Stanley Henry Prater (12 March 1890 – 12 October 1960) was a domiciled British naturalist in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

best known as a long-time affiliate of the

Bombay Natural History Society The Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), founded on 15 September 1883, is one of the largest non-governmental organisations in India engaged in conservation and biodiversity research. It supports many research efforts through grants and publ ...

and the Prince of Wales Museum of Western India,

Bombay Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...

, as curator of both institutions for the better part of three decades, and as author of ''The Book of Indian Animals''. Prater represented the

Anglo-Indian Anglo-Indian people are a distinct minority group, minority community of mixed-race British and Indian ancestry. During the colonial period, their ancestry was defined as British paternal and Indian maternal heritage; post-independence, "Angl ...

and domiciled British community in the

Bombay Legislative Assembly Bombay Legislative Assembly came into existence in 1937, as the legislature of Bombay Presidency, a Provinces of India, province of India. It functioned until 1960, when separate states of Maharashtra and Gujarat were formed. History The first se ...

from 1937 to 1947.Ali, Salim. 1960. "Stanley Henry Prater." ''Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society'', 57(3):637-642.

Early life

Prater was born in the Nilgiris (

southern India South India, also known as Southern India or Peninsular India, is the southern part of the Deccan Peninsula in India encompassing the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana as well as the union territories of ...

) where his father, William Prater, was a coffee planter. As a student of St Mary's High School, Bombay, he spent his school holidays in the Western Ghats—experiences that led to a burgeoning interest in natural history. He joined the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) in 1907. Prater developed his intimate knowledge of the mammals of the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographic region of Asia below the Himalayas which projects into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west. It is now divided between Bangladesh, India, and Pakista ...

during the Society's Mammal Survey (1911–1923), during which he was also grievously wounded when he was accidentally shot in the thigh.

Curator and editor

In 1923, became curator of BNHS and the Prince of Wales Museum of Western India, positions he held for 25 years. The same year, Prater traveled to

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

to train in modern taxidermy. Four years later he traveled to the

American Museum of Natural History The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) is a natural history museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. Located in Theodore Roosevelt Park, across the street from Central Park, the museum complex comprises 21 interconn ...

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and the

Field Museum of Natural History The Field Museum of Natural History (FMNH), also known as The Field Museum, is a natural history museum in Chicago, Illinois, and is one of the largest such museums in the world. The museum is popular for the size and quality of its educationa ...

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, to learn about techniques of natural history exhibition, knowledge that he brought to bear in the Prince of Wales Museum displays of the next two decades. During the last 25 years his tenure at BNHS, Prater became executive editor of ''Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society''. Among his notable innovations in this position was the series "Wildlife Preservation in India," which appeared in the journal in 1935, and which did much to publicize the problems of conservation in India. The journal gained much of its international reputation during Prater's stewardship. Another enduring contribution from this time was his book, ''The book of Indian Animals'', published in 1948. The book remains in print, now in its third edition.

Political representative

From 1930 to 1947, Prater was president of Anglo-Indian and Domiciled European Association, and their representative in the Bombay legislative assembly—services for which he was awarded the

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

in 1943. In 1948, after India's independence, he represented the Anglo-Indian community in the Indian Constituent Assembly in the early deliberations about the

Constitution of India The Constitution of India is the supreme law of India, legal document of India, and the longest written national constitution in the world. The document lays down the framework that demarcates fundamental political code, structure, procedures ...

. However, soon thereafter, he and his family decided to emigrate to Great Britain.Ali, Salim. 1985. ''The Fall of a Sparrow''. Oxford University Press. 265 pages. . S.H. Prater died in London in 1960 after a long and debilitating illness.

Notes and references

{{DEFAULTSORT:Prater, Stanley Henry 1890 births 1960 deaths Naturalists from British India Members of the Constituent Assembly of India British people in colonial India Bombay State politicians Members of the Bombay Natural History Society

Early life

Curator and editor

Political representative

See also

Notes and references