Kate Bertram

Bertram's 1942 report included the cichlids of Lake Nyasa (now Lake Malawi). This collection is in Toronto Zoo.

Cicely Kate Bertram, JP (née Ricardo; 8 July 1912 – 6 July 1999) was a British academic specialising in East African and Palestinian fisheries, and working with her husband Colin Bertram on sirenea.^[1][2] Part of the 1930s "Cambridge school" of biologists, she contributed to two seminal reports on freshwater fish in eastern Africa.

Early Life and education[]

Bertram was born in London to Sir Harry Ricardo and Beatrice Hale in 1912.^[1] She attended Newnham College, Cambridge.

In 1939, she married Colin Bertram, British marine zoologist, with whom she had four sons.

Career[]

After the second world war, Bertram returned to Cambridge, where she taught at Newnham College and Girton College,^[1] which, at the time, were the only colleges which admitted women to the University of Cambridge. While at the university, she was a member of the "Dining Group", who helped establish New Hall (now Murray Edwards College) in 1954, a college for women who's careers and education had been interrupted by family responsibilities.

Lucy Cavendish College[]

In 1965, Lucy Cavendish College was founded; Bertram became the first Tutor and Secretary to the Governing body. In 1970, Bertram became the second ever President of Lucy Cavendish College, University of Cambridge, a position she held until her retirement in 1979. She was an honorary fellow of the college from 1982-1999.^[1] Later in life, Bertram suffered Alzheimer's, and died in Graffham, Sussex 6 July 1999.

The Kate Bertram Prize is awarded at Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge, to students receiving First Class results in non-tripos examinations.^[3]

Bertram also had an extensive fieldwork career with her husband, travelling to Australia, Papua New Guinea, Sri Lanka, Belize and the Guianas to study manatees and dugongs.^[2] From 1962 to 1977, they published almost two dozen scientific articles and books, including in Nature, on the ecology, economic uses, and conservation of sirenians. The IUCN/SSC Sirenia Specialist Group was created largely as a result of their data collection on sirenia distribution and status.

Bertram served as a Justice of the Peace in Cambridgeshire, eastern England, for twenty years.

Publications[]

• Ricardo, C.K. n.d. (1939). Report on the Fish and Fisheries of Lake Rukwa in Tanganyika Territory and the Bangweulu Region in Northern Rhodesia. London: Crown Agents for the Colonies.
• Bertram, C.K., Borley, H.J.H. & Trewavas, E. (1942). Report on the Fish and Fisheries of Lake Nyasa. London: Crown Agents for the Colonies. Known as the 1939 Survey.
• C. Kate Bertram (1989). Lucy Cavendish College: A history of the early years.
• Bertram, C. Kate & Janet Trant (1991). Ion Trant. (Ed). Letters from the Swamps. Graffham, Sussex: Dr C.K. Bertram.
• C.K. Ricardo Bertram (1944). "Abridged Report on The Fish and Fishery of Lake Tiberias" Haifa: Palestine Department of Agriculture and Fisheries.

References[]

• Peter N B Jackson. "Obituary: Kate Bertram" Ichthos 62, December 1999. ISSN 1011-7490. Retrieved 9 May 2006.
• "Death Reported: Cicely Kate Ricardo Bertram" Sirenews 33, April 2000. Retrieved 9 May 2000.