The Royal Geological Society of Cornwall is a geological society originally based in Penzance, Cornwall in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1814 to promote the study of the geology of Cornwall, and is the second oldest geological society in the world, after the Geological Society of London which was founded in 1807.
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History
The first President of the society was Davies Gilbert, the first Secretary John Ayrton Paris, and other notable members include Humphry Davy (some of whose papers are held by the Society), and William Gregor, who discovered titanium.
The society's first premises was a house in North Parade, Penzance and in 1853 the Borough of Penzance put forward plans for a new public building on the west side of Penzance. It was planned to have the Borough offices, county court and police station in the east wing, the two floors of the west wing housing the RGSC's museum and a public hall between the two run by a public company. The building, known as St John's Hall, was opened in 1867 and still exists although, in July 2016, the west wing was occupied by Penzance's relocated public library. In 2023 the RGSC moved its base to King Edward Mine, near Camborne, although meetings and lectures are usually held at Camborne School of Mines and other facilities on the Penryn Campus, and via Zoom, and there is an active programme of field meetings and site visits.
Notable people associated with the society
Francis Arthur Bather (1863–1934), palaeontologist, geologist and malacologist.
Henry Samuel Boase (1799–1883), geologist and author.
Edward Budge (1800–1865), geologist and theologian.
Elizabeth Catherine Thomas Carne (1817–1873), geologist and author.
Joseph Carne (1782–1858), geologist.
Joseph Henry Collins (1841–1916), mining engineer, mineralogist and geologist
Richard Quiller Couch (1816–1863), naturalist and medical practitioner.
Richard Edmonds (1801–1886), antiquary and geologist.
John Forbes (1787–1861), physician to Queen Victoria.
John Hawkins (1761–1841), traveller and geologist.
John Mawe (1766–1829), mineralogist and dealer in minerals.
Matthew Paul Moyle (1788–1856), surgeon and geologist.
Christopher Nigel Page (1942-2022), palaeobotanist.
John Ayrton Paris (1785–1856), first secretary and researcher into the high rate of scrotal skin cancer among men working in copper-smelting in Cornwall and Wales.
Charles William Peach (1800–1886), discovered fossils in Cornwall.
Bolitho Medal
The society awards the Bolitho Medal for notable achievement in geology. The first award was made to Robert Etheridge in 1896. It was awarded in 1948 to Sir Arthur Russell, 6th Baronet. The following list only includes recipients with an existing article in Wikipedia.
1896 - Robert Etheridge
1897 - Howard Fox
1898 - Joseph Henry Collins
1900 - Clement le Neve Foster
1903 - William Augustus Edmond Ussher
1906 - Andrew Ketcham Barnett
1911 - Clement Reid
1912 - George Barrow
1916 - Arthur Smith Woodward
1917 - J.S. Flett
1926 - R.H. Rastall
1927 - Alfred Brammall
1931 - Leonard James Spencer
1932 - Richard Hansford Worth
1933 - Henry George Dines
1937 - E.B. Bailey
1948 - Sir Arthur Russell, 6th Baronet
1949 - Eileen Hendriks
1971 - G.F. Mitchell
1973 - Kingsley Dunham
2016 - Christopher Nigel Page
Past presidents
1814–1839 Davies Gilbert
1840–1856 Sir Charles Lemon, FRS
1857–1862 Augustus Smith
1863–1867 Charles Fox, FGS
1868–1871 Hugh Seymour Tremenheere, CB
1871–1879 Warington Smyth
1880–1881 A Pendarves Vivian, FGS
1881–1882 Leonard Courtney
1883–1890 Warington Smyth
1891–1892 John St Aubyn, 1st Baron St Levan
1893–1894 Howard Fox
1901–1902 Clement le Neve Foster
1903–1904 Joseph Henry Collins
1907–1908 Andrew Ketcham Barnett
1911–1912 Joseph Henry Collins
2016–2020 Christopher Nigel Page
2023– Frances Wall