Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Hawkins, Thomas (1810-1889)

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1411751Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 25 — Hawkins, Thomas (1810-1889)1891William Arthur Jobson Archbold ‎

HAWKINS, THOMAS (1810–1889), geologist, son of John and Edith Hawkins, was born at Glastonbury on 25 July 1810. He studied anatomy at Guy's Hospital under Sir Astley Cooper, but very soon became interested in geology. In 1831 he was made a fellow of the Geological Society. He became widely known as a collector of fossils. A collection which he had procured in the lias of Devon, Somerset, and Dorset was purchased by the government for 3,000l. and placed in the British Museum. A strong memorial was presented without success in March 1839 in favour of a public grant for the purchase of a second collection which Hawkins had formed. Hawkins generously presented a number of fine specimens of saurian fossils from the south of England lias to the geological museums of Cambridge (1856) and Oxford (1874). He died in the Isle of Wight in October 1889.

Hawkins wrote: 1. ‘Memoirs of Ichthyosauri and Plesiosauri,’ twenty-eight plates, imp. fol., London, 1834. 2. ‘The Book of the Great Sea-Dragons,’ with thirty plates, copied from the Hawkins collection in the British Museum, London, imp. fol., 1840. 3. ‘The Lost Angel and the History of the Old Adamites, found written on the Pillars of Seth. A Poem,’ 4to, London, 1840. 4. ‘One Centenary of Sonnets, to her Most Gracious Majesty Queen Victoria,’ royal 16mo, London, 1841. 5. ‘The Wars of Jehovah in Heaven, Earth, and Hell,’ with eleven engravings by John Martin, imp. 4to, London, 1844. 6. ‘Victorian Verses,’ imp. fol., 1848. 7. ‘Prometheus: a Lyrical Drama,’ 4to, London, 1850. 8. ‘The Christian,’ crown 8vo, London, 1853. 9. ‘Cicero's (supposed lost) Book on Glory,’ demy 4to. 10. ‘Contra Judæos, Gentiles, et Hæreticos;’ a tract (supposed) by St. Chrysostom, demy 4to. 11. ‘My Life and Works’ (only 1 vol. published), London, 1887, 8vo. Also various pamphlets between 1846 and 1850.

[Hawkins's Autobiography, in vol. i. of My Life and Works, 1887; catalogue of works in the same; Brit. Mus. Cat.; Times, 31 Oct. 1889.]

W. A. J. A.