Horace Alexander
| Horace Gundry Alexander | |
|---|---|
| Born | July 30, 1889 Croydon, England |
| Died | September 30, 1989 (aged 100) Pennsylvania, USA |
| Occupation | Pacifist, ornithologist |
| Nationality | British |
| Genres | Non-fiction |
| Subjects | Ornithology, Quakerism, Gandhi, India |
Horace Gundry Alexander (30 July 1889 – 30 September 1989) was an English Quaker teacher and writer, pacifist and ornithologist. He was the youngest of four sons of Joseph Gundry Alexander (1848–1918).[1] One of his brothers was Wilfred Backhouse Alexander.
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[edit] Family life
He was born in Croydon, England, and studied at King's College, Cambridge University, and taught at Woodbrooke, a Quaker college in Birmingham from 1919 to 1944. His first wife, Olive Graham, died in 1942, and in 1958 he married Rebecca Bradbeer, an American Quaker. After ten years they moved to Pennsylvania, United States, where he spent the remaining twenty years of his life. He was also, for the first ten years, a Governor of Leighton Park School, a leading Quaker school in England. He died of a gastrointestinal illness at Crosslands, a Quaker retirement community in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania.[2]
[edit] Ornithology
Alexander was a life-long dedicated and gifted birdwatcher, keenly involved in the twentieth century movements for the protection and observation of birds. Along with his two younger brothers, Wilfred and Christopher, he took a keen interest in nature. Growing up in a Quaker home devoid of any other forms of entertainment, he found an interest in birds starting at the age of eight when his older brother Gilbert presented him a book on natural history.[3] In his autobiography he traced the origin of his interests in birds to 8.45 am on March 25, 1897 when an uncle pointed out a singing chiffchaff in their garden.[4] It was not until he was 20 that he obtained his first pair of binoculars.[5] He was one of a small group of amateur birdwatchers who developed the skills and set new standards for combining the pleasures of birdwatching with the satisfaction of contributing to ornithological science. He made many significant observations, mainly in Britain but also in India and the United States, and was well respected for his work.
Horace spent most of his time in India and became interested in its birds in 1927. Ornithology at that time was not popular among Indians in India and when Horace informed Gandhi of an expedition, Gandhi commented, "That is a good hobby, provided you don't shoot them." Horace demonstrated the use of binoculars as an acceptable alternative to the gun and carried them at most times. Horace Alexander joined Sidney Dillon Ripley on an expedition to the Naga hills in 1950. In the same year, he founded the Delhi Birdwatching Society along with Lt. Gen. Harold Williams. One of the early members of this organization was the young Indira Gandhi and the group encouraged Indian ornithologists such as Usha Ganguli.[6] Many of his notes were lost when one of his suitcases was lost in India in 1946.[7][8] Through his influence with Jawaharlal Nehru he was instrumental in the designation of the Sultanpur bird sanctuary near Delhi.[4]
He was also a founder member of the West Midland Bird Club, and its president, during his long residence in Birmingham, England.
[edit] Gandhi
Alexander's father-in-law, John William Graham, believed that Gandhi was a subversive and that the Indians were unprepared for self-government. At the Quaker yearly meeting in 1930 the Nobel prize winning poet Rabindranath Tagore attacked the British rule in India. The Quakers were disturbed by the address and John Graham was particularly outraged. Afterwards it was agreed that a representative would be sent to India to attempt a reconciliation of the Viceroy, Lord Irwin, and Gandhi. This task was assigned to Horace Alexander. He later became a close friend of Gandhi (who, in 1942, described Alexander as "one of the best English friends India has") and wrote extensively about his philosophy.
He was consulted by Richard Attenborough in the making of the film Gandhi, but felt that the scripts did not do justice to the people around Gandhi.
In 1984 he was awarded the Padma Bhushan medal, the highest honour given to a non-Indian civilian.
