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In the post-war era Argentina was governed mainly by either the military (1943-1946, 1955-1958, 1966-1973 and 1976-1982) or the authoritarian populist Juan Domingo Perón (1946-1955, 1973-1974), himself a prominent army figure in the 1943 coup. Only after the Falklands War did Argentina embark on a more democratic course, and the new presidential democratic federal republic has been since been beset by severe economic problems culminating in the 2001 collapse. This collection contains two pamphlets authored by Perón himself in the 1940s, but the majority of the material covers either the torture and disapperances that occurred during the 1970's `dirty war' between the state and armed organisations of both the left and right or the attempts to account for these human rights abuses in the 1980s.

The majority of the materials held in this collection at present originate from the 1970s and 1980s, during which time Paraguay was effectively a military dictatorship under the rule of President Alfredo Stroessner. In the 1970s the country enjoyed a period of sustained economic growth, significantly fuelled by its joint participation with Brazil in the Itaipú hydroelectric plant, but this growth was to evaporate following the completion of the project in the 1980s, and the Stronato was eventually overthrown in a February 1989 coup. The limits of the aforementioned economic boom can be seen in the fact that the most prominent organisation represented here is the Misión de Amistad, the church group which through its various projects sought to alleviate poverty and faciliate rural development amongst Paraguay's peasantry and indigenous peoples. Furthermore the price paid by the country for its political stability was a record of repression which helped produce the growing international isolation that preceded Stroessner's deposition, and which is reflected here in a number of items issued by human rights organisations based abroad in Argentina and elsewhere.

Much of the material in this collection is concerned with the climate of violence in Uruguay in the 1970s. Some documents the activities of the Tupamaros, a left-wing urban guerrilla movement whose role in the increasing unrest in the country provided the pretext for the effective takeover of power by the armed forces in 1973. The widespread human rights abuses that occurred in the period prior to the return to civilian government in 1984 are also covered.

The majority of the materials held in the collection here date from the period of military rule over Brazil between 1964 and 1985. Following the overthrow (with the alleged support of the United States) of the Goulart administration a series of generals presided during a period characterised by unprecedented economic growth and social repression. The former phenomenon, driven by huge state-backed industrialising projects such as the construction of the Itaipu hydroelectric dam and later by external borrowing culminating in the 1980s debt crisis, failed to bridge the inequalities of Brazilian society, as testified to here in the materials produced by development groups such as the Federação de Orgaos para Assistência Social e Educacional (FASE) as well as those of Christian organisations both indigenous and foreign. The latter is evinced here in the items produced by human rights and Latin American solidarity groups, whilst the restictions on organised labour which appeared to tie together authoritarianism and economic progress were increasingly challenged by the late 1970s by strikes particularly in the São Paulo industrial region, strengthening both the union confederations that are represented here and their political offshoot, the Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT). The grievances of rural and urban organisations working for land and labour reform continued to be expressed as Brazil transferred to civilian government after 1985, with the holdings here from this period being dominated by the Central Unica dos Trabalhadores (CUT) rather than the burgeoning number of political parties emerging in the post-military scene.

The period of Venezuelan history covered by the majority of the pamphlets currently held in this collection is one dominated politically by the consequences of the 1958 Pact of Punto Fijo. This was an agreement between the main civilian parties of the day, Accion Democrática (AD), the Partido Social Cristiano de Venezuela (COPEI) and the Unión Republicana Democrática (URD) on a common programme and an informal sharing power sharing arrangement, which basically saw AD and COPEI alternate in government until 1989. Though this system provided electoral stability, it gradually eroded trust in the democratic process and in the accountability of Venezuela's leaders to the needs of its people, culminating in the 1989 riots precipitated by AD President Carlos Andrés Peréz's economic reforms. As well as materials produced by the mainstream parties there are also items originating from left-wing groups and guerrilla organisations ostracised from the political process, trade unions and pressure groups concerned with issues such as the rights of women and indigenous peoples. Venezuela's economy is largely sustained by its state-owned oil industry, and there are several government-produced pamphlets here appertaining to that.

Kristian Andrews is an animation graduate from UCA Farnham, who obtained his MA at the Royal College of Art (2008). he has won international recognition for his films, including the Silver Dove at Doc Liepzig in 2008.

The artwork is from Rabbit Punch, an autobiographical film on Kristian's life growing up, which was his MA graduate film.

Tandem Films for Animation was formed in 1986 by Daniel Greaves (animator who previously studied at the West Surrey College of Art and Design) and his business partner Nigel Pay. Tandem is located in London, Islington and the website is available here http://www.tandemfilms.com/about/

Sir Shridrath Ramphal, born 1928; Career: Crown Counsel, British Guiana 1953-54; Asst to Attorney-Gen. 1954-56; Legal Draftsman 1956-58; Solicitor-Gen. 1959-61; Legal Draftsman, West Indies 1958-59; Asst Attorney-Gen., West Indies 1961-62; Attorney- Gen., Guyana 1965-73; member Nat. Assembly 1965-75; Minister of State for External Affairs 1967-72, Minister of Foreign Affairs 1972-75, of Justice 1973-75; Commonwealth Sec.-Gen. 1975-90; Chancellor Univ. of Guyana 1988-92, Univ. of Warwick 1989-2001, Univ. of West Indies 1989-; Queen's Counsel 1965 and Sr Counsel, Guyana 1966; member Int. Commission of Jurists, Ind. Commission on Int. Devt Issues, Ind. Commission on Disarmament and Security Issues, Ind. Commission on Int. Humanitarian Issues, World Commission on Environment and Devt, South Commission, Carnegie Commission on Deadly Conflict, Bd of Governor Int. Devt Research Center, Canada, Exec. Cttee of Int. Inst. for Environment and Devt, Council of Int. Negotiation Network Carter Center, Georgia, USA 1991-97; Patron One World Broadcasting Trust; Chair. UN Cttee for Devt Planning 1984-87, West Indian Commission 1990-92, Bd Int. Inst. for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) 1995-2001, Advisory Cttee Future Generations Alliance Foundation 1995-97; Pres. World Conservation Union-IUCN 1990-93; Int. Steering Cttee Leadership for Environment and Devt Program Rockefeller Foundation 1991-98; Co-Chair. Commission on Global Governance 1992-2000; Adviser to Sec. -Gen. of United Nations Council for Education and Development 1992; Chief Negotiator on Int. Econ. Issues for the Caribbean Region 1997-2001; Facilitator Belize-Guatemala Dispute 2000-02; John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship 1962; Hon. Bencher of Gray's Inn 1981; Fellow, King's Coll., London 1975, LSE 1979, RSA 1981, Magdalen Coll., Oxford 1982.

Honours and awards: Order of the Republic (Egypt) 1973; Grand Cross, Order of the Sun (Peru) 1974; Grand Cross, Order of Merit (Ecuador) 1974, Order of Nishaan Izzuddeen (Maldives) 1989, Grand Commdr, Order of Niger 1990, Grand Commdr, Order of the Companion of Freedom (Zambia) 1990, Nishan-e-Quaid-i-Azam (Pakistan) 1990, Order of the Caribbean Community 1991, Commdr Order of the Golden Ark 1994; Hon. LLD (Panjab Univ.) 1975, (Southampton) 1976, (Univ. of The West Indies) 1978, (St Francis Xavier Univ., Halifax, Canada) 1978, (Aberdeen) 1979, (Cape Coast, Ghana) 1980, (London) 1981, (Benin, Nigeria) 1982, (Hull) 1983, (Yale) 1985, (Cambridge) 1985, (Warwick) 1988, (York Univ. , Ont., Canada) 1988, (Malta) 1989, (Otago, New Zealand) 1990; Hon. DHL (Simmons Coll., Boston) 1982; Hon. DCL (Oxon.) 1982, (East Anglia) 1983, (Durham) 1985; Dr hc (Surrey) 1979, (Essex) 1980; Hon. DHumLitt (Duke Univ., USA) 1985; Hon. DLitt (Bradford) 1985, (Indira Gandhi Nat. Open Univ.) 1989; Hon. DSc (Cranfield Inst. of Tech.) 1987; Arden and Atkin Prize, Gray's Inn 1952, Int. Educ. Award (Richmond Coll., London) 1988, RSA Albert Medal 1988, Medal of Friendship, Cuba 2001, Pravasi Bharata Samman Award 2003.

Publications: One World to Share: Selected Speeches of the Commonwealth Secretary-General 1975-79, Nkrumah and the Eighties (1980 Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Lectures), Sovereignty and Solidarity (1981 Callander Memorial Lectures), Some in Light and Some in Darkness: The Long Shadow of Slavery (Wilberforce Lecture) 1983, The Message not the Messenger (STC Communication Lecture) 1985, The Trampling of the Grass (Econ. Commission for Africa Silver Jubilee Lecture) 1985, For the South, a Time to Think 1986, Making Human Society a Civilized State (Corbishley Memorial Lecture) 1987, Inseparable Humanity: An Anthology of Reflections of Shridath Ramphal 1988, An End to Otherness (six speeches) 1990, Our Country, The Planet 1992, No Island is an Island and contributions to journals of legal, political and int. affairs, including International and Comparative Law Quarterly, Caribbean Quarterly, Public Law, Guyana Journal, The Round Table, Royal Society of Arts Journal, Foreign Policy, Third World Quarterly, International Affairs.

