Artist William Cornwallis Harris starts his expedition from Cape Town to the Western Transvaal and the Magaliesburg Mountain
Sir Wlilliam Cornwallis Harris
Date: 1 September, 1836
Born in Kent on 2 April 1807, William Cornwallis Harris was a military engineer working for the East India Company. He later became a hunter and explored more of his artistic talent when he embarked on an expedition in Southern Africa. He arrived in Cape Town in June 1836, suffering from a fever and only intending to stay until he recovered. However, he ended up staying for two years.
In Cape Town he met Dr Andrew Smith, and together they arranged a hunting trip. The hunting trip started in September 1836. The trip lasted to the following year, and took them across the Orange River to Kuruman, where they met missionary Robert Moffat. Moffat was a good friend of Mzilikazi, the chief in the area; which helped ensure that the hunters received a warm welcome.
The expedition continued from Kuruman into the Magaliesburg, where Cornwallis came across his first Sable Antelope (later dubbed the Harris Antelope). He produced several watercolour paintings of Southern Africa’s fauna during the expedition.
Harris later returned to India to resume his engineering career. He died at the age of 41 from a fever in Poona, India.
References:
- africahunting.com, 2010. “William Cornwallis Harris (1807-1848), Artist and Hunter” from AfricanHunting.com [online]Available at www.africahunting.com [Accessed 19 July 2011]
- ReliveEarth.com, 2011. “Hunter Conservationist in History” from RelivEarth: Networking Website for Naturalists [online]. Available at www.relivearth.com [Accessed 22 August 2011]