Ernest Edward Galpin

Ernest Edward Galpin , was a South African botanist and banker. He left some 16,000 sheets to the National Herbarium in Pretoria and was dubbed the Prince of Collectors by General Smuts. Galpin discovered half a dozen genera and many hundreds of new species. Numerous species are named after him such as Acacia galpinii, Bauhinia galpinii, Cyrtanthus galpinii, Kleinia galpinii, Kniphofia galpinii, Streptocarpus galpinii and Watsonia galpinii. He is commemorated in the genus Galpinia N.E.Br. as is his farm in the genus Mosdenia Stent.

One of seven sons born in Grahamstown to Henry Carter Galpin, watchmaker and jeweller, and Georgina Maria Luck, Ernest Galpin started his education at the local St. Andrews College. Due to his fathers illhealth, Ernest left school atto assist with the business. A short spell of active service on the frontier followed, after which he joined the Oriental Banking Corporation, later the Bank of Africa. After being transferred to Middelburg in the Cape, he developed an interest in the local plants and spent long hours dissecting and identifying wild flowers with the aid of the three volumes of Flora Capensis and Harveys Genera. However, it was not till 1888 when he became bank manager in Grahamstown, that his collecting took on a serious turn. In 1889 he was transferred to Barberton and became intrigued by the relatively unknown local flora. His specimens now started reflecting his meticulous nature in that they were carefully pressed, preserved and labelled with extensive notes on loca

Source: Wikipedia