Harry Bolus ( 1834 - 1911 )

Eighteenth -Century Dutch travelers and officials of the Duth East India Company were responsible for the initial introduction of South African orchids to European herbaria . they were followed by a succession of Swedish , German , and British collectors . Their orcid finds were described and catalogued by Thunberg and Swartz, Lindley , Reuchenbach , and others. The data and specimens were widespread , however ,and not fully comprehensive of South Africa's 500 endemic species . The first consolidation of this area's orchids plants was therefore a welcome contribution to the world's knowledge of South African orchids. This most significant work was done by Harry Bolus , a Cape Town stockbroker and amteur botanist .

Harry Bolus was born on 28 April 1834,at Nottingham ,England. At the age of sixteen he went to South Africa as a poor apprentice and for fifteen years he lived at Graaff Reinet, in the center of the colony. His career was varied and interesting -first a boy with only a few shillings in his pocket ; next , a stint of service as a volunteer in a Kaffir war; later , an insurance secretary ; and still later he turned to sheep farming . In 1874 he became a broker in Cape Town in business with his brother . Twenty years later he retired , a wealthy man.

Bolu's interest in botany began in 1864 after the death of his first child. He fervently involved himself in the study of African flora, making excursions to the mountains in search of plants ,describing them carefully with pencil and pen . Correspondence with Sir Joseph Hooker led to a large number of African succulent and bulbs being dispatched to the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew , England .

Frequent trips to England , France , Switzerland ,and Italy were an integral part of Bolu's life ,and most of the major European herbaria were enriched by copies of the large fascicles of South African succulents and bulbs being dispatched to the Royal Gardens at Kew ,England.

Frequent trips to England ,France , Switzerland , and Italy were an integral part of Bolu's life, and most of the major European herbaria were enriched by copies of the large fascicles of South African plants which he prepared with profession Mac Owen .

In 1876 he visited Kew,taking a large collection of plants for comparison with those in the Kew Herbarium.It was fortunate that he left duplicates behind , for on the return journey all his specimens were lost , along with much information gained on the visit , through the wreck of his ship, the Windsor Castle , in Table Bay.

After his retirement from business ,the heaths and orchids of the Cape especially attracted Bolus.As a result ,his Orchids of the Cape Peninsula appeared in 1888. His principal work was a book in two volumes , Icones Orchidearum Austro-Africanum ,Extra-Tropicarum , published between 1893 and 1911. This work contained figures and descriptions of 200 South African orchids, drawn and described by himself from living plants. With the help of his friend ,Dr. Guthrie ,he monographed the genus Erica for the Flora Capensis , and in 1903 ,in collaboration with Major A.H. Wolley-Dod , he issued a List of the Flowering Plants and Ferns of the Cape Peninsula , with notes on the critical species . In later years Bolus was ably assisted by his devoted niece Miss Kensit in all his botanical work.

Bolus made numerous trips throughout the eastern and western provinces , collecting largely for his own herbarium . This collection and library , full of fine books which later became unprocurable , was the richest and most valuable assemblage of information on the flora of South Africa known at that time . His library included complete sets of the folios of Redoute , Jacquin ,Bauer ,and Masson.

Always interested in the furtherance of scientific and educational pursuits , Bolus founded the Bolus Professorship of Botany in the Cape University .He further bequeathed the Bolus Professorship of Botany in the Cape University . He further bequeathed his herbarium and library to the South African College , plus 27,000 pounds sterling , invested in government stocks, in trust for the upkeep and extension of the herbarium and library ,and 21,000 pounds for the foundation of scholarships. In recognition of his scientific work and his liberality in endowing the professorship , the university conferred on him the honorary degree of doctor of science .

In 1873 he became a fellow of the Linnean Society ,and he was one of the original members of the South African Philosophical Society.

Though possessed fo an adventurous nature and inquiring intellect, Bolus was withal quiet and unassuming . Once, when giving evidence before a parliamentary commision , he was asked ," You are a botanist ?" He replied ," I do not call myself a botanist , but I have studied botany in my leisure hours" .

In May 1911 he and his niece landed at Southampton , England, Where he suffered a severe heart attack , from which he never recovered . He died at Oxted ,Surrey , on the twenty-fifth and was buried there in a quiet country churchyard on May twenty-seventh.

Dr. Bolus' name is commemorated in the orchid genera Bolusiella and Neobolusia , both of which were founded by Schlechter.

References

Curtis's Botanical Magazine . 1931. Dedications and Portraits 1827-1927.

Nelmes ,Ernest ,and Cuthbertson , Wm. (comps.) London: Bernard Quaritch Ltd.

Gardeners'Chronicle. 1911. Obituary .Vol. 49, no. 1275.

Gardeners' Chronicle. 1911. The Late Dr.Bolus and the South African College.Vol. 50,no. 1281.

Journal of Botany . 1911. Harry Bolus (1834-1910). Vol. 49,no. 583.

Lantern. 1963. Kirstenbosch Jubilee issue .Vol. 13, no. 1.