AXNIVERSART ADDBES3 OF THE PRESIDENT. 37 



THE ANjSFIVERSAEY ADDEESS OE THE PRESIDEiS'T. 



Pkof. T. G. Box^tey, D.Sc, LL.D., F.R.S. 



Gentlemen, 



In referring last year to the muster-roll of death, j'our Presi- 

 dent remarked that it contained the name of onh' one Fellow who 

 had been a contributor to our publications. Unhappily I am unable 

 to repeat the remark. Earnest workers and valued friends during 

 my year of office have been falling " thick as autumn leaves in 

 Yalombrosa." It is now my melancholy duty to pay to these the 

 last tribute of respect, and dwell for a brief space on their memory. 



In Eobert Alfeed Clothe Godwin- Afsien we have lost not only a 

 geologist of extensive knowledge and of an exceptionally philosophic 

 mind, but also one of the links which united us with what we may 

 almost call the " heroic age " of British Geology. He was born at 

 Shalford House, near Guildford, on March 17, 1808, being the eldest 

 son of the late Sir H. E. Austen. Educated first at Midhurst School, 

 he afterwards spent some time at a military college in France, 

 Thence he proceeded to Oxford, where he graduated and was elected 

 a Fellow of Oriel College. Coming thus under the influence of Buck- 

 land, he was secured for geology, and was elected a FeUow of this 

 Society in the year 1830. Three years afterwards he married the 

 only daughter and heiress of the late General Sir H. T. G-odwin, 

 K.C.B., and on the death of that officer in 1854, prefixed the name 

 of Godwin to that of Austen. Devonshire was the scene of his 

 earlier geological labours ; for not long after his election to this So- 

 ciety he fixed his residence at Ogwell House, near J^ewton Abbot. 

 His first contribution to our publications was made in 1834, and for 

 the next six years Devonshire formed the chief subject of his writings. 

 The first paper relating to the south-east of England appears in the 

 ' Proceedings ' for 1853, and after his removal from Devonshire to 

 Chilworth Manor, near Guildford, the Cretaceous and Tertiary 

 deposits, together with physical questions relating to the geology of 

 the Channel and its vicinity received a large share of his attention, 

 although Devonshire was not forgotten. 



Mr. Godwin- Austen was elected a Fellow of the Eoyal Society in 

 1849. He received various distinctions from Foreign Societies; and the 

 Wollaston Medal was awarded to him in 1862. Mr. Godwin-Austen 

 was also an energetic Member of the British Association, and twice, 

 at Norwich and at Brighton, presided over the Geological Section, 

 For the greater part of his life his connexion with the Geological 

 Society was of the closest kind ; a large number of his papers were 

 contributed to our publications ; he served as one of the Secretaries ; 

 subsequently he was in office as Foreign Secretary and as a Vice- 

 President ; and it is well known that, had he been willing, the 



VOL. XLI. . / 



