Albert Ernest McClure Kelly was appointed in the Telegraph Department of the Natal Colony on 1 July 1899, when still a boy. On 1 July the next year he was transferred to the office of the government entomologist, Claude Fuller*, in the Department of Agriculture. Four years later his appointment was made permanent. In December 1907 his post was changed to that of assistant in the Division of Entomology and Horticulture, in the Natal Department of Agriculture. Between December 1906 and June 1909 he published eight articles on insect pests and related agricultural topics in the Natal Agricultural Journal. These included "Woolly aphis" (1907), "Locust destruction: Report of 1907-8 campaign" (1908), "The Gordian worm and the Hottentot God" (1909), and "Locust destruction: Report for the season 1908-9" (1909).

At some time after the formation of the Union of South Africa in 1910 Kelly became chief nursery inspector in the Division of Entomlogy of the Union. In 1912 he published an article on "The Phoenix Skipper, Pamphila dysmephila, Trim." in the Agricultural Journal of the Union of South Africa. He was a Fellow of the (British) Entomological Society. On 6 January 1914 he married Marjorie Katherine Lamond in Pietermaritzburg. He died from influenza in 1919 and was survived by his wife and their two children.

List of sources:
Agricultural Journal (Union of South Africa), 1912, Vol. 4, article by Kelly.

Lounsbury, C.P. The pioneer period of economic entomology in South Africa. Journal of the Entomological Society of Southern Africa, 1940, Vol. 3, pp. 9-29.

Marjory Katherine Lamond. Geni. Retrieved on 2018-3-13 from https://www.geni.com/people/Marjorie-Lamond/6000000073199824011

Natal [Colony]. Seventh Report of the Government Entomologist, 1909-1910. (Pietermaritzburg Archives Repository, Vol. NCP 8/1/17/1/4).

Natal Agricultural Journal, 1907-1909, Vol. 10-12.

Natal civil service list, 1906, 1910.

National Archives Repository (TAB), Source MHG, Vol. 0, Ref. 42125: death notice, Albert Ernest McClure Kelly.

National Automated Archival Information Retrieval System (NAAIRS). http://www.national.archives.gov.za/naairs.htm Documents relating to Kelly, Albert.

Compiled by: C. Plug

Last updated: 2025-01-23 12:01:00