William Nigel Bonner (15 February 1928 – 27 August 1994) was a British zoologist, Antarctic marine mammal specialist, author and ecologist. The topics of his books and scientific publications included marine animals, reindeer and the ecology of the Antarctic. He headed the Life Sciences Division of the British Antarctic Survey from 1974 to 1986, and served as deputy director from 1986 to 1988. Bonner received the Polar Medal in 1987, in recognition of his work in Antarctica. Bonner was recognized for his research on the Antarctic fur seal of South Georgia, publishing in 1968 a highly respected monograph, which was the "first modern study of the species". At the time of his death in 1994, it was still referred to and quoted. He also conducted the first research on the introduced reindeer that lived on South Georgia. His 1958 monograph on the reindeer remained the sole source of information for many years. After retirement, Bonner was a leader in the environmental reclamation of South Georgia, and worked to establish the South Georgia Museum, where the Bonner Room is dedicated in his honour. The Bonner Lab at Rothera Research Station on the Antarctic Peninsula is named in his honour, as is Bonner Beach in Larsen Harbour, where Weddell seals breed.
Early life and education William Nigel Bonner, known as Nigel, was born in London in 1928. He was the child of Frederick John Bonner and Constance Emily (née Hatch) Bonner. His father, an Indian Army veteran, died in 1931. Constance was left to raise three-year-old Nigel and his older brother, five-year-old Gerald, on a schoolteacher's salary. Later in their lives, Nigel became a respected zoologist, and Gerald Bonner became a noted Early Church historian and scholar. Following in his elder brother's footsteps, he also received a County Scholarship to the Stationers' Company's School in Hornsey, where he was educated. In 1939, the school was evacuated to Wisbech for several years, due to World War II. During this time, he was lodged with a slaughterman, which may have contributed to his later "matter of fact" approach to collecting large animals for scientific research. While in Wisbech he showed an early interest in natural history, by collecting beetles. This interest was supported by one of his schoolmasters, Ronald Englefield. The school returned to London in 1942. By the time he joined the Army for National Service, in 1946, World War II was over. In 1947, he was commissioned into the Royal Artillery, and stationed on the Isle of Wight. There, he continued to pursue his budding zoological interests, by studying beetles, dragonflies and adders. He was demobilized in 1948. After leaving the Army, he worked as a lab technician, and then studied biology at the Polytechnic of North London, as preparation for further education. In 1950, he entered University College London to study special zoology. Here, Bonner met J.B.S. Haldane, who was one of his instructors. In 1955, he worked with Richard John Harrison, a noted anatomist, who assisted Bonner in processing his Antarctic fieldwork.
Initial work in Antarctic
Due to his early interest in beetles, Bonner had planned to pursue entomological studies in East Africa. Instead, he travelled to Antarctica in 1953, with a friend from college, Bernard Stonehouse, on a research expedition to South Georgia, where Stonehouse intended to study king penguins. Setting forth on a whaling transport, Polar Maid, they landed at Leith Harbour, at which point Bonner developed appendicitis, and was whisked off to hospital for surgery. Once recovered, Bonner joined his friend on Paul Beach in the Bay of Isles, where they set up their base in a garden shed. For the following fifteen months, between 1953-1955, Bonner (and Stonehouse) worked for the Falkland Islands' Dependencies Survey, later known as the British Antarctic Survey. Bonner collected specimens from the southern elephant seal, Mirounga leonina. Returning to England in 1955, he spent a year at London Hospital Medical School, working with Richard John Harrison, to process and publish the results of his research. The publication provided reproductive biologists with new information regarding elephant seals, and was accompanied by photographs that he made, despite the primitive and difficult field conditions.
Career
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