J. W. B. Gunning
Encyclopedia
Hilversum
is a municipality and a town in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. Located in the region called "'t Gooi", it is the largest town in that area. It is surrounded by heathland, woods, meadows, lakes, and smaller villages...
- 26 June 1913 Pretoria
Pretoria
Pretoria is a city located in the northern part of Gauteng Province, South Africa. It is one of the country's three capital cities, serving as the executive and de facto national capital; the others are Cape Town, the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein, the judicial capital.Pretoria is...
), was director of the Transvaal Museum
Transvaal Museum
""The Ditsong National Museum of Natural History, formerly Transvaal Museum, is a natural history museum situated in Pretoria, South Africa....
and a medical practitioner.
He was the second son of the famous Dutch theologian Johannes Hermanus Gunning (1829-1905) and his wife Johanna Jacoba Gunning. JWB attended the University of Amsterdam, Leiden University
Leiden University
Leiden University , located in the city of Leiden, is the oldest university in the Netherlands. The university was founded in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange, leader of the Dutch Revolt in the Eighty Years' War. The royal Dutch House of Orange-Nassau and Leiden University still have a close...
and Jena University, qualifying as a doctor of medicine. In 1884 he started a practice in the Orange Free State
Orange Free State
The Orange Free State was an independent Boer republic in southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, and later a British colony and a province of the Union of South Africa. It is the historical precursor to the present-day Free State province...
. He met and married Susanna Neethling (26 April 1862 - 14 May 1889) on 10 November 1884. From the Free State, he moved to the Cape Colony
Cape Colony
The Cape Colony, part of modern South Africa, was established by the Dutch East India Company in 1652, with the founding of Cape Town. It was subsequently occupied by the British in 1795 when the Netherlands were occupied by revolutionary France, so that the French revolutionaries could not take...
and practised there until 1897 when he was appointed as first director of the Staatsmuseum (State Museum) in Pretoria, which later was renamed the Transvaal Museum
Transvaal Museum
""The Ditsong National Museum of Natural History, formerly Transvaal Museum, is a natural history museum situated in Pretoria, South Africa....
. He remained director until his death in 1913. Gunning was responsible for founding the National Zoo
National Zoological Gardens of South Africa
The National Zoological Gardens of South Africa is the national zoo of South Africa. It is situated in the city of Pretoria and was founded by J. W. B...
in Pretoria in 1899.
On the death of his first wife, he married Ellen Elizabeth Dobbin (born 30 December 1867) of Bethulie
Bethulie
Bethulie is a small sheep and cattle farming town in the Free State province of South Africa. The name meaning chosen by God was given by directors of a mission station in 1829 which the town formed around. The mission building is the oldest settler built building still standing in the Free State...
on 19 November 1889.
She was the daughter of William Rouse Dobbin and Emma Elizabeth Kirkham.
He compiled A Checklist of the Birds of South Africa with Alwin Karl Haagner
Alwin Karl Haagner
Dr Alwin Karl Haagner was a South African ornithologist.Haagner worked in the Transvaal Museum from 1906, where he started the museum's great ornithological collection...
in 1910. The bird species Sheppardia gunningi, also called East Coast Akalat
East Coast Akalat
The East Coast Akalat or Gunning's Robin is a small passerine bird which can be found in the east of Africa from Kenya to Mozambique, and is named after J. W. B...
or Gunning's Akelat, is named for him.