Ixviii proceedi>'CtS or the lveoloctIcal society, vol. Ixxvii, 



Royal Literarv it Scientific Institution, and did much to enlarge 

 it. Of the 5-5 reai-s daring which he was a Fellow of oui" Society 

 he served for 20 years as a valued, and valuable, member of its 

 Council, and was twice elected Vice-President. X^.^t many of our 

 Fellows have deserved better of the Society', and few will be more 

 sincerely esteemed and regretted by all Avho knew him. 



In Wheeltox Hend the Society loses one who was not only a 

 keen geologist, but an outstanding j^ei'sonalitA'. Possessed of extra- 

 ordinary energy and application he attained eminence in his own 

 profession and, as a bye-product, thi-ew off an amount of valuable 

 geological work, which would have made a creditable life-record 

 for many an ordinary individual. Of clear and definitely-formed 

 opinions, and not reticent in expressing them, he frequently 

 aroused dissent and opposition, but in stUl greater degree mspired 

 enthusiasm and help. Thi-ough all. his dominant desire was the 

 elucidation of the ti-uth ; ever sympathetic and helpful to those 

 who wished for assistance and advice, he never lost the i-espect 

 even of those most antagonistic to his opinions. 



Bom at Roxeth near HaiTow, in 1860, he received a medical 

 training, and set up in practice at Stoke-on-Trent in ISSJr. He 

 was, at that time, akeady interested in geology, and at once began 

 to search the coUiery pit-banks of the district for fossQs, obtaining 

 w^hat infonnation he could as to honzons fi'om the minei-s. His 

 first geological pubhcation, in 18S9, was an accoimt of • The 

 Xatm-al Features & Geology of Suffolk ' in lus father's work on 

 the "Flora of Suffolk': but in the same year there appeared, in the 

 Transactions of the Xorth Staffordshire Xatm-alists" Field-Club, 

 the fiirst of a long series of papei-s, embodying the results of his 

 OAvn observations and researches, on the Carboniferous rocks and 

 fauna. He devoted himself to the unravelling of the succession 

 of the Carboniferous rocks of his district, which Avas modified by 

 his establishment of the Pendleside Series as a distinct member, 

 lying between the Carboniferous Limestone and the Millstone Grit, 

 and, later, he extended his conclusions to other regions. Recogniz- 

 ing that the basis of satisfactory stratigi-aphical work was the 

 discovery of a series of life-zones, he perceived the necessity of a 

 re-investigation of the Carboniferous mollusca, and produced his 

 monogi'aphs on the Laniellibranchiata. 



His geological work was interrupted by a call fi"om the AVar 

 Office to raise a batterv of Gamson Ai-tillerv, which he recruited 



