Richard Hanitsch

Karl Richard Hanitsch (22 December 1860 – 11 August 1940) was a German-born entomologist and museum curator who served as the director of the Raffles Museum in Singapore in the early 20th century.

Hanitsch was born at Grossenstein in Thuringia, Germany. He studied at the University of Jena, where he obtained his PhD. From 1887 to 1895 he was employed as a demonstrator of zoology at University College, Liverpool. He married Ethel Vernon in 1892, with whom he had two sons and three daughters. From 1895 to 1907 he was Curator and Librarian of the Raffles Library and Museum, becoming in 1908 the first Director of the museum, a position he held until 1919. He was especially successful at building up the library collection there. He also served as the Honorary Treasurer of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society.

Although Hanitsch’s principal research interest lay in entomology, he also worked on sponges, birds, amphibians, and mammals. He retired on 7 July 1919 and returned to England. His successor as Director was Major John Moulton.

Hanitsch is commemorated in the scientific name of a species of snake, Oreocalamus hanitschi.

Sources

• Arunasalam, Sitragandi (26 January 2003). R. Hanitsch. (Published online by the National Library, Singapore).[1]
• Obituary (14 September 1940). Nature 146: 360.