William Boyd Dawkins

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Archaeologist
Signature

Sir William Boyd Dawkins

antiquity of man. He was involved in many projects including a tunnel under the Humber, a Channel Tunnel attempt and the proving of coal under Kent
.

Background

William Boyd Dawkins as a young man

Dawkins was born in Wales at Buttington Vicarage in Montgomeryshire on 26 December 1837. He attracted attention at age five by collecting fossils from the local colliery spoil heaps. Soon after, his family moved into England to Fleetwood in Lancashire, where he attended Rossall School. He again attracted attention by adding fossils from the local boulder clay to his earlier collection. After leaving school, he attended Jesus College, Oxford.[2] He graduated with a second in Classics and a first in Natural Sciences.

On leaving Oxford University in 1862, he joined the

Owens College, Manchester. eventually becoming the first Professor of Geology in 1874.[3]

Dawkins became involved with the Manchester Geological and Mining Society and was its President on three occasions: 1874–75, 1876–77 and 1886–87. He was also President of the

First World War years, from 1913 to 1919. Dawkins was knighted for "services to geology" in the 1919 Birthday Honours
. He died in 1929, aged 91.

Archaeology

Reconstruction of cave hyena, Heinrichshöhle, Germany.

Dawkins achieved many distinctions in the field of archaeology. In 1859 he moved to Somerset to study classics with the vicar of Wookey. On hearing of the discovery of bones by local workmen he led excavations in the area of the hyena den at Wookey Hole Caves. He also excavated Aveline's Hole, expanding its entrance and naming it after his mentor William Talbot Aveline.[5] His work led to the discovery of the first evidence for use by Palaeolithic man in the Caves of the Mendip Hills.

He spent a great deal of time researching in

sabre tooth tiger. The bison bones were more recently dated at 37 300bp (OxA – 4579). Many of the finds are located in the museums of Buxton
, Derbyshire and Manchester.

Kent

In 1882, following from his work with the Geological Survey, Dawkins was appointed as the official surveyor by the Channel Tunnel Committee.[3] He made a geological survey of the English and French coasts along the Dover and Calais areas, however the project was abandoned due to lack of money. He also participated in a scheme for a tunnel under the Humber.

In 1886, the

South Eastern Railway Company approached Dawkins asking him if his Channel Tunnel work had shown any coal under Kent. The finding of coal under Kent would have given the company great financial benefits. Together with Henry Willett and the French geologist Pigou, Dawkins presented a paper in 1887 proving the existence of coal under the Cretaceous deposits of Kent.[3]

Philanthropy

The Manchester Museum

Dawkins was a fighter for workers' rights especially in the coal mining industry. He lobbied hard to get a better education system for miners similar to the ones established in Germany. He donated undisclosed amounts of money to this cause.

Among his other donations was one to the Manchester Museum. The museum wanted to build an extension and started an appeal. The appeal raised £1015 2s 9d, of which Dawkins donated £500. Later in life he fought for compensation for people whose homes had been affected by subsidence from the salt mines and workings near Northwich, Cheshire.

On his death in 1929, his widow Lady Boyd Dawkins presented his library of some 400 works to the town of Buxton, Derbyshire. These books, together with other personal items such as a bronze bust, photographs and his Lyell and Prestwich medals, are housed at Buxton Museum and Art Gallery in the Boyd Dawkins Reference Room.

Publications

Dawkins published many books and papers, but the best-known are:

Footnotes

  1. ^ "DAWKINS, William Boyd". Who's Who. 59: 456. 1907.
  2. ^ s:Alumni Oxonienses: the Members of the University of Oxford, 1715-1886/Dawkins, William Boyd
  3. ^ a b c d Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Dawkins, William Boyd" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 7 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 873.
  4. ^ "APS Members History".
  5. ISBN 978-0-9500433-6-4
    .
  6. ^ Dawkins, W. B.; et al. "British Pleistocene Mammalia". Copac. Retrieved 21 September 2009.
  7. ^ "Review of Cave Hunting: Researches on the Evidence of Caves respecting the Early Inhabitants of Europe by W. Boyd Dawkins". The Saturday Review of Politics, Literature, Science and Art. 38: 643–644. 14 November 1874.
  8. ^ "Review of Early Man in Britain and His Place in the Tertiary Period by W. Boyd Dawkins". The Saturday Review of Politics, Literature, Science and Art. 49: 827–829. 26 June 1880.

Sources

External links

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Professional and academic associations
Preceded by
Charles Bailey
 President of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society
1903–05 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
Creation
 President of the Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society
1883–85 		Succeeded by
Preceded by President of the Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society
1900–02 		Succeeded by
Ernest Frederick Letts
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