Born 1915 in Toronto, 1915; educated at University of Toronto, gained BA (Juris) and BCL degrees from Oxford where he was a Rhodes scholar; editor The Baltic Times and Associate Professor of Political Economy, University of Tartu, 1939-1940; Press Attaché British Embassy, Cairo and lecturer in political science and economics, Egyptian State University 1940-1943; joined the Canadian Diplomatic service working in Moscow 1943-1945; after Ottawa; Associate Director National Defence College of Canada 1947- Alternate Permanent Delegate of Canada on UN Security Council and UN Atomic Energy Commission, 1949-1950; Counsellor, Canadian Embassy, Brussels 1950-1953; also Head of Canadian Delegation to Inter-Allied Reparations Agency, 1950-1953; Special Assistant to Secretary of State for External Affairs, Ottawa 1953-1955; International Truce Commissioner, Cambodia 1955-1956; Canadian Minister, London 1956-1958; Canadian Ambassador to United Arab Republic, 1958-1961 and to USSR 1961-1963; Assistant Under Secretary of State for External Affairs, Ottawa 1963-1965; elected First Secretary-General of Commonwealth 1965, re elected 1970 serving until1975; awarded membership to the order of the Companions of Honour, 1975; Lester B. Pearson Professor of International Affairs, Carleton University, Ottawa 1976-1981; Life Vice-President, Royal Commonwealth Society; Officer of the Order of Canada,1984; additionally involved in numerous international organization; died 1994.

Publications: Stitches in Time: The Commonwealth in World Politics (Andre Deutsch, London,1981); The We-They Frontier: From International Relations to World Politics (Leeds University, Leeds,1983); Multilateral Negotiations and Mediations: Instruments and Methods (ed. Arthur Lall) (International Peace Academy [by] Pergamon Press, New York, 1985).

A comic book is a magazine or book containing sequential art. Although the term implies otherwise, the subject matter in comic books is often serious and action-oriented and can cover a range of genres from religion to super heroes. Comic books are so called because some of the earliest comic books were simply collections of comic strips printed in newspapers. The commercial success of these collections led to work being created specifically for the comic book form, which fostered specific conventions such as splash pages.
Long-form comic books, generally with hardcover or trade-paper binding came to be known as graphic novels, but the term's definition is vague.

American comic books have become closely associated with the superhero tradition. In the United Kingdom, the term comic book is used to refer to American comic books by their readers and collectors. The term used in the Britain is a comic, short for comic paper or comic magazine.
Since the introduction of the modern comic book format in the 1934 with Famous Funnies, the United States has been the leading producer, with only the British comic and Japanese manga as close competitors in terms of quantity of titles. The majority of all comic books in the US are marketed to young adult readers, though they also produce titles for young children as well as adult audiences. This readership is reflected in the colours and themes used.
The history of the comic book in the United States is divided into several ages or historical eras: The Platinum Age, The Golden Age, The Silver Age, The Bronze Age, and The Modern Age.

The Golden Age is generally thought as lasting from the introduction of the character Superman in 1938 until the early 1950's. During this time, comic books enjoyed considerable popularity; the archetype of the superhero was invented and defined, and many of the most popular superheroes were created. The Platinum Age refers to any material produced prior to this, these were simply reprints of newspaper strips.

The Silver Age of Comic Books is generally considered to date from the first successful revival of the dormant superhero form in 1956 through to the early 1970's, during which time Marvel Comics revolutionised the medium with naturalistic superheroes as the Fantastic Four and Spider-Man. There is less agreement on the beginnings of the Bronze and Modern ages. Some suggest that the Bronze Age is still taking place but it is generally accepted that it started 1970-1971. The start of the Modern Age (occasionally referred to as the Iron Age) has even more potential starting points, but is generally agreed to be the publication of Alan Moore's Watchmen by DC Comics in 1986.
comics published after World War II in 1945 are sometimes referred to as being from the Atomic Age (referring to the dropping of the atomic bomb), while titles published after November 1961 are sometimes referred to as being from the Marvel Age (referring to the advent of Marvel Comics).

American comic books are generally noted to be mainstream: meaning they have mass appeal and focus on socially acceptable issues and genres, such as good verses evil.
Originally the same size as a usual comic book in the United States, although lacking the glossy cover, the British comic has adopted a magazine size, with The Beano and The Dandy the last to adopt this size in the 1980s. Although generally referred to as a comic, it can also be referred to as a comic magazine, and has also been known historically as a comic paper. Some comics, such as Judge Dredd and other 2000 AD titles, have been published in a tabloid form. It is also not uncommon for gifts to accompany comic magazines such as, badges or cigarette card holders.

Popular titles within the UK have included The Eagle and 2000 AD. Underground comics and titles have also been published within the United Kingdom, these often have a genre specific angle or message such as, women's rights or sexual education.

Marvel Comics established a UK office in 1972. DC Comics and Dark Horse Comics also opened offices in the 1990s. These repackage American titles for a UK audience, they are often less glossy and colourful than their US counterparts.
At Christmas time, publishers repackage and commission material for comic annuals, printed and bound as hardcover A4-size books. A famous example of the British comic annual is Dr Who.

France and Belgium are two countries that have a long tradition in comics and comic books, where they are called Bande Dessine (BD for short) in French and strips in Dutch. Belgian comic books originally written in Dutch are influenced by the Francophone comics, but have their own distinct style.
La bande dessine is derived from the original description of the art form as drawn strips (the phrase is literally translated as the drawn strip).
In France, most comics are published at the behest of the author, who works within a self-appointed time frame, and it is common for readers to wait six months or as long as two years between installments. Most books are first published as a hard cover book, typically with 48, 56 or 64 pages. In Italy, comics are known as fumetti and began as humouristic strips and then evolved into adventure stories inspired by those coming from the US in the 1940's.
Mainstream comics are usually published on a monthly basis, in a black and white digest size format, with approximately 100 to 132 pages. Collections of classic material for the most famous characters, usually with more than 200 pages, are also common. Author comics are published in the French BD format.
In the late 1960's and early 1970's, a surge of underground comics occurred and has continued. These comics were published and distributed independently of the established comics industry, and most titles reflected the youth counterculture and drug culture of the time. Many were notable for their uninhibited, often irreverent style; the frankness of their depictions of nudity, sexual content, and politics had not been seen in comics before. Underground comics were almost never sold at newsstands, but rather in such youth-oriented outlets such as record stores and by mail order.
The term graphic novel was first used in 1964. Graphic novels tend to be bound and longer in length than comics. They often represent known prose stories such as, Treasure Island or plays such as Othello in a comic strip format. Thus, they make these stories accessible to new and often younger audiences.

Born 15 Aug 1891; educated Aldenham Institute, evening classes in letterpress printing, 1907-1916; apprentice and journeyman, Wyman and Sons, London, 1905-1915; compositor, layout-man and reader, Crowther and Co, 1915-1918; Overseer of compositor and deputy to Chief of Letterpress Dept, National Institute for the Blind, 1918-1920; Instructor, St Bride's Foundation Printing School, 1920-1922; Instructor, London School of Printing, Aug 1922-Jul 1956; continued to work as a part-time instructor at LSP until July 1961; member of various trade unions, including the London Society of Compositors, the London Typographical Society and the National Graphical Association; died 1989.

London College of Communication, London College of Printing until a name change in 2004, is the largest College of University of the Arts London [formerly London Institute, founded 1985, name change 2004] with around 9000 students. It has formed over a number of years, from its inception in 1893 until the present day, through developments of curriculum, name changes and mergers: St Bride Foundation Printing School [founded 1883], became London School of Printing and Kindred Trades in 1922; Bolt Court Technical School, formerly the Guild and Technical School, Clerkenwell [founded 1894, name change 1895, merged 1949]; College for Distributive Trades [merged 1990]; Westminster Day Continuation School [founded 1921, renamed the School of Retail Distribution 1929]; and the Printing Department of the North Western Polytechnic [founded 1883, opened 1929, merged 1969].

In 1949 Bolt Court and the College of Printing and Kindred Trades merged to form the London School of Printing and Graphic Arts, renamed London College of Printing in 1962 when it took up its current site at Elephant and Castle, South London. The building was officially opened in 1964 by Sir Isaac Hayward. On the merger with College for Distributive Trades the College changed its name again to reflect the new disciplines offered to the London College of Printing and Distributive Trades, then in 1996 to London College of Printing.
Both St Brides and North Western were established by the City of London Parochial Charities Act and thus have always been rooted in London and its communities. When St Brides opened the doors, in 1894, of its first evening courses 124 students attended. Until 1912 there was no full time principal, then Mr J. R. Riddell was appointed. His appointment lead teaching from textbook based lessons to practical lessons. The first full time courses soon followed, 1919. Thus, from the first the College has specialised in and developed course in all aspects of printing and communication, from photography to graphic design.

Today the College is made up of four Schools: School of Graphic Design; The School of Creative Enterprise; School of Media; School of Printing and Publishing.

Stanley Kubrick was born in New York City in 1928. At the age of 16 Kubrick took a photograph of a newsvendor the day after President Roosevelt died. Look magazine printed the photo and hired him as a freelance photographer, he worked on over 300 jobs. After creating a boxing photo essay for Look, he used his savings to make his first short film 'Day of the Fight' in 1950, a 16-minute documentary. Two other shorts and thirteen feature films followed. Compared to many directors Kubrick did not produce many films. However, he successfully spanned a plethora of genres from science fiction to costume drama.

Kubrick's influence on film is manifested in numerous ways, from lighting to special effects to film content to music. For example, his pioneering use of long takes, first used in Lolita using a high Average Shot Length, have inspired cinematographers since, as seen in the opening shot of 1997's Boogie Nights. Kubrick had a high level of artistic control and kept many items and papers relating to his film making. At the completion of a project Kubrick would box up items relating to it and store them.

Kubrick's influence goes beyond that of the film world to popular culture. The content of his films have been responsible for sparking public debate and discourse for example, Clockwork Orange (1971) is a dystopia featuring violence and sexual content that provoked debate on the nature of society and the portrayal of violence on screen.

Kubrick had an unprecedented level of control over his films and was interested in every aspect of the film making process. Therefore, his collection can inspire not only film makers but costume designers, advertisers, graphic artists and photographers to name but a few.
Kubrick and his family moved to England in 1969, where he lived until his death in 1999.

