Keppel Harcourt Barnard (31 March 1887 – 22 September 1964) was a South African zoologist and museum director. He was the only son of Harcourt George Barnard M.A. ( Cantab.), a solicitor from

Lambeth Lambeth () is a district in South London, England, in the London Borough of Lambeth, historically in the County of Surrey. It is situated south of Charing Cross. The population of the London Borough of Lambeth was 303,086 in 2011. The area expe ...

, and Anne Elizabeth Porter of

Royston Royston may refer to: Places Australia *Royston, Queensland, a rural locality Canada *Royston, British Columbia, a small hamlet England *Royston, Hertfordshire, a town and civil parish, formerly partly in Cambridgeshire *Royston, South Yorkshi ...

Life and career

Barnard was born in London. His first education was at a private school in

Camberley Camberley is a town in the Borough of Surrey Heath in Surrey, England, approximately south-west of Central London. The town is in the far west of the county, close to the borders of Hampshire and Berkshire. Once part of Windsor Forest, Cambe ...

from where he went to the Realgymnasium in Mannheim to improve his German. From 1905 to 1908 this unusually gifted and versatile scholar attended

Christ's College, Cambridge Christ's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college includes the Master, the Fellows of the College, and about 450 undergraduate and 170 graduate students. The college was founded by William Byngham in 1437 as ...

, taking the

Natural Sciences Tripos The Natural Sciences Tripos (NST) is the framework within which most of the science at the University of Cambridge is taught. The tripos includes a wide range of Natural Sciences from physics, astronomy, and geoscience, to chemistry and biology, ...

in Botany, Geology and Zoology. He also took the newly introduced courses in Anthropology, Ethnology and Geography. For the following three years he studied law at the Middle Temple, becoming a barrister in 1911. After a short spell as naturalist with the Marine Biological Laboratory in

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...

, he joined the staff of the South African Museum in Cape Town in 1911 as a marine biology assistant. He became assistant director in 1921 and director from 1946 until his 1956 retirement when he was free to work on the molluscs. His

D.Sc. Doctor of Science ( la, links=no, Scientiae Doctor), usually abbreviated Sc.D., D.Sc., S.D., or D.S., is an academic research degree awarded in a number of countries throughout the world. In some countries, "Doctor of Science" is the degree used f ...

was from the University of Cape Town with a dissertation on the "''Distribution of Crustacea in South African Waters''", and he eventually became a world authority on crustaceans. His other favoured field was the taxonomy and classification of South African fishes, a discipline in which he did important pioneering work. Stellenbosch University awarded him an honorary doctorate in 1956. Barnard was a keen mountaineer and served as secretary of the Mountain Club of South Africa from 1918 to 1945, and it was by way of the mountains that he met the amateur botanist

Thomas Pearson Stokoe Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the Ap ...

who was to become a close friend and climbing companion. Barnard's mountaineering interest first brought him into contact with the genus '' Colophon'', and many species of the beetle, such as ''

Colophon primosi ''Colophon primosi'' is one of 17 described species of beetle in family Lucanidae, closely related to the Scarabaeidae, scarab family, Endemism, endemic to South Africa. ''Colophon'' beetles are also known as Barnard's stag beetles after Dr. Kep ...

'', were named after his mountaineering friends. In 1915 he married Alice Watkins, and they raised a family of two children, a son and a daughter. Barnard died, aged 73, in Cape Town.

Legacy

Barnard is commemorated in the scientific names of two species of geckos, ''

Pachydactylus barnardi ''Pachydactylus barnardi'', also known commonly as Barnard's rough gecko or Barnard's thick-toed gecko, is a species of lizard in the family Gekkonidae. The species is indigenous to Southern Africa. Etymology The specific name, ''barnardi'', ...

'' and ''

Rhoptropus barnardi Barnard's Namib day gecko (''Rhoptropus barnardi''), also known commonly as Barnard's slender gecko, is a species of lizard in the family Gekkonidae. The species is native to southern Africa. Etymology The specific name, ''barnardi'', is in ho ...

''.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . ("Barnard, K. H.", p. 17). And a fish ''

Enteromius barnardi The blackback barb (''Enteromius barnardi'') is a species of cyprinid fish native to Africa where it is known to occur in shallow, vegetated waters of the Zambezi River system, the Cunene River system and the Zambian portion of the Congo River s ...

''.

References

External links

Barnard KH (1916). "Contributions to the Crustacean Fauna of South Africa". ''Annals of the South African Museum'' 15: 105-302 + Plates XXVI-XXVIII.Barnard KH (1958). "Contribution to the knowledge of South African Marine Mollusca. Part 1. Gastropoda; Prosobranchiata: Toxoglossa". ''Annals of The South African Museum'' 44: 73 -163.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barnard, Keppel Harcourt South African carcinologists South African malacologists South African ichthyologists South African mountain climbers Alumni of Christ's College, Cambridge University of Cape Town alumni 1887 births 1964 deaths 20th-century South African zoologists British emigrants to South Africa