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Geological Society of London

BONNEY, Thomas George (1833-1923)


IDENTITY STATEMENT

Reference code(s): GB 378 LDGSL/776

Held at: Geological Society of London

Title: BONNEY, Thomas George (1833-1923)

Date(s): 1858-1919

Level of description: Series

Extent: 1 box

Name of creator(s): Allport | Samuel | 1816-1897 | petrologist
Lubbock | Sir | John | first Baron Avebury | 1834-1913 | banker, politican, and scientific writer
Bemrose | Henry Arnold | 1857-1939 | printer and publisher
Carpenter | William Benjamin | 1813-1885 | biologist and university administrator
Crookes | Sir | William | 1832-1919 | Knight | chemist and physicist
Darwin | Sir | Francis | 1848-1925 | Knight | botanist
Etheridge | Robert, the elder | 1819-1903 | palaeontologist and museum curator
Geikie | Archibald | 1835-1924 | geologist and historian
Gorst | Sir | John Eldon | 1835-1916 | Knight | politician and lawyer
Haast | Sir | (John Francis) Julius von | 1822-1887 | Knight | geologist and explorer
Hull | Edward | 1829-1917 | geologist
Hunt | Thomas Sterry | 1826-1892 | geologist and chemist
Huxley | Thomas Henry | 1825-1895 | biologist and science educationist
Thomson | William | Baron Kelvin | 1824-1907 | mathematician and physicist
Kingsley | Charles | 1819-1875 | novelist, Church of England clergyman, and controversialist
Lacroix | Antoine François Alfred | 1863-1948 | mineralogist and geologist
Lankester | Sir | (Edwin) Ray | 1847-1929 | Knight | zoologist
Lapworth | Charles | 1842-1920 | geologist
Lefroy | Sir | John Henry | 1817-1890 | Knight | army officer and meteorologist
Lister | Joseph | Baron Lister | 1827-1912 | surgeon and founder of a system of antiseptic surgery
Lyell | Sir | Charles | 1797-1875 | 1st baronet | geologist
Palmer | Edward Henry | 1840-1882 | orientalist
Pengelly | William | 1812-1894 | geologist and archaeologist
Ramsay | Sir | Andrew Crombie | 1814-1891 | Knight | geologist
Renard | Alphonse Francois | 1842-1903 | geologist and petrographer
Roberts | Robert Davies | 1851-1911 | adult educationist
Rosenbusch | Karl Heinrich Ferdinand | 1836-1914 | petrographer
Ruskin | John | 1819-1900 | art critic and social critic
Rutley | Frank | 1842-1904 | geologist and petrographer
Sedgwick | Adam | 1785-1873 | geologist
Sollas | William Johnson | 1849-1936 | geologist and anthropologist
Teall | Sir | Jethro Justinian Harris | 1849-1924 | Knight | geologist
Wadsworth | Marshman Edward | 1847-1921 | geologist and petrographer
Ward | James Clifton | 1843-1880 | geologist
Way | Albert | 1805-1874 | antiquary
Wood | Searles Valentine, the elder | 1798-1880 | palaeontologist
Woodward | Sir | Arthur Smith | 1864-1944 | Knight | palaeontologist

CONTEXT

Administrative/Biographical history:

Thomas George Bonney was born on 27 July 1833 in Rugely, Staffordshire, the eldest of ten children of the Revd Thomas Bonney, headmaster of Rugely grammar school. He attended St John's College, Cambridge, and subsequently studied for holy orders. Though never studying geology formally, he taught the subject at his old college from 1868 onwards, inspiring and encouraging many students who went on to become leading geologists. From 1877 he also took on the role of geology academic at University College London (UCL). Moving to London in 1881 to concentrate on his work as assistant general secretary of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, he stayed there for a number of years until, retiring from his post at UCL, he returned to Cambridge in 1905 and resumed teaching at St John's.

Bonney wrote and published prolifically, in the form of academic works, popular books, and newspaper articles, as well as theological lectures and sermons. Valuing fieldwork, his geological interests included mineralogy, petrology (especially ultrabasic rocks and metamorphism), and glaciation studies. He was also a skilled artist and a keen alpine mountaineer.

He was a leader in many societies, being president of the Mineralogical Society (1884-1886), the Alpine Club (1883), and the British Association (1910), and vice-president of the Royal Society (1898-1899). He became a Fellow of the Geological Society in 1860, serving as secretary (1878-1884) and president (1884-1886), and remained so until his death on 9 December 1923.

CONTENT

Scope and content/abstract:

Scientific and general correspondence addressed to Thomas George Bonney, written between 1858 and 1919. There are 68 letters from 38 correspondents, some of them notable scientific figures such as: Sir Charles Lyell; William Thomson, Lord Kelvin; Joseph Lister; Adam Sedgwick and William Sollas.

ACCESS AND USE

Language/scripts of material: English

System of arrangement:

Alphabetical by correspondent.

Conditions governing access:

Access is by appointment only, daily readership fee is applicable unless you are a member of the Society. Please contact the Archivist for further information.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Copies, subject to copyright and the condition of the original, may be supplied. Requests to publish original material should be submitted to the Archivist.

Finding aids:

An online, detailed catalogue will be available shortly.

ARCHIVAL INFORMATION

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Presented to the Society by Major Wetherall, 1940.

ALLIED MATERIALS

DESCRIPTION NOTES

Archivist's note: Source: Obituary, 'Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society', vol 80 (1924) (Proceedings of the Geological Society of London); Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Description by John Thackray, revised by Victoria Woodcock.

Rules or conventions: Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions: 1990s, revised September 2013


INDEX ENTRIES
Subjects
Geology

Personal names
Bonney | Thomas George | 1833-1923 | geologist
Carpenter | William Benjamin | 1813-1885 | biologist and university administrator
Crookes | Sir | William | 1832-1919 | Knight | chemist
Darwin | Sir | Francis | 1848-1925 | Knight | botanist
Etheridge | Robert | 1819-1903 | palaeontologist
Geikie | Sir | Archibald | 1835-1924 | Knight | geologist
Gorst | Sir | John Eldon | 1835-1916 | Knight | lawyer and politician
Huxley | Thomas Henry | 1825-1895 | scientist and educationist
Kingsley | Charles | 1819-1875 | Canon of Westminster | author
Lankester | Sir | Edwin Ray | 1847-1929 | Knight | zoologist
Lefroy | Sir | John Henry | 1817-1890 | Knight | General | colonial governor
Lister | Joseph | 1827-1912 | 1st Baron Lister | surgeon
Lyell | Sir | Charles | 1797-1875 | 1st Baronet | geologist
Ramsay | Sir | Andrew Crombie | 1814-1891 | Knight | geologist
Ruskin | John | 1819-1900 | author | artist and social reformer
Sedgwick | Adam | 1785-1873 | geologist
Sollas | William Johnson | 1849-1936 | geologist and palaeontologist
Thomson | William | 1824-1907 | 1st Baron Kelvin | physicist x Kelvin | 1st Baron
Woodward | Sir | Arthur | Smith | 1864-1944 | Knight | geologist

Corporate names

Places