Philip Walthen (or Wathen) Court, ostrich feather pioneer and merchant, was the son of Richard Church Court and Mary Wathen. He emigrated to the Cape Colony in 1847 and fought in several Frontier Wars. He was one of the earliest hunters to penetrate beyond the Zambezi River, from where he brought back young ostriches in 1850 and bred them on his farm near Port Elizabeth. During the eighteen-sixties he visited the Australian goldfields and New Zealand, where he fought in a war against the Maoris. After his return to Port Elizabeth he became a produce merchant in 1868 and subsequently spent some time on the diamond fields. He was one of the early producers of, and dealers in, ostrich feathers.
During the early eighteen-eighties Court wrote a pamphlet on mange in livestock and its treatment, probably to advertise a patent remedy. The full title was: Scab, or brandziekte; its nature, symptoms, and cure. Also, a description of the glycerin dip, with directions for its use in the cure of scab, and foot and mouth disease. Extracts from newspapers, and several professional and private testimonials to its efficacy in the cure and prevention of disease in sheep and other animals. A Dutch edition was published in Port Elizabeth in 1882, and the third edition of the English version in 1884.
Court was a committee member of the Port Elizabeth Chamber of Commerce, and a committee member of the Port Elizabeth Agricultural Society in 1885. In 1888 he provided help in natural history to the Port Elizabeth Museum. He was married to Fanny Alice Court and retired to England in 1894.
