Stark

Dr Arthur Cowell Stark MB was born in Torquay, Devon on 27th November 1846. He came to South Africa in 1895 and set up his medical practice in Cape Town by which time he was a widower with two daughters. Stark was an accomplished naturalist and ornithologist being an author of “The Fauna of South Africa”.

He arrived on the last train into Ladysmith and as a volunteer medical officer undertook to tend the Boer prisoners. He stayed at the Royal Hotel and it was his habit each day to set out at sunrise to shelter in one of the “caves” in the bank of the Klip River where he studied the nature of the area. He was accompanied by his cat who was carried in a fishing basket. He was killed on 18th November 1899 at about 7.30 in the evening by a shell from Puffing Billy on UmBulwane. He was having lunch at the Royal Hotel with a fellow journalist called McHugh of the Telegraph when he went out to watch the battle, carrying his cat. The shell went through the roof of the hotel, down the stairs, ricocheted off the wall came out of the door and hit Stark in his legs, killing him. His last words are reported to have been “look after my cat”. Arguments abound as to the meaning of these words. Some suggest that he was referring to his feline companion whilst others suggest that he was referring to his catalogue on “The Birds of South Africa” which he was in the process of compiling. This was later found in a store in Durban and completed by W.L. Sclater MA FZS, Director of the South African Museum. A small plaque is set into the pavement directly outside the Royal Hotel, Ladysmith, on the spot where he was killed.