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Geological Curator, Vo1.4, No.8, 1987 (for 1986), pp.493-501COLLECTIONS. COLLECTORS AND hlUSEUMS OF NOTE, N0.52GEOLOGICAL COLLECTING AND A GEOLOGICAL CAREER:DANIEL JONES (1836-1918)WITH NOTES ON OTHER MIDLANDS COLLECTIONSFROM M E JONES ARCHIVEBY HUGH S. TORRENSINTRODUCTIONDaniel Jones is remembered today as anauthority on the geology of the Shropshirecoalfields, having produced a series ofpapers on the subject between 1871 and 1898in the Geological Magazine and the variousTransactions of the Caradoc Field Club,Manchester Geological Society, Severn ValleyField Club and the Federated Institute ofMining Engineers. Many are listed in therelevant catalogues of scientific papers(Royal Society 1879, p.33; 1918, p.134;Whitaker and Watts 1889). But as always withsuch catalogues they neglect importantscientific papers published in the miningliterature. Jones's work is no exception andhis papers read to the South MidlandInstitute of Mining, Civil and MechanicalEngineers (Jones 1870-1871, 1872) are notlisted.In about 1866 Jones was appointed AssistantCommissioner under the 'Royal Coal Commissionappointed to inquire into the several mattersrelating to Coal in the United Kingdom' (Mate1906, p.44; Penn 1907, p.193; Cantrill 1920- who wrongly says 1869). It was thisappointment that stimulated the above seriesof publications. There is, however, a littleuncertainty about the exact date of his beingcommissioned. David Jones's ownautobiographical notes, written in old age,again gave the date as 1866 (ShropshireRewrd Office, Shrewsbury (hereafter SRO)178115122), the year the commission wasissued (Report 1871).Rut a brief article onJones's career (SRO 178115153) - perhaps byStephen Lawrence of Seaford, Sussex - gave1867 (Ruth Bagley pers. comm.).DANIEL JONES'S GEOLOGICAL EDUCATIONOf particular interest is how Daniel Jonesbecame interested in geology. New light hasbeen thrown on this subject by a recentlydiscovered 'diary' of Jones covering thedecade 1850-1860 (item 248 in Catalogue of.. .... Books (etc) concerned with geology no.1offered for sale by Martin Simpson, Ventnor,Isle of Wight, 1985). This has now beenpurchased by the Shropshire Record Office,where it joins a series of other records (SRO1781) from the same Jones family, who werelanded gentry of Kilsall and Shackerley Hallsnear Donington in Shropshire (see Burke 1937,p.1609 sub Jones Mitton). This existingdeposit includes a series of Daniel Jones'sown journals from 1852 to 1866 (SRO 1781/5/6- 13) as well as a manuscript autobiographyFig.1. A photograph of Daniel Jones takenat about the turn of the century (fromPenn 1907).(178115118 - 24), only commenced as heentered his 70th year in May 1905 and mainlycompleted by 1912, but containing entries atthe very end from 1916-1917.From these and the new 'diary' or notebook weare able to see how important Daniel Jones'sown geological collecting was in hisgeological upbringing and how it was possiblefor a member of the Victorian landed gentry -when faced with a financial disaster - to geta commission as a geologist.Jones was born on 8 May 1836, not in SouthStaffordshire as stated by Cantrill (1920).but at Hartlebury, Worcestershire accordingto Jones's own autobiographical account (SRO1781/5/18 : 1). Cantrill's error can beforgiven as Jones himself records (SRO178115120) that he too was completelymisinformed about the place of his own birthuntil about his twenty-first year when thetruth was disclosed!