Haslemere Educational Museum
Sir Archibald Geikie O.M. K.C.B.
Life History
Chapter 2
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1855 | A family financial crisis forced him to end his studies later. Two letters were shown to Geikie’s father. One from Sir Roderick Murchison to Hugh Miller enquired if Miller knew of a suitably qualified young man to be appointed to a field post in the Geological Survey. Another was Miller’s reply. It contained a good recommendation for Geikie and a reference to his earier geological work in Skye. An interview was quickly arranged in Edinburgh with Ramsay and later with Sir Roderick Murchison at the British Association meeting in the same city. Geikie was accepted without Civil Service formalities aged 20. Geikie started his geological career on 19th October 1855 as a geological field assistant and began work in the Haddington district east of Edinburgh with a Mr H.H. Howell, a coalfield geologist. |
| 1856 | He was engaged in surveying the western parts of Midlothian, northern sections of West Lothian. In addition, Geikie managed to complete geological mapping of the Strath district of Skye and devoted attention to the island of Raasay, including the collection of numerous Jurassic fossils. |
| 1858 | Continued geological fieldwork in the Edinburgh district. Geikie published “The story of a Boulder”, it was his first published book. Also visited London and met many colleagues at the Geological Survey.“The Geology of Strath”, Skye was published in the Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, London. |
| 1859 | The Edinburgh geological sheet of the Geological Survey of Scotland was completed. He attended the British Association’s Meeting in Aberdeen |
| 1860 | Geikie accompanied Murchison on their famous tour of northwest and central Highlands of Scotland to determine the geological succession of the rocks in those regions. Also gave course lectures to students at the School of Mines. |
| 1861 | He visited the volcanic districts of the Auvergne, France to study volcanic features. Published with Murchison “The altered rocks of the Western Islands of Scotland and the northwestern and Central Highlands” paper. Also published eight other geological papers, some jointly with other authors. Geikie declined an offer of the post of Geologist to the Maharajah of Cashmere. |
| 1862 | Geikie studied the “drift” deposits of Southern Scotland and developed independently the idea of terrestrial ice-sheets, as suggested by Agassiz. |
| 1863 | Examination of “drift” deposits continued along the northeast coast of England. The important paper “On the phenomena of the Glacial Drift of Scotland” was published by John Gray in Glasgow. In October, Geikie was assigned to the Carrick district of Ayrshire, Scotland. |
| 1864 | Geikie’s friends Professor Pillans and Leonard Horner both died this year. |
| 1865 | He became a Fellow of the Royal Society. Geikie visited Norway to study aspects of glaciation with James Geikie, his brother and examined areas beyond the Arctic Circle. Geikie published his first major text “The scenery of Scotland viewed in connection with its physical geology”. It was a fine work and ran through three editions. |
| 1866 | J.B. Jukes, a geologist invited Geikie to visit Antrim, Northern Ireland to study the remarkable volcanic sequences e.g. the Giant’s Causeway, displayed there. Visited London on several occasions on Survey duties and attended various social functions. |
| 1867 | He became Director of the Geological Survey of Scotland 1st April. Geikie re-organised parts of the Geological Survey and was present at the British Association’s Meeting in Dundee. Here, he choose the subject for the Presidential Address: “The History of Volcanic Action in the British Islands”. |
| 1868 | Geikie accompanied other geologists during an excursion with the Geological Survey to the Eifel volcanic district in Germany and the Swiss Alps. |
| 1869 | Went to Austria during the summer and studied various aspects of field geology in the Alps. |
| 1870 | Geikie acquired Ramsay Lodge, Edinburgh for his own home. George Poulet Scrope requested him to visit the Lipari Islands & Southern Italy. Geikie became seriously ill with malarial fever in April / May and came back to Britain to convalesce. He met Anna Alice Gabrielle Pignatel from Lyon, France, near the home of his publisher Alexander Macmillan. She was a trained musician and quite beautiful with a charming voice, but increasingly became more attractive to Geikie by her gentleness and gaiety. |
