Alwin Karl Haagner

Haagner was born in Hankey near Humansdorp where his father, Sigmund, an accountant at the explosives factory in Modderfontein, taught him at home.

Young Haagner then worked alongside his father in the accounts department but found natural history of greater interest.

Haagner worked in the Transvaal Museum from 1906 collecting grass species among other specimens and becoming an assistant in ornithology from 1908 to J.W.B.

His argument was that he was promoting the continued survival of endangered species, by ensuring that breeding pairs were protected within zoos worldwide.

[1] A lecture tour through the United States in 1920 led to the University of Pittsburgh awarding him an honorary Doctor of Science degree in 1922.