Editing Charles Lapworth

{{Short description|English geologist (1842–1920)}}
{{for|the socialist activist, newspaper editor and film producer|Charles Lapworth (journalist)}}
{{Use British English|date=July 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2017}}

{{Infobox person
| name = Charles Lapworth
| image = Charles Lapworth.jpg
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1842|9|20}}
| birth_place = [[Faringdon|Faringdon, Berkshire, England]]
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1920|3|13|1842|9|20}}
| death_place =[[Birmingham, England|Birmingham]], England
| awards = [[Bigsby Medal]]  {{small|(1887)}}<br>[[Royal Medal]] {{small|(1891)}}<br>[[Wollaston Medal]] {{small|(1899)}}
}}
'''Charles Lapworth''' [[Fellow of the Royal Society|FRS]] [[Fellow of the Geological Society|FGS]] (20 September 1842 – 13 March 1920) was a headteacher and an English geologist<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Lapworth, Charles|magazine=Who's Who|year=1907|volume= 59|page=1020|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yEcuAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA1020}}</ref> who pioneered faunal analysis using [[index fossil]]s and identified the [[Ordovician]] period.

== Biography ==
Charles Lapworth was born at [[Faringdon]] in Berkshire (now [[Oxfordshire]]) the son of James Lapworth.<ref>{{cite book|title=Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002|date=July 2006|publisher=The Royal Society of Edinburgh|isbn=0-902-198-84-X|url=https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|access-date=12 March 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304074135/https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|archive-date=4 March 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref>
[[file:4_Abbotsford_Road_re_Charles_Lapworth_headmaster_here.jpg|thumb|His school in Galashiels in 2021]]
He trained as a teacher at the Culham Diocesan Training College near Abingdon, Oxfordshire. He moved to the Scottish border region, where he investigated the previously little-known fossil [[Fauna (animals)|fauna]] of the area. He was headmaster of the school in [[Galashiels]] from 1864 to 1875.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Category:Charles Lapworth - Wikimedia Commons|url=https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Charles_Lapworth#/media/File:4_Abbotsford_Road_Charles_Lapworth_plaque.jpg|access-date=2021-08-20|website=commons.wikimedia.org|language=en}}</ref> In 1869 he married Janet, daughter of [[Galashiels]] schoolmaster Walter Sanderson.

Through mapping and innovative use of index fossil analysis, based on a sequence exposed at [[Dob's Linn]], Lapworth showed that what was thought to be a thick sequence of [[Silurian]] rocks was in fact a much thinner series of rocks repeated by faulting and folding.<ref>{{cite journal | first = Charles | last = Lapworth | title = The Moffat Series | journal = Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society | date = 1878 | volume = 34 | issue = 1–4 | pages = 241–346 | url = https://archive.org/details/LapworthMoffatSeries1878QuJouGeolSocVol34Page240 | doi=10.1144/gsl.jgs.1878.034.01-04.23| s2cid = 140621558 | url-access = subscription }}</ref>

[[Image:Mason Science College.png|thumb|left|[[Mason Science College|Mason Science College, now the University of Birmingham]]]]

[[File:Charles Lapworth plaque, Madras College, St. Andrews.jpg|thumb|Madras College plaque]]
He completed this pioneering research in the Southern Uplands while employed as a schoolmaster for 11 years at the Episcopal Church school, Galashiels. He then studied geology and became in 1875 an assistant at [[Madras College]] in St Andrews, Fife, and then in 1881 the first professor of geology at [[Mason Science College]], later the [[University of Birmingham]], where he taught until his retirement in 1913.

He is best known for pioneering faunal analysis of Silurian beds by means of [[index fossil]]s, especially [[graptolite]]s, and his proposal (eventually adopted) that the beds between the [[Cambrian]] beds of north [[Wales]] and the [[Silurian]] beds of South Wales should be assigned to a new geological period: the [[Ordovician]].<ref>Charles Lapworth (1879) [https://books.google.com/books?id=JJpZAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA1  "On the Tripartite Classification of the Lower Palaeozoic Rocks,"] ''Geological Magazine'', new series, '''6''' : 1–15.  From pp. 13–14:  "North Wales itself – at all events the whole of the great Bala district where Sedgwick first worked out the physical succession among the rocks of the intermediate or so-called ''Upper Cambrian'' or ''Lower Silurian'' system; and in all probability much of the Shelve and the Caradoc area, whence Murchison first published its distinctive fossils – lay within the territory of the Ordovices; …  Here, then, have we the hint for the appropriate title for the central system of the Lower Palaeozoics.  It should be called the Ordovician System, after this old British tribe."</ref> He resolved the long running "[[Highlands controversy of Northwest Scotland|Highlands Controversy]]. Lapworth received numerous awards for his research work, while for teaching he used the English Midlands as a setting for demonstrating the fieldwork techniques he had pioneered in his own research.

