Frederick William FitzSimons
Encyclopedia
Frederick William FitzSimons (6 August 1870 Garvaghy, Ireland
- 25 March 1951 Grahamstown
), was a South African naturalist noted for his research on the country's snakes and their venom, and the commercial production of anti-venom.
FitzSimons emigrated to South Africa
in 1881 and was educated in Natal
. He was appointed curator of the Pietermaritzburg
Museum in 1897 from where he transferred to the Natal Government Museum. In 1906 he moved once more to the Port Elizabeth Museum as director. In 1918 he founded Africa's first snake-park there, which was also the world's second.
Of great interest at the time, his 1913 examination of and report on hominid skull fragments
originating from Boskop near Potchefstroom, led to a flurry of speculation.
Robert Broom
wrote:
Subsequently many similar skulls were unearthed by prominent palaeontologists of the day, including Robert Broom, Alexander Galloway, William Pycraft
, Sidney Haughton, Raymond Dart
, and others. The current view is that Boskop Man was not a species, but a variation of anatomically modern humans; there are well-studied skulls from Boskop, South Africa, as well as from Skuhl, Qazeh, Fish Hoek, Border Cave
, Brno, Tuinplaas, and other locations.
FitzSimons' anthropological work also included studies of the coastal Bushmen
or Strandlopers who were ultimately displaced by the Khoikhoi
.
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
- 25 March 1951 Grahamstown
Grahamstown
Grahamstown is a city in the Eastern Cape Province of the Republic of South Africa and is the seat of the Makana municipality. The population of greater Grahamstown, as of 2003, was 124,758. The population of the surrounding areas, including the actual city was 41,799 of which 77.4% were black,...
), was a South African naturalist noted for his research on the country's snakes and their venom, and the commercial production of anti-venom.
FitzSimons emigrated to South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
in 1881 and was educated in Natal
Natal Province
Natal, meaning "Christmas" in Portuguese, was a province of South Africa from 1910 until 1994. Its capital was Pietermaritzburg. The Natal Province included the bantustan of KwaZulu...
. He was appointed curator of the Pietermaritzburg
Pietermaritzburg
Pietermaritzburg is the capital and second largest city in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It was founded in 1838, and is currently governed by the Msunduzi Local Municipality. Its "purist" Zulu name is umGungundlovu, and this is the name used for the district municipality...
Museum in 1897 from where he transferred to the Natal Government Museum. In 1906 he moved once more to the Port Elizabeth Museum as director. In 1918 he founded Africa's first snake-park there, which was also the world's second.
Of great interest at the time, his 1913 examination of and report on hominid skull fragments
Boskop Man
Boskop Man is a type of hominid based on a skull discovered in 1913 in South Africa whose existence and interpretation is controversial. Originally, the skull was claimed to be 30 percent larger than that of modern humans and they were taken to have lived in southern Africa between 30,000 and...
originating from Boskop near Potchefstroom, led to a flurry of speculation.
Robert Broom
Robert Broom
Professor Robert Broom was a Scottish South African doctor and paleontologist. He qualified as a medical practitioner in 1895 and received his DSc in 1905 from the University of Glasgow...
wrote:
-
- "Twelve years ago there was discovered in the TransvaalTransvaal ProvinceTransvaal Province was a province of the Union of South Africa from 1910 to 1961, and of its successor, the Republic of South Africa, from 1961 until the end of apartheid in 1994 when a new constitution subdivided it.-History:...
a remarkable human skull of apparently great antiquity. Fitzsimons, of Port Elizabeth Museum, first described it as perhaps allied to the NeanderthalNeanderthalThe Neanderthal is an extinct member of the Homo genus known from Pleistocene specimens found in Europe and parts of western and central Asia...
but without the large supra-orbital ridges. The skull was next sent to Cape Town on loan, where it was described at some length by Haughton as allied to the Cromagnon man. Shortly afterwards I examined it in Port Elizabeth, and, impressed by the huge size of the brain, the great thickness of the bone—in places 15 mm.—and certain remarkable features in the jaw, I thought it worthy of specific rank and named it "Homo capensis". Now the specimen has been sent to the British MuseumBritish MuseumThe British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
for further examination, and there has just appeared a paper by PycraftWilliam Plane PycraftWilliam Plane Pycraft was an English osteologist.Pycraft was born on 13 January 1868 in Great Yarmouth in Norfolk the elder son of William John Pycraft and Margaret Fiddes Pycraft . His father was in the Merchant Navy and drowned at Llanelli on 14 August 1868 when William was only 8 months old...
which will be regarded as the official British Museum report."
- "Twelve years ago there was discovered in the Transvaal
Subsequently many similar skulls were unearthed by prominent palaeontologists of the day, including Robert Broom, Alexander Galloway, William Pycraft
William Plane Pycraft
William Plane Pycraft was an English osteologist.Pycraft was born on 13 January 1868 in Great Yarmouth in Norfolk the elder son of William John Pycraft and Margaret Fiddes Pycraft . His father was in the Merchant Navy and drowned at Llanelli on 14 August 1868 when William was only 8 months old...
, Sidney Haughton, Raymond Dart
Raymond Dart
Raymond Arthur Dart was an Australian anatomist and anthropologist, best known for his involvement in the 1924 discovery of the first fossil ever found of Australopithecus africanus, an extinct hominid closely related to humans, at Taung in the North of South Africa in the province...
, and others. The current view is that Boskop Man was not a species, but a variation of anatomically modern humans; there are well-studied skulls from Boskop, South Africa, as well as from Skuhl, Qazeh, Fish Hoek, Border Cave
Border Cave
Border Cave is a rock shelter on the western scarp of the Lebombo Mountains in KwaZulu-Natal near the border between South Africa and Swaziland. Border Cave has a remarkably continuous stratigraphic record of occupation spanning about 200 ka. Anatomically modern Homo sapiens skeletons together with...
, Brno, Tuinplaas, and other locations.
FitzSimons' anthropological work also included studies of the coastal Bushmen
Bushmen
The indigenous people of Southern Africa, whose territory spans most areas of South Africa, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Mozambique, Swaziland, Botswana, Namibia, and Angola, are variously referred to as Bushmen, San, Sho, Barwa, Kung, or Khwe...
or Strandlopers who were ultimately displaced by the Khoikhoi
Khoikhoi
The Khoikhoi or Khoi, in standardised Khoekhoe/Nama orthography spelled Khoekhoe, are a historical division of the Khoisan ethnic group, the native people of southwestern Africa, closely related to the Bushmen . They had lived in southern Africa since the 5th century AD...
.