Horace Alexander

Infobox Writer
name = Horace Gundry Alexander


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birthdate = birth date|1889|07|30
birthplace = Croydon, England
deathdate = death date and age|1989|09|30|1889|07|30
deathplace = Pennsylvania, USA
occupation = Pacifist, ornithologist
nationality = British
period =
genre = Non-fiction
subject = Ornithology, Quakerism, Gandhi, India
movement =
influences =
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website =

Horace Gundry Alexander (July 30, 1889 – September 30, 1989) was an English Quaker teacher and writer, pacifist and ornithologist. He was the youngest of four sons of Joseph Gundry Alexander(1848–1918). [cite web|last = Chmielewski|first = Wendy|title = Horace Gundry Alexander - Papers, 1916-1983|publisher = Swarthmore College Peace Collection|url = http://www.swarthmore.edu/Library/peace/DG100-150/dg140Alexander.html|accessdate = 2008-05-09] One of his brothers was Wilfred Backhouse Alexander.

Family life

He was born in Croydon, England and studied at King's College, Cambridge University, and taught at Woodbrooke, a Quaker college in Birmingham from 1919 to 1944. His first wife, Olive Graham, died in 1942, and in 1958 he married Rebecca Bradbeer, an American Quaker. After ten years they moved to Pennsylvania, United States where he spent the remaining twenty years of his life. He was also, for the first ten years, a Governor of Leighton Park School, a leading Quaker school in England. He died of a gastrointestinal illness at Crosslands, a Quaker retirement community in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. [Obituary. New York Times October 5, 1989. [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DE0DC1E31F936A35753C1A96F948260] ]

Ornithology

Alexander was a life-long dedicated and gifted birdwatcher, keenly involved in the twentieth century movements for the protection and observation of birds. Along with his two younger brothers, Wilfred and Christopher, he took a keen interest in nature. Growing up in a Quaker home devoid of any other forms of entertainment, he found an interest in birds starting at the age of eight when his older brother Gilbert presented him a book on natural history. [Moss 2004:87] It was not until he was 20 that he obtained his first pair of binoculars. [Moss 2004:88] He was one of a small group of amateur birdwatchers who developed the skills and set new standards for combining the pleasures of birdwatching with the satisfaction of contributing to ornithological science. He made many significant observations, mainly in Britain but also in India and the United States, and was well respected for his work.

Horace spent most of his time in India and became interested in its birds in 1927. Ornithology at that time was not popular among Indians in India and when Horace informed Gandhi of an expedition, Gandhi commented, "That is a good hobby, provided you don't shoot them." Horace demonstrated the use of binoculars as an acceptable alternative to the gun and carried them at most times. Horace Alexander joined Sidney Dillon Ripley on an expedition to the Naga hills in 1950. He also associated himself with a group of birdwatchers in New Delhi and encouraged Indian ornithologists such as Usha Ganguli. [Wood 2003] Many of his notes were lost when one of his suitcases was lost in India in 1946. [Moss 2004:102]

He was also a founder member of the West Midland Bird Club, and its president, during his long residence in Birmingham, England.

Gandhi

Alexander's father-in-law John William Graham believed that Gandhi was a subversive and that the Indians were unprepared for self-government. However at an annual Quaker meeting in 1930, the Nobel prize winning poet Rabindranath Tagore attacked the British rule in India. The Quakers were disturbed by the address and John Graham was particularly outraged. After the meeting, it was agreed that a representative would be sent to India to attempt a reconciliation of the Viceroy, Lord Irwin and Gandhi. This task was assigned to Horace Alexander. He later became a close friend of Gandhi (who, in 1942, described Alexander as "one of the best English friends India has") and wrote extensively about his philosophy.

He was consulted by Richard Attenborough in the making of the film "Gandhi", but felt that the scripts did not do justice to the people around Gandhi.

In 1984 he was awarded the Padma Bhushan medal, the highest honour given to a non-Indian civilian.

