| Authorised form of name | Murchison; Sir; Roderick Impey (1792 - 1871); geologist and geographer |
| Dates | 1792 - 1871 |
| Nationality | British |
| Place of birth | Tarradale House, Muir of Ord, Easter Ross, Ross and Cromarty, Scotland, United Kingdom, Europe |
| Date of birth | 19 February 1792 |
| Place of death | 16 Belgrave Square, London, England, United Kingdom, Europe |
| Date of death | 22 October 1871 |
| Dates and places | Burial:
Brompton cemetery, London, England, United Kingdom, Europe |
| Research field | Geology |
| Activity | Education:
Durham School (1799-1805); Military College, Marlow (1805)
Career:
Ensign, 36th Regiment (1807); served at Vimiero (1808) and at Corunna (1809), then in Sicily and Ireland; Captain, 6th Dragoons; retired (1815); cademic interests arose during tour in Europe (1816-1818); attended lecturers of the Royal Institution (1824); undertook geological fieldwork in Kent and Cornwall; established oldest then-known fossil-bearing classification with 'The Silurian System'; undertook geological work in Britain and Russia (1841-1845); President of geological and geographical sections of the British Association (1846); Director-General, Geological Survey (1853); published 'Siluria' (1854); helped establish the chair of geology at Edinburgh university
Honours:
Kt 1846; KCB 1863; Bt 1866
Order of Saint Anne and Order of Saint Stanislaus (Russian Empire, 1845)
Memberships:
Fellow of the Geological Society (1825; President 1831, 1862-1871); Royal Geographical Society (founding member 1830; President 1843-1871); Athenaeum (Founder member)
Foreign Member of Academié des Sciences and Russian Academy of Sciences
Medals/Awards:
Wollaston Medal (1864)
Brisbane Medal (1859) |
| Membership category | Fellow |
| Date of election | 06/04/1826 |
| Age at election | 34 |
| Royal Society activity | Royal Society roles:
VP 1835-1836, 1843-1845, 1849-1851, 1858-1860
Committee and panels:
Committee of Geology and Mineralogy
Medals and prizes:
Copley Medal 1849 |
| Relationships | Parents: Kenneth Murchison and Barbara Mackenzie; step-father: Colonel Robert Macgregor Murray
Siblings: Kenneth Murchison
Married: Charlotte Hugonin Murchison |
| Published works | RCN: 56470
RCN: 35383
RCN: 35385
RCN: 56471
RCN: 35384
RCN: R63142
RCN: 56472
RCN: 56462
RCN: 56469
RCN: 56481 |
| General context | His father, Kenneth Murchison, was a trained physician and became wealthy as a surgeon for the East India Company (1769-1791). As Director General of the Geological Survey, Sir Murchison himself was in charge of much of Britain's overseas research interest, appointed colonial geological surveyors, and was in charge of organising many major British expeditions between 1850 and 1870. He was an advocate for continuous expansion of the empire and furthered the link between the scientific community and the government by seeking patronages for geologists in a large number of colonised places. Murchison's most well-known legacy is his contribution to the geological field through 'The Silurian System', and he held catastrophist views on mountain building, glaciation, and erosion. |
| Royal Society Obituary or Memoir | Click to view (may be contained within a meeting notice, presidential address or list of death notices) |
| Related images | Discover a selection of related images in our picture library |
| Sources | Sources:
Bulloch's Roll; DNB; DSB; ODNB
Obituaries:
Proc Roy Soc 1871-1872 vol 20 pp xxx-xxxiii
References:
Beryl M Hamilton, '"A Geological Blunder", 1893: A Scientific Storm in a Journalistic Teacup' in NR 1991 vol 45 pp 63-77
Joel Mandelstam, 'Du Chaillu's Stuffed Gorillas and the Savants from the British Museum' in NR 1994 vol 48 pp 227-245, plate
Jack Morrell, review of Robert A Stafford, Scientist of Empire: Sir Roderick Murchison, Scientific Exploration and Victorian Imperialism in NR 1992 vol 46 pp 191-193
Vanity Fair 26 November 1870
Notes:
One signature in election certificate deliberately obscured |
| Virtual International Authority File | http://viaf.org/viaf/46876809 |
| Royal Society code | NA8081 |
| Reference number | Title | Date |
| MS/682/24 | Letter from Roderick Impey Murchison, Stockport, to James De Carle Sowerby, 5 Camden Terrace West, Camden Town | 20 July 1835 |
| DM/1/11 | Letter from RI Murchison, 3 Bryanston Place, to James Hudson, Assistant Secretary, Royal Society | March 1831 |
| MS/843/23 | Letter from Roderick Impey Murchison, 16 Belgrave Square, to Edward Sabine | October 1867 |
| IM/003217 | Murchison, Sir Roderick Impey | nd |
| EC/1825/32 | Murchison, Sir Roderick Impey: certificate of election to the Royal Society | |
| IM/003219 | Murchison, Sir Roderick Impey | nd |
| IM/003218 | Murchison, Sir Roderick Impey | nd |
| MM/16/129 | Letter from RI Murchison, Belgrave Square, to Sir John Herschel | 16 March 1850 |
| MM/16/128 | Letter from RI Murchison, Belgrave Square, to Sir John Herschel | 2 March 1850 |
| IM/Maull/003216 | Murchison, Sir Roderick Impey | nd |
| MM/16/126 | Letter from RI Murchison, Belgrave Square, to Sir John Herschel | 11 February 1850 |
| MS/682/27 | Letter from Roderick Impey Murchison, Ludlow, to James De Carle Sowerby, 5 Camden Terrace West, Camden Town, London | 29 August 1837 |
| MS/682/26 | Letter from Roderick Impey Murchison, Bryanter Place, to James De Carle Sowerby, 5 Camden Terrace West, Camden Town | 24 July 1837 |
| MS/257/3/158 | Letter from Roderick Impey Murchison, 16 Belgrave Square to Edward Sabine | 16 March 1849 |
| IM/003221 | Murchison, Sir Roderick Impey | 1851 |
| NLB/15/648 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Captain F W H Petrie, Victoria Institute, 8 Adelphi Terrace, W.C. | 11 November 1897 |
| RR/1/262 | Referee's report by William Buckland, Charles Dietrich Eberhard Konig and Roderick Impey Murchison, on a paper 'Caves in Burrington Combe' by Williams | [c.1840] |
| MS/426/557 | Copy letter from C R [Charles Richard] Weld, the Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir R [Roderick Impey] Murchison | 9 February 1856 |
| MS/426/120 | Copy letter from [Charles Richard Weld] the Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to R J [Roderick Impey] Murchison Esq. | 15 February 1845 |
| MS/426/594 | Copy letter from W [William] Sharpey, Secretary of the Royal Society; to the Right Hon H [Henry] Labouchere | 20 June 1857 |
| MS/257/3/163 | Letter from Roderick Impey Murchison, Petersfield to Edward Sabine | 12 November 1849 |
| MS/257/3/168 | Letter from Roderick Impey Murchison, 16 Belgrave Square to Edward Sabine | 2 March 1850 |
| MS/257/3/159 | Letter from Roderick Impey Murchison, 16 Belgrave Square to Edward Sabine | 17 March 1849 |
| MM/17/41 | Letter from RI Murchison to the Academy of Sciences, St Petersburg | 22 March 1847 |
| MS/682/25 | Letter from Roderick Impey Murchison, Newsted House, to James De Carle Sowerby, 5 Camden Terrace West, Camden Town | 24 June 1836 |
| IM/003220 | Murchison, Sir Roderick Impey | nd |
| RR/6/19 | Letter from Roderick Impey Murchison, to Edward Sabine, regarding a paper 'A brief account of the 'Thesaurus Siluricus,' with a few facts and inferences' by John Jeremiah Bigsby | 2 November 1866 |
| MS/251/34 | Letter from Roderick Impey Murchison to William Buckland | [February-March 1829?] |
| IM/003215 | Murchison, Sir Roderick Impey | 1999 |
| VF/27 | Portrait of Sir Roderick Impey Murchison by Caro Pellegrini | 26 November 1870 |
| MC/1/312 | Letter from P. Mitchell, Sydney, New South Wales, to Sir Roderick Impey Murchison | 10 June 1831 |
| RR/4/208 | Referee's report by Roderick Impey Murchison, on a paper 'On the occurrence of flint-implements, associated with the remains of animals of extinct species in beds of a late geological period, in France at Amiens and Abbeville, and in England at Hoxne' by Joseph Prestwich | 1 July 1859 |
| MC/1 | Volume 1 of miscellaneous correspondence regarding business matters, sent to the Royal Society | 1800-1831 |
| MC/4/351 | Letter from [Roderick Impey] Murchison, Trichy, France, to the Royal Society | 8 June 1850 |
| MC/4 | Volume 4 of miscellaneous correspondence regarding business matters, sent to the Royal Society | 1844-1850 |
| MS/426/595 | Copy letter from W [William] Sharpey, Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir R [Roderick] Murchison | 6 July 1857 |
| MC/5/285 | Letter from Rodr [Roderick] Murchison, President of the Royal Geographical Society, to Lord Wrottesley, President of the Royal Society | 10 June 1857 |
| MC/5/354 | Letter from Roderick [Impey] Murchison, 15 Whitehall Place, to Prof [George Gabriel] Stokes, Secretary of the Royal Society | 15 July 1858 |
| MC/5/352 | Letter from Roderick [Impey] Murchison to the Secretary of the Royal Society | 1 July 1850 |
| MC/5/330 | Letter from Roderick [Impey] Murchison to Dr [William] Sharpey, [Secretary of the Royal Society] | 26 January 1858 |
