Captain Claude Henry Baxter Grant (24 December 1878 – 9 January 1958) was an English

ornithologist Ornithology, from Ancient Greek ὄρνις (''órnis''), meaning "bird", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", is a branch of zoology dedicated to the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related discip ...

and military officer who collected birds in Africa and later worked at the bird room of the

British Museum of Natural History The Natural History Museum in London is a museum that exhibits a vast range of specimens from various segments of natural history. It is one of three major museums on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, the others being the Science Museum (Lo ...

(now the Natural History Museum). Grant was born in London to Henry and Clare Elizabeth Grant. He was educated at

Westbourne School Westbourne School for Boys and girls is an independent school for boys and girls aged 3–16 years old. It is located in the Broomhill area of south Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The headmaster is Aidan Edmanson. The school was founde ...

s, Latimer Grammar School, and at Blackers. where he met where he came to meet Reverend Theodore Wood. He then went to

London University The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degr ...

studying field surveying and worked with

Edward Ayearst Reeves Edward Ayearst Reeves (9 February 1862 – 17 October 1945) was a British geographer, astronomer, and cartographer. He was a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society beginning in 1896, a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society from 1900, and won ...

at the

Royal Geographical Society The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...

. He trained in taxidermy and worked at the Natural History Museum and in 1899 he joined the

Imperial Yeomanry The Imperial Yeomanry was a volunteer mounted force of the British Army that mainly saw action during the Second Boer War. Created on 2 January 1900, the force was initially recruited from the middle classes and traditional yeomanry sources, but s ...

for the Boer War. Here, between the hostilities, he made a collection of birds and mammals at

Deelfontein Deelfontein is a village in the Great Karoo, Northern Cape, region of South Africa on the route of the Pretoria to Cape Town railway. It primarily developed to service the railway due to its good water supply for steam locomotives, and is currentl ...

. In 1903 he took up work as a collector for museums and made trips across Namaqualand to Transvall, Zululand and Portuguese East Africa. He returned to England with the collections, which were examined by W. L. Sclater. In 1908 he made a visit to South America, staying on until 1910 to collect across Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia and the Matto Grosso. He published his findings in the ''Ibis'' in 1911 and 1912. He received a silver medal for his work from the British Ornithologists' Union in 1912. He later examined the collections of Captain Cozens and Willoughby Lowe. In 1914 he again joined military service in the East African Expeditionary Force and after the war, he served in the administration of Tanganyika from 1919 to 1932. He married Lena Harriet Priestly in 1915 and she accompanied him to Africa. He returned to England in 1932 and began to work on a book on the birds of Africa in collaboration with

C. W. Mackworth-Praed Cyril Winthrop Mackworth-Praed (21 September 1891 – 30 June 1974) was a British Shooting sports, sport shooter who competed in the 1924 Summer Olympics. He was also a naturalist and ornithologist who specialized on the birds of Africa. Life ...

. The multi-volume work itself was published only in 1970, going into seven volumes. Grant was also a keen hunter and wrote a guide to hunting.

References

External links

The shikari : a hunter's guide
(1914)
Biography, Natural History Museum, London
1878 births 1958 deaths English ornithologists Scientists from London English hunters Taxidermists {{England-biologist-stub