Before the welfare state: Bastian’s Civil List pension

Abstract

Bastian, an eminent, if controversial, naturalist, pioneer neurologist, and for 30 years, professor at University College, London, ended with a certain income of only £75 in his last year. Sir James Crichton-Browne initiated the grant of a Civil List pension. Prime Minister H Asquith, after consulting the London Royal Society, advised King George V to disburse a pension of £150.