Publications

Some of the books and articles written by Horace Alexander include:
*"Joseph Gundry Alexander"
*"Justice Among Nations" (1927) [http://www.archive.org/details/justiceamongnati014924mbp scanned]
*"The Indian Ferment" (1929)
*"India Since Cripps" Penguin (1941)
*"New Citizens of India" (1951)
*"Consider India: An Essay in Values" (1961)
*"Gandhi Through Western Eyes" (1969)
*"70 Years of Birdwatching" T & A D Poyser (1974) ISBN 0 85661 004 6

Bird related notes

* (1974): What leads to increases in the range of certain birds? JBNHS. 71(3), 571-576.
* (1952): Birds attacking their reflections. JBNHS. 50(3), 674-675.
* (1948): The status of the Dusky Willow-Warbler "Phylloscopus fuscatus" (Blyth)] in India. JBNHS. 47(4), 736-739.
* (1948): White-winged Wood-Duck "Asarcornis scutulatus" (Mueller) on the Padma River, East Bengal. JBNHS. 47(4), 749.
* (1949): The Great Crested Grebe "Podiceps cristatus" (Linn.) in Orissa. JBNHS. 48(2), 367-368.
* (1949): Whitecapped Redstart "Chaimarrhornis leucocephalus" (Vigors) feeding on berries. JBNHS. 48(4), 806.
* (1950): Some notes on the genus "Phylloscopus" in Kashmir. JBNHS. 49(1), 9-13.
* (1950): Possible occurrence of the Black Tern "Chlidonias niger" (L.) near Delhi. JBNHS. 49(1), 120-121.
* (1950): Field identification of birds. JBNHS. 49(1), 123-124.
* (1950): Kentish Plovers "Leucopolius alexandrinus" (Linn.) at Bombay. JBNHS. 49(2), 311.
* (1950): Large Grey Babbler attacking metal hub-cap of wheel of car. JBNHS. 49(3), 550.
* (1953): Rednecked Phalarope near Delhi. JBNHS. 51(2), 507-508.
* (1957): Bird life of Madhya Pradesh. JBNHS. 54(3), 768-769.
* (1949): The birds of Delhi and District. JBNHS. 48(2), 370-372.
* (1951): Some notes on birds in Lahul. JBNHS. 49(4), 608-613.
* (1972): On revisiting Delhi. NLBW. 12(9), 1-3.
* (1972): Nest building of the Baya Weaver Bird. NLBW. 12(9), 12.
* (1964): Return to Delhi. NLBW. 4(1), 1-3.
* (1929): Some birds seen in the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean. Ibis, 12 5(1), 41-53.
* (1952): Identifying birds of prey in the field. BBOC 72, 55-61.
* (1931): Shearwaters in the Arabian Sea. Ibis, 13 1(3), 579-581.
* (1955): Field notes on some Asian leaf warblers. British Birds. 48, 293-299,349-356.
* (1952): Letter to the Editor. Ibis 94(2), 369-370.
* (1969): Some Notes on Asian Leaf-Warblers (Genus "Phylloscopus"). Private/TRUEXpress, Oxford. 31 pages.
* (1952): with Abdulali,H Ardeidae with red legs. Ibis 94, 363.

Notes

Other references

*Geoffrey Carnall and J. Duncan Wood, "Alexander, Horace Gundry (1889–1989)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/38403] , accessed 27 April 2007
*cite book |last= Wood|first= J. Duncan|title= Horace Alexander: Birds and Binoculars|year= 2003|publisher= Sessions of York|isbn=1-85072-289-7
*Moss, Stephen 2004 A bird in the bush: A social history of birdwatching. Aurum Press.

External links

* [http://www.swarthmore.edu/Library/peace/DG100-150/dg140Alexander.html Papers in the Swarthmore College Peace Collection] (page includes biography)
* [http://www.westmidlandbirdclub.com/biblio/70Years/WMRes.htm Extract from "70 Years of Birdwatching" on West Midland Bird Club website]
* [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DE0DC1E31F936A35753C1A96F948260 Obituary in The New York Times October 5, 1989]
* [http://textualities.net/writers/features-a-g/alexanderh01.php Gandhi's interpreter by Geoffrey Carnall]
* [http://www.woodbrooke.org.uk www.woodbrooke.org.uk]
* [http://www.salsa.net/peace/conv/8weekconv2-7.html Report]