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The competition for the Woodwardian Chair of Geology: Cambridge, 1873

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 November 2005

ANNE O'CONNOR
ANNE O'CONNOR
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, University of Durham, DH1 3LE, UK. E-mail: anne.o'[email protected].
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Abstract

In 1873 the chair of geology at the University of Cambridge fell vacant following the death of Adam Sedgwick. Nine candidates stepped forward, hoping to fill the post. The correspondence generated in the ensuing battle illuminates two areas of particular interest. First, the strategies hidden behind bland lists of successive professors: candidates, peers and patrons manoeuvred to influence the outcome of the competition and competitors tried to reinforce their geological respectability by collecting testimonials from estimable geological acquaintances. Second, the Woodwardian competition inspired some outspoken opinions from British geologists about the relative worth of the candidates, which offer a fresh perspective on the process of professionalization in nineteenth-century science. The applicants came from various backgrounds, including gentlemanly amateurs, clerical geologists, Survey geologists and professors. Judging from the opinions of their peers, it seems that a non-professional or clerical status was rarely of primary concern in defining geological respectability at this time.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal for the History of Science , Volume 38 , Issue 4 , December 2005 , pp. 437 - 461
Copyright
© 2005 British Society for the History of Science

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Footnotes

I would to thank Hugh Torrens, David Oldroyd, Martin Rudwick, Ralph O'Connor and Jane Fawcett for their helpful and encouraging comments on earlier drafts, and S. G. Roberts for his useful suggestions about sources in the Department of Manuscripts, Cambridge University Library. For permission to consult and quote from manuscripts, I should also like to thank Edinburgh University Library, Special Collections Department; the Syndics of Cambridge University Library; the British Geological Survey Library Archives, Keyworth; the Library of the Geological Society, London; the British Library, London; and the Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge.