John Scafe (1776–1843) was a poet and writer on geology. Scafe was born in London to William Scafe, a barrister, and Frances (née Hodgson) in June 1776. He went to

University College, Oxford University College, formally The Master and Fellows of the College of the Great Hall of the University commonly called University College in the University of Oxford and colloquially referred to as "Univ", is a Colleges of the University of Oxf ...

in January 1794 to study, but never completed a degree. He joined the army in 1799, and was appointed captain in the 43rd regiment of foot in 1805. Scafe retired from the army in around 1812, and moved to

Northumberland Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...

. Scafe lived for many years at

Alnwick Alnwick ( ) is a market town in Northumberland, England, of which it is the traditional county town. The population at the 2011 Census was 8,116. The town is south of Berwick-upon-Tweed and the Scottish border, inland from the North Sea ...

, and sat on the committee for the Alnwick dispensary. While in Oxford, he began writing poetry. He published a few poems in his lifetime, of which ''King Coal’s levee'' was the most celebrated. This poem was first published in 1818, with a print run of just 25 copies. It caught the attention of some of the leading geologists of the day.

William Daniel Conybeare William Daniel Conybeare FRS (7 June 178712 August 1857), dean of Llandaff, was an English geologist, palaeontologist and clergyman. He is probably best known for his ground-breaking work on fossils and excavation in the 1820s, including impo ...

and

William Buckland William Buckland Doctor of Divinity, DD, Royal Society, FRS (12 March 1784 – 14 August 1856) was an English theologian, geologist and paleontology, palaeontologist. His work in the early 1820s proved that Kirkdale Cave in North Yorkshire h ...

added some explanatory notes during the production of a second edition, in 1819, and two further editions were published in 1819 and 1820. Buckland helped to bring the poem to the attention of a publisher, greatly expanding the print run of the later editions. In 1820, ''A Geological Primer in Verse With A Poetical Geognosy, Or, Feasting and Fighting and Sundry Right Pleasant Poems, with Notes to which is Added a Critical Dissertation on King Coal's Levee'' was published, anonymously, as a critique of Scafe's poem. The primer was later ascribed to the geologist Robert Bakewell, but is sometimes misattributed to Scafe himself. Literary scholar Kent Linthicum has argued that the brief popularity of Scafe's ''King Coal'' helped to elevate the status of coal as an economic resource, and facilitate Britain’s transformation to fossil-fuel dependence in the early 19th century. In 1838, Scafe moved to

Bamburgh Bamburgh ( ) is a village and civil parish on the coast of Northumberland, England. It had a population of 454 in 2001, decreasing to 414 at the 2011 census. Bamburgh was the centre of an independent north Northumbrian territory between 867 a ...

. He took on the role of librarian of the

Bamburgh Castle Bamburgh Castle, on the northeast coast of England, by the village of Bamburgh in Northumberland, is a Grade I listed building. The site was originally the location of a Celtic Britons, Celtic Brittonic fort known as ''Din Guarie'' and may have ...

library in February 1837, and ceased in 1843. He died later that year.

Published works

* ''Poems; in four parts'' (1815), Alnwick. * ''King Coal's levee, or Geological etiquette. With explanatory notes. To which is added The council of the metals'' (1818) printed by J. Graham, J., Fenkle-Street, Alnwick. 29 pp * ''King Coal's levee: or, Geological etiquette, with explanatory notes, to which is added The council of the metals'' (1819, 2nd. ed) printed by J. Graham, J., Fenkle-Street, Alnwick. 84 pp * ''The Genius and Other Poems'' (1819), printed by S. Hodgson for Emerson Charnley, Bigg-Market, Newcastle. 160 pp. * ''King Coal's levee: or, Geological etiquette, with explanatory notes; and The council of the metals. Fourth Edition, to which is added Baron Basalt's Tour'' (1820), Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, London. 119 pp. *''Court news; or, The peers of king Coal: and The errants; or A survey of British strata: with notes.'' (1820). Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, London. 61 pp.

References

1776 births 1843 deaths 19th-century English poets 19th-century British geologists Alumni of University College, Oxford {{England-poet-stub