Stanley Kubrick: Filmography:

1953 'Fear and Desire' (not on general release)

1955 'Killer's Kiss'

1956 'The Killing'

1957 'Paths of Glory'

1960 'Spartacus'

1962 'Lolita'

1964 'Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb'

1968 '2001: A Space Odyssey'

1971 'A Clockwork Orange'

1975 'Barry Lyndon'

1980 'The Shining'

1987 'Full Metal Jacket'

1999 'Eyes Wide Shut'

Kubrick planned to make two further films, 'Napoleon' and 'The Aryan Papers' (a holocaust film), but these were not made. He also played an important role in the conception of 'AI: Artificial Intelligence', which was made after his death by Steven Spielberg.

The Independent Force was established by the Royal Air Force on 6 June 1918 to conduct a strategic bombing campaign against Germany, concentrating on strategic industries, communications and the morale of the civilian population. The Independent Force was formed out of the Royal Flying Corp's Forty-First Wing which commenced operations in October 1917. This initiative was partly in response to German airship and aeroplane raids on England but it also built upon earlier, small scale attempts at strategic bombing by the Royal Naval Air Service and the Royal Flying Corps. As its name implied, it operated independently from the land battle and struck at targets in central Germany including Cologne, Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Bonn, and Mannheim. It was also intended to operate independently of the control of the Allied Supreme Commander, Marshal Foch, although this was later changed.

The Independent Force was commanded, reluctantly at first, by Major-General Hugh Trenchard who was gradually converted to the idea of strategic bombing by the operations of the Independent Force. The squadrons were based on airfields in the Nancy region, well to the south of the British sector of the Front Line. Although the effort appears miniscule compared to later bombing campaigns, four day and five night bomber squadrons dropped just 550 tons of bombs during 239 raids between 6 June and 10 November 1918, the effect on the German war effort was remarkable. The main targets were railways, blast furnaces, chemical factories that produced poison gas, other factories, and barracks to which had to be added airfields in an effort to reduce attrition from enemy fighter aircraft.

The effect on morale was out of all proportion to the size of the bomber force or the material damage caused and the air raids resulted in the movement of German air defence units away from the Front Line. Trenchard ordered statistics and records to be kept to demonstrate the work of the Independent Force and the role of strategic bombing in modern war.

The Independent Force was established by the Royal Air Force on 6 June 1918 to conduct a strategic bombing campaign against Germany, concentrating on strategic industries, communications and the morale of the civilian population. The Independent Force was formed out of the Royal Flying Corp's Forty-First Wing which commenced operations in October 1917. This initiative was partly in response to German airship and aeroplane raids on England but it also built upon earlier, small scale attempts at strategic bombing by the Royal Naval Air Service and the Royal Flying Corps. As its name implied, it operated independently from the land battle and struck at targets in central Germany including Cologne, Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Bonn, and Mannheim. It was also intended to operate independently of the control of the Allied Supreme Commander, Marshal Foch, although this was later changed.

The Independent Force was commanded, reluctantly at first, by Major-General Hugh Trenchard who was gradually converted to the idea of strategic bombing by the operations of the Independent Force. The squadrons were based on airfields in the Nancy region, well to the south of the British sector of the Front Line. Although the effort appears miniscule compared to later bombing campaigns, four day and five night bomber squadrons dropped just 550 tons of bombs during 239 raids between 6 June and 10 November 1918, the effect on the German war effort was remarkable. The main targets were railways, blast furnaces, chemical factories that produced poison gas, other factories, and barracks to which had to be added airfields in an effort to reduce attrition from enemy fighter aircraft.

The effect on morale was out of all proportion to the size of the bomber force or the material damage caused and the air raids resulted in the movement of German air defence units away from the Front Line. Trenchard ordered statistics and records to be kept to demonstrate the work of the Independent Force and the role of strategic bombing in modern war.

The Independent Force was established by the Royal Air Force on 6 June 1918 to conduct a strategic bombing campaign against Germany, concentrating on strategic industries, communications and the morale of the civilian population. The Independent Force was formed out of the Royal Flying Corp's Forty-First Wing which commenced operations in October 1917. This initiative was partly in response to German airship and aeroplane raids on England but it also built upon earlier, small scale attempts at strategic bombing by the Royal Naval Air Service and the Royal Flying Corps. As its name implied, it operated independently from the land battle and struck at targets in central Germany including Cologne, Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Bonn, and Mannheim. It was also intended to operate independently of the control of the Allied Supreme Commander, Marshal Foch, although this was later changed.

The Independent Force was commanded, reluctantly at first, by Major-General Hugh Trenchard who was gradually converted to the idea of strategic bombing by the operations of the Independent Force. The squadrons were based on airfields in the Nancy region, well to the south of the British sector of the Front Line. Although the effort appears miniscule compared to later bombing campaigns, four day and five night bomber squadrons dropped just 550 tons of bombs during 239 raids between 6 June and 10 November 1918, the effect on the German war effort was remarkable. The main targets were railways, blast furnaces, chemical factories that produced poison gas, other factories, and barracks to which had to be added airfields in an effort to reduce attrition from enemy fighter aircraft.

The effect on morale was out of all proportion to the size of the bomber force or the material damage caused and the air raids resulted in the movement of German air defence units away from the Front Line. Trenchard ordered statistics and records to be kept to demonstrate the work of the Independent Force and the role of strategic bombing in modern war.

Gilbert Blount was an English Catholic architect born in 1819 and active from about 1840-70. He received his earliest training as a civil engineer under Isambard Kingdom Brunel (c 1825-28) for whom he worked as a superintendent of the Thames Tunnel works. After a period in the office of Sydney Smirke, Blount was appointed as architect to Cardinal Wiseman, the Catholic Archbishop of Westminster.

Blount's mature work coincided with the resurgence of Catholic church building in England. His activity as an architect was largely in service of the need for new churches and related ecclesiastical institutions.

The CTA Archive is the work of the Association’s Hon Librarian, Mr A G Brown. Mr Brown’s order and classification system have been retained throughout. Each accession is divided into three sections:

Section A Books and Published reports, arranged alphabetically by author

Section B Pamphlets, Government Publications, and lectures (arranged alphabetically by author) including letters to the press arranged chronologically.

Section C Articles in press and magazines arranged chronologically

127 boxes arrived from Churchill Archives Centre; there are now 172 boxes.

An additional section of the collection is the CTUN Archive which consists of eighty two boxes.

The collection covers the history of tunnels under the Channel: Brief chronology of the history of the Channel Tunnel:

1802: Albert Mathieu, a French engineer, proposed a tunnel to link France with England, through the chalk under the Channel and using an artificial island on the Varne Bank. The scheme was impractical for Mathieu had little knowledge of the geology of the sea bed nor did he suggest any method of construction. Napoleon Bonaparte expressed some interest and during the fragile Peace of Amiens the plan was a symbol of friendship between the two countries.

1803: An Englishman called Mottray suggested that a submerged steel tube could be built across the sea bed, as opposed to a tunnel through the chalk. Both plans were short lived because hostilities were resumed later in the year.

1830: interest in a fixed link across the Channel was revived by Thome de Gamond, a French civil engineer, who during the following 25 years came up with several plans for tunnel and bridge schemes.

1868: Anglo-French Channel Tunnel Committee founded.

1872: Channel Tunnel Company incorporated and registered in London. The Company remained dormant for several years due to lack of funds.

1878-9: Tunnelling commenced on both sides of the Channel, at Sangatte on the French side, and at Shakespeare Cliff near Dover, where two shafts were sunk and a 2,000 yard tunnel bored out under the sea. Work was halted in 1882 mainly for reasons of defence. Leading military strategists of the day imagined a French army marching unimpeded through the tunnel.

1883: A scheme was finally killed off by the report of the Joint Parliamentary Committee chaired by Lord Lansdowne.

1900-1914: A number of plans in the early years of the century had to be shelved due to the outbreak of the First World War.

1918-1930: Interest in the project was revived after the war. Most military experts were agreed that a tunnel would have been disastrous to Germany and a boon to the Allies. Marshal Foch considered that a Channel Tunnel would have shortened the war by two years. The Parliamentary Channel Tunnel Committee was revived under the Chairmanship of Sir William Bull. In 1930 a Royal Commission came out in favour of the tunnel by a majority vote, but the House of Commons turned down the project by seven votes. However, even if the Commons had been in favour, the committee of Imperial Defence would have prevented the tunnel being built on the grounds that it would have caused some South Coast ports to become redundant.

1947: Formation of the Parliamentary Channel Tunnel Study Group.

1953: Harold Macmillan as Minister of Defence said that there were no longer any strategic objections to the tunnel, thus ending the military veto that had loomed over the tunnel since the 1880’s.

1964: Ernest Marples, Minister of Transport, announced that the British and French Governments had agreed that the construction of a rail Channel Tunnel was technically possible and would represent a sound investment. The two Governments decided to proceed with the project subject to further legal and financial discussions.

1970s: Work started again at Sangatte and at Shakespeare Cliff, but was abandoned in 1975 due to unacceptably high costs.

1984: The British and French Government announced their intention to seek private promoters for the construction and operation of a fixed link without public funding. The Eurotunnel bid was selected.

July 1987: Margaret Thatcher and François Mitterrand ratified the Fixed Link Treaty.

1994: The Channel Tunnel was opened.

Documents accumulated during the work of Brunel University Library, documenting meetings and reports.

The Transport History Collection consists largely of two substantial bequests relating to British railway history, namely the Clinker collection and the Garnett collection. Charles Ralph Clinker was born at Rugby in 1906 and joined the Great Western Railway from school in 1923 as a passenger train runner. By the time of the outbreak of World War Two he had risen to become liaison officer for the four major railway companies with Southern Command HQ, and as such was involved in the planning and execution of the Dunkirk evacuation in 1940 and the D-Day Landings in 1944. He left railway service in 1946 and devoted the rest of his life to research and lecturing on railway history, a taste which he had acquired when seconded to assist E. T. MacDermot in the preparation of his History of the Great Western Railway (London, 1964), and which Clinker subsequently revised for publication in 1982. Clinker wrote numerous books and pamphlets on railway history; his Clinker's Register of closed passenger stations and goods depots in England, Scotland and Wales, 1830-1977 (1963, revised 1978) is widely regarded as his magnum opus. He died in 1983.

