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Centenary
DESPITE being a main mover and shaker in early British psychology, C.S Myers is difficult to bring into focus. He is constantly confused with RW.H. Myers, also based at Cambridge, but an enthusiast for psychic research and psychoanalysis. In the photographs of the famous Torres Straits expedition of 1898 Myers gets lost among the other bearded psychologists and anthropologists. In the historical record he appears mainly in supporting roles, as assistant to W.H.R. Rivers or promoter of Frederic Bartlett's ascendancy.
In fact, Myers set up the Cambridge Laboratory of Experimental Psychology in 1912: he and his family providing most of the cash. Also, while Rivers is now widely credited with single-handedly taking on the problem of shell shock in the First World War, Myers was in there first (Shepard,...