Herman Philip Steyn was the son of Herbert Stanley Steyn and Ethel Margaret, born Glover. He qualified as a veterinaian (BVSc, University of Pretoria) in 1932. He joined the civil service as State Veterinarian in the Waterberg area in 1933, being transferred to Kimberley in 1934 and to the Armoedsvlakte Research Station, near Vryburg, from 1935 to 1937. In the latter year he was appointed on the staff of the Department of Surgery and Obstetrics at the Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute, where he studied reproductive problems in horses and sheep. He resigned in 1945 to start a private practice in Johannesburg and in 1965 retired to his farm.

Steyn was elected Vice President of the South African Veterinary Medical Association in 1957 and President from 1958 to 1966. He was a member of the Veterinary Board for the same period. He was also the founder and first chairman of the SA Veterinary Foundation and the Equine Practitioners Group and was awarded the President's Award of the South African Veterinary Association in 1993. His research led to many publications on a wide variety of veterinary topics and several on the lifestyle of the Khoi and San peoples of southern Africa.

In 1934 Steyn married Hermine Mary Jay, with whom he had a son and a daughter.

List of sources:

Author and Subject Index to the Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Science and Animal Industry (1933-1950) and the Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Research (1951-1968). Pretoria: Department of Agriculture, June 1969.

Google scholar. http://scholar.google.co.za/ , publications by H.P. Steyn.

Compiled by: D.W. Verwoerd

Last updated: 2025-12-30 09:30:43