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 34 Collections and/or Records:
A note on staple formation in fleeces, December 1976
Located in A.B.R.O. Reprints 1976. Volume 10 of 19.
A note on the effect of changes in daylength on the seasonal wool growth cycle in Soay sheep, 1976
Located in A.B.R.O. Reprints 1976. Volume 10 of 19.
A note on the failure of thyroxine to restore wool growth to inactive follicles, 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.
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.
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.
Cycles of wool follicle activity in some Shetland sheep, 1971
Located in A.B.R.O. Reprints 1971 - 1972. Volume 7 of 19.
Development, structure and seasonal change in the fleeces of unimproved Scottish Blackface sheep from the Hebrides, 1975
Located in A.B.R.O. Reprints 1975. Volume 9 of 19.
Additional filters:
- Subject
- Sheep 21
- Seasonal variations 8
- Sheep breeds 4
- Cross-Breeding 3
- Wool 3
- Lambs 2
- Red deer 2
- Animal populations--Climatic factors 1
- Cattle 1
- Domestication 1
- Goats 1
- Hebrides (Scotland) 1
- Histology 1
- Livestock improvement 1
- Mammoths 1
- Merino sheep 1
- Mouflon sheep 1
- Moulting 1
- Soay sheep 1
- Thyroid hormones 1
- Wool industry 1 + ∧ less