- Phillip Clancey
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Dr Phillip Alexander Clancey DSc (26 September 1917 – 18 July 2001) was a leading authority on the ornithology of South Africa.
Contents
Background and education
Phillip Clancey was born, brought up and educated in Glasgow, Scotland. He studied at the Glasgow School of Art where his artistic skills were developed.
Military service
Clancey served in the 51st (Highland) Division with the Allied forces in Sicily and Italy during World War II, narrowly escaping death and being deafened in one ear by an artillery explosion.
Expeditions
In 1948-1949, he accompanied Colonel Richard Meinertzhagen on an ornithological expedition to Yemen, Aden, Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya and South Africa.
Museum posts
Clancey emigrated to South Africa in August 1950 to take up the post of Curator of the Natal Museum in Pietermaritzburg.
He was Director of the Durban Museum and Art Gallery from 1 January 1952 until his retirement on 25 September 1982.
Clancey also served as President of the Southern African Museums Association, President of the Southern African Ornithological Society and President of the Natal Bird Club.
Books
Clancey wrote extensively about the taxonomy of African birds, naming some two-hundred sub-species of Southern African birds.
- The Birds of Natal and Zululand (1964);
- The Gamebirds of Southern Africa (1967);
- Catalogue of the Birds of the South African Subregion (1965–1972);
- Handlist of the Birds of Southern Mozambique (1970–1972);
- Co-author of Vol II of Atlas of Speciation of African Birds (1978);
- Chief Editor of the S.A.O.S. Checklist of Southern African Birds (1980);
- The Rare Birds of Southern Africa (1985);
- Kingfishers of Sub-Saharan Africa, Publisher: Jonathan Ball Publishers (31 December 1992)
ISBN 0947464654 ISBN 978-0947464653
- The Birds of Southern Mozambique. Publisher: African Bird Book Publishing;
2 Rev Ed edition (January 1996) ISBN 0620199180 ISBN 978-0620199186
- Contributed to The Atlas of Southern African Birds (1997).
Other publications number approximately 600.
Awards and honours
- Gill Memorial Medal of the Southern African Ornithological Society (now BirdLife South Africa);
- Fellowship of the Museums Association, London (for his work as a museologist);
- Honorary Life Member of the Southern African Ornithological Society (for his ornithological contributions);
- Several avian sub-species have been named after Clancey by others in his honour.
Collections
- Clancey donated a collection of some 5,500 bird-skins (mainly Western Palaearctic) to the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh;
- He also donated over 32,000 bird-skins - a collection considered the finest in Africa - to the Durban Museum and Art Gallery.
Later life
Phillip Clancey continued as a Research Associate of the Durban Museum and Art Gallery until his death in 2001, aged 83.
References
- Obituary, R.J Dowsett, D Allan, R McGowan (2002), Phillip Alexander Clancey (1917–2001), Ibis 144 (2), 369–370.
- In memoriam: Phillip Alexander Clancey, 1917-2001, David Allan, The Auk 120(1):198-199, 2003
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