Richard Meinertzhagen

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Richard Meinertzhagen : biography

3 March 1878 – 17 June 1967

He edited Nicoll’s Birds of Egypt in 1930. Michael J. Nicoll was a friend and Assistant Director of the Zoological Gardens at Giza; Nicoll attempted to write a comprehensive guide to the ornithology of Egypt, but died in 1925 before it could be published. The work was finished by Meinertzhagen with contributions of his own independent research and illustrations. It was printed with the title "that seems appropriate," "Nicoll’s Birds of Egypt by Col. R. Meinertzhagen."Garfield, p. 169

In 1948–1949, he was accompanied by Dr. Phillip Clancey on an ornithological expedition to Arabia, Yemen, Aden, Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya, and South Africa.

As the author of numerous taxonomic and other works on birds, and possessing a vast collection of bird and bird lice specimens, Meinertzhagen was long considered one of Britain’s greatest ornithologists. Yet his magnum opus, Birds of Arabia (1954), is believed to have been based on the unpublished manuscript of another naturalist, George Bates, who is not sufficiently credited in that book.Garfield, p. 209

In the 1990s an analysis of Meinertzhagen’s bird collection at the Walter Rothschild Zoological Museum in Tring, Hertfordshire, revealed large scale fraud involving theft and falsification. Alan Knox, who uncovered the fraud, said in 1993: "Meinertzhagen had stolen the best specimens of other people’s collections and then proceeded to fabricate data to go with them." More recent research by Rasmussen and Prys-Jones indicates the fraud was even more extensive than first thought.Rasmussen P. C; Prys-Jones R. P. (2003). "History vs mystery: the reliability of museum specimen data". 66–94 in Many of the specimens that he submitted as his own were found to be missing samples belonging to the Natural History Museum and collected by others, such as Hugh Whistler.

Military career

Lacking the desire to make a career in merchant banking, Meinertzhagen took the examinations for a commission in the British Army, and after training at Aldershot was commissioned in 1899. He was sent to India to join a battalion of the Royal Fusiliers.Garfield, p. 50 Other than routine regimental soldiering, he participated in big-game hunting, was promoted, sent on sick leave to England, and after recovery posted to the relocated battalion at Mandalay in Burma. He then started his “zealous campaign” for a transfer to Africa, and finally, in May 1902 he arrived at Mombasa in British East Africa.Garfield, p. 56

Africa

Meinertzhagen was assigned as a staff officer with the King’s African Rifles (KAR). Again, he participated in big-game hunting, but “regarded himself as scientist-explorer first, and only incidentally as a soldier.” His maps, landscape and wildlife drawings proved him an artist of exceptional talent. In 1903 he was delegated to conduct a wild animal census in the Serengeti and Athi plains.Garfield, p. 58

During Meinertzhagen’s assignment to Africa, frequent native ‘risings’ and ‘rebellions’ occurred. By 1903 KAR’s retaliatory ventures focused on confiscation of livestock, a highly effective form of punishment, and "the KAR had become accomplished cattle-rustlers." One such punitive expedition was commanded by a Captain F. A. Dickinson of the 3rd KAR with participation by Meinertzhagen, where more than 11,000 stock were captured at the cost of 3 men killed and 33 wounded. The body count on the African side was estimated at 1,500 from the Kikuyu and Embu tribes.Garfield, p. 59

In the Kenya Highlands in 1905, Meinertzhagen crushed a major revolt by killing its leader, the Nandi Orkoiyot (spiritual leader) Koitalel Arap Samoei. He arranged a meeting to negotiate by Koitalel’s home on 19 October 1905, at which he planned to assassinate him. Meinertzhagen shot Koitalel, while shaking his hand and his men machine-gunned two dozen Nandi tribesmen, including most of Koitalel’s advisors. Initially he had been able to orchestrate a cover-up and was to be commended for the incident.Garfield, p. 68 He claimed self-defense and eventually, after a third court of inquiry, he was cleared by the presiding officer, Brigadier William Manning. Meinertzhagen collected tribal artifacts after this revolt. Some of these items, including a walking stick and baton belonging to Koitalel, were returned to Kenya in 2006. Pressure from the Colonial Department on the War Office eventually brought about Meinertzhagen’s removal from Africa, as "he had become a negative symbol" and on 28 May 1906 "he found himself on a ship being trundled back to England in disgrace and in disgust."Garfield, p. 69