[edit] Publications
Some of the books and articles written by Horace Alexander include:
- Joseph Gundry Alexander
- Justice Among Nations (1927) scanned
- The Indian Ferment (1929)
- India Since Cripps Penguin (1941)
- New Citizens of India (1951)
- Consider India: An Essay in Values (1961)
- Gandhi Through Western Eyes (1969)
- 70 Years of Birdwatching T & A D Poyser (1974) ISBN 0 85661 004 6
[edit]
- (1974): What leads to increases in the range of certain birds? Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society (JBNHS). 71(3), 571-576.
- (1952): Birds attacking their reflections. JBNHS. 50(3), 674-675.
- (1948): The status of the Dusky Willow-Warbler Phylloscopus fuscatus (Blyth)] in India. JBNHS. 47(4), 736-739.
- (1948): White-winged Wood-Duck Asarcornis scutulatus (Mueller) on the Padma River, East Bengal. JBNHS. 47(4), 749.
- (1949): The Great Crested Grebe Podiceps cristatus (Linn.) in Orissa. JBNHS. 48(2), 367-368.
- (1949): Whitecapped Redstart Chaimarrhornis leucocephalus (Vigors) feeding on berries. JBNHS. 48(4), 806.
- (1950): Some notes on the genus Phylloscopus in Kashmir. JBNHS. 49(1), 9-13.
- (1950): Possible occurrence of the Black Tern Chlidonias niger (L.) near Delhi. JBNHS. 49(1), 120-121.
- (1950): Field identification of birds. JBNHS. 49(1), 123-124.
- (1950): Kentish Plovers Leucopolius alexandrinus (Linn.) at Bombay. JBNHS. 49(2), 311.
- (1950): Large Grey Babbler attacking metal hub-cap of wheel of car. JBNHS. 49(3), 550.
- (1953): Rednecked Phalarope near Delhi. JBNHS. 51(2), 507-508.
- (1957): Bird life of Madhya Pradesh. JBNHS. 54(3), 768-769.
- (1949): The birds of Delhi and District. JBNHS. 48(2), 370-372.
- (1951): Some notes on birds in Lahul. JBNHS. 49(4), 608-613.
- (1972): On revisiting Delhi. Newsletter for Birdwatchers. 12(9), 1-3.
- (1972): Nest building of the Baya Weaver Bird. Newsletter for Birdwatchers. 12(9), 12.
- (1964): Return to Delhi. Newsletter for Birdwatchers. 4(1), 1-3.
- (1929): Some birds seen in the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean. Ibis, 12 5(1), 41-53.
- (1952): Identifying birds of prey in the field. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club (BBOC) 72, 55-61.
- (1931): Shearwaters in the Arabian Sea. Ibis, 13 1(3), 579-581.
- (1955): Field notes on some Asian leaf warblers. British Birds. 48, 293-299,349-356.
- (1952): Letter to the Editor. Ibis 94(2), 369-370.
- (1969): Some Notes on Asian Leaf-Warblers (Genus Phylloscopus). Private/TRUEXpress, Oxford. 31 pages.
- (1952): with Abdulali,H Ardeidae with red legs. Ibis 94, 363.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Chmielewski, Wendy. "Horace Gundry Alexander - Papers, 1916-1983". Swarthmore College Peace Collection. http://www.swarthmore.edu/library/peace/DG100-150/dg140Alexander.htm. Retrieved 2008-05-09.
- ^ Obituary. New York Times October 5, 1989
- ^ Moss 2004:87
- ^ a b Fitter, Richard (1990). "Obituary". Ibis 132: 484–486. doi:10.1111/j.1474-919X.1990.tb01068.x.
- ^ Moss 2004:88
- ^ Wood 2003
- ^ Moss 2004:102
- ^ Bhutani RK (1984) Re-formation of Delhi Birdwatching Society. Newsletter for Birdwatchers. 24(4&4):15-16 scan
[edit] Other references
- Geoffrey Carnall and J. Duncan Wood, Alexander, Horace Gundry (1889–1989), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [1], accessed 27 April 2007
- Wood, J. Duncan (2003). Horace Alexander: Birds and Binoculars. Sessions of York. ISBN 1-85072-289-7.
- Moss, Stephen 2004 A bird in the bush: A social history of birdwatching. Aurum Press.
