No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the authors.
Gertrude Elles: The pioneering graptolite geologist in a woolly hat.Her career, her achievements and personal reflections of her family and colleagues
Abstract
Gertrude Elles gained worldwide renown for her seminal work with Ethel Wood on ‘A Monograph of British Graptolites’ which is still used today. She gained the MBE, pioneered female geological education, became the first female reader in Cambridge University and one of the first tranche of female Fellows of the Geological Society in 1919. An eccentric with a vast array of hats, PhD students and lodgers, she was a stalwart member of the Sedgwick Club and life member of the British Federation of University Women. She wrote obituaries for colleagues describing their achievements with humour and good nature. Her family describe her as ‘a fabulous woman’ with a huge range of interests including archaeology, botany and music. She related her geological and botanical knowledge in showing a nephew that plants growing along the Moine Thrust reflected change in the underlying rocks. Cambridge colleagues recall her as a ‘marvellous and well-respected figure’ who caused some amusement by her big old cluttered table from which she swept away material making room for new samples (and work for technicians). She died in 1960 in her beloved Scotland. However, her legacy survives in the classification of a group of fossils extinct for nearly 400 million years.
... Gertrude Elles, one of the first female Fellows, was an early academic and the first female to be appointed Reader at the University of Cambridge (Tubb and Burek 2020). She gained this recognition for her detailed work which included the Monograph of Graptolites (Elles and Wood 1901-18). ...
... The twentieth century saw a further widening of access to schooling when The Fisher Education Act of 1918 made secondary education compulsory up to the age of 14 and gave responsibility for secondary schools to the state. Influences were widening, moving from 'influenced by a male family member' to include 'influenced by a teacher', for example Gertrude Elles, who was influenced by Miss McLeod (Tubb and Burek 2020). ...
The Geological Society of London was founded in 1807. At the time, membership was restricted to men, many of whom became well-known names in the history of the geological sciences. On the 21 st May 1919 the first female Fellows were elected to the Society, 112 years after its foundation. This Special Publication celebrates the centenary of that important event. It builds on a previous Special Publication of the Geological Society, The Role of Women in the History of Geology (Burek & Higgs, 2007a) which was the first book to deal solely with the role that women played in the history and development of the geological sciences. The research and learning in the 2007 publication followed the first ever conference to be held on the work of early female geologists, held at the Geological Society in 2005.
... During her time at Newnham College, Cambridge, Gardner was influenced (and probably taught) by Dr. Gertrude Elles, the famous geologist and the first woman to be awarded a readership position at Cambridge. It was Elles who helped foster Gardner's interest in geology, and recommended her membership in the Sedgwick Club, the geology society of the University of Cambridge in 1913 [21]. In 1915, Gardner won the scholarship for women at Newnham College, according to the Cambridge Tripos report published in The Scotsman newspaper [22]. ...
Elinor Wight Gardner (1892–1981) was the first female geologist who worked and published as a geoarcheologist. During her career, she worked in arid lands of North Africa, Mediterranean and the Near East, and was regarded as a pioneering geoscientist who made important contributions in multiple fields, including archeology, geomorphology, paleontology and Quaternary science. Despite her ground-breaking work at many archeological sites, Gardner’s impact has been largely unrecognized. Few details are known about her personal life; she was a private and reserved person who left limited first-hand accounts of her opinions and motivations. Gardner worked with charismatic figures such as her life-long friend and primary collaborator, the archeologist Gertrude Caton Thompson (1888–1985). This biography synthesizes primary sources and draws insights about Gardner’s character from her bibliography, publications and notebooks, and mentions by contemporary peers. Much attention has focused on the historical “ancestral passions” of characters working in the fields of geology and archeology, with much emphasis on the ‘founding fathers’ and significantly less recognition of its ‘grandmothers’. We bring attention to the full scope of Gardner’s insightful contributions through analysis of her important collaborative research projects linking archeology and landscape studies during the early twentieth century.