| MS/426/641 | Copy letter from [John] Wrottesley; President of the Royal Society; to R I [Roderick Impey] Murchinson | 19 July 1858 |
| MC/5/362 | Letter from Roderick [Impey] Murchison to Lord Wrottesley, [President of the Royal Society] | 20 October 1858 |
| MC/5 | Volume 5 of miscellaneous correspondence regarding business matters, sent to the Royal Society | 1851-1858 |
| MC/6 | Volume 6 of miscellaneous correspondence regarding business matters, sent to the Royal Society | 1859-1863 |
| MC/6/333 | Letter from Rod I [Roderick Impey] Murchison, President of the Royal Geographcial Society, Apartments of the Geographical Society, to [William Sharpey and George Gabriel Stokes], Secretaries of the Royal Society | 17 June 1863 |
| MC/7/125 | Letter from Rod I [Roderick Impey] Murchison, President of the Royal Geographical Society, 15 Whitehall Place, to Major-General E [Edward] Sabine, President of the Royal Society | 5 October 1864 |
| MC/7/194 | Letter from W E [William Edmond] Logan, 5 Cambridge Square, Hyde Park, to Dr [William] Sharpey, Secretary of the Royal Society | 4 April 1865 |
| MC/7/197 | Letter from W E [William Edmond] Logan, 5 Cambridge Square, Hyde Park, to Dr [William] Sharpey, Secretary of the Royal Society | 10 April 1865 |
| MC/7 | Volume 7 of miscellaneous correspondence regarding business matters, sent to the Royal Society | 1864-1866 |
| MC/8/99 | Letter from Rod I [Roderick Impey] Murchison, Geological Survey of Great Britain, to [William] Sharpey, [Secretary of the Royal Society] | 28 October 1867 |
| RR/2/109 | Referee's report by Roderick Impey Murchison, on a paper 'An account of some recent researches near Cairo, undertaken with the view of throwing light upon the geological history of the alluvial land of Egypt' by Leonard Horner | 5 March 1855 |
| MM/16/127 | Letter from R[oderick] I[mpey] Murchison, Belgrave Square, to Sir John Herschel | 1 March 1850 |
| MC/7/174 | Letter from Roderick I [Impey] Murchison, President of the Royal Geographical Society, 15 Whitehall Place, to Major General E [Edward] Sabine, President of the Royal Society | 14 February 1865 |
| RR/2/58 | Referee's report by Roderick Impey Murchison, on a paper 'On the supply of water from the chalk stratum in the neighbourhood of London' by John Dickinson | 14 March 1851 |
| AP/21/14 | Unpublished paper, 'Description of a self registering thermometer and barometer unveiled by the late James Coggan Esq and bequeathed by him to the Royal Society' by Roderick Impey Murchison | 1838 |
| MS/257/3/162 | Letter from Roderick Impey Murchison to Edward Sabine | 11 June 1849 |
| RR/4/209 | Referee's report by Roderick Impey Murchison, on a paper 'On the occurrence of flint-implements, associated with the remains of animals of extinct species in beds of a late geological period, in France at Amiens and Abbeville, and in England at Hoxne' by Joseph Prestwich | 10 May 1860 |
| AP/37/10 | Paper, 'On a supposed aerolite or meteorite found in the trunk of an old willow tree in Battersea Fields [London]' by Roderick Murchison | June 1855 |
| MS/257/3/161 | Letter from Roderick Impey Murchison, 16 Belgrave Square to Edward Sabine | 3 May 1849 |
| MS/257/3/169 | Letter from Roderick Impey Murchison, 16 Belgrave Square to Mrs Sabine | 23 November [1792-1871] |
| MS/257/3/160 | Letter from Roderick Impey Murchison, 16 Belgrave Square to Edward Sabine | March 1849 |
| MS/257/3/155 | Letter from Roderick Impey Murchison to Edward Sabine | 22 May 1845 |
| MS/257/3/164 | Letter from Roderick Impey Murchison, Up Park, Petersfield to Mrs Sabine | 18 November 1849 |
| MC/8 | Volume 8 of miscellaneous correspondence regarding business matters, sent to the Royal Society | 1867-1869 |
| MS/257/3/165 | Letter from Roderick Impey Murchison, 16 Belgrave Square to Mrs Sabine | 6 December 1849 |
| MS/257/3/166 | Letter from Roderick Impey Murchison, 16 Belgrave Square to Edward Sabine | 9 February 1850 |
| MS/257/3/167 | Letter from Roderick Impey Murchison, 16 Belgrave Square to Edward Sabine | 11 February 1850 |
| MS/257/3/156 | Letter from Roderick Impey Murchison, 16 Belgrave Square to Edward Sabine | 6 February 1849 |
| MS/257/3/157 | Letter from Roderick Impey Murchison, 16 Belgrave Square to Edward Sabine | 14 March 1849 |
| RR/2/110 | Second referee's report by Roderick Impey Murchison, on a paper 'An account of some recent researches near Cairo, undertaken with the view of throwing light upon the geological history of the alluvial land of Egypt' by Leonard Horner | 11 March 1855 |