Number 5 - Geological Curators Group

identify the present whereabouts of the fourfigured specimens. Many of them are likely tohave been those still recorded in theCheltenham College Museum in 1937 (seep.194). The 'fine head of the Ichthyosauruswith a skeleton' purchased by Buckman in 1843was recorded as preserved in Buckman's ownMuseum by Rowe (1845, p.62) and as coming fromBrockeredge Common, near Tewkesbury. Thisseems certain to be the particular specimendiscovered and described from this locality inthe Tewkesburv Yearlv Reeister for 1841(vol.2, p.42) as found in July 1841 and sixfeet ten inches in length. The descriptionclosely matches the specimen figured here asitem two on Fig.4. This adds to thelikelihood that this plate & from the missingsale catalogue.Dudfield was the son of William Dudfield(c.1753-1832) of Bredon's Hardwick,Worcestershire (d.for 1830-1839[published 18401, 1, p.83) and was born c .1795 and baptised at Twining in 1798. Hemarried Harriot Kingsbury (c.1796-1844) atTewkesbury on 2 November 1820 and became a FOWLER*, C[harles] Esq FRCS [1797-18581.druggist in the High Street, Tewkesbury,One of the mast successful medical men inGloucestershire. His enthusiastic fossilCheltenham's heyday, surgeon at Cheltenhamcollecting from the area, especially ofGeneral Hospital 1825-1856 (Cardew 1920;Liassie saurians, was first noted in May 1840 Glover [as Contem Ienotus] 1884, pp.201-202),(Llayd 1840). His museum collection included and Curator of its Museum (Hamilton 1841,Quaternary fossils (Jardine 1858, vo1.2,p.22) which certainly later containedp. 141 ) and archaeological objects (d. geological material. His personal collection'for 1840-1849 [published 18501, 2, p.30), and is first heard of in 1840-1841, in connectionfour particularly fine saurians - threewith Quaternary vertebrates from the new1chth;osaurus and one Plesiosaurus found inBirmingham and Gloucester railway excavations1841 and 1842 are described which passed into (Jardine 1858, vol.2, p.141). G. B. Sowerbyhis collection ( d . for 1841, p.42; for1842. 0.81). There is sufficient detail to. L ,help their identification if traced insurviving collections.Dudfield was also an exhibitor at the annualmeeting of the Tewkesbury Literary, Scientificand Mechanics Institution in 1842 (d.for 1842, pp.86-87). There is no doubt thathe was also a commercial dealer supplyingsaurian remains to Adam Sedgwick (1785-1873)in Cambridge in 1842 (Sedgwick MSS, CambridgeUniversity Library, Add 7652 TD 169). Aletter to Sedgwick af 31 May 1843 (IE 49)explains Dudfield's delay in sending furtherichthyosaur material because of 'theunfortunate pecuniary circumstances in which Iam suddenly envolved (sic) [which] renders itnecessary that I should not only part with myfossils but also of everything else I have'.His bankruptcy was soon announced(Staffordshire,1 April 1843;Cheltenham and Free Press, 1 April 1843), thusexplaining the suddenness of his auction salein June.Sedgwick seems to have arranged to make somepurchases at the auction or by private treatybeforehand, for a third letter from Dudfielddated 16 June 1843 (IE 49a) announces thatSedgwick's 'beautiful saurian specimen wasforwarded tadav' to Cambridge. -. thanks Sedgwick -most sincerely for his liberality and statesthat Dudfield now had 'a prospect ofcommencing business again-under favourablecircumstances'. The Commissioner inBankruptcy in Bristol mast unusuallycongratulated Dudfield 'on the straightforwardand honourable way in which he had encounteredhis difficulties' (vE14June 1843).Dudfield now turned to farming instead andseems to have made no return topalaeontology. He did pay a dividend to hiscreditors in 1843 (Staffordshire,23 September 1843) and died on 15 October 1858at Trowborow Farm, Twyning, Gloucestershire(Tewkesburv Reeister, 23 October 1858). Hiswill (Gloucestershire Record Office) makes nomention of any further geological collection.Thomas Wright (1860, pp.392-394) providedfurther notes on the fine saurian remainsauctioned in 1843, which may help in theiridentification. A specimen of vertebrae witha paddle of an Ichthvosaurus, which stillsurvived (labelled 'Lower Lias nearTewkesbury') in the Biology Department ofCheltenham College in 1985, seems likely to bea single known survivor of this sad story.More local research is needed.(1812-1884) executed a volume of drawings forhim,Cheltenham (c.1844-1858), which survives inthe library of the British Museum (NaturalHistorv). In 1851 the Cotteswold Field Clubvisiteb his fossil collection, 'most curiousin the beauty and perfection of the specimens'(Baker 1853, 0.101). He died on 4 Mav 1858 atweston-supe;-Mare (~heltenham Looker on, 8 May1858, pp.449-450; Cheltenham Examiner, 12 May1858, pp.4, 8) but nothing was known of thesubsequent history of his collection (Cleevely1983, p.121). The MSS Minutes of theInstitution's Council for 17 November 1856 (inCheltenham Public Library) now show thatFowler, having just left Cheltenham, thenintended 'to present his collection ofgeological specimens to the Institution' andthat the Council gratefully accepted thisoffer of his 'very valuable cabinet' offossils. Dr Thamas Wright was at the sametime authorised to name and arrange it and tomake such exchanges of fossils from this andthe other collections of the Institution tomake up a complete set of local fossils. Inthis way wright could have built up his ownfine collection which already included one ofthe two types of Cidaris fowleri n. sp. whichWright had named after Fowler (Wright 1853,pp.139-141) using specimens collected byFowler. James Buckman likewise narnedAm-J. Buckman 1844).foulrriaftcr hilt, (Scrickland andLYCETT*, John LRCPE [1804-18821. Physician atMinchinhamptan c.1840-1860, and co-author orauthor of a number of important monographs onthe fossils of the Cotswolds, and a treatise