James Eccles FGS (1838 – 6 June 1915) was an English

mountaineer Mountaineering, mountain climbing, or alpinism is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas that have become sports ...

and geologist who is noted for making a number of first ascents in the

Alps The Alps () are some of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia. ...

during the silver age of alpinism.

Life

Eccles was born in

Blackburn Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the River Ribble, Ribble Valley, east of Preston ...

in 1838, the eldest son of Edward Eccles of

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

.''Newsletter of the Geological Curators Group'', 2, 3, September 1978
, geocurator.org, retrieved 23 September 2010 He was on the board of Blackburn School, and a minute recording a donation of his to the

Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery The Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery is the local museum service for the borough of Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council. It is a museum with collections of Christian icons, Egyptian hieroglyphs, and local history, as well as those of the fo ...

styles him as "James Eccles, JP" He was elected a member of the Manchester Geological Society in 1866, becoming a vice-president in 1872. He was a Fellow 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 ...

from 1867 to 1915. Eccles married in 1863 and moved to London by 1874, where he lived at 15, Durham Villas, Fillimore Gardens,

Kensington Kensington is an area of London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, around west of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up by Kensingt ...

. A notice in the ''

London Gazette London is the capital and largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Western Europe, with a population of 14.9 million. London stands on the River Tha ...

'' states that on 2 November 1874 Eccles, together with John William Eccles and Robert Langley Wilson, presented a petition to the

Lord Chancellor The Lord Chancellor, formally titled Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom. The lord chancellor is the minister of justice for England and Wales and the highest-ra ...

for the winding up of the British Timber Company. He died in 1915, leaving £163,334 in his will.

Mountaineering

Alps

Eccles began climbing in the Alps in the 1860s and made an early ascent of the

Matterhorn The , ; ; ; or ; ; . is a mountain of the Alps, straddling the Main chain of the Alps, main watershed and border between Italy and Switzerland. It is a large, near-symmetric pyramidal peak in the extended Monte Rosa area of the Pennine Alps, ...

on 20 July 1869 from the Breuil side, employing J. A. Carrel and Bich as guides, together with two Chamoniards with whom he would subsequently often climb – the Payot brothers, Alphonse and Michel. Alpine historian C. Douglas Milner called Eccles a climber of "exceptional calibre" and his guides the Payot brothers as "the finest that Chamonix could provide at that time".Milner, C. Douglas, ''Mont Blanc and the Aiguilles'', Robert Hale Limited, 1955, p. 74 Eccles had a special interest in the mountains of the Mont Blanc massif – Dumler calls him "that assiduous Mont Blanc explorer"Dumler, Helmut and Burkhardt, Willi P., ''The High Mountains of the Alps'', London: Diadem, 1994, p. 182 – and made the first ascent of the

Aiguille du Plan The Aiguille du Plan (3,673 m) is a mountain in the Mont Blanc massif in the French Alps. Its needle-like summit lies in the centre of the Chamonix Aiguilles when viewed from Chamonix Chamonix-Mont-Blanc (; ; (no longer in use)), more commonl ...

in July 1871 with Alphonse and Michel Payot. This party also made the first ascent of the

Aiguille de Rochefort The Aiguille de Rochefort (4,001 m) is a mountain in the Mont Blanc massif in France and Italy. The peak lies on the Rochefort arête between the Dent du Géant and the Grandes Jorasses The Grandes Jorasses (; 4,208 m; 13,806 ft) is a mo ...

in 1873 and the

Dôme de Rochefort The Dôme de Rochefort () (4,015 m) is a mountain in the Mont Blanc massif in Haute-Savoie, France and of Aosta Valley, Italy. See also *List of 4000 metre peaks of the Alps This list tabulates all of the 82 official mountain summits of or ...

in 1881, the latter via its north-west face. Eccles made the first ascent of the upper part of the Peuterey ridge,Dumler, Helmut and Burkhardt, Willi P., ''The High Mountains of the Alps'', London: Diadem, 1994, p. 193Bueler, William M.
''Roof of the Rockies: a History of Colorado Mountaineering''
The Mountaineers Books, 2000, p. 51 having failed in an attempt on 28 July 1877.Milner, C. Douglas, ''Mont Blanc and the Aiguilles'', Robert Hale Limited, 1955, p. 75 Milner writes that Eccles had also failed in an earlier attempt in 1875, intimidated by the Innominata face. Back in London, while walking down the

Strand Strand or The Strand may refer to: Topography *The flat area of land bordering a body of water, a: ** Beach ** Shoreline * Strand swamp, a type of swamp habitat in Florida Places Africa * Strand, Western Cape, a seaside town in South Africa * ...

