R.F. Alfred Hoernle (1880-1943) originated from Bonn/Germany and was educated at Oxford/United Kingdom. In his career as a professional philosopher he taught at various Universities in the United States, United Kingdom and South Africa, where he was, till his death, Professor in the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (1920-1943).

R.F.A. Hoernle took great interest in two great South African problems, the Afrikaaner - English problem and the European - Native problem, as it was called at the time. The latter was fully covered in his book "South African Native Policy and the Liberal Spirit". Hoernle served as Chairman and as member of the Council of the South African Institute of Race Relations; he was Chairman of the Bantu Men's Social Centre; and a delegate to the British Commonwealth Relations Conference at Sydney shortly before the outbreak of World War II.