1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Bonney, Thomas George

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18167821911 Encyclopædia Britannica, Volume 4 — Bonney, Thomas George

BONNEY, THOMAS GEORGE (1833–  ), English geologist, eldest son of the Rev. Thomas Bonney, master of the grammar school at Rugeley, was born in that town on the 27th of July 1833. Educated at Uppingham and St John’s College, Cambridge, he graduated as 12th wrangler in 1856, and was ordained in the following year. From 1856 to 1861 he was mathematical master at Westminster school, and geology was pursued by him only as a recreation, mainly in Alpine regions. In 1868 he was appointed tutor at St John’s College and lecturer in geology. His attention was specially directed to the study of the igneous and metamorphic rocks in Alpine regions and in various parts of England, in the Lizard, at Salcombe, in Charnwood Forest, in Wales and the Scottish Highlands. In 1877 he was chosen professor of geology in University College, London. He became secretary and afterwards president of the Geological Society (1884–1886), secretary of the British Association (1881–1885), president of the Mineralogical Society and of the Alpine Club. He was also in 1887 appointed honorary canon of Manchester. His purely scientific works are: Cambridgeshire Geology (1875); The Story of our Planet (1893); Charles Lyell and Modern Geology (1895); Ice Work, Past and Present (1896); Volcanoes (1899). In addition to many papers published in the Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society and Geological Magazine, he wrote several popular works on Alpine Regions, on English and Welsh scenery, as well as on theological subjects.

See Geological Magazine for September 1901 (with bibliography).