John (Kay) Corner left home in 1960, aged 19. He would never see his father, E. J. H. Corner, again.
Edred John Henry Corner was one of the most colourful and productive biologists and mycologists of the 20th century. His career began in 1929 as Assistant Director of the Straits Settlements Singapore Botanic Gardens, where he trained monkeys to collect specimens from the treetops of the rainforest, and published Wayside Trees of Malaya, a classic field guide interspersed with his delightful and idiosyncratic observations on plant life. He was key in the creation of Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, a 163- hectare plot that contains more tree species than the whole of North America. When war came, he considered it his responsibility to safeguard the scientific and cultural collections of Singapore during the Japanese Occupation, but was branded by some as a collaborator. Post-war, after heading the ambitious UNESCO Hylean Amazon Project, he returned to Cambridge University and was appointed Professor of Tropical Botany in 1965. There he propounded his theory that the Durian represented an ancestral type of angiosperm tree. He was elected a Fellow of The Royal Society, where he promoted the conservation of tropical forests and led expeditions to the British Solomon Islands and Mount Kinabalu. For the latter, he proposed Kinabalu Park which led to its designation as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
After 46 years, John Corner faces his estranged father in a suitcase marked: ‘For Kay, wherever he might be.’ The letters, pictures and other memorabilia that spill out led him to search for the father he hardly knew, resulting in an engaging and frank biography of an eminent scientist who put science above all, including his family.
Editorial Reviews of My Father in His Suitcase
“Professor Corner was ‘one of the most colourful and productive biologists and mycologists of the 20th century.’” Sir Hugh Cortazzi, The Japan Society
“Do get hold of a copy if you have the chance, and do not be put off by the omission of “and mycologist” at the end of the subtitle. It should have been there, and you will find this a book difficult to put down.” Professor Dr. David Hawksworth CBE, International Mycological Association (IMA) journal
Table of Contents
Prologue
Early Life
University and Singapore Opportunity
A Corner of Singapore
The Tale of the Frock
Home Visit
Out in the Field
Wayside Trees & Botanical Monkeys
Sheila Bailey
Courtship & Marriage
Marriage Disrupted
The Note
At Work in Syonan-to
Across the Fence
Sayonara
Backlash
To the Other Side of the World
Fracture
Carrying on with UNESCO
Family Ruined
My Life at Twyford School
Divorce and Aftermath
To The Leys
Progress
Father and Son Asunder
Kinabalu
Solomon Islands
Professor of Tropical Botany
Revisiting Wayside Trees
Out of the Corner
The Life of Ancient Trees
Epilogue
