Edward Greenly (3 December 1861 – 4 March 1951) was an English geologist known for his a detailed geological survey of the island of
Anglesey
Anglesey ( ; ) is an island off the north-west coast of Wales. It forms the bulk of the Principal areas of Wales, county known as the Isle of Anglesey, which also includes Holy Island, Anglesey, Holy Island () and some islets and Skerry, sker ...
. ''The Geology of Anglesey'' was published in two volumes in 1919 and followed by a one-inch geological map in 1920.
[E. N. K. Clarkson]
"Greenly, Edward (1861–1951)"
''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (Oxford University Press 2004); online edn, Jan 201
accessed 26 April 2016
/ref>
Biography
Edward Greenly was born in Bristol
Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...
, the only child of a doctor, Charles Hickes Greenly, and his wife, the former Harriet Dowling. He attended Clifton College
Clifton College is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school in the city of Bristol in South West England, founded in 1862 and offering both boarding school, boarding and day school for pupils aged 13–18. In its early years, unlike mo ...
, then University College London
University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...
, where he studied petrology
Petrology () is the branch of geology that studies rocks, their mineralogy, composition, texture, structure and the conditions under which they form. Petrology has three subdivisions: igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary petrology. Igneous ...
with Thomas George Bonney and received his D.Sc.
A Doctor of Science (; most commonly abbreviated DSc or ScD) is a science doctorate awarded in a number of countries throughout the world.
Africa
Algeria and Morocco
In Algeria, Morocco, Libya and Tunisia, all universities accredited by the s ...
[ Stein, Gordon. (1980). ''An Anthology of Atheism and Rationalism''. Prometheus Books. p. 185. ]
Greenly left school and joined the Geological Survey in 1889, and spent the next six years surveying the northwest Scottish Highlands
The Highlands (; , ) is a historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Highlands and the Scottish Lowlands, Lowlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Scots language, Lowland Scots language replaced Scottish Gae ...
. He resigned the Survey in 1895. Soon, he began an independent survey of Anglesey which took him until 1910 to complete, and nine more years to get the results published. During the survey, he named mélange
In geology, a mélange is a large-scale breccia, a mappable body of rock characterized by a lack of continuous bedding and the inclusion of fragments of rock of all sizes, contained in a fine-grained deformed matrix. The mélange typically con ...
, the geological phenomenon previously described as crush breccia
Breccia ( , ; ) is a rock composed of large angular broken fragments of minerals or Rock (geology), rocks cementation (geology), cemented together by a fine-grained matrix (geology), matrix.
The word has its origins in the Italian language ...
.
The two-volume product of his years of work, ''The Geology of Anglesey'', was published in 1919. The accompanying map was published the following year, delayed by World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
.[Jack Treagus]
"Greenly's Geological Map of Anglesey"
''Geoscientist Online'' 20(4)(April 2010).
In addition to the Anglesey work, Greenly co-authored a text on surveying (''Methods of Geological Surveying'', 1930), and an autobiography, ''A Hand Through Time: Memories Romantic'' (1938).
Personal life
Greenly met Ann Bernard (1852–1927) when he was very young, in 1875. They married in 1891. Annie studied geology informally, and was a contributor to Edward's work as an assistant and editor. She created the massive index to the Anglesey survey. (Her handwritten draft, with papers strung on thread, is now in the National Museum of Wales
National may refer to:
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** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen
Places in the United States
* National, Maryland, c ...
.)[T. P. T. Williams]
"The Role of Annie Greenly in the Elucidation of the Geology of Anglesey"
in Cynthia V. Burek and Bettie Higgs, ''The Role of Women in the History of Geology'' (Geological Society of London 2007): 319–324.
After the Anglesey survey, the Greenlys lived in Bangor, and worked together on a small textbook, ''The Earth'', right before Annie's death in 1927. Edward died in 1951, age 90. His remains are with his wife's, in a churchyard at Llangristiolus
Llangristiolus is a village and Community (Wales), community in the middle of Anglesey, Wales, southwest of Llangefni, and is named after Cristiolus, Saint Cristiolus. The Afon Cefni, River Cefni flows through the village. The village is within ...
