Biography

British military officer and civil servant. George Molyneux was born in Tramore, County Waterford, Ireland, and was educated at Stonyhurst College, Lancashire. He joined the Natal Royal Rifles (later Durban Light Infantry) in 1893 and remained with the regiment for his entire career. He fought in the Second Matabele War, the Second Boer War, and the Bambatha Rebellion, received the DSO, the Croix de Guerre, and the Russian Order of Stanislaus for his service in the First World War, and commanded the regiment during the Rand Rebellion of 1922. He was also the Licensing Officer of Durban for more than thirty years. In 1937 he was appointed to the Defence Council of the Union of South Africa and during the Second World War was promoted to Brigadier. Pope Pius XII conferred on him a Papal Knighthood of the Order of St Gregory for his charitable work. One of his projects was the restoration of the Old Fort in Durban, whose lynch-gate bears a dedication to him. As he was also a keen gardener, known in botanical circles for his interesting collection of cycads, many of the trees and shrubs planted on the grounds of the Old Fort were grown from seed collected by him. He collected type material of Encephalartos kosiensis Hutch. (= E. ferox G. Bertol.) based on a plant cultivated at the Old Fort in Durban.