Richard Kendall Brooke
South African ornithologist (1930–1996)
Richard Kendall Brooke (1930 – 12 May 1996) was an Indian-born British ornithologist who mostly worked in Zimbabwe.
Biography
Brooke was born in India where his father served in the British Army. His academic career began at Rhodes University in Grahamstown where he took a bachelor's degree in theology. Later he pursued a career as a minor civil servant with a government department in Southern Rhodesia. His real interests, however, already lay with ornithology.
In 1972 he accepted an invitation to join the staff of the Durban Natural Science Museum, aware that he needed to obtain a higher degree, either a master's or a doctorate, to maintain the position. His submitted thesis was queried by a prominent United States ornithologist who offered to assist him in working on it. Brooke could have made the changes suggested but he was vehemently opposed to revising any part of his text, insisting that it was more than adequate.
He then left the Durban Museum and returned to Zimbabwe, where he worked with the Rhodesian Railways for a short time. His experiences with ornithology resulted in an invitation to join the staff of the Percy FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology at the University of Cape Town.
The public source identifies “Richard Kendall Brooke” as south African ornithologist (1930–1996). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Richard, Kendall and Brooke.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Richard Kendall Brooke”, the useful work is to connect “south African ornithologist (1930–1996)” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 9, 2024. The linked authority identifier is Q598513. VIAF identifies the subject as 77674331. The Library of Congress control number is n82213084. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1930, 1996 and 1972.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Richard Kendall Brooke”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Richard Kendall Brooke primary sources, Richard Kendall Brooke archive and Richard research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Richard Kendall Brooke”?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Richard Kendall Brooke” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.