Alexander Karl Kuno Theodor Graf was the son of Leopold Graf, an Austrian professor of medicine, and his wife Marie. He was educated at the universities of Salzburg and Vienna, qualifying as Doctor of Medicine (MD) at Vienna in 1848, but at some stage also obtained the degree Doctor of Philosophy (PhD). Being implicated in the revolution of 1848 he had to flee Europe and settled in Algiers. He then moved to the Cape Colony, where he was licensed to practice in August 1852, and settled in Caledon. However, after only a few months he moved to Somerset West, where he remained for some twelve years.

In 1862 Graf was chosen as one of only ten meteorological observers outside Cape Town who were to be supplied with a set of instruments by the Cape of Good Hope Meteorological Commission. He also contributed to the natural history collections of the South African Museum. One of his donations was a beautiful little white heron, perhaps the cattle egret.

By 1866 Dr Graf was living in Cape Town, where he served as a member of the Meteorological Commission. At his death of chronic heart disease in October 1867, during a fever epidemic, he was described as one of the Cape's noblest, most talented, smart and unassuming members of the medical profession. He was married to Elizabeth Ernestina Julie Wocke and was survived by his wife, a son and four daughters.

List of sources:
Burrows, E.H. A history of medicine in South Africa up to the end of the nineteenth century. Cape Town: Balkema, 1958.

Cape of Good Hope Government Gazette, 16 September 1862: List of medical practitioners in the Cape Colony.

Cape of Good Hope Meteorological Commission. Meteorological Report, 1862, p. 3 (National Library of South Africa, Cape Town, AZF 1987-2).

Cape Town Directory... (Cape Almanac), 1865, pp. 91-92: Medical practitioners; 1867, p. 79: Meteorological Commission.

Dr Alexander Karl Kuno Theodor Graf. Geni, at https://www.geni.com/people/Dr-Alexander-Graf/6000000049613959901 as on 20 February 2017.

Liversidge, R. Edgar Leopold Layard, 1824-1900. Bokmakierie, 1957, Vol. 9, pp. 37-39.

National Automated Archival Information Retrieval System (NAAIRS). http://www.national.archives.gov.za/naairs.htm Documents relating to Alexander Graf / Dr Graf.

Compiled by: C. Plug

Last updated: 2024-08-12 09:40:32