Thomas Webster (11 February 177226 December 1844) was a Scottish
geologist.
Life
Webster was born in
Orkney
Orkney (; sco, Orkney; on, Orkneyjar; nrn, Orknøjar), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland, situated off the north coast of the island of Great Britain. Orkney is 10 miles (16 km) north ...
in 1772, probably at
Kirkwall,
and was educated at
Aberdeen. He subsequently went to London and studied architecture, the
Royal Institution
The Royal Institution of Great Britain (often the Royal Institution, Ri or RI) is an organisation for scientific education and research, based in the City of Westminster. It was founded in 1799 by the leading British scientists of the age, inc ...
in
Albemarle Street being built from his design, and where in 1830 he delivered the
Royal Institution Christmas Lecture
The Royal Institution Christmas Lectures are a series of lectures on a single topic each, which have been held at the Royal Institution in London each year since 1825, missing 1939–1942 because of the Second World War. The lectures present sci ...
. In 1826 he was appointed house-secretary and
curator to the
Geological Society of London, and for many years he rendered important services in editing and illustrating the ''Transactions'' of the Society. In 1841–42 he was professor of
geology in
University College, London. He was an accomplished water-colour painter and was elected an honorary member of the Sketch Society. He contributed articles about Architecture and Aquatinta to ''
Rees's Cyclopædia''. ''An Encyclopaedia of Domestic Economy'', a comprehensive guide to running a household which Webster had compiled with the help of a Mrs. Parkes, was published after his death in 1844.
He was distinguished for his researches on the
Cenozoic
The Cenozoic ( ; ) is Earth's current geological era, representing the last 66million years of Earth's history. It is characterised by the dominance of mammals, birds and flowering plants, a cooling and drying climate, and the current configura ...
formations of the
Isle of Wight, where he recognised the occurrence of both fresh-water and marine
strata
In geology and related fields, a stratum ( : strata) is a layer of rock or sediment characterized by certain lithologic properties or attributes that distinguish it from adjacent layers from which it is separated by visible surfaces known as ei ...
; he continued his observations on the mainland of
Hampshire, and subsequently in
Dorset, where he described the rocks of the
Isle of Purbeck and
Isle of Portland.
Sir Henry Charles Englefield was indebted to him for the geological descriptions and the effective geological views and sections of the Isle of Wight and Dorset that enriched his ''Description of the Principal Picturesque Beauties, Antiquities and Geological Phenomena of the Isle of Wight'' (1816). The
mineral ''websterite'' now known as
aluminite was named after him.
He died in London on 26 December 1844 and is buried on the western side of
Highgate Cemetery.
His grave (no.1311) no longer has a legible headstone or memorial.
References
Sources
*
*
*
External links
*
1772 births
1844 deaths
Burials at Highgate Cemetery
People from Orkney
Scottish architects
Scottish geologists
Scottish scholars and academics
Alumni of the University of Aberdeen
Academics of University College London
{{Orkney-bio-stub