author
Thomas McKenny Hughes
1832–1917
A lively Welsh geologist who helped make Cambridge a major center for earth science, he combined fieldwork, teaching, and museum-building over a long Victorian career. His work ranged from the rocks of Wales and the Lake District to the growth of the Sedgwick Museum.
1 Audiobook
Notes on the Fenland; with A Description of the Shippea Man
by Thomas McKenny Hughes
About the author
Born in Aberystwyth on 17 December 1832, he studied at Leamington, Llandovery, and Trinity College, Cambridge before beginning his career in public service and science. After a short period in Rome as secretary to the British consul, he joined the Geological Survey in 1861 and spent more than a decade working in places including Hertford, St Albans, the Lake District, Cumberland, Westmoreland, and Yorkshire.
In 1873 he succeeded Adam Sedgwick as Woodwardian Professor of Geology at Cambridge, a post he held until his death in 1917. Sources describe him as an energetic lecturer who did much to stimulate interest in geology, and his published research focused especially on the Precambrian and Paleozoic rocks of Wales, as well as glacial and post-glacial deposits. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1889 and received the Lyell Medal in 1891.
Hughes also played an important part in shaping geology at Cambridge beyond the classroom. Archival and biographical sources credit him with overseeing the planning and construction of the Sedgwick Museum, helping secure its place as a lasting memorial to Sedgwick and a home for geological study. He died in Cambridge on 9 June 1917.