Charles Roland Pillans (often simply Roland Pillans) was a son of the commercial pioneer Charles Stuart Pillans (1785-1849) and his wife Alida Dorothea Colyn, and a younger brother of Charles Eustace Pillans*. On 28 February 1896, in Cape Town, he married Cecilia Eglantine Margaret Hanafey, with whom he had one son. By 1886 he was living in Rosebank, Cape Town. Pillans succeeded D. May* as secretary of the Cape of Good Hope Meteorological Commission late in 1893. His duties as secretary included visiting meteorological observers throughout the colony who regularly provided data to the commission, to inspect their instruments, compare them with his portable standards, and assess their locations. Such inspections were essential, though not always sufficient, to ensure reliable data. He was succeeded as secretary by Charles M. Stewart* in 1897.

Pillans collected zoological specimens, particularly invertebrates, which he presented to the South African Museum. In 1898 his donations included 86 species of insects, mainly Coleoptera and Hymenoptera, of which eleven species were new to the museum; a valuable collection of scorpions and other invertebrates from Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe); 15 lizards, and three mice. The next year he sent in a collection of spiders, including five species new to the museum, and a few more scorpions. During 1898-1900 he also presented ants from the Matopo Hills in Zimbabwe.

List of sources:

British 1820 Settlers to South Africa. Transcribed marriage entries for Pillans. https://www.1820settlers.com/genealogy/settlerbrowsemarrs.php?name=PILLANS as on 1 May 2020.

Cape of Good Hope. Report of the Meteorological Commission, 1893, 1895.

Cape of Good Hope. Report of the trustees of the South African Museum, 1898, 1899.

FamilySearch: Charles Roland Pillans. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C91Q-XSTK-H?view=index&personArk=/ark:/61903/1:1:QG5W-RGVB&action=view&cc=2517051&lang=en&groupId=

General directory and guide-book to the Cape of Good Hope and its dependencies, 1886, Suburban directory.

Heese, J.A. South African genealogies. Pretoria and Stellenbosch, 1986-2005.

History of meteorology in South Africa. Weather Bureau Newsletter (Centenary issue), 1960, No. 139, pp. 1-48.

Robertson, H. Collectors of insects and arachnids in Africa. http://www.museums.org.za/bio/people/ as on 26 April 2001.

Stewart, C.M. Meteorology in South Africa - a retrospect and prospect. Report of the South African Association for the Advancement of Science, 1903, pp. 63-74.

Compiled by: C. Plug

Last updated: 2025-09-11 12:11:11