[[File:Lapworth 1891 Olenellus Callavei.png|thumb|left|Olenellus Callavei, from Lapworth (1891)<ref name="Lapworth1891">{{cite journal |last1=Lapworth |first1=Charles |title=On Olenellus Callavei and its Geological Relationships |journal=Geological Magazine |date=1891 |volume=8 |issue=12 |pages=529–536 |doi=10.1017/S0016756800187643 |bibcode=1891GeoM....8..529L |s2cid=140616353 |url=https://archive.org/details/lapworth-1891-geologicalmagazi-381891wood}}</ref>]]
Following his researches in the Southern Uplands Charles Lapworth also devoted time to mapping near [[Durness]] in Scotland's northwest highlands and was first to propose the controversial theory that here older rocks were found lying above younger, suggesting complex folding or faulting as a cause.<ref>Lapworth, Charles (1883) "The secret of the Highlands," ''The Geological Magazine'', decade ii, '''10''' :  [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044102911971;view=1up;seq=142 120–128] ; [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044102911971;view=1up;seq=219 193–199] ; [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044102911971;view=1up;seq=367 337–344.]</ref> Later [[Ben Peach|Peach]] and [[John Horne|Horne]] were dispatched to the area and their monumental memoir proved Lapworth correct.<ref name="Peach1884">{{cite journal |last1=Peach |first1=B.N. |last2=Horne |first2=John |title=Report on the Geology of the North-West of Sutherland |journal=Nature |date=1884 |volume=31 |issue=785 |pages=31–35 |doi=10.1038/031031a0 |bibcode=1884Natur..31...31P |s2cid=4142467 |url=https://archive.org/details/paper-doi-10_1038_031031a0|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name="Peach1888">{{cite journal |last1=Peach |first1=B.N. |last2=Horne |first2=J. |last3=Gunn |first3=W. |last4=Clough |first4=C.T. |last5=Hinxman |first5=L. |last6=Cadell |first6=H.M. |title=Report on the Recent Work of the Geological Survey in the North-west Highlands of Scotland, based on the Field-notes and Maps |journal=Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society |date=1888 |volume=44 |issue=1–4 |pages=378–441 |doi=10.1144/GSL.JGS.1888.044.01-04.34 |s2cid=129572998 |url=https://archive.org/details/peach-1888-quarterlyjournal-44188geol}}</ref><ref name="Geikie1907">{{cite book |last1=Geikie |first1=Archibald |last2=Peach |first2=Bejamin Neave |last3=Horne |first3=John |last4=Gunn |first4=William |last5=Clough |first5=Charles Thomas |last6=Hinxman |first6=Lionel Wordworth |last7=Teall |first7=Jethro Justinian Harris |title=The geological structure of the north-west Highlands of Scotland |date=1907 |publisher=His Majesty's Stationery Office |location=Glasgow |url=https://archive.org/details/geologicalstruc00peacgoog}}</ref> In the English Midlands he carried out important work in Shropshire, in particular identifying fossils of [[Olenellina|Olenelloid trilobites]] of Cambrian age, demonstrating that Cambrian rocks underlay the Carboniferous rocks between Nuneaton and Atherstone, and suggesting a pre-Cambrian date for the [[Longmyndian Supergroup|Longmyndian]] rocks that underlay them.<ref name="Lapworth1888a">{{cite journal |last1=Lapworth |first1=Charles |title=On the Discovery of the Olenellus Fauna in the Lower Cambrian Rocks of Britain |journal=Nature |date=1888 |volume=39 |issue=1000 |pages=212–213 |doi=10.1038/039212b0 |bibcode=1888Natur..39..212L |s2cid=37366158 |url=https://archive.org/details/paper-doi-10_1038_039212b0|doi-access=free }}</ref> He extrapolated these findings to the N.W. Highlands of Scotland, suggesting that the Torridonian sandstone might correspond to the Longmyndian rocks, and thus be pre-Cambrian rather than Cambrian, and that the Durness-Eriboll series, overlaying the Torridonian, would be of Cambrian age rather than Silurian.<ref name="Lapworth1891"/> Again Peach and Horne, surveying in [[Dundonnell and Fisherfield Forest|Dundonnell Forest]], confirmed Lapworths's suggestion, finding Olenelloid fossils in the fucoid beds of the Durness-Eriboll series.<ref name="Peach1892">{{cite journal |last1=Peach |first1=B.N. |last2=Horne |first2=J. |title=The Olenellus Zone in the North-west Highlands of Scotland |journal=Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society |date=1892 |volume=48 |issue=1–4 |pages=227–242 |doi=10.1144/GSL.JGS.1892.048.01-04.17 |s2cid=140197589 |url=https://archive.org/details/peach-1892-quarterlyjournal-48189geol}}</ref> For a modern account and discussion of the elucidation of the geology of the N.W. Highlands, see Oldroyd (1990).<ref name="Oldroyd1990">{{cite book |last1=Oldroyd |first1=David R. |title=The Highlands Controversy |date=1990 |url= https://archive.org/details/highlandscontrov0000oldr/page/n5/mode/2up?q=albert+heim |url-access = registration |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=0-226-62635-0 |via = [[Internet Archive]]}}</ref>

He died on 13 March 1920 and is buried in [[Lodge Hill Cemetery]] near Birmingham.

