Augusta Vera Duthie


Augusta Vera Duthie was a South African botanist who studied the plants of the Western Cape and was a popular teacher who lectured on cryptogamic botany. She was the first university lecturer in botany who was entirely educated in South Africa.

Early life and education

One of five children, she was born to Archibald Hamilton and Augusta Vera Duthie and in Knysna, South Africa. She obtained a B.A. from Huguenot College in 1901, a M.A. from South African College in 1910, and a D.Sc. from University of South Africa in 1929.

Academic career

She was appointed as botany lecturer at Victoria College, now University of Stellenbosch in 1902. In 1912, she visited Cambridge University and worked with Albert Charles Seward. In 1929, she completed flora of the Stellenbosch Flats, an alluvial area surrounding the college. After her retirement 1939, she returned to manage her family farm Belvidere where she died in 1963. In her will she bequeathed a sum of money to St Andrew's College, where she had taught, in order to fund scholarships.

Eponyms

Commemoration

She is commemorated by the stained glass window in the north wall of the Holy Trinity Church in Belvidere near Knysna, the church was founded by her ancestor, Thomas Henry Duthie.