A SMALL DISCOVERY THAT REVEALS A GREAT DEAL ABOUT ROBERT NEWTON DUNN...

We know that Robert Newton Dunn, John Dunn's father, sent natural history specimens from the Eastern Cape to Saffron Walden Museum in England, helping to build one of its earliest collections. His famous elephant eventually became one of the museum's best-known exhibits.

What I discovered only yesterday is that Robert's contribution did not end there.

By 1845, after moving to Port Natal, he was still sending specimens to the museum. An abridged catalogue published that year records "R. N. Dunn, of Port Natal" among the donors of corals and sea sponges.

John Dunn would have been about ten years old at the time.

It is a small entry in a catalogue, but it speaks volumes. Despite living thousands of miles from England, Robert maintained his connection with the museum that his brother had helped to establish. His passion for natural history clearly remained with him until his death in 1847.

Sometimes history reveals itself not through dramatic events, but through a single line in an old catalogue.

https://archive.org/details/anabridgedcatal00musegoog/page/n69/mode/2up?q=dunn