheep, 3 September 1966
Located in A.B.R.O. Reprints 1965 - 1966. Volume 4 of 19.
Additional filters:
- Type
- Archival Object 85
- Collection 1
- Subject
- Animal Genetics 85
- Sheep 45
- Wool--Growth 34
- Wool 24
- Seasonal variations 12
- Animals and history 10
- Sheep breeds 9
- Wool industry 7
- Great Britain 6
- Merino sheep 5
- Scotland 5
- Animals--Colour 4
- Evolution (Biology) 4
- Hides and Skins 4
- Textile fabrics 4
- Archaeology 3
- Australia 3
- Cross-Breeding 3
- Domestication 3
- Goats 3
- Hair 3
- Lambs 3
- Livestock improvement 3
- Red deer 3
- Archaeological sites 2
- Cattle 2
- Histology 2
- Moulting 2
- Rare breeds 2
- Abnormalities, Animal 1
- Adaptation (Biology) 1
- Angus (Scotland) 1
- Animal Breeding 1
- Animal diversity conservation 1
- Animal feeding 1
- Animal fibers 1
- Animal populations--Climatic factors 1
- Animal products 1
- Animals 1
- Animals--Diseases 1
- Biological laboratories--Equipment and supplies 1
- Biology 1
- Cats 1
- Crimea (Ukraine) 1
- Dermatology 1
- Economic conditions 1
- England 1
- Epidermis 1
- Europe, Southern 1
- Fife Scotland 1
- Food 1
- France 1
- Fur 1
- Germany 1
- Hair cells--Regeneration 1
- Hebrides (Scotland) 1
- Highland Clearances 1
- Human-animal relationships 1
- Hybridisation 1
- Ireland 1
- Livestock 1
- Mammoths 1
- Mouflon sheep 1
- New Zealand 1
- Orkney Scotland 1
- Paper 1
- Rams 1
- Rhinoceros horn industry 1
- Scotland -- Inverness-shire -- St Kilda 1
- Sheep industry 1
- Shetland (Scotland) 1
- Shipwrecks 1
- Soay sheep 1
- Species protection 1
- Spinning 1
- Tell el-Amarna (Egypt) 1
- Textile crafts 1
- Thyroid hormones 1
- Variation (Biology) 1
- Wood 1
- Zoo-archaeology 1
- Zoology 1 + ∧ less