Stanley Pershouse, soldier, was the son of Francis Pershouse and Elizth [Elizabeth?] Anne Cowgill. He was educated in Devon, England and joined the Durham Light Infantry. In February 1899 he was commissioned as a second lieutenant to the Border Regiment and stationed in India where he became a keen ornithologist. By 1906 he served in the Second Border Regiment of the British forces in South Africa. He became a member of the South African Ornithologists' Union in 1905, and was still listed as a member by 1909, giving as his address that of a Miss Findlay of Exeter, England. In 1906 he wrote a note, "Description of the nest and eggs of Mirafra rufipilea (Rufous-headed Lark)" (presumably now Mirafra africana, Rufous-naped Lark), that was published in the Union's Journal (Vol. 2(2), p. 115). He was also interested in snakes.
In 1912 Pershouse was elected a member of the British Ornithologists' Union. During World War I (1914-1918) he suffered a severe nervous breakdown from which he never fully recovered. He ended his military career with the rank of major. In 1905 he married Helen Falay.
