Alice Pegler

Who was Alice Pegler?

Alice Marguerite Pegler, was a South African teacher and botanical collector.

The daughter of S. Mackin Pegler, Alice was educated at the Dominican Convent in King William's Town. Although trained as a teacher, she abandoned this career and settled at Kentani where she raised and educated her nieces. She suffered health problems throughout her life and endured chronic trouble with her eyesight.

While in Kentani she started an extensive collection of all flora within a radius of 5 miles of the village. Her collecting led to a regular correspondence with botanists such as Peter MacOwan, Harry Bolus, HHW Pearson, Selmar Schonland and Illtyd Buller Pole-Evans. Her meticulous notes on the Kentani plants throughout the seasons were published in Ann. Bol. Herb. 5: 1-32. She did not confine herself to the flora, but also collected beetles, gall flies, spiders and scorpions. In 1903 she travelled to the Transvaal and collected between Rustenburg and Johannesburg. Her failing health eventually caused her to specialise in algae and fungi. An enumeration of the fungi she collected in 1911-14 in the Kentani district was published in Ann. Bol. Herb. 2: 184-93.