David Garnett was born near Warrington in 1909 and as young man qualified as a chartered electrical engineer, soon afterwards completing his training at the Brush works in Loughborough. He then worked at the lift manufacturer Waygood-Otis, and during World War Two served with the National Fire Service, then at the Admiralty. In the 1950s he began to build a collection of railway and other maps which at the time of his death in 1984 was one of the finest such collections in the country.

Chris Wookey was born on 2 Aug 1957 and was a student at Brunel University, 1975-1979, obtaining an honours degree in Applied Biochemistry. He was a keen railway photographer and Chairman of the Brunel University Railway Society for two years. After leaving Brunel he taught Chemistry for almost ten years at Ryden's School in Walton-on-Thames. He died in 1989.

Co-founder of the Dancing Times, 1911, the Association of Operatic Dancing of Great Britain, 1920, and The Camargo Society, 1930. Richardson also founded and organised the "Sunshine" Charity Matinees and the All England Sunshine Stage Dance Competitions.

As an editor, Richardson contributed to a number of books and periodicals, but in 1946 he published A History of Ballroom Dancing (1910-1945) and in 1960, Social Dances of the Nineteenth Century.

Richardson's interest in the history of dancing led him to become an avid collector of rare books on the subject. His personal library collection was bequeathed to the RAD after his death in 1963.

The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery (NHNN) has been described as the "cradle of British Neurology". It was founded in 1860 for the alleviation initially of epilepsy and paralysis and its early physicians included John Hughlings Jackson (1835-1911), Sir David Ferrier (1843-1928), Sir William Gowers (1845-1911), and Sir Victor Horsley (1857-1916). The National Hospital was amalgamated with Maida Vale Hospital in 1948, and the Maida Vale Hospital archives are also housed in the collection. The National Hospital now forms part of the University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

The National Gallery houses the national collection of Western European painting from the 13th to the 19th centuries. The Gallery's aim is to care for the collection, to enhance it for future generations, primarily by acquisition, and to study it, while encouraging access to the pictures for the education and enjoyment of the widest possible public now and in the future.

The Gallery was established in 1824 when the Government purchased the picture collection of the late banker, John Julius Angerstein. The collection of 38 paintings was placed on public display at Angerstein’s house in Pall Mall. The Gallery was managed by the Keeper, William Seguier, who reported to a 'Committee of six gentlemen'. Both the Keeper and the Committee (which later evolved into the Board of Trustees) were appointed by the Treasury but their exact responsibilities were left undefined. Dissatisfaction with this situation and public criticism of the Gallery’s management led to the appointment of a Select Committee of the House of Commons in 1853. Its report resulted in the reform of the Gallery’s administration as defined in a Treasury Minute of 27 March 1855. The minute created a new post of Director with wide powers to acquire paintings for the collection. The Director was assisted by a Keeper who managed the day-to-day affairs of the Gallery. The Board of Trustees was retained ‘to keep up a connexion between cultivated lovers of art and the institution, and to form an indirect channel of communication [with] the Government.’ The reforms improved the administration of the Gallery and, from this time on, annual reports were presented to the Treasury detailing the management of the Gallery and Collection, including pictures purchased and cleaned or repaired. This system of governance continued until 1894 when the balance of power shifted in favour of the Board of Trustees following the so-called Rosebery Minute that altered the Gallery’s constitution. This did not affect the two acts of parliament passed during the 19th century that specifically related to the Gallery and concerned de-accessioning and loans: the National Gallery Act 1856 and the National Gallery (Loan) Act 1883.

In 1897 the National Gallery assumed responsibility for the newly opened Tate Gallery. In the years that followed the division of the national collection between the two galleries was vigorously debated and led to a committee of inquiry headed by Lord Curzon. The ensuing Curzon Report of 1915 recommended that the Tate should house the collection of British and modern foreign art while the National Gallery should retain the collection of Old Master paintings. The Tate became partially independent from the National Gallery in 1917 when it acquired its own Board of Trustees; however, it was not until 1955 and the implementation of the National Gallery and Tate Gallery Act 1954 that the Tate became fully independent. The post-war period also saw an increase in the range of activities carried out by the Gallery and a growing professionalisation of those activities. In the late 1980s responsibility for managing the buildings was transferred to the Gallery and it acquired the freehold of the site in 1992. In the second half of the 20th century the Gallery developed a range of specialised departments: Conservation, Scientific, Curatorial, Framing, Education, Photographic, Library and Archive, Art Handling, Audio-Visual, Development, Finance, Human Resources, Buildings, Design, Digital Media, Marketing, Exhibitions, Information, Information Systems, Press, Registrars, Visitor Services and Security. The governance of the Gallery was further changed by the Museums and Galleries Act 1992 which incorporated the Board of Trustees and provides the current constitution of the National Gallery.

The Society has its origins in a series of meetings convened at the beginning of 1807 by four amateur mineral enthusiasts - physician William Babington, pharmaceutical chemist William Allen and the Quaker brothers William and Richard Phillips - to organise the publication of Jacques-Louis, Comte de Bournon's monograph on mineralogy. Meeting in Babington's house the group, along with ten other friends who were also active in London's flourishing scientific scene, resolved to each contribute the sum of 50 pounds to cover the cost of the monograph's publication. (Published in the three volumes as 'Traite complet de la Chaux Carbonatee et de l'Arragonite', in 1808.)

Having enjoyed the meetings so much, many of the group continued to hold mineralogical discussions at Babington's house in Aldermanbury, London, usually at 7am before the physician began his rounds at Guy's Hospital. Other interested parties also joined the meetings and on the 13 November 1807, the new society was inaugurated at a dinner at the Freemasons Tavern, Great Queen Street, Covent Garden (the meetings being moved from breakfast to dinner time at the suggestion of Humphry Davy).

The minutes of the meeting record that there were thirteen founder members: Arthur Aikin (1773-1854), William Allen (1770-1843), William Babington (1756-1833), Humphry Davy (1778-1829), Comte Jacques-Louis de Bournon (1751-1825), James Franck (1768-1843), George Bellas Greenough (1778-1855), Richard Knight (1768-1844), James Laird (1779-1841), James Parkinson (1755-1824), William Hasledine Pepys (1775-1856), Richard Phillips (1778-1851) and William Phillips (1773-1828). The meeting resolved 'That there be forthwith instituted a Geological Society for the purpose of making geologists acquainted with each other, of stimulating their zeal, of inducing them to adopt one nomenclature, of facilitating the communications of new facts and of ascertaining what is known in their science and what remains to be discovered.' These aims were incorporated in the first constitution of the Society, formally adopted at a meeting on 1 January 1808.

Soon after its foundation the Society began to accumulate a library and a collection of minerals, rocks and fossils. In 1809 the Society moved into rented premises at 4 Garden Court, Temple, and in 1810 to 3 Lincoln's Inn Fields, where it shared larger premises with the Medical and Chirurgical Society, another society which Babington co-founded.

On 1 June 1810 the Society's first Trustees were appointed and later in the same month, 14 June, the first meeting of the Council took place. The Council resolved that the most important communications made to the Society should be published. Accordingly the first volume of the 'Transactions of the Geological Society' was issued in 1811.

With the increase in membership and activities of the Society it was found necessary to appoint the first permanent officer, Thomas Webster, in 1812. Although only part time, his duties included care of the Society's Library and Museum collections as well as those of draughtsman and secretary to the Council and Committees. The continual growth in the membership and of the collections of maps, sections and mineral specimens necessitated a further move in 1816 to 20 Bedford Street, Covent Garden.

In 1824 the Council decided to apply for a Royal Charter in order to allow it to bestow fellowships of the Society. The charter was granted on 23 April 1825 and the Rev William Buckland, Arthur Aikin, John Bostock MD, George Bellas Greenough and Henry Warburton were nominated as the first Fellows. At the following meeting of Council, the other 367 Society members were also granted Fellow status. Ironically many of these new Fellows, such as Greenough, held republican views hence why 'Royal' was never adopted into the Society's name.

The Society continued to meet at 20 Bedford Street until 1828 when it moved to apartments in Somerset House, Strand, which had recently been rebuilt by the Government for use as public offices and to house the Royal Academy and the Royal Society. The Society's apartments, including the two rooms of the museum, were fitted out to designs of Decimus Burton, architect of the Temperate House at Kew Gardens and Fellow of the Geological Society. The first meeting at Somerset House was held on 7 November 1828, and the Society remained there until removal to the present apartments at Burlington House in 1874.

The care of the Society's large mineral and fossil collections was always problematic. The Museum's first Keeper, Thomas Webster, was unhappy with the work load and also unpopular with the other Fellows. He was replaced in 1827 by the first official Curator, William Lonsdale, whose health broke down from overwork in 1836. During the following nine years there were another five curators who all resigned. In 1869, it was decided to abandon attempts to form a comprehensive collection, instead specimens should directly relate to papers read at the Society. Although the move to Burlington House meant that the collection was thoroughly weeded and catalogued again, after 1876 (after another resignation) the collection received only cursory attention. A Special General Meeting was called by a group of palaeontologists in 1901 to try and force the Council to take better care of the Museum. However their plan backfired and instead a motion was carried that the Museum should be disposed of. The contents were divided in 1911 between what we now know as the Natural History Museum and the Museum of Practical Geology (part of the Geological Survey) in Jermyn Street. The British Museum (now Natural History Museum) received the foreign specimens, while the domestic collection was given to the other institution.

The Society officially started its existence as a dining club but with the steady increase in the number of members (341 in 1815 to 400 in 1818), this aspect of its activities soon fell into abeyance. It was revived in 1824 with the foundation of the Geological Society Club which continues to hold dinners to the present day.

Today, the Geological Society of London is the UK national professional body for geoscientists. It provides a wide range of professional and scientific support to its c 9500 Fellows, about 2000 of whom live overseas. As well as boasting one of the most important geological libraries in the world, the Geological Society is a global leader in Earth science publishing, and is renowned for its cutting edge science meetings. It is a vital forum in which Earth scientists from a broad spectrum of disciplines and environments can exchange ideas, and is an important communicator of geoscience to government, media, those in education and the broader public.

