Harry Skinner (ethnologist)

Harry Skinner CBEDCM
Born	Henry Devenish Skinner (1886-12-18)18 December 1886 New Plymouth,New Zealand
Died	9 February 1978(1978-02-09)(aged 91) Dunedin,New Zealand
Awards	Parker Memorial Prize Percy Smith Medal(1925) Hector Memorial Medaland Prize(1926) Andre Medal(1936) Honorary LittDOtago(1962)
Scientific career
Fields	Anthropology;ethnology
Institutions	Otago Museum University of Otago Hocken Library
Relatives	William Skinner(father)

H.D. Skinner Annex of Otago Museum

Henry Devenish SkinnerCBEDCM(18 December 1886 – 9 February 1978), known asHarry SkinnerorH.D. Skinner,was a notable New Zealand soldier,ethnologist,university lecturer, museum curator and director, and librarian.

Early life and education

The son ofWilliam Skinnerand Margaret Bracken Devenish, Henry Devenish Skinner was born inNew Plymouth,New Zealand, on 18 December 1886.

Skinner enrolled in thecadet corpsatNew Plymouth Central Schoolaged 11, and did his secondary schooling atNelson Collegefrom 1902, as a boarder.

From 1906 to 1909 he studied law atVictoria University CollegeinWellington,and in 1911 enrolled for a B.A. at theUniversity of OtagoinDunedin,at least partly because he had met his future wife and her family had moved there. There he earned the Parker Memorial Prize inzoology.

Career

He enrolled atChrist's College, Cambridge,England, in 1917, after developing an interest in the work of ethnologist byA. C. Haddon.Skinner started studyingMāoriand in particular theMorioriculture of theChatham Islands,earning a diploma in anthropology in 1919.

After returning to New Zealand, Skinner's monograph,The Morioris of Chatham Islandswas accepted for the degree of B.A. (Research) at Cambridge in 1923, which challenged the traditional view that Moriori people were descended from aMelanesian people,and established that they were in factPolynesian.He returned to the Chathams as one of the scientists on the1924 Chatham Islands Expedition.

Skinner's appointments included:

• Acting Curator, Otago Museum (1912-13)
• Teacher,Palmerston North Boys' High School(1914)
• Assistant Director, Otago Museum (1919-37)
• Lecturer in Anthropology, University of Otago (1919-54; the first such position inAustralasia)
• Director, Otago Museum (1938-52); Director Emeritus (1953)

He developed a long association withWilli Felsat the University of Otago.

Other roles included being president of thePolynesian Society(1950-54), and founding chairman of theNew Zealand Archaeological Associationin 1955.

Skinner received information on Māori house types and construction methods fromMere Harper.

Soldier

Skinner volunteered for military service at the end of 1914, afterWorld War IIhad begun. He was a private in the 14th Company of Otago Battalion, and sailed for Egypt in April 1915.He fought with theAnzacsatGallipoli in World War I,and was wounded thereand discharged as unfit for service in late 1915 after being evacuated to Britain and promoted tolance corporal.

Skinner served as an intelligence officer with theNew Zealand Home Guardin World War II.

Recognition and honours

Military

During his service with theFirst New Zealand Expeditionary Force,Skinner gained amention in despatchesfor his bravery, and on 8 October 1915 was awarded theDistinguished Conduct Medal.

Academia

In 1918 Skinner was elected to the council of theRoyal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland.

He was awarded thePercy Smith Medal(which he himself was instrumental in founding) in 1925, theHector Memorial Medalin 1926, and the Andree Medal in 1936.

He was a Fellow of theRoyal Society of New Zealandin 1927.

In 1938 he was awarded aDoctor of Scienceby theUniversity of New Zealand.

In the1956 New Year Honours,Skinner was appointed aCommander of the Order of the British Empire(CBE), for services as director ofOtago Museumand lecturer in anthropology at theUniversity of Otago.

In 1962, he was awarded aLittDby the University of Otago.

The H.D. Skinner Annex of theOtago Museum,formerly the Dunedin North Post Office, was opened in August 2013, and named in honour of Skinner.During his time at the museum, Skinner was responsible for adding more than 65,000 objects to the humanities collections, including purchasing a piece ofHMSBountyfrom one ofFletcher Christian's direct descendants.

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.

Personal life

Skinner married Eva Louisa Gibbs on 5 December 1915inSouthampton,England, and they had two sons, but one wasstillborn.She died in 1963.

Death and legacy

Skinner developedAlzheimer's,and he died on 9 February 1978 in Dunedin.

He is especially remembered for helping to reinvigorate and expand the Otago Museum; he reported in 1951 that the museum had gained over 100,000 acquisitions since 1919. His work had a big influence on the development of anthropology and ethnology in New Zealand, and his analyses of Māorimaterial cultureset the standard and methods for the following 50 years. Several generations of archaeologists, especially in southern New Zealand, were inspired by his teachings.