Stanley Henry Prater

Stanley Henry Prater (1890–1960), naturalist who studied the mammals of the Indian subcontinent.

Stanley Henry Prater (12 March 1890 – 12 October 1960) was a domiciled British naturalist in India best known as a long-time affiliate of the Bombay Natural History Society and the Prince of Wales Museum of Western India, Bombay, 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 and domiciled British community in the Bombay Legislative Assembly from 1937 to 1947.

Early life Prater was born in the Nilgiris (southern India) 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 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, he became the curator of the BNHS and the Prince of Wales Museum of Western India, positions he held for 25 years.

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 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.

S.H. Prater died in London in 1960 after a long and debilitating illness.