British Imperialism and its Legacies: Collecting zoology

Comments

Glasgow Museums holds zoology specimens from across the world. From tenrecs and butterflies to giraffes and topis, many of them are here because of actions carried out in the name of the British Empire. Some specimens were passed down through families and later donated to Glasgow Museums. Others were bought directly from big game hunters, or gifted by missionaries, soldiers and plantation owners in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Glasgow Museums regularly bought animals from Scottish big game hunters in Africa, such as James McNeil (1875–1910), a postmaster in Mbala, Zambia (then called Abercorn, North-Eastern Rhodesia) from 1902 to 1909. On 19 September 1908 McNeil sent three red reedbucks, a waterbuck, two topi and a puku to Glasgow Museums, just one instance of a shipment. McNeil achieved recognition for his work, but what is only now being recognised is that these hunting trips relied on the labour and expertise of local people, without whom McNeil, and many other big game hunters, would never have succeeded. Despite this, they are rarely officially recognised for their work, their contributions largely ignored and taken for granted. Luckily McNeil was an avid photographer, and by looking through his photo albums we can begin to name some of these people. One reoccurring figure in these photographs is Philipo, who appears in a photograph captioned ‘Philipo and the Zebra for the Museum'.

Wealth, gained directly from plantations and the exploitation of enslaved people, gave individuals access to locations where huge collections of material could be gathered. Robert Kirke (1815–1894) owned multiple sugar plantations in Suriname (then called Dutch Guiana) and historians have described him as one of the last slave-owners in Scotland. In 1876 Kirke donated over 300 birds from Suriname to Glasgow Museums. After Kirke's death, his estate donated hundreds more of his specimens, including mammals, birds, reptiles, and insects.

Missionaries posted across the world to convert people to Christianity often took the opportunity to collect natural history specimens. Reverend William Deans Cowan (1844–1924), a missionary with the London Missionary Society, worked in Madagascar from 1874 to 1881. He sent specimens, often of species found only Madagascar, back to the UK.

Military men, stationed by the British government across the Empire, also had opportunities to collect and Glasgow Museums received specimens collected in this way. For example, two mantled guerezas (a species of monkey) were collected from east Africa by Lt. Victor Shaw Rutt (dates unknown) of the King's African Rifles in 1918 and 1919.

Broader term

British Imperialism and its Legacies: Exploitation of nature