Charlotte Caroline Sowerby was the eldest daughter of the conchologist, illustrator and natural history dealer George Brettingham Sowerby (1788-1854) who was, like other members of her family, a talented natural history illustrator. Her best known published work was The illustrated bouquet, consisting of figures with descriptions of new flowers, published by E G Henderson and Son, London, 1857-1864.

The first rules of the Society, dating from 1808, called for an annual general meeting at the end of June, at which officers were to be elected, accounts presented and a subscription raised. In 1811 it was agreed that an anniversary dinner should be held on the day following the AGM. By 1818 the AGM and Anniversary Dinner were being held in February but are now held in June. A presidential address was first read by W H Fitton in 1828, and from 1835 the AGM included the presentation of medals and other awards.

Until 1979, the archives of the Geological Society were spread throughout the offices of Burlington House. Aided with an initial grant subsidy from the British Library which ran between 1979-1982, the Society was able to appoint an archivist and a conservator to at last look after the collections professionally. An archives store was constructed in 1981/1982 funded by the work of the Appeals Committee.

A further grant subsidy from the British Library was awarded at the end of 1983 for what became known as the Burlington House Conservation Project, which involved the conservation studio taking on work from local learned societies and the Royal Academy. However the external funding ended in 1986 and with the Society unable to finance the costly facility itself, the studio closed. Most of the equipment was later exchanged in lieu of conservation services.

The first step towards marking the Centenary of the founding of the Geological Society of London was the motion of Horace Bolingbroke Woodward, presented before Council on 9 November 1904, to consider the appointment of a 'Record Committee' to oversee the compilation of a history of Society. The motion was passed, and the resulting work published as: Woodward, H B. 'The History of the Geological Society of London', London: Longmans, Green and Co, 1908.

The second step was the re-election of the experienced Sir Archibald Geikie as President of the Society for the sessions 1906-1908, in view of the Centenary (he had previously served as President between 1890-1892). Much of the preliminary arrangements for the Centenary were discussed by the Record Committee during its meetings, but Council additionally constituted a 'Centenary Committee' (which included members of the Record Committee) to formally draw up a programme and organise the proposed event. Although the Society was officially founded on the 13 November 1807, it was thought that the end of September would be more convenient for the majority of colonial and foreign guests. In all, over 900 individuals were invited to participate in the Centenary celebrations of which 307 actually attended.

The official Centenary celebrations were held between 26 September-3 October 1907, however a series of preliminary field excursions to places such as the Lake District, Lyme Regis and the Forest of Dean were held in the preceding week. The Centenary celebrations were opened by a formal reception held at the Institution of Civil Engineers, at 11am on Thursday 26 September, where congratulatory telegrams from individuals and organisations from all over the world were read out. This was followed by a Presidential address at 3pm, and the day brought to a close by a dinner at the Whitehall Rooms, Hotel Metropole where further speeches were given. A Conversazione was organised for the Friday but short excursions and visits to places of interest were also available over the next few days to those who wished them. The Society's apartments were opened to the visitors: the Museum was converted to a conversation, writing and smoking room; the Council Room became a ladies' drawing room; and the Meeting Room was used as cloak room and dressing room. The Geological Society Club also hosted a dinner to entertain the foreign and colonial delegates on the evening of Friday 27 September. The celebrations were rounded off by a visit to Oxford and Cambridge Universities, where a number of the foreign delegates received honorary degrees.

One of the Geological Society's principal functions when it was formed was to hold scientific meetings where members could discuss the latest theories or discoveries in the field of geology. The original meetings were referred to as 'Ordinary General Meetings' or 'Ordinary Meetings' (see series GSL/OM), however by the 1970s the meeting format had changed, being more likely themed around a specific topic and hence developing into the 'Special' scientific meetings which are now held. These 'Special' meetings may be jointly sponsored by other bodies or held over a series of days. The series also includes national or international conferences which have some Geological Society involvement.

At the second meeting of the Society in December 1807, a Committee of Trustees was appointed to draw up the rules for the regulation of the fledgling body and instructions to the honorary members to accompany notice of their election. Proposals by this Committee and the various sub-committees which were in existence at the time, were submitted to its Members for discussion at the regular Ordinary General Meetings. However in 1810 it was decided to replace the Committee of Trustees with a more formal Council, leaving the OGMs solely for the discussion of papers and the election of new members. The first members of Council were appointed on 1 June 1810, holding their inaugural meeting two weeks later on the 14 June.

Council is still responsible for the management and direction of all the affairs of the Society.

From the earliest years of the Society, small committees were formed with specific organisational remits. The Committee of Trustees, appointed at the end of 1807, was the first, its task was to draw up the rules for the regulation of the fledgling Society and instructions to the honorary members to accompany notice of their election. When the Council was established in June 1810, the various 'standing' (that is permanent) committees tasked with overseeing the management of the Society's apartments, maps, publications, etc were formally appointed by and therefore reported to this senior body. Additionally 'Special' committees were formed on an ad hoc basis to deal with a specific issue or project, such as the refurbishment of the Society's apartments or the appointment of new staff, which could not necessarily be dealt with in the day to day business of one of the standing committees.

As the Society grew in size and complication, the 'Special' committees were more likely to be established as permanent committees of their own, however they would report to the hierarchy of the specific major standing committee which had appointed it rather than to Council.

With various reorganisations over the years and adaptations to modern management requirements, the names and functions of the standing committees has been frequently subject to change, with committees merging or being replaced by others.

Up until the late 1990s, the Elected Officers (ie Treasurer, Foreign Secretary, Honorary Secretaries, etc) were far more involved in the day to day running of the Geological Society. Depending on their office and interest, each would act as chair on particular committees.

Historically the Assistant Secretary, later Permanent Secretary, was the first point of contact with the Society (besides the President and members of Council) and as the post holder also acted as editor of the Journal and occasionally the Librarian and Curator, the majority of the day to day correspondence and administration came through his office. By the late 1960s, the role had developed into what is now the Executive Secretary (essentially the Chief Executive of the Society), and although the postholder no longer has editorial duties, the office is still the central administrative department of the organisation. However it should be noted as some functions of the Society have developed, specific departments have been established to take over the running of some of these tasks, such as the Conference Office which now organises the scientific meetings. The Executive Secretary still ultimately oversees these subsidiary departments as well as sitting on most of the Society's major standing committees, therefore the Executive Secretary series still reflects most of the Society's functions.

Like other learned societies, establishing a membership body formed of like minded individuals was one of the core aims of the Geological Society of London when it was established in 1807. Up until 1825, when the Society was granted its Royal Charter, there were only two categories of membership - Ordinary Members and Honorary Members (the latter category modified to 'Foreign' Members from December 1814).

To become an Ordinary Member, a candidate had to be first proposed and recommended by at least three existing members, one of whom should personally know the prospective member. The proposal was in the form of an admission certificate, usually completed by the main proposer, which would be displayed in one of the public rooms of the Society. Voting would take place at the specified Ordinary Meeting, whereby if the candidate received approval from at least two thirds of the attendees he would be accepted as a new member. If he was not successful, his admission form would be destroyed. New members would pay a joining fee and sign a form obligating themselves to promote the aims of the Geological Society of London. Members who lived within a 20 mile radius of London would pay an additional annual fee, not applicable to those living outside of London as presumably they were less likely to use the Society's facilities.

Distinguished mineralogists and persons who had by their communications or contributions promoted the objects of the Society could be proposed as Honorary/Foreign Members. The system for proposal was similar to that of Ordinary Members but instead at least five existing members had to propose the candidate. Honorary Members did not pay the joining fee or annual subscription but could use the Society's facilities such as the Library or Museum, although they were not allowed to vote.

After the Society's official incorporation in 1826, the categories of membership were modified slightly to reflect the new Royal Charter - Ordinary Members became 'Fellows' but the honorary category of Foreign Member remained. It should be noted that it was not until the mid 20th century that formal qualifications were required for entry as a Fellow of the Geological Society of London. Additionally women were not allowed to join until 1919, the first official female Fellow being Margaret Chorley Crosfield who was elected in May of that year.

In 1863 a new category of honorary membership was introduced - Foreign Correspondent. A stage below Foreign Member, a Foreign Correspondent had to have distinguished himself as a geological investigator or communicated extensively with the Society but 'be a native of the British Dominions or of their dependencies, or be domiciliated therein'. Foreign Correspondents had no privileges at the Society, but from their rank would be elected Foreign Members who were not allowed to propose candidates, vote at general meetings or to fill any office at the Society, but were entitled to exercise all other privileges allowed to Fellows. There was a quota of 40 Foreign Correspondents and 40 Foreign Members allowed at one time, and as they didn't pay neither category of member needed to actually turn up to the Society in person. In 1974, the category was merged and renamed 'Honorary Fellow', limited to a maximum of 100, with not more than 15 coming from the UK.

Apart from Fellow and Honorary Fellow, the Society now offers another four grades of membership: Junior Candidate Fellow (for secondary school children between the ages 16-18); Candidate Fellow, previously Junior Associateship (for geology undergraduates, first introduced in 1945); Chartered Geologist (open to Fellows of the Society with no less than five years' postgraduate experience); European Geologist (licensed by the European Federation of Geologists and open to Chartered Geologists); and Chartered Scientist (licensed by the Science Council, open to those Fellows who have moved out of mainstream geological work since completing higher education, but who wish to register themselves as high calibre scientists and teachers of science).

The Geological Society had originally formed as a 'Geological Dinner Club' at the Freemason's Tavern, Great Queen Street, London, on the 13 November 1807. However whilst the Society flourished, attendance at the Dining Club rapidly declined. A fine of 10s 6d was imposed for non attendance without prior warning, but by 1809 the total stood at £37 16s of which only £6 6s had been received. By around 1811, meetings of the Club had ceased.

