(Theodor Rudolph) Julius Schulz was a son of Dr Johann Heinrich Schulz. He studied medicine at the Royal Friedrich Wilhelm University in Berlin from 1845 to 1849 and qualified as Doctor of Medicine (MD). In 1855 he was appointed surgeon to the Second Light Dragoons of the British German Legion. He emigrated to Natal in 1857 as regimental surgeon to the British German Legion of settlers and was licensed to practice as physician, surgeon, surgeon-accoucheur and surgeon-apothecary in the colony in February 1858. Initially he practiced on his farm at Westville, near Durban, but struggled to make a living. Later he moved to Smith Street, Durban, became police surgeon and health officer to the town (1874-1891) and developed a successful practice. He was in medical charge of the Royal Durban Rifles when it was established in 1873 and commenced ambulance classes later that year. In the early eighteen-eighties he was a member of the Port Natal Masonic Lodge. Because hospital facilities were limited he often performed operations at his home, assisted by his wife. They had four sons. The first two, Cecil* and J.A.A. (Aurel)*, learned a great deal about medicine from their father before qualifying as medical doctors in Berlin.

Schulz played an active role in several societies that flourished in Durban during the latter half of the nineteenth century. During the first year of the short-lived Natural History Association of Natal (1868-1871), he was scheduled to read a paper, "On the physiology of the mind", in September. When the Durban Medico-chirurgical Society was formed in 1871 he was one of its eight foundation members. In 1881 he served on the council of the Natal Society. And in 1879 he became one of the founding members of the Natal Microscopical Society (1878-1885) and was elected its president for the first two years. On 22 October 1878 he read a paper before its members on "Results of microscopic examination of water of Little Umhlanga".

List of sources:

Burrows, E.H. A history of medicine in South Africa. Cape Town: Balkema, 1958.

Gutsche, T. There was a man. The life and times of Sir Arnold Theiler, KCMG, of Onderstepoort. Cape Town: Timmins, 1979.

Julius Schulz. Retrieved from https://www.1879zuluwar.com/t3741-jullus-antonius-aurellus-schulz on 18 September 2020.

Laidler, P.W. & Gelfand, M. South Africa: Its medical history, 1652-1898. Cape Town: Struik, 1971.

Natal almanac, directory and yearly register, 1872, 1873, 1879, 1880, 1881, 1882, 1890.

Natal Government Gazette, 7 September 1880, pp. 644-661: List of voters for ... Durban.

Plug, C. The Natal Microscopical Society (1878-1885?). Natalia, December 1992, No. 22, pp. 49-54.

Reitz, O.G. August Hammar, 1856-1931. South African Survey Journal, 1968, Vol. 11(4), pp. 31-38.

S[anderson], J[ohn]. The study of natural history and the association for its promotion. Natal almanac, directory and yearly register, 1869, pp. 60-66.

Compiled by: C. Plug

Last updated: 2025-11-16 09:21:55