De la Beche, SIR HENRY THOMAS

De la Beche, SIR HENRY THOMAS, a well-known geologist, was born near London in 1796. He was educated at the military school at Great Marlow, and entered the army in 1814. Three years after, he became a Fellow of the Geological Society, of which he was afterwards made secretary, and eventually president in 1847. In 1820, while residing in Switzerland, he published a paper on the temperature and depth of the lake of Geneva. In 1824 he visited Jamaica, and published a paper on the geology of the island. Other works are a Manual of Geology (1831), Researches in Theoretical Geology (1834), and a Geological Observer (1853). He undertook to form a geological map of England; and soon after he had begun, the government, sympathising with his design, instituted the Geological Survey, and placed him at its head. He was founder of the Geological Museum in Jermyn Street, and of the School of Mines. In 1848 he received the honour of knighthood; and in 1853 was elected a corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of Paris. He died 13th April 1855.