George Walter Grabham MA (1903)

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

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 (1882–1955) was a British-Portuguese geologist strongly linked to the

Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

Life

Grabham was born on the island of

Madeira Madeira ( ; ), officially the Autonomous Region of Madeira (), is an autonomous Regions of Portugal, autonomous region of Portugal. It is an archipelago situated in the North Atlantic Ocean, in the region of Macaronesia, just under north of ...

in the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

on 28 June 1882. He was the son of Dr Michael Comport Grabham (1840-1935) and his wife, Mary Ann Blandy (1843-1913). He studied at University College School in London, then studied Geology at

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

graduating MA in 1903. He immediately began working for HM Geological Survey in

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

under

Ben Peach Benjamin Neeve Peach (6 September 1842 – 29 January 1926) was a British geologist. Life Peach was born at Gorran Haven in Cornwall on 6 September 1842 to Jemima Mabson and Charles William Peach, an amateur British naturalist and geologis ...

. He resigned from the survey in 1906. In 1907 he took a post as Government Geologist to the

mainly concerning water supply and irrigation. In 1934 he was promoted to Geological Advisor. Grabham 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 ...

in 1926. His proposers were

John Horne John Horne PRSE FRS FRSE FEGS LLD (1 January 1848 – 30 May 1928) was a Scottish geologist. He served as president of the Royal Society of Edinburgh from 1915 to 1919. Life Horne was born on 1 January 1848, in Campsie, Stirlingshire, the ...

Thomas James Jehu Thomas John Jehu (19 February 1871 – 18 July 1943) was a British physician and geologist. The Jehu-Campbell Fossil Collection at the University of Edinburgh was donated by Jehu in combination with Robert Campbell and is now the main component o ...

and Robert Campbell. From 1911 to 1937 he sent geological items to the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

collected in the Sudan. He retired in 1939 but remained in Africa. Grabham died on 29 January 1955 at Burri village near

Khartoum Khartoum or Khartum is the capital city of Sudan as well as Khartoum State. With an estimated population of 7.1 million people, Greater Khartoum is the largest urban area in Sudan. Khartoum is located at the confluence of the White Nile – flo ...

in the

Publications

*''Edinburgh'' (1910) *''Glasgow'' (1911) *''Knapdale'' (1911) *''Hints on Collecting Geological Information and Specimens'' (1913) *''Ben Nevis'' (1916) *''Mission to Lake Tana 1920-21'' (1925) *''Water Supplies in The Sudan'' (1934) *''Esboço da Formação Geológica da Madeira'' (1948)

Awards

Order of Medjidie Order of the Medjidie (, August 29, 1852 – 1922) was a military and civilian order of the Ottoman Empire. The order was instituted in 1851 by Sultan Abdulmejid I. History Instituted in 1851, the order was awarded in five classes, with the First ...

Order of the Nile The Order of the Nile (''Kiladat El Nil'') was established in 1915 and was one of the Kingdom of Egypt's principal orders until the monarchy was abolished in 1953. It was then reconstituted as the Republic of Egypt's highest state honor. Sulta ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grabham, George Walter 1882 births 1955 deaths 20th-century British geologists Alumni of the University of Cambridge Officers of the Order of the British Empire Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 20th-century British non-fiction writers British expatriates in Portugal British expatriates in Sudan People educated at University College School