.Bangor University
Bangor University () is a Public university, public Research university, research university in Bangor, Gwynedd, Wales. It was established by Royal charter, Royal Charter in 1885 as the University College of North Wales (UCNW; ), and in 1893 ...
holds a small collection of papers and letters belonging to Greenly.
He contributed several articles to the Rationalist Press Association
The Rationalist Association was a charity in the United Kingdom which published '' New Humanist'' magazine between 1885 and 2025. Since 2025, the Rationalist Press has been the publishing imprint of Humanists UK.
The original Rationalist Press ...
Annual.
Christ myth theory
Greenly was an advocate of the Christ myth theory
The Christ myth theory, also known as the Jesus myth theory, Jesus mythicism, or the Jesus ahistoricity theory, is the fringe view that the story of Jesus is a work of mythology with no historical substance. Alternatively, in terms given by ...
.J. M. Robertson
John Mackinnon Robertson (14 November 1856 – 5 January 1933) was a prolific Scottish journalist, advocate of rationalism and secularism, and Liberal Member of Parliament for Tyneside from 1906 to 1918.
Robertson was best known as an advoca ...
, Arthur Drews
Christian Heinrich Arthur Drews (; 1 November 1865 – 15 July 1935) was a German people, German writer, historian, philosopher, and important representative of German Monism, monist thought. He was born in Uetersen, Duchy of Holstein, Holstein, ...
, Thomas Whittaker Thomas or Tom Whittaker may refer to:
*Thomas Bartlett Whitaker (born 1979), American criminal, former Texas Death Row inmate
*Thomas Whittaker (martyr) (1614–1646), English Roman Catholic priest
*Thomas Whittaker (metaphysician) (1856–1935), E ...
, and Paul-Louis Couchoud.
The booklet was reprinted in Gordon Stein's ''An Anthology of Atheism and Rationalism'' in 1980. Stein considered it the "best short summary that exists of the vastly complex problem of determining whether Jesus, called Christ, was a historical human being or only a concretion of earlier myths given human form."
Honours
*Honorary member of the Geological Societies of Edinburgh and Liverpool
*Honorary member of the Anglesey Antiquarian Society
*Lyell Medal
The Lyell Medal is a prestigious annual scientific medal given by the Geological Society of London, equal in status to the Murchison Medal. This medal is awarded based on one Earth Scientist's exceptional contribution of research to the scientific ...
of the Geological Society
The Geological Society of London, known commonly as the Geological Society, is a learned society based in the United Kingdom. It is the oldest national geological society in the world and the largest in Europe, with more than 12,000 Fellows.
Fe ...
(1920)University of Wales
The University of Wales () is a confederal university based in Cardiff, Wales. Founded by royal charter in 1893 as a federal university with three constituent colleges – Aberystwyth, Bangor and Cardiff – the university was the first universit ...
(1920)
Publications
''The Geology of Anglesey''
(1919)
''A Short Summary of the Geological History of Anglesey''
(1922)
''The Earth, Its Nature and History''
(1927)
''The Historical Reality of Jesus: A Concise Statement of the Problem''
(1927)
*''Methods in Geological Surveying'' (1930) ith Howel Williams">Howel_Williams.html" ;"title="ith Howel Williams">ith Howel Williams*''A Hand Through Time: Memories Romantic and Geological; Studies in the Arts and Religion and the Grounds of Confidence in Immortality'' (1938)
References
External links
*
A late portrait of Greenly
by Scottish painter Gertrude Mary Coventry (1886–1964), in the collection of Bangor University.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Greenly, Edward
1861 births
1951 deaths
20th-century British geologists
Freethought writers
Geology of Anglesey
People educated at Clifton College
Scientists from Bristol
19th-century British geologists
Lyell Medal winners