George Adelbert Wilmot, forester, was the son of Alexander Wilmot and Alicia M. Slater. He entered the civil service of the Cape Colony in September 1899 and in May 1900 became a third class clerk in the paymaster-general's branch of the treasury. A few years later he left the Cape Colony for the United States to continue his studies at the Yale University Forest School, returning in 1906 with the degree Master of Forestry (MF). On 1 July that year he was appointed as district forest officer in Cape Town, with responsibility for working plans. On 1 July 1907 he was appointed district forest officer at Tokai, Cape Town, where he was still stationed in 1912. Meanwhile he had also been appointed in 1906 as assistant lecturer and demonstrator in forestry (under D.E. Hutchins* and later J.S. Henkel*), and lecturer in forest management and forest law, in the South African School of Forestry, newly established under the auspices of the South African College, Cape Town. The school closed after a few years. By 1914 he was no longer employed in the civil service of the Union of South Africa.

Wilmot wrote two articles for the Agricultural Journal of the Union of South Africa in 1912, on "Forestry for farmers" and "How to raise trees from seed". Later he also wrote pamphlets on "Tree planting" (Pretoria, 1920) and South African Matchwoods (Cape Town, 1921), and published papers on "Timbers suitable for matchmaking" (Empire Forestry Journal, 1929) and "Soil erosion and its prevention" (South African Journal of Science, 1932).

Wilmot was survived by his wife Nellie Irwin Lange, born Scholtz.

List of sources:

Agricultural Journal (Union of South Africa), 1912, Vol. 3, articles by Wilmot.

Cape of Good Hope. Civil service list, 1901, 1907, 1910.

FamilySearch: George Adelbert Wilmot. https://www.familysearch.org/en/tree/person/details/GG71-RB8

Google scholar. http://scholar.google.co.za/ , publications by G.A. Wilmot.

Keet, J.D.M. Historical review of the development of forestry in South Africa, c. 1972. Digital copy received from Forestry Scientific/Technical Services, Knysna, January 2011.

National Automated Archival Information Retrieval System (NAAIRS). http://national.archives.gov.za/naairs.htm Documents relating to Wilmot, George Adelbert / Wilmot, G.A.

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

South African bibliography to the year 1925. London: Mansell, 1979.

South African Journal of Science, 1932, Vol. 29, paper by Wilmot.

Transvaal Agricultural Journal, 1906, Vol. 4, pp. 809-810, South African School of Forestry.

Compiled by: C. Plug

Last updated: 2026-03-16 11:24:01