F. W. Hilgendorf (1874–1942)

Frederick William Hilgendorf was born at Waihola, Otago, in. 1874, where his father, a contractor and storekeeper, was engaged in the construction of the main road south from Dunedin. The youngest of a family of four, he spent the first seven years of his life at Waihola, and then his family moved to Dunedin. He attended various primary schools in Dunedin, and subsequently the Otago Boys' High School, matriculating at the age of 17. Enrolling at the Teachers' Training College, he commenced study for his Arts degree, which he secured with first-class passes, was awarded the Senior Scholarship in Biology, and then secured his Master's degree with first-class honours. His first teaching position was at Taieri Beach Primary School, and while here he took up the study of hydroids, the results of which were published in the Transactions of the N.Z. Institute in 1898. In 1897 he left Otago for a teaching appointment at Prince Albert College, Auckland, and also commenced studies for his B.Sc. degree, which he secured from Auckland University College. In 1899 he accepted the position of Lecturer in Biology at Canterbury Agricultural College, Lincoln, which brought him for the first time into direct contact with agricultural problems, both educational and scientific. Three years later he was appointed senior Mathematics and Science master at Invercargill Boys' High School, but in 1904 was recalled to Canterbury Agricultural College, where Professor Lowrie had become Director. Here he remained for the rest of his teaching career, a period of over 30 years, till he retired in 1936. For the greater part of this time he was the senior member of the college staff, and was in 1930 appointed to the newly established chair of Agricultural Botany. On his retirement he devoted his full attention to the Wheat Research Institute, of which he had been Director since its foundation in 1928 and continued in this work until his death on September 24, 1942, at Wellington, at the age of 68 years.