Ernest Thomas Garton Sherwood attended the high school of the South African College, Cape Town, from 1898 and passed the matriculation examination of the University of the Cape of Good Hope in 1900. He was awarded a University Exhibition at matriculation and continued his studies at the South African College that same year. In 1902 he was awarded the BA degree with honours in mathematics and natural science by the University of the Cape of Good Hope, having obtained the highest marks of all candidates who completed the degree that year. He also received the George Grey Memorial Scholarship.

Sherwood appears to have remained at the South African College for some time after graduating, but then proceeded to England where he continued his studies at King's College, University of Cambridge. He was awarded the BA degree (later upgraded to an MA) in 1905. After returning to the Cape Colony he joined the civil service and was appointed as a clerical assistant in Cape Town in 1906. In or before 1911 he was appointed as lecturer in physics at the Transvaal University College in Pretoria (later the University of Pretoria), under Professor P.G. Gundry*. He held this position to about 1916, when he became the first lecturer in applied mathematics at the college. He was later promoted to professor of applied mathematics.

Sherwood was married to Emily Louise, born Minhinnick, with whom he had two sons (he was the second of her three husbands).

List of sources:

National Archives Repository (TAB), Source MHG, Vol. 0, Ref. 79054. Death notice, Ernest Thomas Garton Sherwood.

National Automated Archival Information Retrieval System (NAAIRS), at http://www.national.archives.gov.za/naairs.htm Documents relating to Ernest Thomas Garton Sherwood / ETG Sherwood /Emily Louise Lang.

Ritchie, W. The history of the South African College, 1829-1918. Cape Town: T. Maskew Miller, 1918.

University of Cambridge. Calendar 1909, p. 933; http://www.mocavo.com/Cambridge-University-Calendar-1909/428215/1121#1119

University of Pretoria. History of the Department: Mathematics and Applied Mathematics. Retrieved from https://www.up.ac.za/mathematics-and-applied-mathematics/article/47645/history-of-the-departmmathematics-and-applied-mathematicst on 6 October 2020.

University of the Cape of Good Hope. Supplement to the University Calendar, 1903/4; Calendar, 1905/6-1917/8.

Compiled by: C. Plug

Last updated: 2025-12-02 12:10:43