ONE hundred and twenty-five years ago this year an organisation was founded which was destined to become, within certain circles, one of the most famous institutions in the world: the Marine Biological Association.

Formed by academics who specialised in marine biology, partly in response to the seemingly cavalier attitude then being taken towards fishing and fishing stocks, their first meeting was held early in 1884 in the rooms of the Royal Society, in London.

One of the main concerns voiced on that occasion was where they might establish a base and a laboratory.

Weymouth was considered, as was Bangor… and Plymouth.

Remarkably, by the time they came to have their second meeting a proposal had been received from Plymouth Town Council offering the infant association a site on the Hoe, together with promises of financial assistance from local benefactors.

It was an offer the MBA couldn't afford to ignore, particularly as the Plymouth marine environs were rich in varieties of fauna due to their proximity to that zone where warm and cold water communities meet.

So it was that a number of the association's officials came down and inspected the rather impressive location on offer, and very soon afterwards it was resolved that Plymouth was the ideal place.

Playing no small part in all this were the successful local merchants John and Robert Bayly, who had agreed substantial financial support after being canvassed by C Spence Bate, the celebrated local expert on crustacea.

Government help was also crucial to the project – as it still is today – and once the financial position had been resolved, work began on the building itself.

The new structure was designed principally by local architect Henry Snell, who worked in conjunction with the council of the association and the War Department, from whom the site was being leased (the site had then, until very recently, been within the confines of the outer works of the Royal Citadel).

Opening day of the grand new facility was June 30, 1888, which came as a slight disappointment to the local authorities who had hoped that it might have been opened in conjunction with the unveiling of the memorial planned for the Tercentenary of the Spanish Armada, a few weeks later.

An extraordinary building, which appears even bigger on the inside that it looks from without, the MBA sustained damage during the Second World War; however, it was refashioned, and has since been added to.

Doubtless many Plymothians will recall the original Plymouth Aquarium that was here on the ground floor for many years before establishment of the National Marine Aquarium at Coxside.

The city has arguably the best library dedicated to marine biology in the world, and more than a dozen Nobel Prize-winning marine scientists have worked here over the years. Now with the added draw of the National Marine Aquarium it is to be hoped that this almost discreet, yet very distinguished, part of Plymouth's cultural heritage will still be here in another 125 years.