Ohituary — Mr. William Colchester. 137 



Prestwicli, the Eev. Professor Henslow called the attention of the 

 Geological Society of London to the great beds of shingle at 

 Felixstowe, where the pebbles contained so large a proportion of 

 phosphate of lime that he was "convinced they must all be con- 

 sidered as of coproUtic origin," and amongst which he found the 

 fossil tympanic bones of several kinds of whales. The practical 

 mind of William Colchester soon enabled him to turn this to 

 account, and, after consnltation with Mr., now Sir, John Lawes, 

 a company was formed known as Lawes's Chemical Manure Com- 

 pany, of which Mr. Colchester was Chairman for many years. 



The first area worked by this Company for obtaining the raw 

 material for the production of artificial phosphates for agricultural 

 purposes was in the Suffolk Crag, and extended from Felixstowe 

 through Melton, Bawdsey, Orford Castle, to Sutton Haugh. 



It was fortunate that Mr. Colchester was a geologist in addition to 

 being a keen man of business, otherwise the wholesale destruction 

 of the Suffolk Crag over this large area, in the search for artificial 

 manure, would have resulted in an irreparable loss to geological 

 science ; but during the whole period the diggings were being carried 

 on, the workmen were encouraged to collect and preserve the more 

 interesting specimens of teeth and bones of mammalia and fishes, 

 which form no inconsiderable part of the Crag nodules, and of which 

 the museums of Ipswich and York, the British Museum, and many 

 others contain abundant examples. The Crag deposits of Suffolk 

 and Norfolk yield numerous remains of Pliocene Vertebrata mingled 

 with derivative fossils from earlier Miocene and Eocene strata. 



Since the opening of the phosphate diggings, large collections have 

 been made by the late Mr. Edward Charlesworth, F.G.S., Messrs. 

 Jas. Baker and W. Whincopp, of Woodbridge, Sir Joseph Prestwich, 

 the Eev. F. Canham, and others. Mr. Colchester's own collection 

 was lately given to the Ipswich Museum, where Mr. Canham's 

 collection (purchased for the town by the late Sir Richard Wallace) 

 is also preserved. The other collections are now mostly acquired by 

 the British Museum, and, through the liberality of Mr. William Reed, 

 F.G S., for the York Museum. 



Large works were erected at Ipswich for the crushing and grinding 

 to fine powder of the raw coprolite, and it was no uncommon thing 

 in those days for frequent special trains to be running laden with 

 thousands of tons of the newly discovered mineral. In the experience 

 of the late manager, we are told that sometimes as many as fourteen 

 vessels, steamers, etc., have been waiting their turn to load at 

 Mr. Colchester's works, in the Cliff Bight, Ipswich. 



Mr. Colchester also acquired large chemical works at Rainham, 

 and at his death was still a proprietor of land around that place. 

 He was also the originator of the " Manganese Bronze Company," 

 and was the inventor and manufacturer of steam-ship propellers for 

 the motive-power of our great ocean-going liners. 



After the cessation of the Suffolk Crag Coprolite Works Mr. 

 Colchester became interested in the Cambridge Greensand Coprolite 

 Diggings, and joined Mr. T. T. Ball in the Burwell Works. Some 



