| Authorised form of name | Macculloch; John (1773 - 1835); geologist |
| Dates | 1773 - 1835 |
| Nationality | British |
| Place of birth | His grandparents' home, Guernsey, Channel Islands |
| Date of birth | 06 October 1773 |
| Place of death | Poltair, near Penzance, Cornwall , England |
| Date of death | 20 August 1835 |
| DatesAndPlaces | Marriage:
St Martin-in-the-Fields, London, England
Burial :
Gulval, near Penzance, Cornwall, England |
| Occupation | Geologist |
| Research field | Geology |
| Chemistry |
| Activity | Education:
Schools in Cornwall (1778-1790); M'Gilvray's Grammar School, Lostwithiel; Edinburgh University (1790-1794) MD
Career:
Surgeon's mate in the Royal Artillery (1795); raising to senior assistant surgeon (1803); ordnance chemist in the ordnance chemical department (1806); moved to Blackheath, London, practising privately until his ordnance duties resulted in long absences for geological surveys (1808-1811); physician to Prince Leopold, later king of Belgium (1820); lectured in chemistry at Woolwich (1803-1821) and at Addiscombe (1814-35); conducted geological surveys in Wessex, Wales, and Scotland, seeking silica-free limestone for millwheels (1809-1813); acted as geologist to the ordnance trigonometrical survey (1814-1821); suffered an enlargement of the spleen (1821); retired from the chemical department upon its dissolution (1824); surveyed central and southern Scotland with a view of completing his map (1821-1832); suffered a stroke (1831); pursued writing as an auxiliary source of income; died from injuries as a consequence of a carriage accident, following the amputation of a leg (1835).
Memberships:
FRCP
FGS (President 1816–18) |
| Membership category | Fellow |
| Date of election | 18/05/1820 |
| Age at election | 47 |
| Proposer | Charles Konig; Stephen Groombridge; John Rowley; Thomas Colby; Alexander McLeay; Jamess Edward Smith; Honoratus Leigh Thomas |
| William Hyde Wollaston; Williamm Blake; Henry Warburton; William Congreve; Charles Wilkins; Gilbert Blane; Charles Parr Burney; James McGrigor; Robert Nixon |
| Relationships | Parents: James MacCulloch (1746–1832), wine merchant of Roscoff, and Elizabeth de Lisle, daughter of Thomas de Lisle, a Guernsey jurat.
Spouse: Louisa Margaretta White of Croydon, 6 July 1835. |
| OtherInfo | Credited to have greatly advanced general knowledge of the varied rock formations of Scotland, especially of the igneous rocks.
His chief medical contribtion was a compilation and analysis of data on fevers.
He was challenged and faced virulent opposition for views he expressed in his book "The Highlands and Western Islands of Scotland" (1824), where he stated that "lazy highlanders should be cleared from the land". |
| 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 |
| Image | 
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| Source | Sources:
Bulloch's Roll; DNB; DSB
References:
Derek Flinn, 'John MacCulloch, MD, FRS, and His Geological Map of Scotland: His Years in the Ordnance, 1795-1826' in NR 1981-82 vol 36 pp 83-101
David A Cumming, 'John MacCulloch, FRS, at Addiscombe: The Lectureships in Chemistry and Geology' in NR 1979-80 vol 34 pp 155-183, plate
W H Brock, 'The Selection of the Authors of the Bridgewater Treatises' in NR 1966 vol 21 pp 162-179
E Murphy, 'A mad house transformed: the lives and work of Charles James Beverly FRS (1788-1868) and John Warburton MD FRS (1795-1847)' in NR 2004 vol 58 pp 267 - 281 |
| Code | NA7318 |