Harry Keith

Rafflesia keithii, named in honour of Harry Keith. The bloom can reach one metre in diameter and is one of the largest flowers in the world.

Henry George Keith (1899–1982), known as Harry Keith, was a British forester and plant collector.

Keith is credited with starting the process of large-scale conservation of the forests of North Borneo (now Sabah).

In 1984, a new species of Rafflesia endemic to Sabah, Rafflesia keithii, was named in his honour. Keith was the husband of author Agnes Newton Keith. The couple had two children: a son (Henry George Newton Keith) and a daughter (Jean).

Life

Henry George Keith Jr., nicknamed "Harry", was born in 1899 in New Plymouth, New Zealand. His father was born in Kentucky around 1868 to a Scottish father and an American mother born in West Virginia. Harry's mother, Agnes Emma Beale, was born in Ashwell, Herefordshire, England, in 1856.

Keith grew up in New Zealand before being sent abroad to be schooled in England and then in California. He served in the United States Navy in the First World War, and then took a degree at the University of California, Berkeley (B.Sc. 1924).

In 1925, Keith was appointed the Assistant Conservator of Forests for the government of North Borneo (now Sabah) under the Chartered Company, based at Sandakan, and was promoted to Conservator of Forests in 1931, and later again to Director of Agriculture and Wildlife. He was also Honorary Curator of the Sandakan Museum.

In 1934, Keith married Agnes Newton (1901-1982), an American who was later to become a celebrated writer. Keith had been a friend of Agnes' brother, Al, when both boys had been at the same school in San Diego. Keith had first met Agnes when she was eight years old and he was two years older. Keith had not seen Agnes in ten years when he visited California while on leave in 1934. They fell in love and married three days later. She accompanied him to North Borneo.

During the Japanese occupation of Borneo in World War II Keith was imprisoned at Berhala Island near Sandakan and then in Batu Lintang internment and POW camp near Kuching in Sarawak, as were Agnes and their infant son George. Agnes later wrote a book on their wartime experiences, Three Came Home, which was also made into a film.

After a short period of recuperation in Canada, Keith resumed his position as head of the Department of Agriculture in British North Borneo (1946-1952). Keith is credited with starting the process of large-scale conservation of North Borneo's forests.

Throughout his career Keith collected plants for scientific study. His collections are now housed in the Natural History Museum and Kew Gardens in London, the Herbarium Bogoriense at Bogor Botanical Gardens in Indonesia, and the Herbarium of the Forest Department at Sandakan, Sabah.

The Keiths' library Both Agnes and Harry Keith were ardent bibliophiles. Agnes wrote of the first incarnation of their collection of books and documents on Borneo and South East Asia, which they were forced to abandon to the occupying Japanese forces, in Three Came Home: "Harry's library of Borneo books, perhaps the most complete in existence, his one self-indulgence...".

The pre-war collection was completely lost, and so the Keiths started a new collection from scratch after the war. Following their deaths, their collection was auctioned in 2002. The collection numbered over 1,000 volumes, and had been gathered over many years. The auction press release commented that "Many of these items are not listed in any institutional holdings, including the British Library, and may well be the only surviving extant copies". The British Library went on to purchase some of these books.

Selected publications by Keith 1928 "Description of a native oil press (chandasan) from North Borneo" Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (JMBRAS) 6(3): 96–97 1935 Forestry in the State of North Borneo 1936 "A few Ulun-no-Bokan (Murut) taboos" JMBRAS 14(3): 327–329 1936 "Some Ulun-no-Bokan (Murut) charms" JMBRAS 14(3): 330 1936 "Some Ulun-no-Bokan (Murut) words from North Borneo" JMBRAS 14(3): 314–322 1936 "Ulun-no-Bokun (Murut) folklore" 'JMBRAS 14(3): 323–326 1938 A Preliminary List of North Borneo Plant Names North Borneo Forest Records, no. 2 (reprinted 1947; 2nd edition 1952, reprinted 1964). Hong Kong: Ye Olde Printerie 1938 "Keris measurements from North Borneo" JMBRAS 16(1): 134–136 1947 The Timber of North Borneo North Borneo Forest Records, no. 3. Hong Kong: Published by permission of the Government of the Colony of North Borneo, printed by Ye Olde Printerie 1947 "Megalithic Remains in North Borneo" JMBRAS 20(1): 153-5 1980 The United States Consul and the Yankee Raja Brunei Museum Journal Monograph 4