Alfred Tylor (26 January 1824 – 31 December 1884) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, althoug ...

Life

He was the second son of Joseph Tylor,

brassfounder A metalsmith or simply smith is a craftsperson fashioning useful items (for example, tools, kitchenware, tableware, jewelry, armor and weapons) out of various metals. Smithing is one of the oldest metalworking occupations. Shaping metal with a h ...

, by his wife, Harriet Skipper, and elder brother of the anthropologist

Edward Burnett Tylor Sir Edward Burnett Tylor (2 October 18322 January 1917) was an English anthropologist, and professor of anthropology. Tylor's ideas typify 19th-century cultural evolutionism. In his works ''Primitive Culture'' (1871) and ''Anthropology'' (1 ...

. His grandfather set up the colliery around which the village of

Tylorstown Tylorstown (Pendyrus) is a village and community located in the Rhondda valley, in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. It is neighboured by the villages of Blaenllechau, Ferndale, Penrhys, Pontygwaith and Stanleytown. History B ...

grew in the

Rhondda Valley Rhondda , or the Rhondda Valley ( cy, Cwm Rhondda ), is a former coalmining area in South Wales, historically in the county of Glamorgan. It takes its name from the River Rhondda, and embraces two valleys – the larger Rhondda Fawr valley ...

, Wales. His parents being members of the Society of Friends, he was educated in Quaker schools near London. Although he was interested in science, the early death of his father compelled him to devote himself to his business, which he entered in his sixteenth year. He studied in spare time, attaching himself to St. Bartholomew's Hospital to improve his knowledge of

anatomy Anatomy () is the branch of biology concerned with the study of the structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old science, having it ...

. He frequently visited the continent, going to Italy, Spain, and Russia, both for business and for scientific purposes with other geologists. During the latter part of his life he lived at

Carshalton Carshalton () is a town, with a historic village centre, in south London, England, within the London Borough of Sutton. It is situated south-southwest of Charing Cross, in the valley of the River Wandle, one of the sources of which is Carshalto ...

. He died on 31 December 1884, on his return from a visit to America. In 1850 he married Isabella Harris of Stoke Newington, who survived him with two sons and four daughters; their eldest child was

Joseph John Tylor Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the mo ...

, the engineer and Egyptologist. Tylor was also a friend of acclaimed Victorian critic,

John Ruskin John Ruskin (8 February 1819 20 January 1900) was an English writer, philosopher, art critic and polymath of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as geology, architecture, myth, ornithology, literature, education, botany and pol ...

, who valued Tylor's geological skills and enjoyed his company. In 1871 Ruskin enrolled the Tylor family in his project to 'cleanse' a spring and pool of the River Wandel near the Tylors' house, and Isabella Tylor became very active in this project in the coming years. Juliet Tylor became a Companion of Ruskin's Guild of St George.

Works

Tylor paid attention to recent geological history, the subject of the majority of his thirteen papers. He maintained that the

late glacial period Late may refer to: * LATE, an acronym which could stand for: ** Limbic-predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy, a proposed form of dementia ** Local-authority trading enterprise, a New Zealand business law ** Local average treatment effect, ...

was followed by one of exceptional rainfall, for which he proposed the name of pluvial. His major books were: * ''On Changes of Sea Level'', London, 1853. * ''Education and Manufactures'', London, 1863, (reprinted from a report connected with the exhibition of 1851, where he was a juror). * ''Colouration in Animals and Plants'', ed. S. B. J. Skertchly, London, 1886.

References

;Attribution

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tylor, Alfred 1824 births 1884 deaths 19th-century British geologists