William Frederick Purcell
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William Frederick Purcell (18 September 1866 - 3 October 1919) was an English-born South African arachnologist and zoologist. He is regarded as being the founder of modern araneology in
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
.


Early life and education

Purcell was born in London, England to Dr Walter P.J. Purcell of Waterford, Ireland, and his wife Sophia W.J. Hertzog of Cape Town. In 1868 the family moved to South Africa and settled in Cape Town. He spent most of his childhood on the farm Bergvliet, which was owned by his uncle W.F. Hertzog. From 1881, Purcell studied at
South African College The South African College was an educational institution in Cape Town, South Africa, which developed into the University of Cape Town (UCT) and the South African College Schools (SACS). History The process that would lead to the formation of t ...
, Cape Town, matriculated through the
University of the Cape of Good Hope The University of the Cape of Good Hope, renamed the University of South Africa in 1916, was created when the Molteno government passed Act 16 of 1873 in the Cape of Good Hope Parliament. Modelled on the University of London, it offered examinati ...
(UCGH) in 1884 and received a BA (with Honours) in mathematics and natural science in 1887 from UCGH. In 1885 and 1887 he provided the
South African Museum The Iziko South African Museum is a South African national museum located in Cape Town. The museum was founded in 1825, the first in the country. It has been on its present site in the Company's Garden since 1897. The museum houses important A ...
with samples of ''
coleoptera Beetles are insects that form the order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Endopterygota. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 400,000 describ ...
'' obtained at Bergvliet and
Prieska Prieska is a town on the south bank of the Orange River, in the province of the Northern Cape, in western South Africa. It is located on the southern bank of the Orange River, 130 km north-west of Britstown and 75 km south-east of Mary ...
. Purcell continued his education in Germany with a focus on the internal structure of
arachnid Arachnida () is a class of joint-legged invertebrate animals (arthropods), in the subphylum Chelicerata. Arachnida includes, among others, spiders, scorpions, ticks, mites, pseudoscorpions, harvestmen, camel spiders, whip spiders and vinegaroon ...
s. In 1894 Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universitaet awarded him the degree
DPhil A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...
with a thesis entitled ''"Ueber den Bau der Phalangidenaugen"'' ("On the structure of the eyes in the '' Phalangida''"). Purcell returned to South Africa in 1895 and donated his collections of South African ''Coleoptera'' (Families ''
Cicindelidae Tiger beetles are a family of beetles, Cicindelidae, known for their aggressive predatory habits and running speed. The fastest known species of tiger beetle, ''Rivacindela hudsoni'', can run at a speed of , or about 125 body lengths per second. ...
'' and ''
Carabidae Ground beetles are a large, cosmopolitan family of beetles, the Carabidae, with more than 40,000 species worldwide, around 2,000 of which are found in North America and 2,700 in Europe. As of 2015, it is one of the 10 most species-rich animal fami ...
''), and European ''Coleoptera'' and '' Rhynchota'', to the South African Museum.


Career

Purcell applied for the position of director of the South African Museum in 1895 following the resignation of
Roland Trimen Roland Trimen FRS (29 October 1840 in London – 25 July 1916 in London) was a British-South African naturalist, best known for ''South African Butterflies'' (1887–89), a collaborative work with Colonel James Henry Bowker. He was among ...
but did not get the post. He took up an appointment as First Assistant at the South African Museum and keeper of the terrestrial invertebrates collection (excluding insects) in 1896, under its new Director, W.L. Sclater. He kept this position until 1905 when he retired owing to poor health. He initiated the systematic study of South African scorpions, including the description of many new species. In 1899 he provided the first description of local ''
Solifugae Solifugae is an order of animals in the class Arachnida known variously as camel spiders, wind scorpions, sun spiders, or solifuges. The order includes more than 1,000 described species in about 147 genera. Despite the common names, they are ne ...
'' (Camel spider or Sun spider) and collected a large number of specimens. He was the first South African zoologist to start a systematic study of spiders, devising keys and providing full descriptions of species. Up to that time
Arthur Stanley Hirst Arthur Stanley Hirst (1883 – 4 May 1930) also known as Stanley Hirst, was an English arachnologist and myriapodologist on the staff of the British Museum, and was an authority on Arachnida, especially Acari (ticks and mites) Myriapoda. Born i ...
(1883–1930), Pickard-Cambridge and R. I. Pocock of the
British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
had occasionally named spiders sent to them from South African sources. Pocock especially was supplied with unknown specimens from Natal and Rhodesia, many coming from
Selmar Schonland Selmar Schonland (15 August 1860 – 22 April 1940), originally spelt ''Schönland'', the founder of the Department of Botany at Rhodes University, was a German immigrant, who came to the Eastern part of the Cape Colony in 1889 to take up an app ...
, the botany professor at
Rhodes University Rhodes University is a public university, public research university located in Makhanda, Eastern Cape, Makhanda (Grahamstown) in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. It is one of four universities in the province. Established in 1904, ...
. South Africa is a fertile hunting ground for the study of
Mygalomorphae The Mygalomorphae, or mygalomorphs, are an infraorder of spiders, and comprise one of three major groups of living spiders with over 3000 species, found on all continents except Antarctica. Many members are known as trapdoor spiders due to the ...
or 4-lunged spiders, and both Purcell and R. W. E. Tucker who succeeded him, were drawn to this group, as was J. Hewitt. William and Anna Purcell are an example of husband and wife collaboration in arachnology, the other well-known couple being
George and Elizabeth Peckham George Williams Peckham (March 23, 1845 – January 10, 1914) and Elizabeth Maria Gifford Peckham (December 19, 1854 – February 11, 1940) were a married couple who were early American teachers, taxonomists, ethologists, arachno ...
from the States who worked on South African
Salticidae Jumping spiders are a group of spiders that constitute the family Salticidae. As of 2019, this family contained over 600 described genera and over 6,000 described species, making it the largest family of spiders at 13% of all species. Jumping spi ...
. Purcell was the first zoologist in Africa to make a thorough study of '' Peripatus''. He continued the work of H.N. Moseley, A. Sedgwick and others and described one new
genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...
and three new
species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...
.