The present Club was revived in 1824 by 30 members of the Society, some of whom had attended the previous Club. The first meeting was held at the Thatched House Tavern, St James' Street, on 5 November 1824. The rules on establishment limited membership to 40, however this number was never achieved during its early years and was reduced to 36 members in 1836. From 1904, the membership was gradually raised and by 1999 stood at 202 members.

Fellowship of the Society was, from the first, an essential qualification, however subsequent classes of supernumerary and honorary ranks were introduced later. Guests could be invited, unless the dinners were 'closed meetings' which could only be attended by Club members. In 1973, it was decided that most of the dinners, except for closed meetings, could be open events, that is attended by any Fellow of the Society.

Traditionally, meetings were held on the evenings of every Ordinary Meeting of the Society, but are now monthly.

The Library of the Geological Society is considered to have been founded in 1809, when on 3 March of that year it was noted that 'presents have been made of some works on Geology and Mineralogy'. Much of the initial collection came through donations from Members and authors or exchanges with other organisations, and from the earliest period users could borrow material.

When the Society moved to Somerset House in 1828 the modest 1,000 or so volumes of the Library were housed in a single room. The Museum collections, on the other hand, were spread around the apartments, eventually taking up the entire second floor and part of the third as well as being displayed along the staircases and hall. However by the 1860s, the Library collection had multiplied at a far greater rate than the Museum, with books having to be housed in the Assistant Secretary's room, Meeting Room, Tea-Room and Council Room. Indeed by then, the Fellows considered the Library collections as being more important than the Museum. In 1869 (in preparation for the Society's move to Burlington House in 1874), the Museum collection was slimmed down and restricted to only those specimens which directly related to a published paper, however it still took up the majority of the second floor of the new apartments. As its use by Fellows gradually decreased, it was decided at the end of the 19th century that the Museum should be disposed of and the space be used instead to house the Library. Referred to as the 'Upper Library' (as opposed to the original 'Lower Library'), from 1911 it has been the main Library space for readers, housing the most heavily used material. Nowadays the Library collection consists of around 300,000 volumes of monographs, periodicals and textbooks.

The first 'Librarian' was Thomas Webster, who oversaw the Library alongside his duties as Keeper of the Museum, secretary, Journal editor, etc. His successor William Lonsdale was appointed in 1829, and the first extensive catalogues date from his tenure. On Lonsdale's final retirement in 1842, Edward Forbes took over the duties as Librarian and Curator, succeeded in 1844 by David Thomas Ansted. When Ansted's duties were revised, becoming Vice-Secretary, James de Carle Sowerby became Curator and Librarian between 1846-1848. There followed: James Nicol (1847-1850); Thomas Rupert Jones (1850-1862); Henry Michael Jenkins (1862-1868); William Sweetland Dallas (1869-1890); Louis Belinfante (1890-1916); C P Chatwin (1916-1919); Arthur Greig (1919-?1939); Emelyn Eastwood (1939-1946); Pamela Robinson (1946-1947); Miss A Barber (1947-1960); Mrs C E Nash (1960); Miss Ann M Paddick (1960-1962); Mrs J L Green (1962-1965); Mrs A M Tyler (1965-1970); Mrs Edeltraud Nutt (1970-1987).

From its earliest days, the Geological Society collected specimens. Unlike rival collections at the British Museum and other learned bodies, the Society's Museum was intended to be comprehensive. Access was restricted to members of the Society but it was to be of use to both beginners and accomplished geologists. The rudimentary Museum was first laid out in 1809, when the Society moved to its first premises at 4 Garden Court, Temple. However even after the move to a larger house in Lincoln's Inn Fields a year later there was still not enough space to adequately store the specimens.

By 1810 the Museum was in disarray, with new specimens piling up and the existing collection still not catalogued fully. At the first meeting of Council, 14 June 1810, it was resolved that Leonard Horner, Wilson Lowry, Comte de Bournon and Peter Mark Roget would form a 'Committee of Arrangement' to take charge of the collection. In 1812 it was decided to appoint the Society's first paid member of staff, Thomas Webster who had been a Member of the Society since 1809, as (part-time) Keeper of the Museum. Webster's role was not curatorial, instead he was charged with unpacking and registering the specimens which would then be catalogued by the Committee of Arrangement. Webster was overwhelmed with the workload as he also had to fit in his additional duties of honorary secretary, librarian, journal editor as well as keeping an eye on the accounts.

Originally the specimens in the Museum were arranged by country - the British specimens being then subdivided by county. From 1813 the collection began to be arranged stratigraphically, echoing the fossil theories of William Smith. However not all members of the Society agreed with the new layout, and Webster was caught between opposing scientific factions who continually criticised his work. His unpopularity amongst a number of senior Fellows of the Society such as George Bellas Greenough and Charles Lyell when added to the scandal of a clerk absconding with £63 from the sales of the 'Transactions' in 1827, meant that when the remodelled post of 'Curator' was created that year, Webster was not offered it. Webster left on 1 July 1827, later referring to the Society's officers as 'a bad lot'.

Instead the first Curator in 1829 was William Lonsdale. Like Webster, Lonsdale also acted as assistant secretary, editor, librarian and finance officer but at least was employed full time. Lonsdale's appointment was viewed by all as a great success, however he was relieved of his curatorial duties in 1836 when his health broke down from overwork. Between 1839 and 1848 there followed five Curators but this high turnover of staff meant that much of the work was either unfocused or unfinished. In order to try and sort out the ongoing problems in the Museum, various ad hoc Special Museum Committees were formed. Leonard Horner, under the aegis of one of these Special Committees finally managed to get the Museum under some sort of control by the mid 1860s but this happy state of affairs was short lived.

By 1869, it was decided to abandon attempts to form a comprehensive collection. Instead specimens should directly relate to papers read at the Society, resulting in a virtual halt in donations of any kind. The move to Burlington House gave the impetus to thoroughly weed and catalogue the collection again, but after Bernard B Woodward who had overseen the relocation resigned in 1876, the collection received only cursory attention.

In 1895, the Council accepted that a large portion of the collection should be donated to the British Museum but the decision was indefinitely postponed after a special general meeting the following year. However another special general meeting was called by a group of palaeontologists in 1901 to try and force the Council to take better care of the Museum, but their plan backfired and instead a motion was carried that the Museum should be disposed of. This caused a flurry of interest in the Museum, with a threefold increase in visitors and loan requests. John Frederick Blake even produced a catalogue of the whole Museum, published at his own expense as 'List of the Types and Figured Specimens...in the Collection of the Geological Society of London', London (1902).

Finally, after another two special general meetings held on 25 January and 14 June 1911, it was resolved that the Museum should be disposed of and the space used by the Library. The contents were divided between the British Museum (now the Natural History Museum) and the Museum of Practical Geology (part of the British Geological Survey). The British Museum received the foreign specimens, while the domestic collection was given to the other institution. A number of specimens were retained by the Society but only a few remain, notably the ichthyosaur skull found by Mary Anning in Lyme Regis (now in the entrance lobby of the Society's Apartments) and a Pleistocene rhinocerus skull given by William Buckland in 1820 (on the second floor). The Museum space became the Upper Library, but some of the supports for the specimen drawers can still be seen on a number of its shelves.

Traditionally, if a Fellow is still a member of the Society when they die they received a formal, Society obituary which was published in one of the Society's serial publications. These obituaries have not been collated as they are easily retrievable in their published form. Instead this series consists of externally published obituaries or orders of service for Fellows and some members of staff which were mostly collected from the 1990s by Library staff. There is some material which is older, found loose among the backlog of other material and which has been added for ease of use.

It should be noted that the series will include ex members of the Society who resigned their Fellowship at some point before their death, but were kept for informational reasons.

The Geological Society was founded on 13 November 1807 for the purpose of 'making Geologists acquainted with each other, of stimulating their zeal, of inducing them to adopt one nomenclature, of facilitating the communication of new facts, and of ascertaining what is known in their science, and what yet remains to be discovered'. (GSL/OM/1/1, p1) This would be primarily achieved by holding regular meetings where members, later Fellows, could read papers or communications, show specimens and maps or donate material to the burgeoning Museum and Library. These 'Ordinary' meetings were initially held at the Freemason's Tavern until the Society acquired its own premises in 1809.

In its early days, all business concerning the running of the Society was discussed at the Ordinary Meetings, including the proposal and election of new Fellows. However, much of the overall responsibility for the management of the Society's affairs was taken over by Council which was first appointed on 1 June 1810.

By 1810, Ordinary Meetings were being held twice a month from November to June [the summer being a period when field trips would be undertaken], and overseen by the President of the Society. Non members could attend as long as they were introduced by a Fellow, however women were not admitted until the turn of the next century. There was a two year period during Leonard Horner's presidency (1860-1862) in which women were reportedly allowed as guests, but this attempt was seen as relatively unsuccessful as it was mainly Horner's daughters who came. Although the issue was raised on a frequent basis, it was not until 1901 when Archibald Geikie introduced two women to an Ordinary Meeting that the matter was settled. Women were finally be allowed to become full Fellows in 1919.

The Ordinary Meeting format had changed by the 1970s, the meetings being themed around a specific topic and hence developing into the special scientific meetings which are now held. However the bye-laws of the Society stipulate that only certain business, such as the election of new members and calls for Special General Meetings, can be held at Ordinary General Meetings. As the meetings calendar gradually moved away from the traditional Ordinary Meetings, the procedures of the OGM were inserted into other meeting events, especially during the 1990s. OGMs are now held five times a year after each meeting of Council, the only business essentially now conducted is the admission of new members.

Note: as Ordinary Meetings were, for the most part, held in the evening they are sometimes referred to as 'Evening Meetings' in the archival record.

From the beginnings of the Society, Members donated specimens, books and illustrations to the Library and Museum collections. The earliest mention of a portrait image being given was Louis Albert Necker's donation of an engraving of his maternal grandfather Horace Benedict de Saussure in December 1811 [no longer extant].

