William George Rump, son of George Rump and his wife Alice Elizabeth, born Knights, joined the staff of the Natal Museum in 1904 as caretaker and carpenter and held these positions until his death 45 years later. He collected land snails and other invertebrates, including arachnids, insects and Myriapoda, mainly near Pietermaritzburg. Gulella rumpiana (Rump's hunter snail), a rare species found only in the coastal region of northern Pondoland and southern KwaZulu-Natal, was named after him by M. Connolly* in 1932. On the advice of the director of the museum, Dr Ernest Warren*, Rump made extensive collections of the larger fungi, especially in the forests near Pietermaritzburg. He also collected other cryptogams (ferns and mosses) and some flowering plants. His plant specimens went to the National Collection of Fungi of the Plant Protection Research Institute in Pretoria, and the Bews Herbarium of the University of Natal.

Rump was married to Edith Richardson, with whom he had a daughter.

List of sources:
Barnard, K.H. Personal names in South African conchology. Cape Town: Conchological Society of Southern Africa, 1965.

Doidge, E.M. South African fungi and lichens to the end of 1945. Bothalia, 1950, Vol. 5, pp. 1-1094 (see p. 43).

Gunn, M. & Codd, L.E. Botanical exploration of southern Africa. Cape Town: Balkema, 1981.

Herbert, D. & Kilburn, D. Field guide to the land snails and slugs of eastern South Africa. Pietermaritzburg: Natal Museum, 2004.

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

William George Rump. Geni, at https://www.geni.com/people/William-Rump/6000000039113053895 as on 3 August 2020.

Compiled by: C. Plug

Last updated: 2020-08-03 12:02:29