Eponymns

* In 1964, the ''genus'' of spiders '' Purcelliana'' was named after him by J.A.L. Cooke. * A species of South African gecko, '' Pachydactylus purcelli'', is named after him. * Purcell was commemorated in the names of the molluscs ''Euonyma purcelli'' and ''Apera purcelli'' but these have subsequently been renamed. The standard author abbreviation Purcell is used to indicate this individual as the author when citing a zoological name.


Memberships

*1895 Member of the South African Philosophical Society *1905 Member of the British Association for the Advancement of Science *1908 Fellow of the
Royal Society of South Africa The Royal Society of South Africa is a learned society composed of eminent South African scientists and academics. The society was granted its royal charter by King Edward VII in 1908, nearly a century after Capetonians first began to conceive of ...
*1910 Member of the
South African Association for the Advancement of Science The Southern Africa Association for the Advancement of Science (S2A3 or S2A3) is a learned society, originally known as the South African Association for the Advancement of Science (SAAAS). Established in 1902, its principal aim is to increase th ...
*1917 Council member of the Royal Society of South Africa * Member of the
Zoological Society of London The Zoological Society of London (ZSL) is a charity devoted to the worldwide conservation of animals and their habitats. It was founded in 1826. Since 1828, it has maintained the London Zoo, and since 1931 Whipsnade Park. History On 29 ...
* 1900-1903 Examiner in zoology for the University of the Cape of Good Hope


Selected publications

Purcell published mainly in ''Annals of the South African Museum'' and the ''Transactions of the South African Philosophical Society''. Some of his publications include: * 1902 "New South African trap-door spiders of the family ''Ctenizidae'' in the collection of the South African Museum" ''Trans. S. Afric. phil. Soc.'' 11 * 1902 "On the South African ''Theraphosidae'' or "Baviaan" spiders, in the collection of the South African Museum." ''Trans. S. Afric. Mus.'' 11 p.319-347 * 1903 "New South African spiders of the families ''Migidae'', ''Ctenizidae'', ''Barychelidae Dipluridae'', and ''Lycosidae''" ''Annals of the South African Museum'' 3 p. 69-142 * 1904 "Descriptions of new genera and species of South African spiders" ''Trans. S. Afric. phil. Soc.'' 15 p. 115-173


Private life

On 24 March 1897, Purcell married Anna Cambier Faure, who was a close South African friend of
Olive Schreiner Olive Schreiner (24 March 1855 – 11 December 1920) was a South African author, anti-war campaigner and intellectual. She is best remembered today for her novel ''The Story of an African Farm'' (1883), which has been highly acclaimed. It deal ...
. The Purcell's had three children, Frederick Walter Faure Purcell, Olive Margaretha Deneys Purcell and William Frederick Hertzog Purcell. Anna Purcell was a cousin of Barry Hertzog, and her sister Joey married a Smuts. During the South African War (1899-1902) Anna was involved in relief work for
Boer Boers ( ; af, Boere ()) are the descendants of the Dutch-speaking Free Burghers of the eastern Cape Colony, Cape frontier in Southern Africa during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. From 1652 to 1795, the Dutch East India Company controll ...
women and children. She later became involved in the Cape Women’s Enfranchisement League, of which Schreiner was a high profile member. The Purcells lived on a country estate on the outskirts of Cape Town called Bergvliet. The farm was originally part of W.A. van der Stel's farm Groot Constantia. In 1905 Purcell retired from the South African Museum owing to ill health, although he continued some of his work as honorary keeper at the South African Museum up until 1908. He retired to Bergvliet where he managed the farm on behalf of his family until his death in 1919. He continued to collect specimens of arachnids and insects but his main activity was to create an
Herbarium A herbarium (plural: herbaria) is a collection of preserved plant specimens and associated data used for scientific study. The specimens may be whole plants or plant parts; these will usually be in dried form mounted on a sheet of paper (called ...
of the farm's natural vegetation. The herbarium is preserved in the Compton Herbarium at the National Botanical Institute in Cape Town. Purcell had a strong interest in Cape history, art and antiques and, with his and his wife's acquaintance with influential members of South African society, influenced the South African Museum in the purchase of the Koopmans-de Wet House, its conversion into a museum and his appointment as honorary curator.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Purcell, William Arachnologists South African zoologists 1866 births 1919 deaths Fellows of the Royal Society of South Africa