B.C.R. Langford entered the civil service of the Transvaal Colony in April 1904 as assistant hydrographic surveyor in the Irrigation Department in Pretoria. After the formation of the Union of South Africa (1910) he was appointed on 1 April 1912 as a human computer to the Hydrographic Survey, headed by August W. Karlson*, in the Union Department of Irrigation. He collaborated with Karlson in the publication of a pamphlet on The campaign against hail and the latest developments of electrical means of protection in France (Pretoria, 1912, 19 p).

Langford was a foundation member of the South African Ornithologists' Union in 1904. He served on its editorial committee from 1908 to 1913, and then as joint honorary editor of its Journal until 1916, when the union amalgamated with the Transvaal Biological Society to form the South African Biological Society. During this period he published two papers in the union's Journal: "The South African Lanner Falcon (Falco biarmicus) and its congeners" (1912, Vol. 8(2), pp. 82-85) and "Singular plumage in young female Lanner (F. biarmicus)" (1914, Vol. 10(1), pp. 5-6).

In 1906 Langford was a member of the South African Association for the Advancement of Science.

List of sources:

Bibliography of regional meteorological literature, Vol. 1. Southern Africa, 1486-1948 (compiled by R.J. Venter). Pretoria: Weather Bureau, 1949.

Journal of the South African Ornithologists' Union, 1908-1916, Vol. 4-11: Office bearers and papers by Langford.

National Automated Archival Information Retrieval System (NAAIRS), at http://www.national.archives.gov.za/naairs.htm Documents relating to B.C.R. Langford.

South African Association for the Advancement of Science. Report, 1905/6, list of members.

Union of South Africa. Public service list, 1914. Pretoria: Government Printer, 1914.

Compiled by: C. Plug

Last updated: 2020-04-25 12:56:45