George Robert Gayre of Gayre and Nigg (6 August 1907[1] – February 10, 1996) was a Scottish anthropologist who founded Mankind Quarterly. An expert on heraldry, he also founded The Armorial, and produced many books on this subject.[2]
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Born in Dublin and an Anglican, he earned an MA from University of Edinburgh, then studied at Exeter College, Oxford.
Gayre served with the British Expeditionary Force in France in 1939, as a Lieutenant-Colonel in the Royal Artillery[3] afterwards becoming Educational Adviser to the Allied Military Government of Italy, based in Palermo, where he fought for the exclusion of left-wing text-books and communist influence from the Italian education system. He was thereafter Director of Education to the Allied Control Commission for Italy, based in Naples; and Chief of Education and Religious Affairs, German Planning Unit, Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force.[4] After the war he spent a considerable amount of time in India where he was instrumental in the establishment of the Italo-Indian Institute.[5]
Both Gayre and Sir Thomas Innes of Learney were authors of books on heraldry. As Chief of Clan Gayre, Gayre appended "of Gayre and Nigg" becoming Grand Almoner, and Hereditary Commander of Lochore, of the Order of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem.[6]
His 1959 book Heraldic Standards and Other Ensigns: Their development and history is considered an important work on the subject, and he contributed on the topic to Encyclopædia Britannica.
Gayre was editor of Mankind Quarterly from 1960 to 1978, and was honorary editor-in-chief thereafter.[7]
In 1968 he testified on behalf of members of the Racial Preservation Society who were charged under the Race Relations Act for publishing racialist material. They prevailed in their defence. In his evidence to the court Gayre described blacks as being "feckless" and he maintained that scientific evidence showed that blacks "prefer their leisure to the dynamism which the white and yellow races show."[8]
Gayre wrote a few articles[9][10] and a book[11] proposing a Semitic origin for the Ancient Zimbabwean Civilization. Thus, he suggested that the Shona artefacts which were found at Great Zimbabwe and in numerous other stone ruins nearby, were placed there only after they conquered the country and drove out or absorbed the previous inhabitants; he added that the ones who remained would probably have passed some of their skills and knowledge to the invaders.
Gayre’s theory is supported by the existence of a community in the north of South Africa – the Lemba – which, in the 19th and early 20th centuries, boasted talents shared with the people of Ancient Zimbabwe – namely, an aptitude for building in stone and for mining and metalwork.[12] Because of those skills, the Lemba were highly regarded by surrounding tribes.
Gayre mentions the Lemba oral tradition that their male ancestors came by boat (from a country to the north which contained large cities) in order to obtain gold. He also draws attention to the numerous Semitic features and customs displayed by the Lemba.
Thus, Gayre maintains that the Lemba are descended – through their male line – from the creators of the original Zimbabwean civilization.
As evidence of links between the Lemba and Zimbabwe, Gayre[11] cites the following facts:
(i) Models of circumcised male organs were found in some of the ancient ruins; (that is significant because surrounding tribes regarded the Lemba as the masters and originators of the art of circumcision);
(ii) The Lemba bury their dead in an extended rather than a crouched position – i.e., in the same style as in certain Zimbabwean graves, where gold jewellery confirmed their association with the ancient civilization;
(iii) The old Lemba language was a dialect of Karanga – which is spoken today in the Masvingo area of Zimbabwe; (thus, the Lemba female ancestry must have contained a large MaKaranga element).
According to Gayre, the enormous area of agricultural terracing and irrigation channels in the northeast of Zimbabwe was a product of the same ancient civilization – as too were the hundreds of ancient gold mines in the territory.
However, modern-day archaeologists disagree with Gayre’s interpretation and conclusions: they maintain that Great Zimbabwe was constructed by ancestors of the Shona.[13][14][15][16][17][18]