, he saw displayed in a shop window a telephoto showing Mont Blanc and that amphitheatre taken from Crammont. This photo revealed the best exit from the amphitheatre, by the couloir to the Peuterey ridge. Milner implies that photo was the key to success of the climb. On their successful ascent, Eccles's party reached the foot of the climb by crossing the Innominata ridge from the Brouillard glacier, thereby gaining the Frenay glacier. From there they climbed onto the Peuterey ridge above the

Grand Pilier d'Angle The Grand Pilier d'Angle (4,243 m) is a buttress on the southern side of Mont Blanc in the Mont Blanc massif in the Aosta Valley, Italy. The first ascent from the valley was by James Eccles with guides Michel Payot and Alphonse Payot on 30 July ...

via a steep couloir, reaching the summit of

Mont Blanc de Courmayeur Mont Blanc de Courmayeur (; ) is a point () on the south-east ridge of Mont Blanc that forms the summit of the massive south-east face of the mountain. It is connected to Mont Blanc via the ''Col Major'' (). Despite its minimal topographic prom ...

nine hours after leaving their bivouac under

Pic Eccles Pic Eccles (4,041 m) is a mountain in the Mont Blanc massif in the Aosta Valley, Italy. It lies at the foot of the Innominata ridge to the summit of Mont Blanc. The mountain is named after the English mountaineer and geologist James Eccles. Alt ...

. When Eccles reached the summit of Mont Blanc itself he was appalled by the amount of litter that he found. The party descended to Chamonix in the swift time of three hours and forty minutes. Pic Eccles at the foot of the Innominata ridge on

Mont Blanc Mont Blanc (, ) is a mountain in the Alps, rising above sea level, located right at the Franco-Italian border. It is the highest mountain in Europe outside the Caucasus Mountains, the second-most prominent mountain in Europe (after Mount E ...

is named after him, as is the Eccles bivouac hut below Pic Eccles's summit. Col Eccles on the Brenva side of Mont Blanc is also named after him.''Newsletter of the Geological Curators Group'', 1, 6, April 1976
, geocurator.org, retrieved 23 September 2010

Rockies

Eccles was one of the first British mountaineers to make ascents of the higher peaks of the

Rockies The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of Western Canada, to New Mexico in ...

. On 7 August 1878, in a party of eight including surveyor

Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden (September 7, 1829 – December 22, 1887) was an American geologist noted for his pioneering surveying expeditions of the Rocky Mountains in the late 19th century. He was also a physician who served with the Union A ...

, topographer

A. D. Wilson Allen David "A.D." Wilson (September 17, 1844 – February 21, 1920) was an American cartographer. Biography He was born in Sparta, Illinois. He left school and in March 1867, enlisted with the Geological Survey of California. There he learned t ...

and Eccles's favourite guide, Michel Payot, Eccles made the second ascent of

Fremont Peak Fremont Peak can refer to one of several peaks. In the United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. s ...

(once mistakenly considered the highest peak in the Rockies); he also climbed

Wind River Peak Wind River Peak () is the highest point in the southern end of the Wind River Range that is located in the U.S. state of Wyoming. The peak straddles the Continental Divide and is surrounded by National Forest lands. The west slopes are in the Bri ...

in the

Wind River Range The Wind River Range (or "Winds" for short) is a mountain range of the Rocky Mountains in western Wyoming in the United States. The range runs roughly NW–SE for approximately . The Continental Divide follows the crest of the range and incl ...

while accompanying the Hayden Survey, together with A. D. Wilson and Payot. Eccles offers the following description of Wilson: Eccles attempted to make the first ascent of

Grand Teton Grand Teton is the highest mountain of the Teton Range in Grand Teton National Park at in Northwest Wyoming. Below its north face is Teton Glacier. The mountain is a classic destination in American mountaineering via the Owen-Spalding rout ...

(an ascent was claimed in 1872 by Nathaniel P. Langford and James Stevenson, but was probably of The Enclosure, a side peak of Grand Teton) in 1878 with Wilson, his assistant

Harry Yount Harry S. Yount (March 18, 1839May 16, 1924) was an American Civil War soldier, mountain man, professional hunter and trapper, prospector, wilderness guide and packer, seasonal employee of the United States Department of the Interior, and th ...

, and Payot. Eccles and Payot were unfortunately held up by the disappearance of two mules, and so were unable to accompany Wilson and Yount.

Geology

Eccles described many geological phenomena in the north of England, as well as in the Alps and the Rockies. Of his 1878 trip with Hayden's team he wrote in preface to his "On the Mode of Occurrence of some of the Volcanic Rocks of Montana, U.S.A.": In 1881 Eccles befriended T. G. Bonney, an alpinist of some repute and professor of geology at

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 ...

. Eccles provided photography for Bonney's geological volume ''The Building of the Alps'', and accompanied him on trips to the Alps that provided material for Bonney's paper "On the Crystalline Schists and their Relation to the Mesozoic Rocks in the Lepontine Alps." Bonney wrote Eccles's obituary in the ''

Alpine Journal The ''Alpine Journal'' (''AJ'') is an annual publication by the Alpine Club of London. It is the oldest mountaineering journal in the world. History The journal was first published on 2 March 1863 by the publishing house of Longman in London, ...

''. As well as writing papers himself, Eccles was also a collector of rare rocks and minerals from places inaccessible to many geologists. For instance, specimens of glaucophane-epidote

schist Schist ( ) is a medium-grained metamorphic rock generally derived from fine-grained sedimentary rock, like shale. It shows pronounced ''schistosity'' (named for the rock). This means that the rock is composed of mineral grains easily seen with a l ...

