Frank Charles Shrubsall was educated at Clare College, Cambridge; St. Bartholomew's Hospital, London; and at Basle, Switzerland. He qualified as Master of Arts (MA), Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (FRCP) of London, Member of the Royal College of Surgeons (MRCS) of England, and Doctor of Medicine (MD, Cambridge). After qualifying in medicine in 1900 he obtained a resident appointment at St Bartholomew's and at the Hospital for Consumption and Diseases of the Chest at Brompton, London, where he was still employed by 1905. In 1908 he was appointed as professor at the Royal College of Surgeons. Later he became Senior Medical Officer of the London County Council, and consultant and lecturer in mental deficiency at Maudsley Hospital, London. His publications included "A comparison of the physical characteristics of hospital patients with those of healthy individuals from the same area" (Occassional Papers of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, 1905), a pamphlet on The examination of mentally defective children (1911, 11 pp), and his main work, with A.C. Williams, Mental deficiency practice... (London, 1932, 532 pp).
From 1897 or earlier Shrubsall conducted research on the craniology of various peoples and published "Crania from Teneriffe" (Proceedings of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, 1898), "Notes on Ashanti skulls and crania" (Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 1898) and studies of crania from other parts of the world. His work included pioneering studies of the South African San (Bushmen). Being the first to use large samples where possible, his work was probably the most important contribution to the craniology of the San published in English around the turn of the century. The results were reported in several papers: "Crania of African Bush races" (Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 1898); "A study of Bantu skulls and crania" (ibid, 1898); Notes on some Bushman crania from the South African Museum" (Annals of the South African Museum, 1907, Vol. 5(5), pp. 227-270); "A note on craniology of South African Bushmen" (in L. Péringuey's* "The stone ages of South Africa...", ibid, 1911, Vol. 8, pp. 202-208); and "A note on Bushman craniology" (Man, 1922). His 1907 paper was based on the study of some 100 skulls. During the next few years the South African Museum supplied him with 62 more, plus a few complete skeletons, which had been dug up in various parts of the Cape Colony and the Kalahari. He found no difference between the skulls of the Khoi (Hottentots) and San, but reported in 1911 that the skulls of Strandlopers (San) from the southern Cape could be distinguished from the rest. In two other papers (Geographical Journal, 1909, and Man, 1909) he described two crania and some long bones recovered from ancient ruins in Zimbabwe.
Shrubsall became a life member of the British Association for the Advancement of Science in 1904 and the next year served on its committee on anthropometric investigation in the British Isles. He served as president of Section H (Anthropology) in 1924. He was married to Dr Jane Gilmour.