==Family==

He married Janet Sanderson in 1869.<ref>{{cite book|title=Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002|date=July 2006|publisher=The Royal Society of Edinburgh|isbn=0-902-198-84-X|url=https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|access-date=12 March 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304074135/https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|archive-date=4 March 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The couple had five children in total. The first and last born children died during infancy; Ernest, born 22 January 1871 and died 6 February 1871,<ref>'Southern Reporter' newspaper notices on 26th Jan 1871 and 16th Feb 1871. Available on British Newspaper Archive.</ref> and Walter Sanderson Lapworth, born in 1882 and died in 1884 before his second birthday.<ref>Civil Registration birth and death indexes.</ref> The children who survived to adulthood were Arthur (born c. 1873), Herbert (born c. 1876), and Edith Matilda (born c. 1879).<ref>Birth years taken from the 1881 census - not always accurate.</ref> [[Arthur Lapworth]] became a renowned chemist and Herbert a civil engineer, engineering geologist, stratigrapher and palaeontologist.

== Honours and awards ==
Lapworth received many awards for his work and contributions to geology. In June 1888 he was elected a [[Fellow of the Royal Society]] and in 1891 was awarded their [[Royal Medal]].<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www2.royalsociety.org/DServe/dserve.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqCmd=Show.tcl&dsqDb=Persons&dsqPos=1&dsqSearch=%28Surname%3D%27lapworth%27%29 | title = Library and Archive Catalogue | publisher = Royal Society | access-date = 7 November 2010 }}{{dead link|date=March 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> In 1899, he received the highest award of the [[Geological Society of London]], the [[Wollaston Medal]], in recognition of his outstanding work in the Southern Uplands, and Northwest Highlands of Scotland. There years later, in February 1902, he was elected President of the Geological Society for the years 1902–1904.<ref>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=The Geological Society of London|date=24 February 1902 |page=6 |issue=36699}}</ref>

The glacial [[Lake Lapworth]], was named for him by [[Leonard Johnston Wills]] in recognition of his original suggestion of its existence in 1898.<ref name="Wills">{{cite journal|last=Wills|first=L.J.|year=1924|title=The Development of the Severn Valley in the Neighbourhood of Iron-Bridge and Bridgnorth|journal=Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society|volume=80|issue=1–4|pages=274–308|doi=10.1144/GSL.JGS.1924.080.01-04.15|s2cid=130464410|url=http://jgslegacy.lyellcollection.org/content/80/1-4/274.abstract|access-date=27 August 2011|archive-date=16 November 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161116171906/http://jgslegacy.lyellcollection.org/content/80/1-4/274.abstract|url-status=dead}}</ref>

[[Aberdeen University]] awarded him an honorary doctorate in 1884 and [[Glasgow University]] in 1912 (both LLD).

In 1916 he was elected an Honorary Fellow of the [[Royal Society of Edinburgh]].

== Lapworth Museum of Geology ==
Papers relating to Charles Lapworth can be found at the [[University of Birmingham]] in the [[Lapworth Museum of Geology]], located within the Aston Webb building on the main Edgbaston campus. The Lapworth Archive contains a remarkably complete record of all areas of his research work and teaching. In August 2021 an Archives Revealed funded project began to catalogue and promote Lapworth's archive, which is due to be completed in January 2023.

== References ==
{{reflist|30em}}

== External links ==
{{wikisource author}}
* {{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Lapworth, Charles}}
* {{Cite journal|title=Eminent Living Geologists: Professor Charles Lapworth|journal=Geological Magazine |series=New Series, Decade IV|volume= VIII|pages=289–303|date=July 1901|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9-JjAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA289|doi=10.1017/s0016756800151611|s2cid=140630404 }}

{{GLS Presidents}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lapworth, Charles}}
[[Category:1842 births]]
[[Category:1920 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Faringdon]]
[[Category:20th-century British geologists]]
[[Category:Royal Medal winners]]
[[Category:Wollaston Medal winners]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:Academics of the University of Birmingham]]
[[Category:19th-century English geologists]]
[[Category:Presidents of the Geological Society of London]]