Caesar Carl Hans Henkel (1839 Fulda

Fulda

Fulda is a city in Hesse, Germany; it is located on the river Fulda and is the administrative seat of the Fulda district .- Early Middle Ages :...

, Hesse

Hesse

Hesse or Hessia is both a cultural region of Germany and the name of an individual German state.* The cultural region of Hesse includes both the State of Hesse and the area known as Rhenish Hesse in the neighbouring Rhineland-Palatinate state...

 - 16 June 1913 Umtata), was a German-born South African forester, cartographer, painter, soldier and botanist. He was the father of John Spurgeon Henkel

John Spurgeon Henkel

John Spurgeon Henkel , was a South African botanist and forester.He was the son of soldier and botanist Caesar Carl Hans Henkel . He joined the Cape Forest Department in 1888, working in the Eastern Cape for several years...

.

Henkel came from an old and distinguished German military family. He enlisted as an officer in the British-German Legion during the Crimean War

Crimean War

The Crimean War was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...

. The war having ended before the British-German Legion saw any action, Henkel settled in the Eastern Cape

Eastern Cape

The Eastern Cape is a province of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, but its two largest cities are Port Elizabeth and East London. It was formed in 1994 out of the "independent" Xhosa homelands of Transkei and Ciskei, together with the eastern portion of the Cape Province...

 in 1856, where he acted as secretary to the commanding officer Baron Richard von Stutterheim (1809-1872) and played a major role in settling German immigrants in the King William's Town

King William's Town

King William's Town is a town in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa along the banks of the Buffalo River. The town is about 40 minutes' motorway drive WNW of the Indian Ocean port of East London...

 area.

Returning from service in the Indian Mutiny, Henkel filled various administrative posts in the Eastern Cape between 1860-75. He proved to be an extremely competent cartographer in the office of the surveyor-general between 1876-83; his map of the Transkei

Transkei

The Transkei , officially the Republic of Transkei , was a Bantustan—an area set aside for members of a specific ethnicity—and nominal parliamentary democracy in the southeastern region of South Africa...

 then regarded as the definitive work. Thereafter he worked as forester in the districts of Stockenstrom and King William's Town. He was finally appointed chief forest officer and stationed at Umtata and was responsible for the conservation of indigenous forests and for the development of commercial forestry in the Transkei

Transkei

The Transkei , officially the Republic of Transkei , was a Bantustan—an area set aside for members of a specific ethnicity—and nominal parliamentary democracy in the southeastern region of South Africa...

. His pioneering work in these fields greatly influenced the course taken by forestry practice in South Africa.

On his retirement he became a town councillor of Umtata and started importing useful and rare trees and shrubs which he planted on his estate, "The Pines", outside Umtata. Here he also started the first fish hatchery of the country. His name is commemorated in Podocarpus henkelii

Podocarpus henkelii

Podocarpus henkelii is a South African species of conifer in the Podocarpaceae family. It is grown ornamentally in gardens for its strikingly neat, attractive form and its elegant, drooping foliage....

. Some of his paintings are kept at the East London Museum, the Africana Museum in Johannesburg

Johannesburg

Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...

 and the History Museum in Grahamstown

Grahamstown

Grahamstown is a city in the Eastern Cape Province of the Republic of South Africa and is the seat of the Makana municipality. The population of greater Grahamstown, as of 2003, was 124,758. The population of the surrounding areas, including the actual city was 41,799 of which 77.4% were black,...

.

Publications

• Tree Planting for Ornamental and Economic Purposes in the Transkeian Territories - 1894
• History, Resources and Products of the Country between Cape Colony and Natal,or Kaffraria proper - 1903
• The Native or Transkeian Territories - Hamburg, 1903