Number 5 - Geological Curators Group

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The earlv vears of the CLPIDavid William Nash (1809-1876) was an activemember of the CLPI in its early years. He washorn in Bristol, trained at London Universityand by 1832 was an assistant surgeon in theBengal Army. He was also elected an Associateof the Linnean Society by 1837. But sometime inthe 1830s he abandoned medicine through illhealthand came to live in Cheltenham. Here hepublished on the local geology (Nash 1837a, h)and delivered 'the first course of lectures ongeology ever given in Cheltenham', at the CLPI(Guise 1877). It was he too who performed thelocal Egyptian mummy unrolling in 1842 when thecountry's Literary and PhilosophicalInstitutions were gripped with 'unrolling fever'(10th Reoort CLPI, pp.6, 10, 13; 3. Buckman tothe Secretary of the Shropshire and North WalesNatural History and Antiquarian Society, letterdated 7 October 1842 - Shrewsbury Public LibraryMSS 133). The mumy passed into the Museum atthe General Hospital (see p.182). In November1843 Nash entered the Middle Temple as abarrister and left Cheltenham, although hereturned in 1863. He died in 1876 (Times,21 July 1876).Little information is available about theInstitution in these early years, because onlyone of the first nine Annual printedfrom 1833-1834 to 1840-1841 has survived: the7th for 1839-1840. when J. W. Earle was HonorarvSecretary (CLPI collection and archives inCheltenham Public Library).The 10th Revart CLPI for 1842-1843 notes (p.7)that the Cheltenham-horn practical andoharmaceutical chemist James Buckman 11814-1884)had now been elected Honorary ~ecreta;~.Buckman is the first figure of nationalsignificance in the fieid of geology to emergefrom Cheltenham. He was Secretary and frequentlecturer to the CLPI from at least 1842 to 1845(12th ReDort CLPI, p.6). Buckman greatlystimulated the study of local geology, forminghis own fine museum and contributing a number ofpapers, first an local botany then geology (forsome of which see Austin 1928 and Royal Society1867, pp:705-706). While he was an officer ofthe Institution. his most imoortant ouhlicationsin the field of Cotswold geology wereA geoloaical chart of the Oolitic Strata of theCotswold Hills and the Lias of the Vale ofGloucester (3. Buckman 1843a) and his completerevision, . iointlv with H. E. Strickland, of>Murchison's An oitline of the eeoloev of theneiehbourhood of Cheltenham (Strickland andJ. Buckman 1844, reissued as J. Buckman andStrickland 1845). Murchison had been asked torevise his Outline in 1841, just as he wassetting out again for Russia; so he first askedHugh Strickland (1811-1853), of Craycomhe Housenear Evesham and later of Tewkesbury Lodge nearTewkeshury, to undertake any revision 'as maybest stir up the Cheltenhamians' (Jardine 1858,p.clxvii). In the event Buckman took by far thegreater part in the revision (S. S. Buckman1906). In the second edition of this hookMurchison noted in his preface (Strickland andJ. Buckman 1844, p.viii) how little geology hadbeen cultivated in Cheltenham in 1834, and howthe Literary and Philosophical 'Society' andsome of its members had now 'materially changedthe scene'.EARLY GEOLOGICAL COLLECTORS IN THE CHELTENHAMAREA (uo to 18501In the 1844 edition of Murchison's book(Strickland and J. Buckman 1844) and other earlysources the following geological collectors arementioned [an asterisk * indicates a referencein Cleevely 19831. It must be stressed thatthis list is only of local collectors active inthe first decade and a half of the Literary andPhilosophical Institution's existence, and anappearance in the list does not imply that theirmaterial actually came to its Museum, unless sostated.BENSON, Rev. R[alph] L[ewen] [c.1800-18491.Former Rector of Easthope, Shropshire; diedin Cheltenham, 23 August 1849 (see Gents Mag.,NS 32, 1849, p.548; Cheltenham Examiner, 29August 1849, p.3). In 1846 he presented'specimens of Lias and Oolite Fossils' to theCheltenham Institution' (14-15th Reoort CLPI,1848, p.9, see under Gomonde, W. H.).BINFIELD, Mr W[illiam R.]