Henry Hicks (geologist)

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Henry Hicks

MRCS FRS FGS
A greyscale portrait photograph of a white man with a large beard in a coat; he is facing and looking to the camera's left.
Born(1837-05-26)26 May 1837
St Davids, Wales
UK of Great Britain and Ireland
Died18 November 1899(1899-11-18) (aged 62)
Hendon, London, England
UK of Great Britain and Ireland
EducationDr of Medicine, St And (1862)
Occupation
Spouse(s)
Mary Richardson
​
(m. 1864)​
Children3 daughters
AwardsBigsby Medal (1883)

Henry Hicks (1837–1899) was a Welsh physician and geologist during the 19th century.

Personal life[]

Henry Hicks was born on 26 May 1837 in the city of St Davids, Wales. His parents were Anne (née Griffiths) and surgeon Thomas Hicks. Hicks married Mary Richardson in February 1864, with whom he had three daughters.[1] He died on 18 November 1899 in Hendon, London.[2]

Medical career[]

Hicks studied medicine at Guy's Hospital in London; in 1862, he became a member of the Royal College of Surgeons, and was licensed by Worshipful Society of Apothecaries.[1] Hicks returned to St Davids to practise medicine, and in 1871, he moved his practise to Hendon, London. Focusing on mental health, Hicks received his Doctor of Medicine from the University of St Andrews in 1878,[2] ultimately becoming the head of an asylum in , solely treating women for mental disorders.[1]

Geology career[]

In St Davids, Hicks met palæontologist John William Salter, and became enamored with the burgeoning field of study. Hicks discovered a new Lingulella in the red, Cambrian-era rocks near his hometown, and wrote of it to the Geological Society of London. This earned him recognition and a grant from the British Science Association, leading him to find up to thirty more Cambrian species in 1868. Post-1868, Hicks included the higher Paleozoic-era strata in his searches. When he began his psychiatric work in Hendon Grove, this allowed Hicks much more time to devote to the geologic deposits in Middlesex.[1]

Hicks coined the terms Pebidian and Dimetian to describe the Precambrian rocks around St Davids; both descriptors were still used by scientists as of the 2010s.[3] Across the Geological Magazine, the Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, the Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, and the Reports of the British Association, Hicks published 63 papers. He was also the first to discover Upper Devonian fossils in the Morte Slates Formation.[1]

Hicks was active in the British Science Association,[1] Fellow and president of the Geologists' Association from 1883–1885,[4] and made a Fellow of the Royal Society on 4 June 1885; of the Geological Society, the Welshman was awarded the Bigsby Medal in 1883, secretary from 1890–1893, president from 1896–1898, and vice-president in 1899 at the time of his death.[1]

In 1886, Hicks published a paper on 'Bone-Caves' situated in a Carboniferous Limestone escarpment forming the north side of a ravine near Tremeirchion, on the east side of the Vale of Clwyd, Denbighshire, North Wales.[5]

Publications[]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g Bonney, Thomas George (1901). "Hicks, Henry" . In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography (1st supplement). II. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 419–420.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Hicks, Henry" . Encyclopædia Britannica. 13 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 448.
  3. ^ "Henry Hicks (1837–1899)" (in Welsh). Countryside Council for Wales. Archived from the original on 30 October 2013. Retrieved 6 February 2020. Roedd Henry Hicks yn ddaearegydd amatur hynod alluog a etholwyd yn Llywydd y Gymdeithas Ddaearegol. Chwaraeodd ran ganolog yn un o ddadleuon mawr y cyfnod a oedd yn ymwneud ag oed y creigiau yn ardal Tyddewi, a disgrifiodd nifer o ffosilau newydd.
  4. ^ Presidents of the Geologists' Association (PDF), Geologists' Association, 2018, archived (PDF) from the original on 6 February 2020, retrieved 6 February 2020
  5. ^ HICKS, H. Results of recent Researches in some Bone-caves in North Wales (Fynnon Bueno and Cae Gwyn), By Henry Hicks, M.D., F.R.S., F.G.S.; with a Note on the Animal Remains, by W. Davies, Esq., F.G.S. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society for February 1886.
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b Ward, Lester F. (1889). "Scotland". The Geographical Distribution of Fossil Plants. Washington, D.C.: United States Department of the Interior. pp. 684–687.

External links[]

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