William Geoffrey Harrower Coaton

Coaton, William Geoffrey Harrower (1911-1983)

Studied the taxonomy and distribution of termites at the Plant Protection Research Institute.

Collected and studied termites. Published a total of 53 scientific papers. Famous for his intensive quarter-degree sampling of southern African termites. "Bill organised his major field expeditions along almost military lines and they were planned down to the last detail. They nearly always consisted of two vehicles, in case of breakdown, which for the remoter regions were often equipped with four wheel drive and long range fuel tanks. Expeditions were completely self contained carrying additional fuel, spare parts, food and gear. For the uninhabited areas, dumps of fuel were often deposited at pre-arranged points along the route beforehand. Expeditions lasted from 5-6 weeks each and thousands of kilometres were traversed at a time. Bill and his companions generally drove from dawn to dusk, stopping every 16 km (quarter degree) to sample for termites, and they camped out at the end of each day. Two such expeditions were mounted annually over a score of years." A total of 33400 colony samples were collected during these surveys.

"Bill was a gifted writer of reports and memoranda and coupled with an aura of precision in all matters, could always be relied on to present a flawless case and brilliantly argue his point of view - an attribute that often enabled him to deal productively with government red tape. A salvo of memos from Bill Coaton generally produced the desired result! He was a perfectionist in his work and meticulous in his preparation of material and in the arrangement of his collection and laboratory."

Wife = Hetty. Had three daughters, a stepdaughter and stepson.

Chronology

Date	Age	Event
30 Aug 1911		Born in Wellington.
1929		Matriculated from Wellington Boys' High School
1932		Graduated with B.Sc from University of Cape Town.
1933		Completed M.Sc at University of Cape Town.
1934		Studied and wrote examinations for all entomology undergraduate courses at University of Pretoria.
Jul 1935		Appointed to the South African Department of Agriculture where he worked the rest of his life. Was initially posted to Locust Research Institute.
1936		Transferred to the Division of Plant Industry, later called the Division of Entomology and carried on the work started by C. Fuller on termites. Initially, most of his work on termites was concerned with economic aspects.
c1939		Started a lifelong correspondense with Prof. Alfred Emerson of the University of Chicago.
1940		Fought in Second World War, in Madagascar and the Western Desert as part of the 7 and 12 S.A. Motorized Brigade (6 S.A. Armoured Division).
1943		Posted to 22 Air School SAAF at Bloemspruit, Bloemfontein.
1944		Rejoined the Division of Entomology. Remained with the SADF reserves until 1976.
1948		Awarded Ph.D degree by the University of Cape Town.
1957		Seconded to the Department of Forestry in Zambia to help with problem of termites attacking Eucalyptus plantations; also found time to collect in the Southern Province and the Copperbelt.
1957		Appointed Head of the National Insect Collection as part of the restructuring of the Division of Entomology which was renamed to Plant Protection Research Institute (PPRI).
1958		Travelled on a Nuffield Foundation Fellowship to study termites in the Emerson Collection in Chicago and the British Museum (Natural History) collections, curated by W.V. Harris, in London. Returned with named reference collection.
1959		Started his huge survey of the termites of Southern Africa, attempting to sample every quarter-degree square; assisted by Koos Sheasby, William Mohale, and later by G.F. Pretorius.
1976		Reached retirement age. Reappointed on a temporary basis to his previous post.
1982		Retired in February from the PPRI after 46.5 years service.
28 Sep 1983		Died.

Specimens

Housed in the National Collection of Insects, Pretoria.

References

Obituary: J. ent. Soc sth. Afr. (1984) 47: 195-202.

Text by H. Robertson