In the Footsteps of Sir Archibald Geikie

Sir Archibald Geikie, was born in Edinburgh in 1835 of a music critic/composer father and a mother whose parents were in the merchant marine. After matriculating in classics and literature at 19, Geikie had to leave University due to a family financial crisis, but he had already become a keen amateur geologist and had met Murchison just before he was hired as an Assistant Geologist to the Geological Survey at the age of 20. He then experienced a meteoric rise in his career, which included 14 years as Director of the Scottish Office of the Geological Survey, followed by nearly 20 years as Director General of the Geological Survey of Great Britain and Ireland. He wrote a large number of geoscience books including text books, such as "The Ancient Volcanoes of Scotland", as well as editing Survey Reports and geological maps on various parts of the British Isles.

Geikie retired to Haslemere where he continued to edit Geological Survey Reports including the celebrated 1907 Memoir on "The Geological Structure of the North-West Highlands of Scotland"; thus marking the close of "The Highlands Controversy" that Geikie had been embroiled in since his "Long March", made during his well-described trip to Scotland with Murchison in 1860.

Geikie became chairman of Haslemere Museum and left a huge part of his collection to the Museum on his death in 1924. His materials were mostly stored in the roof-space until their rediscovery in 1990. The collection includes copies of over 11,600 of his outbound letters, as well as boxes of inbound letters, >750 watercolours ad drawings, early photographs, 42 field notebooks, and many geological specimens.

The joint HOGG/Haslemere Musem Conference on 13th April 2012, will include exhibits and presentations of various parts of the Geikie Archive at Haslemere. New aspects of Geikie's character and his gifts as a formidable geoscientist will also be revealed!

It is hoped that donations will be forthcoming from the Petroleum and Minerals Industry, to help preserve this Unique Archive Database and make it available for researchers interested in this exciting Victorian-Edwardian period of Geoscience Development.

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