Harry Borrer Kirk (9 March 1859 – 15 July 1948) was a New Zealand school inspector, biologist and university professor.

Public life

He was born in

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its ...

, Warwickshire, England on 9 March 1859 to Sarah Jane Mattocks and Thomas Kirk. The family emigrated to New Zealand arriving in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

on 9 February 1863 and

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

in 1874 when Thomas Kirk was appointed to

Wellington College Wellington College may refer to: *Wellington College, Berkshire, an independent school in Crowthorne, Berkshire, England ** Wellington College International Shanghai ** Wellington College International Tianjin *Wellington College, Wellington, New Z ...

. Harry studied for

University of New Zealand The University of New Zealand was New Zealand's sole degree-granting university from 1874 to 1961. It was a collegiate university embracing several constituent institutions at various locations around New Zealand. After it was dissolved in 196 ...

exams at home, gaining a BA in 1882 and a MA 1883, after which he joined the

Department of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

first as a clerk and then as an inspector of

native schools In New Zealand, native schools were established to provide education for Māori. The first schools for Māori children were established by the Church Missionary Society (CMS) in the Bay of Islands after the arrival of the CMS in 1814. Bishop ...

. As an inspector, he spend almost two decades traveling the country, collecting botanical specimens as he went. As was typical at the time, Kirk saw

Pākehā Pākehā (or Pakeha; ; ) is a Māori term for New Zealanders primarily of European descent. Pākehā is not a legal concept and has no definition under New Zealand law. The term can apply to fair-skinned persons, or to any non-Māori New Ze ...

education as a force for 'elevating'

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

. The 1880 Native Schools Code held that te reo Māori was only to be used to 'learn English more effectively' and Kirk stated in a report: In 1903 Kirk was appointed inaugural chair of biology to Victoria College (now

Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington ( mi, Te Herenga Waka) is a university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. The university is well know ...

) and he largely devoted the rest of his life to building up the biology capabilities of the university. During the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

he produced several innovations in military camps for to reduce fly contamination, and he is said to have refused a Captain's commission.

Family life

Kirk married Annie Lamont (or La Monte) on 10 July 1885 in Dunedin. They had two children Ethelwin Gladys Kirk (died 1957) and Hilda Gyneth Hall (died 1973), both of whom are buried in

Karori Cemetery Karori Cemetery is New Zealand's second largest cemetery, located in the Wellington suburb of Karori. History Karori Cemetery opened in 1891 to address overcrowding at Bolton Street Cemetery. In 1909, it received New Zealand's first cremato ...

next to Kirk's parents. His wife Annie died in March 1927. After he retired in 1944, he was cared for by his unmarried sister Cybele Kirk, who had been active, along with their sister Lily May Kirk, in the

women's suffrage movement Women's suffrage is the women's rights, right of women to Suffrage, vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to gran ...

. The family were active in the

Baptist Union of New Zealand The Baptist Churches of New Zealand is a Baptist Christian denomination in New Zealand. It is affiliated with the Baptist World Alliance. The headquarters is in Auckland. History Several Baptists settled in New Zealand in the 1840s, but the firs ...

, with Harry being a listed as a Mortgagee in the Baptist Union Incorporation Act 1923

Death

Kirk died at Waikato Hospital in

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

on 15 July 1948. He had been at Tauranga with leg fracture which did not heal properly.

Legacy

Two buildings on the Kelburn campus of

are named after Kirk, called the Kirk Building and the Old Kirk Building

Positions

* Original fellow of the New Zealand Institute (renamed the

Royal Society of New Zealand Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a cit ...

after the

royal charter A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, bu ...

) 1919 * President of the Wellington Philosophical Society in 1907–1908 * President of the New Zealand Institute in 1922–23 * Founding member of the University Reform Association * Senate of the University of New Zealand 1915 to 1920 * Academic board of the University of New Zealand 1930 to 1944 * chairman of the Committee of Management of the

Dominion Museum The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is New Zealand's national museum and is located in Wellington. ''Te Papa Tongarewa'' translates literally to "container of treasures" or in full "container of treasured things and people that spring fr ...

(new

Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is New Zealand's national museum and is located in Wellington. ''Te Papa Tongarewa'' translates literally to "container of treasures" or in full "container of treasured things and people that spring fr ...

)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kirk, Harry Borrer 1859 births 1948 deaths New Zealand biologists Academic staff of the Victoria University of Wellington School inspectors People from Coventry English emigrants to New Zealand Presidents of the Royal Society of New Zealand Fellows of the Royal Society of New Zealand New Zealand Baptists People associated with the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa