Sydney Skaife

Sydney Harold Skaife ('Stacey') D.Sc. FRSSAf. (12 December 1889 – 6 November 1976) was an eminent South African entomologist and naturalist. His career and educational publications covered a wide field. Especially in his later years his main research interest was in social insects and the transitional phases in sociality, particularly in the Hymenoptera and Isoptera. He wrote detective novels using the pseudoynm Hendrik Brand.

He was also a school inspector, prolific author of scientific and popular books, broadcaster, and conservationist. Of his many achievements his greatest was probably his leading role in the creation of the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve between Cape Town and Cape Point. He lived for most of his life in Hout Bay on the Cape Peninsula.

Early life Skaife was born in London, England, to Katherine and John Skaife. He spent his boyhood in Bath, Somerset and went to St Marks Grammar School. Educated at Reading University, England, he initially studied in the Arts, even though his passion lay with Biology. In 1911 he took the Intermediate BA examination of London University because Reading at that stage was not a university and could not confer a degree. He then studied for a Teacher's Diploma and passed it with distinction.

In 1912 he went to the University of Leipzig in Germany, at the urging of his uncle. He stayed with the Schober family. During this period he taught English to earn some extra money.

In 1913 he went to Cape Town to teach biology at the Rondebosch Boys High School. When World War I broke out in 1914, he tried to enlist for service, but was turned down on medical grounds due to an irregular heart beat, which was later found to be harmless. he published ground-breaking work on the dynamics and ecology of termite mounds and the means of studying them. He also wrote a book on ants,

In 1952 he was awarded the South African Medal and Grant for scientific research by the South African Association for the Advancement of Science.

In 1953 he visited the UK where he spoke about his research work over the BBC and attended the Annual Congress of the British Association in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

In 1957 he was awarded a D.Sc. (honoris causa) by the University of Natal, and despite having retired became the president of the Zoological Society of South Africa in 1960. He also found time to lecture in Medical Entomology at the University of Cape Town and serve as president of the then South African Association for the Advancement of Science.

He was an entertaining and unpretentious speaker with a pleasant sense of humour and a fine command of his field, and many South African youngsters of that generation had reason to appreciate his kindly and generous response to intelligent questions.

On 6 November 1976 he died at Hout Bay in the Cape Peninsula.

A daughter and son were born from this marriage: Mary Katherine Rowan "Bunty" d1986 – an eminent ornithologist and author John Skaife b1927

Published works Animal Life in South Africa (Miller, Cape Town 1920) The Strange Old Man (Longmans, Green & Co., London, 1930) South African Nature Notes (Maskew Miller, Cape Town, c1938) African Insect Life (Longmans, Green & Co., London, 1953) Dwellers in Darkness – an Introduction to the Study of Termites (Longmans Green & Co., London, 1956) Reminiscences of a Naturalist (1958) The Study of Ants (Longmans, 1961) The Weaker Sex – Brochure based on a series of six talks broadcast in the English Service of the SABC during Feb and March 1961. A Naturalist Remembers (Longmans, Cape Town, 1963) The Amazing World of the Ant (South African Broadcasting Corporation) The Outdoor World of Africa (Longmans, Cape Town) African Insect Life – revised edition by Ledger & Bannister (Struik, Cape Town 1979) Adriaan Hugo – series of Afrikaans detective novels under the pseudonym of Hendrik Brand