Pieter le Fras Nortier, medical practitioner and agricultural
researcher, was the son of Esaias Andreas Johannes Lourens Nortje and his wife Maria Susanna,
born Ferreira. Pieter changed the spelling of his surname back to the original
French, but was still listed as Nortje in the Medical, Dental and Pharmacy Directory of South Africa for 1926/7.
He attended the Boys' High School in Stellenbosch and passed the matriculation
examination of the University of the Cape of Good Hope in 1903. Continuing his
studies at Victoria College, Stellenbosch, he passed the intermediate
examination for the BA degree (equivalent to the first year of study) in 1904. His
excellent academic performance earned him a Rhodes scholarship, which enabled
him to study medicine at the University of Oxford (1905-1908) and at the University
of Liverpool (1908-1911), qualifying as Bachelor of Medicine (MB) and Bachelor
of Surgery (ChB) in 1911. Thereafter he worked at the Royal Infirmary,
Liverpool, for a few years and was awarded the degree Doctor of Medicine (MD) for
his research on venereal diseases by the University of Liverpool in 1916.
Upon his return to South Africa Nortier was registered to
practice medicine on 1 May 1912. He served in the military campaign in German
South West Africa (now Namibia) during the early stages of World War I
(1914-1918). He began to practice medicine in Clanwilliam (where he was also a
railway doctor and district surgeon) in 1916 and remained there for the rest of
his life, becoming the doyen of the medical profession in the districts north
of Cape Town for nearly 40 years. His popularity with his patients is shown by
the fact that on two occasions they collected enough money to make him a gift
of a motorcar. In 1949 he served as vice-president of the Medical Congress held
in Cape Town.
In his spare time Nortier
conducted agricultural experiments on his farm on the banks of the Olifants
River. His work on the indigenous rooibos-tea resulted in methods of treating
the seed to improve germination and procedures for growing, harvesting and
treating the crop, and as a result he has been called the father of the
rooibos-tea industry in South Africa. He also cultivated the Clanor seedless
orange and experimented with various sub-tropical fruit trees, fertilisers, and
compost making. He was largely responsible for the establishment of a school of
agriculture in the town, acted as an agricultural adviser, could speak with
authority on any topic relating to the Cedarberg area, and was elected to
numerous positions in Clanwilliam and the surrounding districts.
Nortier shared a strong interest in nature and its conservation
with his friend, Dr C F L Leipoldt*. They collected plants together in
Namaqualand and Nortier cultivated these in his garden. The Leipoldt-Nortier Memorial
Library at Clanwilliam was established in their honour in 1958. As a result of Nortier's
efforts the farm Otterdam (on the west coast just north of Lambert's Bay) was
declared a nature reserve in 1935 and named the Nortier Reserve, but in 1957 it
was taken over by the Department of Agriculture and developed into the Nortier
Experimental Farm. He also collected plants with Mrs H M L Bolus* and some
succulents were named after him. The University of Stellenbosch conferred upon
him an honorary DSc (Agric) degree in 1948 in recognition of his contributions
to agriculture. He was also posthumously awarded an honorary DSc (Med) degree by
the University of Cape Town in 1955. He retired from the medical profession in 1952.
In 1917 Nortier married Agatha Krige, with whom he had four
daughters. A collection of his manuscripts and correspondence is held in the
Gericke Library of the University of Stellenbosch.
