Mary Gillham
Dr Mary Eleanor Gillham MBE (1921 - 24 March 2013) was an English naturalist, university lecturer, and writer, who was resident for many years in Gwaelod y Garth and then Radyr, in Cardiff, Wales until her death.
Although born in a London suburb, and serving five wartime years in the Women's Land Army in Berkshire, Mary Gillham spent much of her time in Wales. As a post-war student in the University of Wales at Aberystwyth and Bangor, she gained a degree in agriculture, a first-class honours in botany, and a doctorate in island ecology. She lectured in the universities of Exeter (Devon), Massey (New Zealand), Melbourne (Australia), Kano (Nigeria), and worked in the Adult Education Department at University College Cardiff from 1961 until her retirement in 1988.
As a teacher of adult amateur naturalists, she saw her role as an interpreter of scientific data for the layman, and took to writing books and popular articles. Spray-washed seabird colonies were her main love, and research on these took her to remote islands in many parts of the world, where she has lived in tents, huts, lighthouses, etc. Her major research projects were around the coasts of West Wales, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, and she was one of the first women to join an Antarctic expedition (in 1959/60).
In 1970, she undertook a research project on Aldabra in the Indian Ocean, and subsequently took naturalists to the Seychelles. In 1979, she was visiting scientist on an American expedition (by sailing ship) to an uninhabited island in the Bahamas, and she took parties to Jamaica, New England, and the Rocky Mountains. Other expeditions were to North, West, East, and Central Africa, and Florida, and she led groups to various parts of Britain and Europe. Active in various natural history and conservation bodies over several decades, Gillham was president of the Glamorgan Naturalists' Trust and of the Cardiff Naturalists Society.
In 2008, Dr. Gillham was awarded an MBE for services to nature conservation in South Wales.
Bibliography
Books authored by Gillham include:
- 1963 - Sea-Birds. (Instructions to Young Ornithologists IV). Museum Press: London.
- 1966 - A Naturalist in New Zealand. Museum Press: London.
- 1967 - Sub-Antarctic Sanctuary. Summertime On Macquarie Island. Victor Gollancz: London.
- 1977 - The Natural History of Gower. D. Brown and Sons Ltd: Cowbridge.
- 1982 - The Historic Taf Valleys, Volume 2: In the Brecon Beacons National Park. Geology, Social History, Natural History. Merthyr Tydfil and District Naturalists' Society. (With John Perkins and Jack Evans). ISBN 0-905928-21-0
- 1982 - Swansea Bay's Green Mantle. Wildlife on an Industrial Coast. D. Brown & Sons: Cowbridge. ISBN 0-905928-18-0
- 1987 - Sand Dunes. (Glamorgan Heritage Coast Wildlife Series Volume 1). Glamorgan Wildlife Trust: Bridgend.
- 1991 - Limestone Downs: Commons, Farms and Woods. Glamorgan Wildlife Trust: Bridgend.
- 1994 - Sea Cliffs Cwm Mawr to Gileston. (Glamorgan Heritage Coast Wildlife Series Volume 5). Glamorgan Wildlife Trust: Bridgend.
- 1998 - Town Bred - Country Nurtured: A Naturalist Looks Back Fifty Years. ISBN 0-9534074-0-3
- 2000 - Island Hopping in Tasmania's Roaring Forties. A.H. Stockwell Ltd: Devon. ISBN 0-7223-3296-3
- 2000 - Islands of the Trade Winds: An Indian Ocean Odyssey. Minerva Press. ISBN 0-7541-0857-0
- 2004 - A Natural History of Cardiff: Exploring along the Rivers Rhymney and Roath. Dinefwr Publishers Ltd: Wales. ISBN 1-904323-11-1
- 2004 - Memories of Welsh Islands. Dinefwr Publishers Ltd: Wales. ISBN 1-904323-08-1
- 2007 - A Naturalist on Lundy: The Island Wildlife Over 50 Years. Halsgrove: UK. ISBN 1-84114-589-0
- 2007 - Island Life. Discovering Britain's Offshore Gems. Halsgrove: UK. ISBN 1-84114-619-6
External links
- Mary Gillham's books on Amazon.co.uk
- Announcement of Mary Gillham's death
- PDF book on the life of Mary Gillham
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