, containing

garnet Garnets () are a group of silicate minerals that have been used since the Bronze Age as gemstones and abrasives. Garnet minerals, while sharing similar physical and crystallographic properties, exhibit a wide range of chemical compositions, de ...

sphene Titanite, or sphene (), is a calcium titanium nesosilicate mineral, Ca Ti Si O5. Trace impurities of iron and aluminium are typically present. Also commonly present are rare earth metals including cerium and yttrium; calcium may be partly rep ...

and diallage collected by Eccles from several feet below the summit of

Monte Viso Monte Viso or Monviso (; ; or simply ) is the highest mountain of the Cottian Alps, located in Piedmont, Italy, close to the French border. Monte Viso is well known for its pyramid-like shape. Because it is higher than all its neighbouring peak ...

were described in an 1889 paper "On Fulgurites from Monte Viso" by Dr Frank Rutley FGS.Rutley, Frank
"On Fulgurites from Monte Viso"
''Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society,'' 1889, Vol. 45, issue 1–4, pp. 60–66 Some of Eccles's collection of rocks, minerals and fossils was given to the Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery. These include a number of fossils from

Solenhofen Solnhofen is a municipality in the district of Weißenburg-Gunzenhausen in the region of Middle Franconia in the ' of Bavaria in Germany. It is in the Altmühl valley. The local area is famous in geology and palaeontology for Solnhofen limeston ...

in Germany.''Newsletter of the Geological Curators Group'', 1, 10, September 1977
, geocurator.org, retrieved 23 September 2010 The museum also houses Eccles's

Devonian The Devonian ( ) is a period (geology), geologic period and system (stratigraphy), system of the Paleozoic era (geology), era during the Phanerozoic eon (geology), eon, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the preceding Silurian per ...

orthocones from Wissenbach and several remains of vertebrates from the Kupperschiefer.''Newsletter of the Geological Curators Group'', 2, 1, December 1977
, geocurator.org, retrieved 23 September 2010 Eccles donated specimens to the Museum of Practical Geology (now the

Geological Museum The Geological Museum (originally the Museum of Economic Geology then the Museum of Practical Geology) was a museum of geology in London. It started in 1835, making it one of the oldest public single science collections in the world. It transfe ...

); one donation, in April 1873, contained two specimens of ''Productus humerosus/sublaevis'' from Caldron Low as well as a number of

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 ...

brachiopods Brachiopods (), phylum Brachiopoda, are a phylum of animals that have hard "valves" (shells) on the upper and lower surfaces, unlike the left and right arrangement in bivalve molluscs. Brachiopod valves are hinged at the rear end, while the fron ...

(including one from the

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight (Help:IPA/English, /waɪt/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''WYTE'') is an island off the south coast of England which, together with its surrounding uninhabited islets and Skerry, skerries, is also a ceremonial county. T ...

) and corals. Eccles gave descriptions of his ''Productus humerosus'' specimens (which he collected from 1860 to 1870) in the 1870 issue of ''Trans. Manchester Geol. Soc.'', vol. 9, part 3, pp. 1–2.

Works by Eccles

*"Specimens showing the identity of Productus Humerosus," ''Transactions of the Manchester Geological Society'', Vol. 4, p. 1
"On some instances of the superficial curvature of inclined strata near Blackburn"
''Transactions of the Manchester Geological Society'', Vol. 7, p. 20 *"On the excursion to Holcolme Hill", ''Transactions of the Manchester Geological Society'', Vol. 7, p. 36 *"Denudation of rocks at Sabden", ''Transactions of the Manchester Geological Society'', Vol. 7, p. 61 *"Glacial striae on Kinder Scout grit at Mellor", ''Transactions of the Manchester Geological Society'', Vol. 7, p. 62 *"Starfishes from the Rhenish Devonian Strata", ''Transactions of the Manchester Geological Society'', Vol. 9, p. 51 *"Two dykes recently found in North Lancashire", ''Transactions of the Manchester Geological Society'', Vol. 9, p. 26 *"Carboniferous limestone fossils from Twiston", ''Transactions of the Manchester Geological Society'', Vol. 10, p. 70 *"Relations of the sedimentary and crystalline rocks in the chain of Mont Blanc and its immediate vicinity", ''Transactions of the Manchester Geological Society'', Vol. 10, p. 70 *"The Brouillard and Fresnay glaciers", ''Alpine Journal'', 1878 *"The Rocky Mountain Region of Wyoming and Idaho", ''Alpine Journal'', IX, p. 241 ff
"On the Mode of Occurrence of some of the Volcanic Rocks of Montana, U.S.A."
''Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society'', 1881, Vol. 37, issue 1–4, pp. 399–402 *Appendix to "The microscopic characters of the vitreous rocks of Montana, U.S.A." by Frank Rutley FGS, ''Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society'', 1881, Vol. 37, issue 1–4, pp. 391–98

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eccles, James 1838 births 1915 deaths 19th-century English geologists English mountain climbers Fellows of the Geological Society of London People from Blackburn 20th-century British geologists