Search

Shortly after receiving a science and medical degree at Edinburgh, Dr Harvey Pirie joined the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition (1902-4) under Bruce. The naturalist team explored East Falkland, Laurie Island in the South Orkneys, and made the first oceanographic investigation of the Weddell Sea. After sighting Antarctica and naming the coast seen Coats Land, they returned to the Clyde via Gough Island and Cape Town. After a period in Scottish private practice, Pirie became a bacteriologist; he joined the Colonial Medical Service in 1913 and served in Kenya. In 1918 he organised the bacteriological services at the South African Institute for Medical Research in Johannesburg, and became deputy-director, 1926-41.

Dr James Harvey Pirie was a bacteriologist, orchid grower and stamp collector of note in South Africa for nearly 50 years. Shortly after receiving a science and medical degree at Edinburgh, he joined the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition to the Falkland Islands and Antarctica from October 1902 to July 1904, returning via Grough Island and Cape Town.