Harry Skinner (ethnologist)

Henry Devenish Skinner CBE DCM (18 December 1886 – 9 February 1978), known as Harry Skinner or H.D. Skinner, was a notable New Zealand soldier, ethnologist, university lecturer, museum curator and director, and librarian. The son of William Skinner, he was born in New Plymouth in 1886.[1]

Harry Skinner

CBE DCM
Born
Henry Devenish Skinner

(1886-12-18)18 December 1886
New Plymouth, New Zealand
Died9 February 1978(1978-02-09) (aged 91)
Dunedin, New Zealand
AwardsParker Memorial Prize
Percy Smith Prize in Anthropology (1925)
Hector Memorial Medal and Prize (1926)
Andre Medal (1936)
Honorary LittD Otago (1962)
Scientific career
FieldsAnthropology; ethnology
InstitutionsOtago Museum
University of Otago
Hocken Library
RelativesWilliam Skinner (father)
H.D. Skinner Annex of Otago Museum

Skinner received information on Māori house types and construction methods from Mere Harper.[2]

In the 1956 New Year Honours, he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire, for services as director of Otago Museum and lecturer in anthropology at the University of Otago.[3]

The H.D. Skinner Annex of the Otago Museum, formerly the Dunedin North Post Office, was opened in August 2013, and named in honour of Skinner.[4][5] During his time at the museum, Skinner was responsible for adding more than 65,000 objects to the humanities collections, including purchasing a piece of HMS Bounty from one of Fletcher Christian's direct descendants.[6][7]

Skinner was one of 24,000 Anzac soldiers wounded at Gallipoli. In 2015, the Otago Museum opened the exhibition "Surviving Chunuk Bair: H. D. Skinner at Gallipoli'' using objects loaned by the Skinner family, including a sewing kit, medals, letters and photographs.[8]

References
  1. Anderson, Atholl. "Henry Devenish Skinner". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 23 April 2017.
  2. Shoemaker, Nancy (2013). "Race and Indigeneity in the Life of Elisha Apes". Ethnohistory. 60 (1): 27–50. doi:10.1215/00141801-1816166. |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  3. "No. 40671". The London Gazette (Supplement). 2 January 1956. p. 44.
  4. Gibb, John (11 July 2013). "Museum annex set for opening". Otago Daily Times Online News. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
  5. Gibb, John (8 August 2013). "Museum annex praised". Otago Daily Times Online News. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
  6. Gibb, John (29 April 2011). "Tribute to former director". Otago Daily Times Online News. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
  7. "Drama on the high seas". Otago Daily Times Online News. 24 May 2014. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
  8. Gibb, John (8 August 2015). "Museum tie to war relics". Otago Daily Times Online News. Retrieved 4 May 2019.


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