Geologists and the army in nineteenth century Britain: a scientific and educational symbiosis?

Abstract

There was a closer relationship between the army and some of the founding fathers of British geology than is commonly realized. Military objectives and funding provided the stimulus for J. MacCulloch's 1836 geological map of Scotland, some early systematic teaching of geology, and arguably the first British engineering geology textbooks. From 1826, Royal Engineer officers (J. W. Pringle, J. E. Portlock, H. James) initiated government geological surveys in Ireland. The British Geological Survey was founded in 1835 and sustained until 1845 with military control, and led until 1871 by two successive directors-general (H. T. De la Beche, R. I. Murchison) who had received a military rather than a university education. In the Geological Society of London, early influential members included those also active in the reserve army (G. B. Greenough) or the regular army (T. F. Colby, J. W. Pringle, J. E. Portlock), and a veteran in receipt of military half pay (W. Lonsdale). From the mid-nineteenth century, a number of publications advocated the importance of geology to a military profession. In consequence, geology became part of the curriculum at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, and later at the Staff College, Camberley, where T. Rupert Jones served as professor until 1882. But perception of the practical military value of geology waned by the end of the century. It was rekindled only by the First World War.