Joseph Prestwich

Joseph Prestwich
Portrait of Prestwich published in The Popular Science Monthly
Born	(1812-03-12)12 March 1812 Clapham
Died	23 June 1896(1896-06-23) (aged 84)
Awards	Wollaston Medal (1849) Royal Medal (1865)

Sir Joseph Prestwich, FRS (12 March 1812 – 23 June 1896) was a British geologist and businessman, known as an expert on the Tertiary Period and for having confirmed the findings of Boucher de Perthes of ancient flint tools in the Somme valley gravel beds.

Born in Clapham, Prestwich was educated in Paris and Reading before entering University College, London where he studied chemistry and natural philosophy. Whilst a student he founded the short-lived Zetetical Society. In 1830 he began working for the family wine business. This job required him to travel throughout the United Kingdom and also abroad to France and Belgium, and during the course of these travels he made many geological observations. He became a Fellow of Geological Society in 1833 and published his first paper there two years later.^[1] His 1836 memoir on the Geology of Coalbrookdale, based upon observations made during 1831 and 1832, established his reputation as a geologist.

From 1846 his attention focused upon the Tertiary deposits of the London Basin, which he subsequently classified and then correlated with Tertiary deposits throughout England, France and Belgium. In 1858 Prestwich was persuaded by Hugh Falconer to visit Abbeville, where Boucher de Perthes had claimed to have found flint tools in the gravel deposits of the valley of the Somme, thus establishing the antiquity of man. In company with John Evans, Prestwich visited the gravel beds of St Acheul and confirmed the observations of Boucher de Perthes. Prestwich's report on the matter was published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society for 1859-1860: It is claimed by some authorities that this publication marks the birth of modern scientific archaeology.

Bust on display in the Oxford University Museum

During the late 1860s Prestwich served on the Royal Coal Commission and the Royal Commission on the Metropolitan Water Supply. In 1870–1872 he was president of the Geological Society.^[2] In 1874 he was appointed to the chair of geology at the University of Oxford. Here he produced in two volumes Geology, Chemical and Physical, Stratigraphical and Palaeontological. In 1888 he retired from Oxford to Shoreham in Kent where he continued to work until his death in 1896. Prestwich was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1853, awarded its Royal Medal in 1865, awarded a Telford Medal for a paper entitled “On the Geological Conditions affecting the Construction of a Tunnel between England and France,” in 1773.^[3] Knighted in 1896. He married Grace Anne McCall, the niece of Hugh Falconer, in 1870.^[4]

References

↑ "Sketch of Joseph Prestwich". Popular science monthly: 254. December 1897. Retrieved 7 May 2013.
↑ "Obituary: JOSEPH PRESTWICH". The American Geologist. 18: 133–134. August 1896.
↑ "Joseph Prestwich".
↑ Ogilvie, Marilyn Bailey; Harvey, Joy O. (2000). "PRESTWICH, GRACE ANNE (MILNE) M'CALL". The biographical dictionary of women in science: L – Z. vol. 2. Routledge. pp. 1052–1053. ISBN 041592040X.

"Obituary Notices of Fellows Deceased", Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Volume 60. (1896—1897), pp. i—xxxv.

Presidents of the Geological Society of London

19th century	George Bellas Greenough Henry Grey Bennet William Blake John MacCulloch George Bellas Greenough Earl Compton William Babington William Buckland John Bostock William Fitton Adam Sedgwick Roderick Murchison George Bellas Greenough Charles Lyell William Whewell William Buckland Roderick Murchison Henry Warburton Leonard Horner Henry De la Beche Charles Lyell William Hopkins Edward Forbes William Hamilton Daniel Sharpe Joseph Ellison Portlock John Phillips Leonard Horner Andrew Crombie Ramsay William Hamilton Warington Wilkinson Smyth Thomas Henry Huxley Joseph Prestwich George Douglas Campbell John Evans Peter Martin Duncan Henry Clifton Sorby Robert Etheridge John Whitaker Hulke Thomas Bonney John Wesley Judd William Blanford Archibald Geikie Wilfred Hudleston Henry Woodward Henry Hicks William Whitaker

20th century	Jethro Teall Charles Lapworth John Marr Archibald Geikie William Sollas William Watts Aubrey Strahan Arthur Smith Woodward Alfred Harker George Lamplugh Richard Oldham Albert Seward John Evans Francis Bather John Gregory Edmund Garwood Thomas Holland John Green Owen Thomas Jones Henry Hurd Swinnerton Percy Boswell Herbert Leader Hawkins William Fearnsides Arthur Trueman Herbert Harold Read Cecil Tilley Owen Thomas Jones George Lees William King Walter Campbell Smith Leonard Hawkes James Stubblefield Sydney Hollingworth Oliver Bulman Frederick Shotton Kingsley Dunham Thomas Neville George William Alexander Deer Thomas Westoll Percy Kent Wallace Pitcher Percival Allen Howel Francis Janet Watson Charles Holland Bernard Leake Derek Blundell Anthony Harris Charles Curtis R. S. J. Sparks Richard Hardman Robin Cocks

21st century	Ronald Oxburgh Mark Moody-Stuart Peter Styles Richard Fortey Lynne Frostick

Authority control	WorldCat Identities VIAF: 15552846 LCCN: no2008189577 ISNI: 0000 0000 8359 7316 GND: 117696803 SUDOC: 074665553 BNF: cb104493658 (data) NLA: 36558885

External links

Works written by or about Joseph Prestwich at Wikisource

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