Robert Drane was a chemist, scholar, theologian, natural historian and antiquarian. Drane was one of the three founding members of the Cardiff Naturalists' Society, and is also known for discovering the Skomer Vole.
In 1896 he wrote: "Caught a little animal which I do not recognise as any British species that I know. It is larger and more highly coloured than the bank vole. I have never seen a bank vole like this one."