The purpose of this study is to demonstrate that the identification of carbonate platforms in frontier exploration using seismic data remains challenging despite the variety of attributes that can be extracted from the data and their integration with other sources of information. A Miocene example from offshore Tobago (Southern Caribbean) is evaluated using 3D seismic data integrated with regional geology, potential fields, analogues, and structural restoration. The data are compatible with interpreting the target as shallow-marine carbonates, and a conceptual model is presented. However, far fewer of the seismic characteristics are diagnostic of a carbonate platform, and despite the intensive approach and the use of published criteria for subsurface carbonate interpretation, it was impossible to conclusively identify the target as a shallow-marine carbonate. Alternative explanations such as volcaniclastics, eroded remnants of siliciclastics and basement highs are considered. The study illustrates that it is common to find situations where the origin of a prospective geobody cannot be determined beyond significant levels of uncertainty unless it is drilled. If other elements of the petroleum system are favourable, this irreducible risk has to be accepted to avoid overlooking attractive carbonate reservoirs, provided all available data are used and all possible alternative interpretations considered.
This chapter explores the interaction between Archibald Geikie and female geologists in their many different roles and within the social context of his life and time (1835–1924). The roles adopted by female geologists altered around 1875 when there was a change in the educational and legal background. Geikie's attitude to female fieldwork and research publications changes through time too. His life is divided up into five different stages according to his ability to support and influence female geologists in their roles as researchers, lecturers, wife assistants and students. Case studies of both single and married women are explored looking at the influence and interaction they had with Archibald Geikie. They include Maria Ogilvie Gordon, Catherine Raisin, Annie Greenly, Gertrude Elles, Ethel Skeat and Ethel Wood. Geikie seems to have accepted most of the roles that women undertook and supported them wherever he could.
Women were first permitted to become Fellows of the Geological Society of London in 1919. Eight joined in May of that year and then in June a further two were admitted. By February 1922 there were 21 female Fellows. The Geological Society had opened its doors to women and, after an initial rush, there was a slow trickle. However, there were a number of highly regarded female geologists before this time, and several of them received grants, medals and, indeed, submitted papers, although they were not always permitted to read these themselves. Some of the first female Fellows have disappeared without trace, but the contributions of others are significant. As well as being educationalists, they were expert in many different areas of geology, with palaeontology and stratigraphy featuring strongly. Few, however, stayed on in this male-dominated arena once they married and had children. It seems there was no common reason for these women to seek membership of the Geological Society, other than their love of geology, but membership brought them recognition and status. They led the way as role models for future female Fellows and were the first of many women to play a significant role in the Geological Society's history.
This book chapter is not available through ChesterRep. This book chapter discusses the role of women in the history and development of geology, focusing on the characteristics ofwomen who played a role, the influence of society, the situation today, and the legacy of these early pioneers.
From unsuitable clothes to lack of chaperones, from harassment to lack of proper funding, throughout history women geologists have encountered difficulties travelling to their field locations or working in the field, whether these locations were close by or abroad. Most early female geologists were able to avoid many difficulties because they were protected through working locally, where their high social standing was known and respected, or because they worked in a team with husband, father or brother. However, the problem was to grow in the second half of the nineteenth century, when women started to appear as students and professionally trained geologists. This feature explores the difficulties of female geologists undertaking fieldwork from the late nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century.
This paper explores, within a historical context, the importance of geoconservation of not only sites but also artefacts, collections and specimens as well as letters and original documents. It sets out the search and finding of sites in northeast Wales and materials thought lost then found and the subsequent nomination of Regionally Important Geological/Geomorphological Sites (RIGS) conservation status of the sites to safeguard them for the future. It is important to note that RIGS can be designated for their historical value alone, which is in contrast to Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs), which are protected solely for their national scientific and research value.
The role of Ethel Woods (neé Skeat) and Margaret Crosfield in developing an understanding of the geological history of northeast Wales had been lost over time. This paper contains biographical sketches of the two women, followed by their Lower Palaeozoic lithological, structural and graptolite research and places it in an historical context. This case study illustrates how female curiosity, perseverance and attention to detail unearthed previously forgotten treasures.
The importance of conserving their sites, specimens and sketch field notebooks in our electronic and throw-away age is vital. The role of the North East Wales Regionally Important Geological/Geomorphological Sites (NEWRIGS) in conserving this information is put forward as an example of good practice.
This book chapter is not available through ChesterRep. This book chapter explores the place of geology in science education and the part women have played in geological higher education through history. The context is set firstly by exploring the informal role women have played in education in general and secondly, by explaining in detail the positions they held after 1870, when female higher education was put onto a more formal footing. To illustrate this, the evolution of two female colleges of higher education - Bedford College, London and Newnham College, Cambridge both offering geological education within science are evaluated within a wider educational context. Finally, the cases of Dr Catherine Raisin, who was based at Bedford College, and Dr Gertrude Elles, based at Newnham College as role models are highlighted within this wider framework.
The Geological Society of London has historically awarded medals and funds to early career geologists and for career achievement recognition. Mid-career and outreach awards were later added as categories. This paper will concentrate on early recipients of funds and medal winners mainly during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
In the nineteenth century, only two women received recognition by the Geological Society for their work through early career funds (not medals): Catherine Raisin in 1893 and Jane Donald in 1898.
From 1900 to 1919, no woman received a medal but funds were collected by men on behalf of Gertrude Elles, Elizabeth Gray, Ethel Wood, Helen Drew, Ida Slater and Ethel Skeat. The first woman to collect her own Fund was Ethel Skeat in 1908.
Pre-World War II, only four women received career recognition in the form of a medal. Gertrude Elles in 1919 and Ethel Shakespear in 1920 received the Murchison Medal. No further medals were awarded to women until Maria Ogilvie Gordon in 1932 and Eleanor Mary Reid in 1936. It was not until the end of the 1990s and into the twenty-first century that a significant number of women received medals. It is noted that the William Smith Medal was only received by a woman in 2019 and the Dewey Medal has yet to be received by a woman. An analysis of the different medals and funds awarded to females through the Geological Society is discussed in detail with snapshots of the women who were so recognized. As we move into the twenty-first century we see an increase in these awards to women.
The importance of Welsh geology to the development of the science of geology and the stratigraphic column is underestimated and indeed the contribution of women to this process is largely overlooked. This paper explores the scientific contribution and the role that women played to the investigation of Welsh stratigraphy. The work of Gertrude Elles, Ethel Skeat, Ethel Wood and Margaret Crosfield, the so-called Newnham quartet of palaeontologists, and the educational contribution of Dilys Davies, the first female to study geology at Newnham College, Cambridge and of Annie Greenly to the work of her husband Edward Greenly on Anglesey is discussed. Catherine Raisin also contributed work on the metamorphic rocks of Wales and her work is examined. Without their contributions, Welsh stratigraphy would not be as advanced as it is today especially in the use of graptolite identification for correlation. However, scientific research was not the only contribution and other roles such as illustrators, proof readers, field assistants and teachers will also be examined against the background of the time. The fact that there were few higher education institutions in Wales at the time admitting women to geology is a significant factor for geological research. The contribution of female researchers to this research development is largely forgotten by both researchers, educators and the general public. This paper hopes to rectify these omissions.
I. Introduction.
The district dealt with in the present paper lies all round Bala Lake, though attention has been paid more particularly to the ground lying south-east and east of the lake, as affording an opportunity for the study of problems of special interest regarding the succession and structure of the area.
The whole district has been classic ground since the days of Sedgwick, and its difficulties were vividly described later by Jukes; it is just these difficulties that make the area so intensely interesting, and, largely owing to the more detailed mapping that can be carried out in these days, it is now possible to suggest a solution of some, at any rate, of the problems—more particularly those of a stratigraphical and structural nature. The palæontological problems are somewhat different, and will not be dealt with in detail at present.
Previous Work.
By far the most important contributions made to our general knowledge of the district are those of Sedgwick, Jukes, and Ruddy, though Ramsay and, in later times, Lake have dealt with the question of the faulting as connected with the development of the valley in which the lake lies.
Sedgwick made two important contributions to the study of the area. In the earlier paper on the ‘Calcareous Slates & Limestones of Glyn Dyffws on the Holy head Road, west of Corwen, & of Rhiwlas north-east of Bala,’ ¹ he gave what he believed to be the succession in the area, and illustrated it by sections made as early
This work is based largely on maps and collections of fossils made between the years 1904 and 1906 by Miss C. Chamberlain, M.Sc., of the University of Birmingham and Newnham College, Cambridge. Miss Chamberlain learned her geology at Cambridge, and then went home to Birmingham and carried on research in the subject under Professor Lapworth. She had hoped to present the results for her Ph.D. degree at Birmingham University, but unfortunately was obliged to leave Birmingham before the work was completed, and it has remained in its original state. A few years ago, when I was again taking up my work on the Ordovician faunas, I wrote to her and asked permission to study her collections. She replied, most generously placing all her maps and collections unreservedly at my disposal. When these came into my possession it was obvious that the collections contained some interesting and valuable material, and with the sanction of Professor Wills I decided to work it up. In the checking and revision of the maps I have had the help of Miss K. Prendergast, Ph.D. M.Sc., of the University of Western Australia and Newnham College, and my pupil Miss Nancy Kirk of Newnham College, who also revised and completed the mapping of the Llandegley Rocks area. These two have given me great help in the collecting of fossils from many localities, and we have been able to make considerable additions to Miss Chamberlain's lists. I have also, with the sanction of Professor Boulton, incorporated some hitherto
The area constituting the Conway District, for the present purpose, extends from the mountains of Penmaenbach and Dinas on the west, southwards as far as DerwendJg, and thence eastwards to the Conway River, thus including Conway Mountain, and the whole of the country lying immediately north, south-west, and south of the town of Conway itself. On the east side of the estuary there is also the area lying east, north-east, and south-east of the village of Deganwy.
The region has not hitherto been worked in any detail, wherefore the literature as a whole is scanty and the information somewhat unsatisfactory. The volcanic rocks have received the greatest share of attention, some of the rhyolites, and especially the nodular rhyolites, having been described by Prof. Bonney, Mr. Harker, Prof. Grenville Cole, and others; but the sedimentary rocks have rarely received more than a general notice.
The more important papers referring to the district are the following :—
(A) Stratigraphical.
Jukes, in his ‘ Letters,’ makes several references to the district; of these the most important statement seems to be that where he refers to Conway Castle as standing ‘on the very top of the Bala Beds, somewhere about where the Hirnant Limestone ought to be.’
Unfortunately, he afterwards accepted the view that the rock in question was the equivalent of the Bala Limestone. 1 In the light of recent work, his earlier opinion would seem to be more correct.
Prof. Lapworth, in his classical work on the ' Geological Distribution of
During current research being carried out into the role of women in the history of geological study in Ireland, interesting social and cultural factors are emerging. A list of people who contributed to data gathering, and the unravelling of the complexity of Ireland's geology would characteristically contain only male names. Yet when one begins to look more closely, important roles were played by women. The story is one of women carrying out many and varied supporting roles, including stone-workers, illustrators, tutors, assistants, collaborators, wives, mothers, and later, curators, cartographers and technicians. From 1950 onwards, women begin to occupy professional roles as geologists, particularly in the Geological Survey of Ireland, but more slowly in academic circles. This paper concentrates on women now deceased, who paved the way for others, and only briefly indicates their legacy with selected examples leading to the present day.
It has become increasingly evident during the past few years that there are many geologists working on the older Palaeozoic rocks in various parts of the British Isles, to whom a knowledge of the common assemblages of graptolites characteristic of our different British graptolite zones might be useful. In the following lists, therefore, an attempt has been made to put together the facts gleaned from the study of the Graptolite Shales of the British Isles in many widely separated localities. The lists do not claim to be in any way a complete representation of the entire fauna of any zone, but merely an enumeration of those graptolites which in the author's experience are most universally and abundantly represented, so that they are likely to be the forms met with most characteristically in an exposure of any particular horizon. Some co-mingling at the boundaries of the zones must naturally be expected, especially when dealing with a succession of purely shaly deposits, but as a rule even then the coming in of new forms in abundance should be taken as an index of the passage to a higher horizon. This fact is one upon which great emphasis should be laid, it is upon this coming in of new forms, usually indicative of a more advanced stage in evolution, that the basis of modern zonal stratigraphy is laid; the persistence of old forms tends to vary greatly in different localities with the richness of the previous fauna; when the fauna of the earlier zones was both rich and varied, there are naturally more survivors into the succeeding zones than when the fauna was a poor one.
A count of articles by women listed in the Catalogue of Scientific Papers, 1800–1900, the nineteen-volume international index brought out by the Royal Society, produced a collection of almost 4000 titles of papers by about 1000 nineteenth-century women authors. Out of 181 geology papers in this collection, 118 (65 per cent) were by British women (see Table 1, columns 1 and 2). This finding is especially remarkable when considered against the more general background of nineteenth-century women's work in science (at least as judged from women's contributions to the journal literature indexed by the Royal Society). In most fields American workers considerably outnumbered British and published many more papers. Geology, however, is an exception, with the British dominating the field by a wide margin. This essay discusses a number of the British women of the period who carried out work in geology, and offers some suggestions that go toward explaining their striking prominence among their contemporaries.
Geology at WHS 1887-1890. The Wimbledon High School Jubilee Magazine
- G De Lisle
de Lisle, G. 1931. Geology at WHS 1887-1890. The Wimbledon High School Jubilee Magazine.
1897. A glimpse of Sweden 1896. The Wimbledon High School Magazine
- G L Elles
Elles, G.L. 1897. A glimpse of Sweden 1896. The Wimbledon High School Magazine.
The importance of professional and educational societies and groups to late 19th and early 20th century female geologists
- Burekc
- Burek C.V.
Burek, C.V. In press. The importance of professional and
educational societies and groups to late 19th and early
20th century female geologists. In: Jones, C., Martin,
A. and Wolf, A. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of
Women and Science -History, Cultures and Practice
[since 1660]. Palgrave.
Elles, Gertrude Lilian (1872-1960), geologist and palaeontologist
- R S Creesem
- Creese M.R.S.
Creese, M.R.S. 2004. Elles, Gertrude Lilian (1872-1960),
geologist and palaeontologist. In: Oxford Dictionary
of National Biography. Oxford University Press,
Oxford, UK, https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/46414
Legends of Rock: Gertrude Elles. Pioneering palaeontologist, geologist and woman of science
- Smithp
- Smith P.
Gertrude Lilian Elles
- B Whitea
- White A.B.
- G L Elles
- E Wood
Elles, G.L. and Wood, E. 1901-18. A Monograph of British
Graptolites. Palaeontographical Society, London,
https://doi.org/10.1080/02693445.1901.12035498
1906-07. The Lower Palaeozoic rocks of Pomeroy
- W G Fearnsides
- G L Elles
- B Smith
Fearnsides, W.G., Elles, G.L. and Smith, B. 1906-07. The
Lower Palaeozoic rocks of Pomeroy. Proceedings of the
Royal Irish Academy. Section B: Biological, Geological, and Chemical Science, 26, 97-128, https://www.
jstor.org/stable/20516945
Pioneering palaeontologist, geologist and woman of science
- P Smith
Smith, P. 2018. Legends of Rock: Gertrude Elles. Pioneering palaeontologist, geologist and woman of science.
Palaeontology Newsletter, 99, https://www.palass.
org/publications/newsletter/legends-rock/legends-rockgertrude-elles
White, A.B. 1961. Gertrude Lilian Elles. In: Newnham College Roll Letter, 1961. Newnham College, Cambridge,
UK, 45-49.
A glimpse of Sweden 1896
- . L Ellesg
- Elles G.L.
The Lower Palæozoic rocks of Pomeroy
- G Fearnsidesw
- . L Ellesg
- Smithb
- Fearnsides W.G.
Geology at WHS 1887–1890
- De Lisleg
- de Lisle G.
Obituary notices: Dame Ethel Mary Reader Shakespear (née Wood)
- L Ellesg
- Elles G.L.
Elles, G.L. 1946. Obituary notices: Dame Ethel Mary
Reader Shakespear (née Wood). Proceedings of the
Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, London,
cii, xlvi-xlvii.