- William Wickham King
William Wickham King (1863-1959), usually known as Wickham King was a distinguished amateur geologist.
He was the younger son of William Henry King and followed him as a
solicitor inStourbridge and magistrates clerk for the Stourbridge andBrierley Hill Petty Sessional Divisions.As a young man, he rowed with
Bewdley rowing club, but came to grief one day when hispenny-farthing bicycle broke under him. He also climbed in theAlps andCuillins .His interest in geology began when he found a fossil on the
Clent Hills . This led to his attending classes privide byBirmingham University . His first published paper was on theClent Breccia in 1893. This was followed by others on aspects of theBlack Country or South StaffordshireCoalfield . He also produced a plexographic map of the Thick Coal in it.His most important work was on the
Old Red Sandstone , which was then believed to be barren of fossils. His work on this inShropshire and elsewhere, particularly atEarnstrey east ofBrown Clee Hill led to him discovering fossils of a fish, named Corvedalensis Kingi.His later papers included 'The Downtonian and Dittonian Strata of Great Britain and North-Western Europe' "Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society" 90 (1934), pp. 526ff.
In 1924 he was awarded the
Lyell Medal by theGeological Society of London . Birmingham University awarded him an honorary M.Sc. degree, the unusual award.At the beginning of the Second World War, he retired to Devon and continued his geological work there, including producing a 25-inch geological map of the
Abberley area. On completing this he gave his collections to Birmingham University, whre they form part of the collections of theLapworth Museum of Geology .
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