David Chalmers Crawford, son of Alexander Crawford, qualified as Master of Arts (MA, 1901) and Bachelor of Agricultural Science (BSc Agr, 1906) at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, and was associated with the Aberdeen Agricultural College. In August 1909 he came to the Cape Colony to take up an appointment as lecturer in agricultural chemistry at the School of Agriculture, Elsenburg, where he succeeded George N. Blackshaw*. By 1912 grain fertiliser experiments were being conducted at the school under his direction and he continued participating in crop and pasture investigations there until 1926. In that year the school amalgamated with the Faculty of Agriculture of Stellenbosch University to form the Stellenbosch-Elsenburg College of Agriculture.

Crawford became a member of the South African Association for the advancement of Science in 1909. A few years later he was the co-author, with viticulturist Prof. A.I. Perold*, of a paper on "Some preliminary investigations into the chemical composition of certain vineyard soils in the Montague and Robertson Districts". The paper was read at the annual congress of the association in 1914 and published in its Report for that year (pp. 337-349). Crawford was still active in agricultural chemistry in 1942, when he wrote The chemical composition of some South African cereals and their milling products (Government Printer, 1942).

During World War I (1914-1918) Crawford served as a driver in the South African Service Corps in East Africa from August 1916 to March 1919, with the final rank of sergeant. In April 1934, at the age of 54, he married Olive Taylor (aged 50).

List of sources:

Cape of Good Hope. Report of the Principal of the Agricultural School at Elsenburg, 1909.

Crawford, David Chalmers. University of Aberdeen Roll of Honour. https://www.abdn.ac.uk/library/roll-of-honour/1095/

FamilySearch: David Chalmers Crawford. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6CNY-8KW2 and https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6ZC9-QQB3

Google scholar. http://scholar.google.co.za/ Publications by D.C. Crawford.

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

Sim, J.T.R. Agronomy investigations in the winter rainfall region, 1892-1953. Department of Agriculture, Science Bulletin No. 373, 1958 (and Stellenbosch-Elsenburg Science Series No. 53).

South African Association for the Advancement of Science. Report, 1914, paper by A.I. Perold and D.C. Crawford; 1918, list of members.

Union of South Africa. Public Service List, 1914. Pretoria: Government Printer, 1914.

Compiled by: C. Plug

Last updated: 2024-01-05 10:02:53