George Greenwood

Born in June 1799, he was the son of the Greenwood family of Brookwood Park in Hampshire and was educated at Eton. He entered the army as a cornet and sub-lieutenant in the 2nd Life Guards soon after Waterloo, rose to lieutenant-colonel in 1831 and colonel in 1838, and later retired because of heart trouble.

He was widely admired as a horseman, and his Hints on Horsemanship earned a lasting reputation. A contemporary notice described him as one of the finest riders of his day, and later reference works remembered that book especially warmly.

After leaving the army, he lived as a country gentleman in Hampshire, working with trees and writing on the landscape. His The Tree-Lifter appeared in 1844, and Rain and Rivers in 1857 argued that weathering and running water played a major role in shaping valleys, ideas that helped earn him a place in the history of geomorphology. I could not confirm a suitable portrait image from reliable page images, so none is included here.