. First noted as adonor of Leckhamptan Inferior Oolite fossilsto the Birmingham Philosophical Institution in1846 (BP1 Report, 1846, p.26), this is the manrecorded in the 1848 List of Members of thePalaeontographical Society as living at RodneyTerrace in Cheltenham where he was a teacherand maker of pianos (Rowe 1845, p.ix). Hiscabinet is referred to by 3. Buckman (1850,p.418). He is also presumed to he theW. R. Binfield* whom Morris and Lycettacknowledge in their PalaeantoeraohicalSocietv Monoeraoh (Molluscs from the GreatOolite chiefly from Minchinhampton, etc.;Morris and Lycett 1851-1855, Part 2, p.42) ashaving 'assiduously collected' its fossils.By 1851 he had moved to Westhourne Grove inLondon and in this and the next two years hemade a series of donations, including Cotswoldmaterial, to the Museum of the GeologicalSociety in London and lent material fromDumbleton and Alderton to John Morris (Morris1853, p.324). The last donation to theGeological Society was given jointly withHenry Binfield, and was of Wealden fossils, inillustration of a paper they presented in 1853(Binfield and Binfield 1854). The location ofthe main Binfield collection is not known, sothe connection with Cheltenham may hesignificant in trying to trace it.BONNER, Rev. George [c.1783-18401. In an earlylecture on comparative physiology given to theInstitution in December 1835, Dr Thomas Wrightwas able to use a small hut beautiful skeletonof the Ichthvosaurus which had been presentedto the Institution by Bonner (CheltenhamMaeazine, 2, 1837, p.45). Bonner graduatedfrom Cambridge University (Venn 1940-1954,Vol.1, ~ ~318) in 1821 and became incumbent ofSt James , Cheltenham, in 1830. He died inJune 1840 (see Gents Mag. NS 14, 1840, p.438;Cheltenham Journal, 29 June 1840, p.2).BRAVENDER, Mr [John] FGS, [1803-18781.Cirencester land surveyor and professor ofengineering and land surveying at the RoyalAgricultural College, Cirencester, 1846-1848(Bathurst and Kinch 1898, p.10). Hiscollections are thought to have gone to theAgricultural College Museum whose fate has
THECHELTENHAM LOOKER-ON;BI Aotr Book of #a$giorabk Sapilrgrl an8 Boingg.THIRD SERIES. NO. CCXXXOrlgloal Sariea,MAY 27, 1843. Price 3d.EXTENSIVE SALE OF FOSSIL OROANIG REXAINS.MR. CHARLES WOODHAS THE HONOUR TO ANNOUNCE THAT HE X'II rat11 bg 5311ctior1,(IVilhoul Rtsmr, and Dufg Free,)At the CLARENCE GALLERY, Clarcnee Street, Cheltenham, on THURSDAY anbFRIDAY, the 1st and id of JUNE next,ALL that Ulconlrc. Unique. and scry lofrrrallog Culledlon of FOSSIL ORGANIC REDIAINS,the propemor Mr. I.u." Iluorrlro, or T.,"krlbury.Tbl. klutlfd COUWLIOD, s'hlch 1% tha most Lnlerestlng rser seen in thls Neighbourllood, eanlninsman7 fine Bkelelao# 01 the irhlhyo~auru~ and PlealoanuruB, bealde. a large number of Eos8il shell^uldolhsr o.su,c %smdo,.. . .Sale to commcnce each day at Twelve to the mlclulrFig. 3. Notice of the sale of James Dudfield's collection af 'Fossil Organic Remains' in 1843 (CheltenhamPublic Library).been outlined by Tarrens (1982, pp.73-74).was a local secretary for thePalaeontographical Society in 1868.BRODIE*, Rev. P[eter] B[ellinger] [1815-18971.Curate of Down Hatherley, west of Cheltenham,1840-1853 (Venn 1940-1954, vol.1, p.389).Built up an enormous geological collectionduring his long life, which was much dispersedat a sale in 1895 (Cleevely 1983).BUCKMAN*, James [1814-1884; see also text].Honorary Secretary from at least 1842 andLecturer to the Cheltenham Literary andPhilosophical Institution until 1845. Hisdonation of eighty specimens of Fossils andMinerals in 1842-1843 to the Institution isrecorded (10th Re~ort CLPI, p.13), and his sonS. S. Buchan (in Crick 1902, p.343) confirmsthat many of his father's specimens were thenstill in the Cheltenham College Museum, havingpassed there from the Institution (seep.189). Some of his manuscripts relating tohis secretariate at Cheltenham are in thelibrary of the British Geological Survey atKeyworth (Archives 1/1183, 1842-1847).CLOSE, Miss [no information]. Probably one ofthe eight children of the importantprogressive Cheltenham cleric Rev. FrancisClose (1797-1882) (see Goding 1863,pp.145-151).COLES*, H[enry] Esq [FGS, FRCS, c.1806-18661.Surgeon of Cheltenham and dedicatee ofAmmanites colesi J. Buckman, who is firstlisted alone in the Cheltenham Directories in1839 (Annand 1971, p.35) and last in 1849. HeHejoined the Geological Society of London inDecember 1844 (U. J. C. Thackray) hut hadbeen active as a collector in Cheltenham sinceat least Septemher 1839 when he presentedspecimens to the Museum of the BristolInstitution (Bristol Records Office 32079/43,letters of September - October 1839). By 1852he had left Cheltenham and moved to LeamingtonSpa, where he was living when his paper on thesupposed skin of Ichthvosaurus (actuallycephalopad hooklets in the stomach, Moore1857), based on specimens he had earliercollected between Tewkeshury andUpton-an-Severn, was published (Coles 1853).Same of his collection may then have beensold, in April 1852, to the London dealerJames Tennant (a 2, 1977, p.41). By 1855 hehad moved to Hammersmith, having beenappointed Professor of Comparative Anatomy atthe London Hospital Medical College (Kinns1889, p.485) and was a signatory to theeffectively anti-Darwinian manifesto of 1865(Brock and Macleod 1976). He died on 3December 1866 (Cheltenham Examiner, 12December 1866, p.8). His final collection offossils was sold at auction in London on 12March 1867 (Chalmers-Hunt 1976, p.105).DUDFIELD, Mr [James] of Tewkeshury[c.1795-18581. He was an early collector ofthe Liassic ichthyosaurs and other fossils ofthe Tewkeshury area (Richardson 1846, p.119;The Geolonisy,l, 1842, p.160). Hiscollection, till then 'the most interestingever seen in the Cheltenham' neighbourhood andconsisting 'of many fine skeletons of theIchthvosaurus and Plesiosaurus besides a largenumber of fossil shells and other organic
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Page 4 and 5: Gcolap,rcal Curator, Vol .5, No.5.
Page 6 and 7: THE CHELTENHAM LITERARY AND PHILOSO
Page 10 and 11: Fig. 4. A lithograph (260 x 200 m.)
Page 12 and 13: on the local geology (Lycett 1857).
Page 14 and 15: The known contents of the Museum to
Page 16 and 17: 'Geological Museum - superior in it
Page 18 and 19: that is a fact' (Matheson 1964, p.2
Page 20 and 21: A published source which now throws
Page 22 and 23: Fig. 8. The interior of the College
Page 24 and 25: The Second World War and its leeace
Page 26 and 27: The Society provided a forum which
Page 28 and 29: specimens as such. Only a few speci
Page 30 and 31: BIGOT, Prof. [A. P. D. (1863-1953)l
Page 32 and 33: numbers of specimens, and have labe
Page 34 and 35: Fig. 18. Sylvia Humphrey matching s
Page 36 and 37: in August 1985) the particular stre
Page 38 and 39: Eliot, W. 1871. List of Field Clubs
Page 40 and 41: Tatlow, J. 1821. Memoirs of John Ta
Page 42 and 43: The BM(NH) set has a note from C. I
Page 44 and 45: comparison of his ideas on fossils

Number 5 - Geological Curators Group

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