Great Geologists | 65
Charles Lapworth (centre) leading a field excursion to the Severn Valley in the 1880s. Image provided and used with the permission of the
Lapworth Museum of Geology.
foremost authority on this extremely important fossil group. He
published numerous important scientific papers on this group of
fossils and assisted geologists worldwide with the identification,
dating and interpretation of graptolite faunas.
Lapworth was regarded as an excellent teacher and mentor,
notably encouraging women to take up geological research. In
particular, his student and assistant, Ethel Wood (later, Dame
Ethel Shakespear), and her collaborator, Gertrude Elles, carried
on his graptolite research, authoring the seminal Monograph
of British Graptolites (1910) under his supervision. Much of his
spare time was given to leading field excursions in the West
Midlands, not only for formal students, but also for natural
history societies and other amateur groups. Once an ‘amateur’
himself, Lapworth always promoted the value of what those
with a genuine interest in geology could achieve, whether or not
they had been formally trained.
Lapworth received many awards for his work and contributions
to geology. In June 1888, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal
Society and, in 1891, he was awarded their Royal Medal. In
1899, he received the highest award of the Geological Society of
London, the Wollaston Medal, in recognition of his outstanding
work in the Southern Uplands and Northwest Highlands of
Scotland.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The author would like to thank Jon Clatworthy, Director,
Lapworth Museum of Geology for his kind help in sourcing
some of the images used in this biography.
REFERENCES
This essay has drawn upon information from the following
sources:
Fortey, R.A. 1993. Charles Lapworth and the biostratigraphic
paradigm. Journal of the Geological Society, London, 150, 209-
218.
Hamilton, B. 2001. Charles Lapworth’s “The Moffat Series”,
1878. Episodes, 24, 194-200.
Oldroyd, D.R. & Hamilton, B.M. 2002. Themes in the early
history of Scottish geology. In: Trewin, N.H. (ed.) The Geology of
Scotland. The Geological Society, London, 27-44.
Oldroyd, D.R. 1990. The Highlands Controversy. The University of
Chicago Press. 438pp.
Rider, M. 2005. Hutton’s Arse. Rider-French Consulting Ltd.
214pp.
https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/facilities/lapworth-museum/
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