Prudence Hero Napier (; 15March 19166June 1997) was one of Britain's most eminent primatologists, and the world's leading expert on the taxonomy of

primates Primates is an order of mammals, which is further divided into the strepsirrhines, which include lemurs, galagos, and lorisids; and the haplorhines, which include tarsiers and simians ( monkeys and apes). Primates arose 74–63 ...

.''International Journal of Primatology'', Vol. 19, Number 2/ April, 1998. pp. 203-05

Biography

Known to friends and colleagues as Prue, she was born in

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

on 15 March 1916, to Sir Hugo Rutherford, a politician and Member of Parliament for North Liverpool. In 1936, she married the newly graduated surgeon

John Napier John Napier of Merchiston ( ; Latinisation of names, Latinized as Ioannes Neper; 1 February 1550 – 4 April 1617), nicknamed Marvellous Merchiston, was a Scottish landowner known as a mathematician, physicist, and astronomer. He was the 8 ...

, who had acquired a particular interest in the anatomy of the human hand. During the 1950s he became convinced that human functional anatomy could not be properly understood without in-depth knowledge of non-human primates and, with Prue's help, he founded the Unit of Primatology in the Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine, which, at that time, was the first centre in Great Britain devoted to the study of non-human primates. Prudence became her husband's colleague and co-author. She contributed to ''A Handbook of Living Primates'' (New York: Academic Press, 1967). Her work led her to an increasing interest in

taxonomy image:Hierarchical clustering diagram.png, 280px, Generalized scheme of taxonomy Taxonomy is a practice and science concerned with classification or categorization. Typically, there are two parts to it: the development of an underlying scheme o ...

. To learn more, in 1971, she joined the staff at the

British Museum (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 and ...

on a part-time basis and began her own research for a ''Catalogue of Primates in the British Museum'', which eventually ran to a series of three volumes and "incorporate specimens in other British collections as well as the Museum, went from being simple catalogues to becoming increasingly detailed and revisionary, incorporating cautious but insightful changes and commentaries on primate taxonomy. From being an interested amateur, having no formal training, Prue Napier came to be revered and consulted by zoologists all over the world. She was the foremost contributor to children's books on non-human primates during the 1960s and 1970s.

Private life

Prue and John Napier's marriage produced two sons: Hugo Napier, an actor in the United States, and Graeme Napier, a safari guide in Kenya. In 1982, the Napiers retired to the

Isle of Mull The Isle of Mull or simply Mull ( ) is the second-largest island of the Inner Hebrides (after Skye) and lies off the west coast of Scotland in the Council areas of Scotland, council area of Argyll and Bute. Covering , Mull is the fourth-lar ...

in Scotland's

Inner Hebrides The Inner Hebrides ( ; ) is an archipelago off the west coast of mainland Scotland, to the south east of the Outer Hebrides. Together these two island chains form the Hebrides, which experience a mild oceanic climate. The Inner Hebrides compri ...

. Although they were retired, John and Prue continued their research and in 1985 the couple published one last book titled, ''The Natural History of the Primates.'' John Napier died in 1987.

Selected bibliography

In 1970 Prue published her first book, which was aimed for children and young adults, titled ''Monkeys and Apes.'' It was translated into German by Gerhard Rietschel using the title ''Affen und Menschenaffen'' by Delphin Verlag. * 1967: ''A Handbook of Living Primates'' (New York: Academic Press, with John Russell Napier) * 1970: ''Old World Monkeys: Evolution, Systematics, and Behavior'' (New York: Academic Press, with John Russell Napier) * 1974: ''Chimpanzees'' (London: Bodley Head) * 1977: ''Lemurs, Lorises, and Bushbabies'' (London: Bodley Head, with Colin Threadgall) * 1988: ''The Natural History of the Primates'' (Cambridge: MIT Press, with John Russell Napier)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Napier, Prudence Hero 1916 births 1997 deaths Women primatologists Primatologists British paleoanthropologists 20th-century British zoologists Scientists from Liverpool 20th-century British women scientists British women anthropologists Daughters of baronets