Went, Arthur Edward James (1910–80), fisheries biologist and historian, was born 21 January 1910 in London, first child and only son of Edward B. Went and Louisa A. Went of Mitcham, Surrey. He left school at the age of 15 to work in a chemical laboratory but in his spare time studied for the London matriculation. In 1930 he entered Imperial College, London, where he was awarded an honours degree in zoology (1934) and ARCS. Here his lifelong interest in fisheries was initiated. As an undergraduate he worked on fishing trawlers in Icelandic waters, and his undergraduate thesis was a study on herring, carried out in association with Plymouth Marine Laboratory. After graduating he was awarded a travelling studentship to the Royal Norwegian University of Oslo. In 1936 he was appointed assistant inspector of fisheries in the Department of Agriculture, Dublin. Ten years later (1946) he was promoted to the position of scientific adviser and chief inspector of fisheries, succeeding George P. Farran (qv), where he remained till his retirement twenty-nine years later (1975). During his term of office the number of staff rose from four to twelve, and before his retirement a decision was made to move the research section of the fisheries administration to a new laboratory at Abbotstown.
Went's major interest was in salmon, and one of his early projects was a pioneering survey of the juvenile salmon of the River Liffey (A. E. J. Went and Winifred E. Frost, ‘River Liffey Survey III. The growth and food of young salmon’, RIA Proc., xlvi B (1940), 53–80). His later work concentrated on aspects of the life history of adult salmon, particularly longevity and migration, on which he became an acknowledged world authority. Longevity was calculated using interpretation of fish scales, and migration was investigated using tagging experiments. His extensive scale data on age determinations of salmon was summarised first in Irish salmon and salmon fisheries (1955) and later in a series of lectures given on a tour of North America (1970) at the invitation of the Atlantic Salmon Foundation. Regarding his knowledge of Atlantic salmon, when queried on a point, he is remembered as replying: ‘I don't know – and when I say I don't know I mean nobody knows’ (David Went).
His first published work on salmon tagging (RIA Proc., lii B (1947), 173–95), using data from tagged kelts released from hatcheries, confirmed the accuracy with which salmon could locate their spawning rivers. Later he initiated the more ambitious scheme of tagging salmon caught at sea, which was part of an international programme agreed by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES). Results of the tagging work were also published in his 1955 and 1970 papers. In addition to his work on salmon he wrote on age determinations of sea trout, publishing a review (1962) of his own and earlier studies by G. H. Nall. He also made a study of the distributions of Irish varieties of char. However, his personal interest in marine fisheries was the recording of rare and unusual species, a list of which he contributed annually to the Irish Naturalists' Journal, culminating in his National Museum List of Irish fishes (1957), which was later revised (1969) with his friend Michael Kennedy.
In 1942 he received a Ph.D. from Imperial College London (ICL) for a thesis on the biology of salmon in the River Shannon and Ballysadare River. At the same time (1942) the RIA elected him a member where, at 32, he was one of the youngest in its history. ICL later recognised the extent and importance of his published work on fisheries by awarding him a D.Sc. (1948).
Outside his fisheries research work he also rose to prominence with his studies of the history of Irish fisheries, contributing many papers to Irish antiquarian journals (see list in Cork Hist. Soc. Jn., lxxxv (1980), 127–8). In 1939 he recorded the distribution of eel weirs in Ireland, and later prompted Christopher Moriarty to make a study of eel biology and the fishery in Ireland and abroad. Although other fisheries were of interest, salmon was still a priority and he published an important historical review, The pursuit of Irish salmon (1964). ICES invited him to write a history of the institution for its seventieth birthday, which was published as Seventy years a-growing (1972).
A committed and keen committee member of ICES since he first attended in 1938, he was chairman either of the Salmon and Trout committee or of the consultative committee between 1952 and 1966. For three years (from 1966) he was president of the council, the oldest international scientific organisation in the world.
On home ground Went was an active member of several societies: the RIA, the RDS, An Taisce (chairman 1964–7), and the Royal Zoological Society of Ireland (council member, vice-president, and president (1974–6)), where he frequently attended ‘Zoo breakfasts’. He was a founding member of the Irish Specimen Fish Committee and the Institute of Biology of Ireland and was instrumental in setting up the Salmon Research Trust of Ireland. The latter was an independent charitable trust cofunded by monies offered by Guinness and a subvention from the then Department of Agriculture and Fisheries. Besides biology he was also interested in medals and coins and was an active member (and sometime chairman) of the Numismatic Society of Ireland. A zealous collector, his collection of Queen Anne coins was reputed to be one of the finest in the world. For his seventieth birthday his numismatic friends commissioned a portrait from Thomas Ryan, RHA, and a copy of the portrait was presented to the RDS by the artist. He was also a member of the board of visitors of the National Museum.
A kind, ebullient, and outgoing man, he was remembered at after-meeting gatherings as having little time to sip his favoured gin and bitter lemon, so involved was he in conversations, which were a constant flow of reminiscences, wit, and anecdotes. His family remember him as an exceptionally straightforward person with a strong sense of integrity: ‘If you are uncomfortable about whether something is right or wrong, ask yourself, having done it, would you be able to look yourself in the eye in the mirror in the morning?’ (David Went). He loved his work and shared his enthusiasm with the public by conducting tours of Dublin Zoo for children, giving RDS extension lectures, and contributing articles to newspapers and angling magazines. His last major paper (1981) was published after his death in 1980. ‘Fisheries’ was a chapter in The Royal Dublin Society 1731–1981 (1981), 142–53, and exemplified his interests in fisheries, science, fisheries history, and the history of science in Ireland. Arthur Went died 8 December 1980.
He married (2 April 1937), in Wimbledon, Phyllis N. Howell of Merton, Surrey. They had a daughter and a son and lived at 46 Castlepark Road, Sandycove, Co. Dublin. His son, David, became prominent in the Irish banking world. After his death his family presented his collection of several hundred Irish medals to the National Museum of Ireland, some of which form part of a medal and coin exhibition at the National Museum of Ireland (Collins Barracks). In his honour the Went Memorial Lecture series was initiated by the RDS.