Edward William Binney FRS, FGS (1812–1882) was an English geologist.

Background

Edward William Binney was born at Morton, in

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated ''Notts.'') is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. Th ...

in 1812, and educated at Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, Gainsborough. He was articled to a solicitor in Chesterfield, and settled in

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

in 1836. He retired soon afterwards from legal practice and gave his chief attention to geological pursuits.

Geological Research

Working especially on the

Carboniferous The Carboniferous ( ) is a Geologic time scale, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), system of the Paleozoic era (geology), era that spans 60 million years, from the end of the Devonian Period Ma (million years ago) to the beginning of the ...

and

Permian The Permian ( ) is a geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system which spans 47 million years, from the end of the Carboniferous Period million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Triassic Period 251.902 Mya. It is the s ...

rocks of the north of England, he also studied the Drift deposits of

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

, which resulted in him and

Joseph Dalton Hooker Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker (30 June 1817 – 10 December 1911) was a British botanist and explorer in the 19th century. He was a founder of geographical botany and Charles Darwin's closest friend. For 20 years he served as director of the Ro ...

finding the first coal balls, and made himself familiar with the geology of the area around Manchester. On the Coal Measures in particular he became an acknowledged authority, and his ''Observations on the Structure of Fossil Plants found in the Carboniferous Strata'' (1868–75) formed one of the monographs of the Palaeontographical Society. His large collection of

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...

s was placed in

Owens College, Manchester The Victoria University of Manchester, usually referred to as simply the University of Manchester, was a university in Manchester, England. It was founded in 1851 as Owens College. In 1880, the college joined the federal Victoria University. A ...

Activities

Binney assisted in founding the

Manchester Geological Society Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

in 1838, and was then chosen as one of its Honorary Secretaries, later being elected President in 1857 and again in 1865. He was also successively Secretary (1848–52) and four-times President of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society (1862–4, 1870–2, 1876–8, and 1880–2). Binney was part of a close Manchester social circle that included

James Prescott Joule James Prescott Joule (; 24 December 1818 11 October 1889) was an English physicist. Joule studied the nature of heat and discovered its relationship to mechanical work. This led to the law of conservation of energy, which in turn led to the ...

William Sturgeon William Sturgeon (; 22 May 1783 – 4 December 1850) was an English electrical engineer and inventor who made the first electromagnet and the first practical electric motor. Early life Sturgeon was born on 22 May 1783 in Whittington, near ...

, John Davies and John Leigh.Kargon (1977) ''pp'' 39-40 He was elected a fellow of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

in 1856 and died at Manchester in 1882.

References

Attribution: *

Background

Geological Research

Activities

References

Further reading