William Alvara Humphrey

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William Alvara Humphrey (born November 8, 1876 in York , England , † February 1, 1945 in Cape Town , South Africa ) was an English geologist and mineralogist .

Life

William Alvara Humphrey is the eldest son of Alvara Humphrey (1847–1922) and Sarah Ann Cutts (1843–1932). He spent his school days at Woodhouse Grove School in Leeds and emigrated to South Africa in 1894 to continue his education there. In 1902, he passed the University of the Cape of Good Hope, Bachelor of Arts Exam with Honors from the Faculty of Mathematics and Science. In the same year, the South African College awarded him a bronze medal and the Melville Prize for Geology. He then continued studying geology at the universities of Vienna and Munich. A letter from Humphreys written in 1903 to the German mineralogist Paul von Groth is in the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek from this period . With the work on some ore deposits in the vicinity of the Stangalpe he received his doctorate in 1905. As part of his doctorate, Humphrey became a member of the Munich Wingolf student association , to which he dedicated the work “in loyalty and gratitude”. The doctorate was adjusted for biographical elements and acknowledgments - in the same year in the yearbook dkk geol. Reichsanstalt reprinted. After returning to South Africa, he married Esther Emmeline Churchill in 1906 and, after her death in 1920, entered into a second marriage with Elizabeth Simms.

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In the summer of 1905, Humphrey was hired as a geologist in the geological service of what was then the British colony of the Transvaal . When this was accepted as a province in the South African Union in 1910, he remained in the authority. During this time he carried out extensive geological surveys in the Transvaal and Natal . The resulting reports - published from 1906 to 1914 in the annual reports of the Geological Service of the Transvaal Colony and the South African Union - deal with and a. the geology of the Lydenburg and Carolina districts, the Bushveld (south of the Rooiberg and east of the Crocodile River, Rustenburg and Zeerust south of Dwarsberg), the tin fields of Rooiberg and the area around the Pilanesberg. Likewise, Humphrey contributed to geological maps or explanations, etc. a. by Nylstroom, Pilanesberg, Witfontein, Piet Retief, Vryheid and Johannesburg. Humphrey paid particular attention to magmatic differentiation and the titanium-bearing magnetite and chromite ores in the Bushveld Complex. Together with AL Hall, he was among the first to look for platinum in the area. However, the traces found were too small for economic exploitation. The names Rooiberg Sedimentary Series and Pongola Series go back to his research .

Humphrey was a member of the Geological Society of London , the Geological Society of South Africa and the Royal Society of South Africa. In 1905 he became a lifetime member of the South African Association for the Advancement of Science. In 1917 he retired from the public service and in 1923 from professional life altogether. Nevertheless, in 1927 he published two more articles in Transactions of the Royal Society of South Africa and in 1931 and 1932 explanations on geological maps.

Publications (selection)

  • About some ore deposits in the vicinity of the Stangalpe. In: Yearbook dkk geol. Reichsanstalt. 55th Volume, Vienna, 1905, pp. 349-368.
  • with AL Hall: The Geology of the Country Round Zeerust and Mafeking: Including the Malmani Goldfields and the Lead and Zinc Deposits South of Zeerust. Government Printing and Stationery Office, 1910.
  • The Geology of the Pilandsberg and the Surrounding Country. Government Printer, South Africa, 1914.
  • with H. Kynaston: The Geology of the Northern Portions of the Districts of Marico and Rustenburg: An Explanation of Sheet No. 14 (Witfontein) and Sheet No. 15 (Crocodile Pools). Government Printer, South Africa, 1920.
  • with LJ Krige: The Geology of the Country Surrounding Vryheid: An Explanation of Sheet No. 102 (Vryheid). Government Printer, South Africa, 1932.

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Individual evidence

  1. ^ Report of the Council of the University of the Cape of Good Hope for the year 1902, p. 8 , accessed March 15, 2015.
  2. ^ Letter from William Alvara Humphrey to Paul von Groth  , library entry in the Kalliope network , accessed on March 15, 2015.
  3. ↑ About some ore deposits in the vicinity of the Stangalpe , Munich, 1905, p. 21.
  4. ↑ Tombstone of Esther Emmeline Humphrey , accessed on March 15, 2015.
personal data
SURNAME Humphrey, William Alvara
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Humphrey, William A.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English geologist and mineralogist
DATE OF BIRTH November 8, 1876
PLACE OF BIRTH York , England
DATE OF DEATH February 1, 1945
Place of death Cape Town , South Africa