Cuthbert John Skead, also known as "C. J. Skead", "Jack Skead" or "Skeado" (30 April 1912 – 28 May 2006), was a South African

naturalist Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

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 ...

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...

and

botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

Early life

Born in

Port Elizabeth Gqeberha ( , ), formerly named Port Elizabeth, and colloquially referred to as P.E., is a major seaport and the most populous city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipal ...

, 30 April 1912, Skead initially attended

Grey High School Grey High School is a State school, semi-private English-medium high school (grades 8 to 12) for boys situated in the suburb of Mill Park in Gqeberha in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is one of the top sporting schools in the coun ...

, before completing his schooling at St Andrew's College in

Grahamstown Makhanda, formerly known as Grahamstown, is a town of about 75,000 people in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is situated about northeast of Gqeberha and southwest of East London. It is the largest town in the Makana Local Mun ...

. His tertiary education was undertaken at

Reading University The University of Reading is a public research university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as the University Extension College, Reading, an extension college of Christchurch College, Oxford, and became University College, ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, and Grootfontein Agricultural College back in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. For the next 17 years after completing his tertiary education, Skead farmed in the Grahamstown district. It was during his farming career that he started observing birds in the vicinity which led to his first publication appearing in the journal

Ostrich (journal) ''Ostrich: Journal of African Ornithology'' is a journal of African ornithology published by BirdLife South Africa, formerly the South African Ornithological Society, in association with the National Inquiry Services Centre (NISC) and Taylor & F ...

in 1943. In 1949, Skead took up the position of Director at the Kaffrarian Museum (now the

Amathole Museum The Amathole Museum, formerly the Kaffrarian Museum is a natural and cultural history museum located in King William's Town in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. The museum houses a large collection of mammals and includes the taxidermie ...

). He also served as a research officer for the Percy FitzPatrick Institute, a research institute associated with the

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) (, ) is a public university, public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university status in 1918, making it the oldest univer ...

from 1961 to 1966, after which he returned to the museum where he remained until his retirement in 1972.

Retirement

Skead retired to Grahamstown in 1972 where he continued his natural history research, before moving to a retirement village in Port Elizabeth until his death on 28 May 2006. During his 33 year period of retirement, Skead accelerated the scope of his studies focusing on synthesizing historical records of diverse topics, including the distribution of mammals, birds, plants, stone walls, and early travelers and explorers of the Eastern Cape. Skead focused on all aspects of the history of the Eastern Cape and as a result he studied place names.

Legacy

Skead contributed to the scholarly knowledge through producing more than 100 journal articles and books, including ''Sunbirds of South Africa'', ''Canaries, seedeaters and buntings'', and ''Historical Incidence of the Larger Mammals''.

Honours

* 1966 Gill Memorial Medal from the Southern African Ornithological Society * 1977 Gold Medal from the Zoological Society of Southern Africa * 1982 Honorary Doctorate from

Rhodes University Rhodes University () is a public research university located in Makhanda (formerly Grahamstown) in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. It is one of four universities in the province. Established in 1904, Rhodes University is the prov ...

* 2002 Gold Medal from the Grassland Society * 2004 Honorary Doctorate from the

University of Port Elizabeth The University of Port Elizabeth (UPE) was a public university located in Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. UPE was founded on 31 January 1964, by an act of parliament, and held its first academic year in 1965. It off ...

* 2005 Special Award from the Eastern Cape Government

Chronological bibliography of major published works dit

References

External links

C. J. Skead Photograph collection

Selmar Schonland Herbarium - CJ Skead Collection
* Margaret Sandwith (2007
Publications by CJ Skead
Ostrich: Journal of African Ornithology, 78:3, vii-x {{DEFAULTSORT:Skead, Cuthbert John 1912 births 2006 deaths People from Gqeberha White South African people South African ornithologists Alumni of the University of Reading 20th-century South African zoologists Alumni of St. Andrew's College, Grahamstown