Earle Northcroft

Earle Fead Northcroft (1896 – 1962) was a New Zealand botanist and physician who was a member of the 1924 Chatham Islands expedition scientific team.

Early life

Northcroft was born in 1896 in Christchurch the only son of Ernest Northcroft.[1][2] His cousin was the lawyer and judge Sir Erima Northcroft.[1][2]

Career

During WWI Northcroft served in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force receiving the British War Medal.[3] His occupation at enlistment was law clerk.[3] After the war he attended the University of Otago attaining an M.Sc. in 1924 with a thesis entitled An Ecological Study of the New Zealand Plants at Lawyers Head.[2][4][5] He then lectured in biology at Otago before gaining a Ph.D. at Victoria University College in Wellington in 1931.[2][4]

1924 Chatham Islands research expedition. Northcroft on the right.

Northcroft was a member of the Otago Institute and one of two botanists who made up the scientific team on the 1924 Chatham Islands expedition.[4] His findings were unpublished until his records were discovered and published posthumously by A.J. Healy in 1975.[4] He recorded 53 species that had not been recorded by later researchers but no specimens exist.[6] Between 1923 and 1929 he worked on the biology of the blackberry publishing five papers and wool fibres publishing one paper.[4]

Northcroft then changed careers studying medicine at the University of Edinburgh where he graduated with an MB,ChB. in 1934.[2][4] After qualifying he worked in the Royal Infirmary, Royal Hospital for Sick Children and City Fever Hospital in Edinburgh and in Hounslow Hospital in England.[2]

In the late 1930s he left the United Kingdom for Australia joining the medical branch of the Royal Australian Air Force during WWII.[2] He ran an RAAF hospital in Sydney.[2][4] In August 1947 he was appointed to the rank of Squadron Leader as a part-time physician specialist.[7]

In 1949 he returned to Dunedin where he became a general practitioner and instructor at the Otago medical school.[1][2]

Personal life

Northcroft was a supporter of the arts belonging to the Dunedin Public Art Gallery Association and serving on the committee of the Otago Arts Society.[2]

His wife Brenda Guthrie Northcroft wrote several books including a biography of her husband Another beloved physician.[1][2][8]

He died in Dunedin on 2 June 1962.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Obituary Dr E.F. Northcroft". Press. 12 June 1962. p. 10. Retrieved 14 July 2024.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Obituary Earle Fead Northcroft, Ph.D, M.B., Ch.B.". New Zealand Medical Journal. 61: 420. 1962.
  3. ^ a b "Earle Fead Northcroft". Auckland War Memorial Museum. Retrieved 14 July 2024.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Northcroft, E. F.; Healy, A. J. (1975). "Adventive flora of the Chatham Islands". New Zealand Journal of Botany. 13 (2): 123–129. Bibcode:1975NZJB...13..123N. doi:10.1080/0028825X.1975.10430314. ISSN 0028-825X.
  5. ^ "Degrees conferred". Evening Star. 19 July 1924. p. 9. Retrieved 14 July 2024.
  6. ^ de Lange, Peter J. (2011). Checklist of vascular plants recorded from Chatham Islands (PDF). Department of Conservation. p. 5. ISBN 978-0-478-14883-1.
  7. ^ "ROYAL AUSTRALIAN AIR FORCE. Medical Branch". Commonwealth of Australia Gazette. 2 October 1947. Retrieved 14 July 2024.
  8. ^ Northcroft, Brenda Guthrie (1962). Another beloved physician. Dunedin: B.G. Northcroft. OCLC 154278078.