48 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [May 1 894, 



of young Edward's early life was spent in Suffolk, where his father 

 was at that time rector of Flowton, near Ipswich, and he enjoyed 

 exceptional advantages in heing able to visit the numerous Crag 

 pits and other excavations in that neighbourhood. On these 

 occasions the father encouraged his children to observe and collect 

 fossils, and thus they all more or less imbibed a love of geology, 

 which became especially strong in the eldest. 



Charlesworth was educated at the private school of the Rev. W. 

 Kinchin, afterwards rector of St. Stephen's, Ipswich ; and the 

 medical profession having been chosen for his career, he was articled 

 to an eminent London physician and became a pupil attached to 

 Guy's Hospital. But his love of geology was stronger than his 

 liking for medicine, and the study of fossil bones had more 

 attractions for him than that of mere human anatomy. And thus 

 it came to pass that after his articles had expired he turned 

 to geology, and especially to palaeontology, with all his heart. 



In 1835 he joined this Society, being then 22 years of age, and 

 about the same time gave proof of his excellent knowledge of the East 

 Anglian Crag in a paper published in the ' Philosophical Magazine,' 

 wherein the divisions now established were for the first time clearly 

 indicated. It was at this period likewise that he became connected 

 with the Zoological Society and the British Museum, where he held 

 responsible posts, besides being the proprietor and editor of 

 Loudon's ' Magazine of Natural History.' He was also appointed 

 Honorary Curator of the Ipswich Museum, where some of his early 

 collections of Crag fossils are still preserved. But all these engage- 

 ments were unfortunately relinquished on his accepting an offer to 

 go out to Central America in 1840, under circumstances which 

 promised to be of great interest and importance in opening to him 

 a wide sphere for studying the geology of that region. The indis- 

 position of his fellow-traveller shortened that tour to a few months' 

 duration, and Mr. Charlesworth returned to resume his researches 

 in England. 



His intimate acquaintance with the Crag now enabled him to 

 assume the position of chief authority in matters connected with 

 that formation, and his love of fossils, added to his undoubted 

 biological and paheontological knowledge, caused him to extend his 

 interest to the splendid shells of the older Tertiaries in Hampshire 

 and the Isle of Wight. Probably no one rivalled him in arranging 

 and classifying geological collections in museums — a work he was 

 often called upon to undertake in addition to his literary labours. 



