Mr. Kemp and his many birds ... (1 Viewer)

Authorized Forms Of Name Kemp; Robert (1876-c1920); Mammal Collector
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Parallel Forms Of Name Robin Kemp
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History Robert Kemp was the son of Robert Kemp, an optician, and was born at 60 Windsor Road, Islington, North London on 19 October 1871. In 1902 he became Assistant Accountant on the Railway Board in Sierra Leone where a new railway was being constructed and collected birds and mammals in his spare time. Among the three collections of birds he made there was at least one new species. During his home leave. [from here]

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Calalp said:

Maybe the full story is told in that issue of Mathews's Austral Avian Record 5 (5), p. 105? "With Portrait"! It looks like some kind of Obituary or In Memoriam (similar to several others, in earlier issues of the same Journal) ... It´s not found in BHL (Biodiversity Heritage Library), they only hold vol. 5, no.1, pp.1-32, from 1922. However; vol 5 (4), pp. 81-100, was published in 1926 (found here, end of volume). Vol 5 (5) seems to be the very last issue of Austral Avian Record and was probably published the year after, in 1927.

Anyone who have seen it? Or have full acess?

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ROBIN KEMP.​

ROBIN KEMP was the son of Robert Kemp, and was born in North London in 1871, but was schooled in the Mendips, Somersetshire. His mother was Ellen Home, a gifted woman who did clever illustrations mostly for children's books, and Robin inherited this gift to some extent. This was clearly seen in his scientific labelling, where the labels appear almost as printed slips, so clear are the particulars inscribed thereon. He left London to take up an appointment to the railway board in Sierra Leone. While there he pursued his bent for Natural History, collecting and studying birds and mammals. During his furlough in England he spent his time at the British Museum (Natural History) working out his collections with the assistance of Mr. O. Thomas, Dr. Sharpe and Captain Shelley.
In 1905 his health gave way through the many attacks of fever and he was invalided home for good.
The following year he went with his brother Humphrey to New Zealand, but his experiences there were not of the happiest and he returned to England in 1908, where he gladly fell in with Mr. Oldfield Thomas's suggestion to undertake collecting in East Africa. The expedition was financed by the late Mr. C. D. Rudd, and Kemp was so successful that his engagement lasted two years, during which time he ransacked Mts. Elgon, Kenia and Kilimanjaro, and the Aberdare Range. The lower forms of life were not neglected, large collections of fleas, ticks, etc., being procured for the late Hon. N. C. Rothschild, while he had the honour of being the first individual to collect the minute snail fauna of East Africa, a pioneer field which yielded to him some hundreds of new species — results altogether unanticipated.
Upon his return to England I secured his services in connection with the localities of Cape York and the Gulf of Carpentaria, and from 1912 to 1914 he worked there forming good collections illustrative in every way of the faunal areas studied. In 1914 he revisited New Zealand, where his brother still resided, and might have remained for some time but the call of the Motherland prevailed, and at the outbreak of war he returned to England and offered his services to the R.A.M.C, only to meet with refusal on account of age and health — a bitter shock. He then undertook another collecting trip for the British Museum through Mr. Oldfield Thomas, this time to the Argentine where he spent more than a year. He returned in 1917.
His name is associated with many mammals and also many mollusca, while I have instituted the genus Kempiella in honour of this hardworking naturalist.

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Melanie said:

Seems that Kemp was still alive in 1930. Otherwise George L. Bates would have used the term late when he desribed the subspecies Estrilda astrild kempi.

https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/125341#page/63/mode/1up

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njlarsen said:

Does anyone know how long the time gap was from paper submission to appearance back then? I think all one can say is that your argument might be valid for when the paper was prepared.

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Calalp said:

Bernard Verdcourt (1925-2011) apparently published a paper by the title Collectors in East Africa. Addenda to previous collectors, in The Conchologists´Newsletter, No.159 (2001), where he allegedly dealt with: "Robert [Robin] Kemp" (quote from here ... even if close to unreadable )

Maybe worth checkin up?

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PScofield said:

Robert (Robin) Kemp (1871-1935) ...

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PScofield said:

Calalp, I got Kemps death date (d. 1/2 quarter 1935) from the "England & Wales, Death Index, 1837-2005". ....

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Flyrobin genus Kempia Mathews, 1912 NCR [Now in Microeca]
Kemp's Longbill Macrosphenus kempi Sharpe, 1905
Kemp's Olive-bellied Sunbird Cinnyris chloropygius kempi Ogilvie-Grant, 1910
lack-backed Butcherbird ssp.Cracticus mentalis kempi Mathews, 1912
Black-naped Tern ssp. Sterna sumatrana kempi Mathews, 1912 NCR [JS Sterna sumatrana sumatrana]
Blue-winged Kookaburra ssp. Dacelo leachii kempi Mathews, 1912 NCR [JS Dacelo leachii leachii]
Little Shearwater ssp Puffinus assimilis kempi Mathews, 1912 NCR [JS Puffinus (assimilis) elegans]
Red-headed Myzomela ssp. Myzomela erythrocephala kempi Mathews, 1912 NCR [JS Myzomela erythrocephala erythrocephala]
Rufous Fantail ssp. Rhipidura rufifrons kempi Mathews, 1912 NCR [JS Rhipidura rufifrons rufifrons]
Silver-crowned Friarbird ssp. Rhipidura rufifrons kempi Mathews, 1912 NCR [JS Rhipidura rufifrons rufifrons]
Silver-crowned Friarbird ssp. Estrilda astrild kempi Bates, 1930
Robert 'Robin' Kemp (b.1871) was originally an accountant who worked for a company building a railway in Sierra Leone. However, he became a naturalist and professional collector and combined his collecting in Sierra Leone (1902– 1904) with his day job. He was in New Zealand (1906–1908) and collected in East Africa (1908–1911), in Australia (1912– 1914), and in Argentina (1916–1917). Four mammals are named after him (See also Robin (Kemp))

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Lesser Crested Tern ssp. Thalasseus bengalensis robini Mathews, 1916 NCR [JS Thalasseus bengalensis torresii]
Large-billed Gerygone ssp. Ethelornis cairnsensis robini Mathews, 1920 NCR [JS Gerygone magnirostris cairnsensis]
(See Kemp)

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PScofield said:

2) The name phoebe is apparently not an honorific as it does not end in ae. The taxa described is a ssp of Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae that is darker and more iridescent. The name is most likely therefore to be a simple reference to the ancient Greek word Phoebe associated with Apollo also called Phoebus Apollo or "the "radiant one" ". Note that Kemp described another bird Turdinus phoebei (Bull. Br. Orn. Cl., 21 : 111). Note here the use of the suffix “–i”

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