The Society also holds larger oil paintings and portrait busts of its Fellows, again acquired through donation or by purchase. However from the 1860s onwards, when commercial photography became more available, the Society actively sought to collect images of its Fellows probably inspired by a printed notice issued by the photographer's studio Maull and Polyblank announcing the formation of a carte de visite series of Geological Society Fellows (LDGSL/332). The majority of the images in the portrait collection derive from this series, stopping around the First World War. After the 1930s, and up until the 1990s, portraits were generally only collected of Presidents of the Society.

A Special General Meeting (SGM) could be called at any time for the purpose of taking special matters relating to the business of the Society into consideration. A certain period of notice had to be given to all Fellows who were resident in the United Kingdom, and no other business could be discussed other than that for which the meeting was called. Special General Meetings were mostly concerned with establishing, modifying or repealing orders or byelaws.

SGMs were abolished in 2001.

At the Geological Society's Council meeting on 1 November 1972 it was decided to set up a working party to study the feasibility of maintaining a professional register of geologists. The Society's Council established a 14-strong Working Party on Professional Recognition which first met on 2 January 1973 and reported to Council in March 1974. Their report recognized that professional bodies carried out important functions in regulating the professions, however no existing professional body was deemed an appropriate institution for all geologists to become members. Consequently, the Working Party recommended that a professional body should be established for all geologists.

The Association for the Promotion of an Institution of Professional Geologists, more usually known by its initial letters APIPG, was established by the members of the Working Party, by now acting independently of the Society's Council but with its support. The first meeting of APIPG was a regional meeting held in Plymouth on 3 January 1975. It was followed by a series of eight more regional meetings held in locations around the country. The formal Inaugural Meeting of the Association took place on 24 March 1975 at the Scientific Society's Lecture Theatre in Savile Row, London. At this meeting, a Committee was formally elected to serve for two years with the sole objective of forming an Institution for Professional Geologists. In the event the process took a little longer with the new professional body being created 35 months after the Savile Row meeting. Over that period support from the geological community grew steadily from 620 members in mid-1975 to 963 in mid-1976, and by the end of APIPG's existence there were 1146 members.

By the end of 1977 the Institution of Geologists was fully established in embryonic form. The Institution of Geologists registered as a company limited by guarantee without share capital, a form of organization shared by a number of other professional institutions. It was incorporated in August 1977 with the subscribers being the APIPG Committee. The membership of APIPG voted for the organization to be disbanded and replaced by the Institution of Geologists at a meeting held in the Midland Hotel Birmingham on 24 February 1978.

The highest grade of membership in most professional institutions is termed "Fellow". Initially, IG had only one grade of corporate member (that of Member). By June 1985 however, Council decided to initiate a higher grade of corporate and nominated the former Presidents and Chairmen of Council as six Founding Fellows. A further fourteen members of IG were nominated by this group to form a Founding Fellows "college" of twenty. A Trust Fund was established in 1986 to commemorate the memory of three distinguished geologists who were also Founding Fellows of the Institution and died within a relatively short time of each other. The fund, known as the Distinguished Fellows Memorial Trust, was used to assist young geologists, particularly those in industrial employment, in their professional development by contributing towards travel costs to attend conferences or to gain experience in other appropriate ways.

In 1983, the IG Council decided to enquire of its members what they expected from the Institution in order to establish priorities in planning the development of IG. A questionnaire was sent to the regional groups to ask them to canvas opinion and provide a response to Council. The unanimous answer was that the prime objective should be the acquisition of a Royal Charter which would bestow on the Institution the ability to create the title Chartered Geologist. In January 1984 a committee was established under the chairmanship of Howard Headworth, to investigate how this goal could be achieved. In January 1986 a draft charter was sent to the Privy Council for informal comment. As the document referred to the possibility of a future unification between the IG and the Geological Society, the Privy Council refused to consider the petition as the Geological Society already had its own Royal Charter. Instead they recommended that the petition should be placed on hold until the possibility of any merger between the two organizations was resolved.

The Institution approached the Geological Society to explore a possible merger. A joint Co-operation Committee was established, comprising three senior members of each organization and chaired by Professor Howel Francis as someone seen as neutral by both sides. The first meeting of the joint Co-operation Committee was held in January 1987 and agreed that the unification of the Geological Society and the Institution of Geologists was the proper goal for the two organizations, both in their own interests and that of the geological community in Britain. Negotiations between the IG and GS even included the concept that the new body should have a new name but that was not possible without changing the Society's Royal Charter. In the end, the IG merged with the Society losing some of its identity in the process and with its name disappearing altogether.

With the reunification 259 members of the Institution who had not been Fellows of the Society applied for and were granted fellowship, and some 586 corporate members of the Institution became the first Chartered Geologists even before the reunification process was completed. The total membership of IG at the time of the reunification was 1745, comprising 32 Fellows, 731 Corporate Members, 674 Associate Members, 9 Technician Geologists, 6 Technical Associates, 42 Affiliates and 251 Students.

A vote at IG's AGM on 10 March 1990 at the University of Birmingham saw the demise of IG as a separate organization, and at the beginning of 1991 the Institution of Geologists formally unified with the Geological Society.

Kenneth Oakley was born on 7 April 1911 at Amersham, Buckinghamshire. He attended Challoner's Grammar School and University College School before enrolling at University College London where he graduated with a first class honours BSc in geology (with anthropology as a subsidiary subject) in 1933, as well as gaining the Rosa Morison memorial medal. Oakley began his PhD at the University of London in 1933, but did not complete his research until 1938 due to his appointment to the geological survey in 1934 and his post as an assistant keeper in geology (palaeontology) at the Natural History Museum the following year. The Natural History Museum would be where Oakley spent the rest of his working life, except for a war service secondment to the geological survey.

Oakley became a Fellow of the Society in 1934, gaining the Wollaston Fund award in 1941 and the Prestwich Medal in 1963.

In 1955, Oakley became head of the new sub-department of anthropology within the department of anthropology and held the title of deputy keeper (anthropology) from 1959 to 1969. However he developed multiple sclerosis, which forced his premature retirement. Although eventually confined to a wheelchair, Oakley continued to study and publish work on anthropology until his death on 2 November 1981.

Oakley's major area of interest was in early hominid fossils, particularly the use of technologies to date finds. In the 1940s, he began work with various colleagues on methods of dating bone by analysis of fluorine content. One of the early results of this technique, was finding that a supposedly Middle Pleistocene human skeleton from Galley Hill, Swanscombe, was actually much younger than the gravels in which it was found. This fluorine dating method would lead to, arguably, Oakley's most important contribution to science - the exposure of the Piltdown fraud.

At an Ordinary Meeting of the Geological Society, held on 18 December 1912, Charles Dawson and Arthur Smith Woodward, Keeper of Geology at the Natural History Museum, presented the first paper on the discoveries found in a shallow gravel pit at Barkham Manor, near Piltdown in Sussex. According to the two men, they had found an early hominid skull and jaw along with other mammalian fossils which Woodward had dated to around 400,000 years old. The large cranial capacity of the skull alongside an ape like jaw saw the discovery being hailed as the missing link between humans and primates - Piltdown Man.

In 1953, using the fluorine dating techniques which had been developed, Oakley along with colleagues C R Hoskins, J S Weiner and W E Le Gros Clark, tested the Piltdown remains and found that the skull fragments were not as ancient as originally claimed. The cranium was around 500 years old and the jaw came from an orangutan, but its teeth had been filed down to mimic a human like wear pattern.

Charles Henry Lardner Woodd was elected a Fellow on 20 May 1846 but despite being a member until his death in 1893, never submitted a geological paper to the Society. However he was a gifted artist and the eight drawings in this series show the geological features around Cromarty and Assynt in Scotland which were recorded throughout the month of August 1847 when he appears to have been following in the footsteps of the famous Scottish geologist Hugh Miller (1802-1856). At least two of the drawings make reference to 'Miss Allardyce' who is likely to be Catherine Allardyce, one of Miller's social circle in the town of Cromarty.

James Ford was a mining engineer and colliery agent, often working as a consultant. Working in the Midlands and having premises in Doncaster, Newark, and Mold (Wales) between the early 1900s and the late 1920s, he claimed to be the first man to discover the oil strata in England while superintending coal borings in Kelham, Nottinghamshire, in August 1911, at which time he was in a syndicate with Maurice Deacon and C R Hewitt, and advising The Newark Collieries and The Newark Coal and Oil Company. These borings also provided evidence for the eastern extension of the Nottinghamshire Coalfield. The discovery does not appear to have amounted to anything at the time, though oil was later extracted from the area in the 1940s.

In the mid-1920s he became part of a company named the Lincolnshire Coal Boring Syndicate, which had plans to bore for coal and build a power station nearby, thus minimising the expense needed to transport the coal to the power station and resulting in cheap electricity production.

He was a member of the Midlands chapter of the Institution of Mining Engineers (now part of IOM3), and a Fellow of the Geological Society between 1911 and 1936.

Sir Jethro Justinian Harris Teall was born on 5 January 1849, the only child of Jethro Teall, at Northleach, Gloucestershire. He attended Berkeley Villa School followed by St John's College Cambridge, where he turned from mathematics to geology and was taught by Thomas Bonney and Adam Sedgwick. He was the first recipient of the Sedgwick prize for geology in 1874, after which he became a fellow (1875) and taught under the university extension scheme, as well as carrying out petrographic research.

He was particularly interested in metamorphic minerals and the crystallization of magmas, leading him to produce his celebrated work 'British Petrography' (1888), which was partially illustrated by his wife Harriet. In 1888 he joined the Geological Survey of Great Britain, becoming its director from 1901 to 1914, when he retired. During this time he extended the Survey's activities and enhanced its utility and educational value.

Teall was elected Fellow of the Geological Society in 1873, and spent time as secretary (1893-1897) and president (1900-1902). He also received the Bigsby and the Wollaston medals (1889 and 1905). Other recognitions include the presidency of the Geologists' Association (1898-1900), Fellowship of the Royal Society (1890), the Delesse prize from the Académie des Sciences (1907), and honorary doctorates from Oxford, Cambridge, Dublin, and St Andrews, in addition to his knighthood (1916). He died on 2 July 1924.

Janet Vida Watson was born in London on 1 September 1923, the daughter of D. M. S. Watson FRS, the palaeontologist, and K. M. Watson (née Parker) D.Sc. She was educated privately and at South Hampstead High School, a school chosen by her parents for the high quality of its science teaching for girls. She studied for her B.Sc. in General Science at Reading University 1940-1943, graduating with first class honours. Watson spent 1943-1944 working at the National Institute for Research in Dairying at Reading and 1944-1945 teaching biology at Wentworth School, Bournemouth. In 1945 she entered Imperial College London to study for a B.Sc. in Geology. She graduated in 1947, again with first class honours.

In 1946, on the advice of Professor H. H. Read, she undertook a mapping project in the Highlands of Scotland, initiating her lasting interest in Highland geology. On graduation she registered as a Ph.D. student supported by a Department of Scientific and Industrial Research studentship and, again on the advice of Professor Read, studied the Lewisian complex in the Scourie area of north west Scotland. At the same time John Sutton, another postgraduate student of Read, was working on the Lewisian complex in the Torridon area. Watson and Sutton reached very similar conclusions and the results of their work were written up in a joint paper. Watson and Sutton married in June 1949.

After receiving her Ph.D. in 1949 Watson was awarded a three year Senior Research Fellowship by the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851. In 1952 she took up a Research Assistantship under H. H. Read at Imperial College, a post she held until 1973 when she was appointed Senior Lecturer. She was employed on a part-time basis 1956-1974, having also to look after her elderly parents and parents-in-law. In 1974 Watson was appointed to a personal Chair in Geology at Imperial College and on her retirement in 1983 became Professor emeritus and Senior Research Fellow.

Watson's professional and public responsibilities also included service as President of Section C of the British Association 1972, membership of the National Water Council 1973-1976 and service on project 86 of the International Geological Correlation Programme surveying the south western border of the East European platform. In connection with the latter she made a number of visits to East Germany in the 1970s and 1980s.

Watson's first geological research was undertaken as an undergraduate at Imperial College on the Moine metamorphic rocks of the Strath Kildonan area in Scotland. This was followed by her postgraduate work with John Sutton on the Lewisian granite of north west Scotland. This research, which identified two successive Pre-Cambrian tectonic provinces, initiated a new stage in studies of Lewisian rocks and Watson continued to work on Lewisian rocks during her tenure of the 1851 Senior Research Fellowship. From this developed a more general study of the geology of northern Scotland, with which Sutton was involved, but Watson moved on to study of the evolution of the Scottish Caledonides. This research was concentrated on the north east Scottish coast (Banffshire). In the later 1960s Watson returned to work on the Lewisian rocks of Scotland (with particular reference to the Outer Hebrides), and she and her research students collaborated with the Highlands Unit of the Institute of Geological Sciences (IGS, later British Geological Survey) on geological mapping of the Outer Hebrides. The late 1970s saw Watson move into new fields of research. She studied ore-forming processes as an aspect of Pre-Cambrian crustal evolution and from 1977 was involved with joint work with Jane Plant of the IGS on the regional distribution of uranium in relation to the structural evolution of northern Scotland. This work took the well-known technique of stream sediment sampling and used it for investigation of fundamental geochemical problems. In addition from the mid-1970s to the early 1980s Watson also undertook collaborative research with IGS staff on the effects of diagenesis and hydrothermal activity in the post-Caledonian evolution of Scotland.

In recognition of her contributions to geology the Geological Society of London awarded her the Moiety of the Lyell Fund (jointly with Sutton) in 1954, the Bigsby Medal (again jointly with Sutton) in 1965 and the Lyell Medal in 1973. From 1982 to 1984 she was President of the Geological Society, the first woman to hold this office. In 1979 Watson was elected to the Fellowship of the Royal Society and was appointed a Vice President of the Society in 1983.

Arthur Greig was born in London on 5 January 1893. One of eleven children, his formal education was not prolonged, but a schoolmaster had inspired him with an interest in books and ideas. On 13 October 1908, Greig joined the Society's staff (which then numbered only three) at the age of 15 on probation as an 'extra assistant in Library and Office'. He had been introduced to the Society by the then Clerk, Clyde Henderson Black, who was a neighbour and friend of the family. Greig's appointment was confirmed on 1 January 1909 as 'Assistant in Library, Office and Museum' at a salary of two shillings per week.

Following the outbreak of World War One in August 1914, Greig enlisted in the London Scottish Regiment and was posted overseas in March 1915. Apart from three months at an Officer Cadet School in Cambridge, Greig served with the infantry in France. Commissioned from the rank of sergeant in December 1916, he was demobilised in 1919, as a Captain.

On his return to the Society, he was promoted in October 1919 to Librarian. After C H Black's resignation as Clerk in April 1923, Greig was additionally given charge of the Library and Office with an assistant in each. In January 1931 he succeeded L L Belinfante as Assistant Secretary of the Society and editor of the Quarterly Journal. He was called up to serve again as a reserve officer in the Second World War, however his military duties involved aerodrome defence in South East England, guarding the Tower of London, which enabled him to keep in touch with Society business and continue his editorial duties. He was finally demobilised with the rank of Major. Greig retired as Assistant Secretary in 1961, but continued to serve the Society - creating cumulative indexes for the Quarterly Journal and contributing to the 'Annual List of Geological Literature Added to the Society Library'. He only relinquished these duties at the age of 90 years old, due to failing eyesight.

Greig's remarkable contribution to the Society was marked by his award of the Wollaston Fund in 1951, his award of an MBE in 1959 (nominated by the Society) and his election as Fellow on 8 May 1963, later becoming an Honorary Fellow on 29 April 1981. Arthur Greig died on 16 February 1989.

The provenance of the slides is unclear, they were found in a damp and dirty 'potting shed' presumably in the late 1990s and subsequently donated to the Society in 2001. At least half of the slides were either taken by Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy or reflect his interests at the turn of the 19th/20th century and additionally include a number by Ethel Partridge who became his first wife in 1902.

Robert Millner Shackleton was born in Purley, Surrey, on 30 December 1909. He was educated at the Quakers' (Society of Friends) Sidcot School in Somerset and the University of Liverpool, graduating B.Sc. Geology with First Class Honours in 1930. He went on to research at Liverpool under P.G.H. Boswell on the geology of the Moel Hebog area of Snowdonia in North Wales (Ph.D. 1934), then won a Beit Fellowship at Imperial College London 1932-1934. In 1935 he was appointed Chief Geologist to Whitehall Exploration Ltd in Fiji but returned to Imperial College as Lecturer in Geology in 1936.

In 1940 Shackleton was appointed a geologist in the Mining and Geological Department of Kenya, as part of the wartime strategic planning programme. He surveyed widely throughout Kenya producing reports for the Geological Survey of Kenya on the areas of Malikisi, North Kavirondo, Nyeri, the Migori Gold Belt, and Nanyuki and Maralal. His studies extended into the geometry of the orogenic belts of East Africa and the volcanism that produced the Rift System. In 1942 the archaeologist Mary Leakey discovered prehistoric human artefacts at Olorgesailie, a lower Palaeolithic (Acheulean) site southwest of Nairobi. In the mid-1940s Mary and L.S.B. Leakey excavated the site and Shackleton collaborated with the investigations, preparing geological maps of the area around the Olorgesailie site and the area between Olorgesailie and Ngong.

Shackleton returned to Imperial College in 1945 and was offered a Professorship there. However, he thought the department too unmanageable and in 1948 returned to Liverpool as the Herdman Professor of Geology. In his time in the Herdman chair, he re-organised the Liverpool geology department and put it at the forefront of geological research in Britain. In 1962, in order to increase his opportunities for research in Africa, Shackleton became Professor of Geology in the University of Leeds and joined the staff of the Research Institute of African Geology (serving as Director from 1965 until retirement). For the year 1970-1971 Shackleton was Royal Society Leverhulme Visiting Professor of Geology at the Haile Selassie University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He formally retired in 1975 but was Research Fellow at the Open University from 1977 until his death and remained very active in field geology.

Shackleton's influence on his profession was profound. His achievements were recognized by the award of the Silver Medal of the Liverpool Geological Society (1957) and the Murchison Medal of the Geological Society of London (1970), and his election to the Fellowship of the Royal Society (1971). His Royal Society citation recorded that he was:

'Well-known for his contributions to the study of crystalline rocks, more particularly of rock deformation and large scale tectonics. A versatile pioneer in investigation of the Caledonides of Wales and western Ireland, of Rift Valley vulcanicity and Pre-Cambrian tectonics. His papers and discussions have influenced much recent work in these fields in which he has trained many of the younger British workers. Of particular importance have been his work on Tertiary volcanics in Kenya, his understanding of the Pre-Cambrian of eastern and central Affica.-and his acqounts of Dairadian structures and deposits'.

Shackleton produced some 160 scientific papers and through encouragement of younger colleagues exerted a deep influence on several generations of geologists. He had an extremely wide knowledge of his subject, from the origins of the Earth to the evolution of man. Although his earlier work had focused on the British Isles, he developed a particular interest in the geology of East Africa. Shackleton initiated structural studies across orogenic belts in Tarizania-Zambia-Malawi (in the late 1960s), major studies across the Limpopo Belt and adjacent Archaean greenstone belts of Zimbabwe-Botswana-South Africa (in the 1970s) and projects across the orogenic systems of Egypt, Sudan and Kenya (in the early 1980s). Just prior to his death he was working on a detai led compilation of the Pre-Cambrian geology of East Africa. Shackleton's interests were global, however, and continuing research interests included the Pre-Cambrian geology of Arabia and the tectonics of the central and western Himalayas. At the age of 75 he led a pioneering Royal Society geological traverse across Tibet, in collaboration with the Academica Sinica, Beijing.

Shackleton died on 3 May 2001. He married three times and left five children (two sons and three daughters), including the distinguished geoscientist Professor Sir Nicholas Shackleton (1937-2006).