Identity area
Type of entity
Person
Authorized form of name
Hall, Thomas Dennison
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
1890 - 1963
History
Hall is very likely to have encountered both Wally Mears (the first Headmaster of Saints) and pioneers Gilbert Tucker and Basil Read as a student at Kingswood College, Grahamstown. As a fellow Methodist it is likely that it was through this connection that he became involved with St Stithians. Hall was co-opted to the St Stithians Trust at its inception in 1941 but is not mentioned again as a Trustee. However, he did serve on the Council from its inception in April 1952 until his death in 1963.
Hall was the son of Charles Dennison Hall. He married Helen Bennet in Ladybrand in September, 1919. They had four children: Evelyn (1924 - 2013), Patricia, Alan and Lawrence. As a young man he played rugby until this was thwarted by a knee injury, but he took up golf and bowls instead.
Hall obtained his first BA degree from Rhodes University. He went on to study Agriculture at the University of Illinois in the USA, graduating in 1914. In June 1915 he was awarded a Master’s Degree in Agriculture from Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, for his thesis on “The effects of alternate drying and wetting of soils on their content of some readily soluble solutions”. His full thesis can be found here: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=coo.31924052388950&view=1up&seq=7.
After World War I, Hall worked in Potchefstroom and at Glen College of Agriculture, where he was Vice-Principal. He did not enjoy the administrative work so he joined AECI (African Explosive and Chemical Industries) in Johannesburg where he was active in research on fertilizers until he retired. He worked with the University of the Witwatersrand at their Agricultural Research station in Frankenwald, Johannesburg. Hall was instrumental in the appointment of soil conservation officers across the country.
In 1942 Hall was awarded an honorary DSc (Doctor of Science) by Rhodes University for his pioneering work in soil science and pastures.
Hall was also involved professionally in scientific research bodies and thee Witwatersrand Agricultural Society (which started the Rand Show). The objective of this society was to encourage better farming in the Transvaal and, most particularly after the Anglo Boer war, encourage reinvestment in agricultural and more scientific farming, led by mining and agricultural figures.