William Jerome Harrison FGS (16 March 1845 – 6 June 1908), was a British geologist, science writer, and amateur photographer who wrote several textbooks on chemistry, physics, photography, and geology, including the first geological book illustrated with photographs. Born in

Hemsworth Hemsworth is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the City of Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. Historic counties of England, Historically within the West Riding of Yorkshire and had a population of 13,311 at the 2001 census, ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

, he was educated at

Westminster Training College Westminster College, originally the Westminster Training College, was a teacher training college and college of higher education in England. The college was founded in London in 1851 as a training institute for teachers for Wesleyan Methodist ...

, and afterwards for two years at

Cheltenham College Cheltenham College is a public school ( fee-charging boarding and day school for pupils aged 13–18) in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. The school opened in 1841 as a Church of England foundation and is known for its outstanding linguis ...

. For many years he was curator of the Leicester Town Museum. In 1880 he moved to

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

, where he was appointed Chief Science Master under the

Birmingham School Board __NOTOC__ The Birmingham board schools were set up very rapidly after the ''William Edward Forster, Forster'' Elementary Education Act 1870 (33 & 34 Vict. c. 75) was enacted, covering England and Wales. Over forty were created in Birmingham. ...

. His books include ''A History of Photography'', ''The Chemistry of Photography'', and ''Geology of the Counties of England and of North and South Wales''. Harrison is also credited with being the founder of the National Photographic Record and Survey Movement which led to the formation of the National Photographic Record Association in 1897. He edited, jointly with Edward W. Badger, volumes 1 to 9 of ''The Midland Naturalist'', the journal of the

Midland Union of Natural History Societies The Midland Union of Natural History Societies (initially the Union of Midland Natural History Societies) was an association of amateur groups in the English Midlands and central Wales, which existed from 1877. For sixteen years it published a j ...

, to which he also contributed articles. In 1885 he was awarded the Union's Darwin Prize for original research in geology.

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* 1845 births 1908 deaths 19th-century English geologists People educated at Cheltenham College Alumni of Westminster College, Oxford People from Hemsworth Photographers from Yorkshire Fellows of the Geological Society of London 19th-century English photographers {{UK-photographer-stub