Person

Rupp, Herman Montague Rucker (1872 - 1956)

Born
27 December 1872
Port Fairy, Victoria, Australia
Died
2 September 1956
Mosman, New South Wales, Australia
Occupation
Botanist and Minister of religion

Summary

Herman Rupp was an Anglican clergyman who was considered one of three experts on Australia's orchids in the first half of the twentieth century. For most of his 40 years as a priest he was assigned to parishes in New South Wales, Tasmania and Victoria, where he took every opportunity to study the local flora and compile censuses of them. From the mid-1920s Rupp concentrated on orchids, an interest since childhood. He published over 200 papers and two authoritative books, and described four new genera and 71 new species. Such was the respect in which he was held that in retirement, he was invited to be Honorary Curator of Orchids at the National Herbarium of New South Wales. Rupp donated large collections of specimens to this Herbarium in 1946 and to the University of Melbourne School of Botany in 1926.

Details

Chronology

1897
Education - Bachelor of Arts (BA), University of Melbourne
1899
Career position - Ordained Deacon, Anglican Church
1899 - 1914
Career position - Assigned to various parishes in Victoria and New South Wales
1901
Career position - Ordained priest, Anglican Church
1914 - 1920
Career position - Assistant Secretary (later Secretary), Australian Board of Missions
1921 - 1939
Career position - Assigned to various parishes in Tasmania and New South Wales
1924 -
Career position - Member, Field Naturalists Society of New South Wales
1927 -
Career position - Member, Linnean Society of New South Wales
1934 - 1953
Career position - Member, Field Naturalists Club of Victoria
1939
Life event - Retired
1939 - 1956
Career position - Honorary Curator of Orchids, National Herbarium of New South Wales
1949
Award - Clarke Medal, Royal Society of New South Wales
1953 - 1956
Award - Honorary Life Member, Field Naturalists Club of Victoria
1954
Award - Australian Natural History Medallion, Field Naturalists Club of Victoria

Related Corporate Bodies

Related People

Archival resources

Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science

  • Australian Botanists - Biographies, MS 064; Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science. Details

National Herbarium, Melbourne

  • Harman Montague Rucker Rupp - Records, 1892 - 1956; National Herbarium, Melbourne. Details

Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney

  • Harman Montague Rucker Rupp - Records, 1885 - 1956; Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney. Details

University of Melbourne, Botany School

  • Harman Montague Rucker Rupp - Records, 1885 - 1956; University of Melbourne, Botany School. Details

Published resources

Books

  • Gilbert, Lionel, The Orchid Man: the Life, Work and Memoirs of the Rev. H.M.R. Rupp (1872-1956) (Kenthurst (N.S.W.): Kangaroo Press, 1992), 248 pp. Details
  • Rupp, H. M. R., The orchids of New South Wales (Sydney: National Herbarium of New South Wales, 1943), 152 pp. Details

Book Sections

  • Gilbert, L. A., 'Rupp, Herman Montague Rucker (1872-1956), clergyman and botanist' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 11: 1891 - 1939 Nes-Smi, Geoffrey Serle, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1988), pp. 480-481. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A110489b.htm. Details

Journal Articles

  • Willis, J. H., 'The passing of a great orchidologist (Rev. H. M. R. Rupp, 1872 - 1956)', The Victorian naturalist, 73 (5) (1956), 105-10. Details

Resources

Gavan McCarthy [P004098] and Helen Cohn

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