Could W.J. Arkell [1904 – 1958] have been responsible for compiling the 1946 report entitled “The London Excursion, 1725”? (© Oxford University Museum of Natural History)
As many academics will know, the road between a paper submission and its final publication can be a long and tortuous one. Dr John Woodward, M.D [c.1665 – 1728], whose collections of fossils, rocks and minerals formed the core of the Woodwardian Museum (now the Sedgwick Museum) in Cambridge, knew this only too well. He had to wait 221 years before his account of “The London Excursion”, which he led in 1725, appeared in print.
Dr John Woodward M.D [c.1665 – 1728] by William Humphrey (died circa 1810), after an unknown artist (Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons).
“The London Excursion, 1725” was finally published in the Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association (PGA) in 1946. But, in a paper published in the PGA one year earlier, Cyril Bromehead [1885 – 1952] a geologist who joined the Geological Survey of Great Britain in 1909, refers to “extracts from a manuscript compiled by an anonymous member of the Association, purporting to be an account of the London Excursion in 1725 by the Director, Dr. John Woodward”. Bromehead also notes that “the excursion was, of course, imaginary”.
the excursion was, of course, imaginary
It is interesting, too, that Bromehead’s report, which is titled “Field meeting—A walk in west London”, bears a striking resemblance to the eighteenth-century field report (eighteenth-century language and location names aside). So, the question is: who was the anonymous author responsible for compiling the “The London Excursion, 1725”? And did that author’s information originate in 1945, rather than 1725?
Likely suspects
A leading suspect is the British geologist and palaeontologist W.J. (Joscelyn) Arkell [1904 – 1958], widely regarded as the leading authority on Jurassic stratigraphy and palaeontology during the middle part of the 20th century.
Working mainly as an independent scientist with links to Oxford and later Cambridge universities, Arkell’s output was prodigious. In 1933, at the age of 29 he published his monumental 681-page book The Jurassic System of Great Britain, in which he critically examined and consolidated all previous work on the Jurassic. He followed this up with the publication of Jurassic Geology of the World in 1956. In between he published many detailed papers about the Jurassic geology of Britain, as well as the geology of areas around Oxford and southern England. Based on the extensive and detailed field mapping he carried out, sometimes on foot, sometimes on bicycle or, it is rumoured, sometimes travelling to outcrops in his Bentley – as the son of the junior partner, and later head, of the Arkell Brewery, Arkell was an independently wealthy man.
Arkell’s output was prodigious
Alongside his scholarly output, Arkell also published some popular books and papers aimed at the interested amateur. In 1941, during the second world war, Arkell became a temporary civil servant taking up a post as a Principal in the Economic and Inter-Allied Branch of the Ministry of Shipping. He noted that as a result “it was my lot to make the double journey between Oxford and Paddington and back about 100 times”. Ever the geologist he used the experience to describe the geology between Oxford and London from the train and presented it as a “… humble offering to my fellow-travellers; compiled in the belief that to increase sources of interest is proportionately to diminish boredom”. The result was a paper published in 1945 in the archaeology and local history journal Oxoniensia. Then, in 1947, Arkell published two books, Oxford Stone and The Geology of Oxford, both aimed at the interested amateur and still referred to today.
Something missed?
In his comprehensive obituary of Arkell, the British Museum palaeontologist and mollusc expert L.R. Cox [1897 – 1965] suggests that Arkell “could be lighthearted as well as serious” and attributes the anonymously compiled eighteenth century field report in the PGA to Arkell. Yet, the report seems very out of character compared to Arkell’s other writings. And Cox gives no information about why he suspects Arkell to be the author.
Did Cox know something about Arkell that others missed? While the report is today attributed to Woodward, all participants in what may simply be a geological spoof are now dead, so we’ll never know! Agatha Christie, where are you when we need you?
Acknowledgements
I thank Owen Green and Nigel Banks of the Oxfordshire Geology Trust, Philip Powell, Honorary Associate of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, and Danielle Czerkaszyn, Librarian and Archivist at the Oxford University of Natural History, for providing information, clues and references about W.J. Arkell and the anonymous Field Report.
Author
Nina Morgan is a geologist and science writer based near Oxford.
Further reading
- Arkell, W.J. (1945) Geology and Prehistory from the train, Oxford-Paddington. Oxoniensia 110, 1-15; https://oxoniensia.org/oxo_volume.php?vol=10
- Bromehead, C.N. (1945) Field meeting—A walk in west London: Wednesday, 16th May, 1945. Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association 56(4), 231-234; https://doi.org/10.1016/S0016-7878(45)80017-2
- Cox, L.R. (1958) William Joscelyn Arkell 1904-1958. Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society 4, 1-14; https://www.jstor.org/stable/769495
- Woodward, J. (1946) The London excursion, 1725. Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association 57 (1), 24-27; https://doi.org/10.1016/S0016-7878(46)80027-0
