Boyd Robert Horsbrugh,
soldier and ornithologist, was the son of Captain Charles Bell Horsbrugh of the
Second Central India Horse Regiment and his wife Sarah, and older brother of Charles Bethune
Horsbrugh*. Both brothers resided in South Africa at the same time and the two
have sometimes been confused.
Boyd received his
education and training in England at Wellington College and the military
academy at Sandhurst. He joined the British military in 1893 and served in
Ceylon for two years. In 1895 he was transferred to the Army Service Corps and
during 1898-1899 took part in the suppression of a rebellion in Sierra Leone.
At this time he became a member of the Avicultural Society of Great Britain and
subsequently wrote some articles for the Avicultural
Magazine.
In October 1899
Horsbrugh arrived in South Africa to take part in the Anglo-Boer War
(1899-1902). He was wounded in 1902 and invalided to England, and was awarded both
the King's and Queen's medal, with five clasps. Later in 1902 he visited the
United States, where he married Elizabeth R Mitchell. By 1906 he had returned
to South Africa, as his postal address at this time was at the Transvaal Museum
in Pretoria (where his brother had just been appointed). In 1908 he was
promoted to major and transferred from Potchefstroom to Bloemfontein, but returned
to England in 1909. He retired from the military in 1912 with the rank of major
and settled in his home in Surrey, but was called up again following the outbreak
of World War I (1914-1918) to serve in the Army Service Corps. He was sent to
France with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, but was invalided home in November
1915 and died the next year. He was a keen sportsman.
During his entire
career Horsbrugh was interested in natural history, particularly in birds. He
assembled a valuable collection of bird skins, mainly those of game birds and
waterfowl, and in England was known for his success in breeding ducks and geese.
He joined the British Ornithologists' Union in 1904 and became a member of the
South African Ornithologists' Union in 1905. He was still a member of the
latter in 1909. During 1912-1914 he imported collections, including live birds,
from India and elsewhere and presented a valuable collection of Indian birds to
the Zoological Society of London.
Horsbrugh most
important contribution to southern African ornithology is his book, The game-birds and water-fowl of South
Africa (London, 1912), illustrated by Claude Gibney Finch-Davies*. A
sub-species of the Red-necked Falcon was named Falco chicquera horsbrughi in his honour, by Dr W.J.B. Gunning* and
Austin Roberts* in 1911.
