BONNEY, Thomas George (1833-1923)
Identity Statement
Reference code(s) | : GB 378 LDGSL/776 |
Held at | : Geological Society of London Click here to find out how to view this collection at http://www.geolsoc.org.uk/archives › |
Full 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 & 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
Related material:
Publication note:
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
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