David Cunningham Greig

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and Literature, letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". ...

FGS (1922–1999) was a British geologist and cartographer. He was Principal Geologist for HM Geological Survey from 1958 to 1982. He was a keen hill-walker and mountaineer.

Life

He was born in Glasgow on 16 February 1922. He attended Glasgow High School then

Glasgow University The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in post-nominals; ) is a public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the fourth-oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of Scotland's four ...

. His education was interrupted by the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

during which he served in Europe and East Africa in the

REME The Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME ) is the maintenance arm of the British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full ...

. During this period his adjutant was Robert Eden, who inspired his interest in Geology. After demob he then completed his university education, graduating MA BSc. He joined HM Geological Survey as a Geologist in 1951 and was rapidly promoted to the post of Principal Geologist within 7 years. Based in the London office his original survey work included South Wales and the West Midlands and heavy involvement in exploratory work for the

National Coal Board The National Coal Board (NCB) was the statutory corporation created to run the nationalised coal mining industry in the United Kingdom. Set up under the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946, it took over the United Kingdom's collieries on "ve ...

. In 1953 he began a major accurate remapping of the geology of the

Church Stretton Church Stretton is a market town and civil parish in Shropshire, England, south of Shrewsbury and north of Ludlow. The population in 2011 was 4,671.

area at 1:50,000. Carboniferous rocks Greig 1971 Page079

In May 1962 he returned to Scotland, this time based in Edinburgh as part of the South Lowland Unit then at Grange Terrace, under his old acquaintance, Robert Eden. Here he was tasked with mapping the

Eyemouth Eyemouth is a town and civil parishes in Scotland, civil parish in Berwickshire, in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland. It is east of the main north–south A1 road (Great Britain), A1 road and north of Berwick-upon-Tweed. The town's name ...

area where his mountaineering experience helped considerably with the survey of the district's difficult cliff areas. During this period he rented a cottage in

Coldingham Coldingham is a village and parish in Berwickshire in the Scottish Borders. It lies a short distance inland from Coldingham Bay, three miles northeast of the fishing village of Eyemouth. Parish The parish lies in the east of the Lammermuir ...

. In the 1970s focus moved from mapping to the routing of Scotland's gas pipelines. During this period he joined the Edinburgh Geological Society, serving as its Secretary 1965 to 1970 and President 1973 to 1975. In 1975 he was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was establis ...

. His proposers were G Innes Lumsden, James Andrew Robbie,

George Hoole Mitchell George Hoole Mitchell (31 December 1902 – 11 March 1976) was a British geologist. He won the Geological Society of London's Bigsby Medal in 1947. He was Assistant Director of the Geological Survey of Great Britain from 1959 to 1967. Life He ...

, and Charles D Waterston. In 1977 he received the Queen's Jubilee Medal for his work in relocating the HM Survey to Murchison House. He retired to Elie on the

Fife Fife ( , ; ; ) is a council areas of Scotland, council area and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area in Scotland. A peninsula, it is bordered by the Firth of Tay to the north, the North Sea to the east, the Firth of Forth to the s ...

coast in 1982, aged 60, and died there on 4 July 1999.

Family

He married Lanchen in 1951.

Publications

*''Geology of the Country around Church Stretton'' (1968)
''British Regional Geology: The South of Scotland''
(1971). London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office *''Geology of the Eyemouth District'' (1988)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gregory, James Crawford 1922 births 1999 deaths Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 20th-century British geologists Alumni of the University of Glasgow Scientists from Glasgow Scottish non-fiction writers British Army personnel of World War II