BARRETT , Lucas , 1837-1862 , geologist and oceanographer

Lucas Barrett was born on 14 November 1837 in London. He was the eldest son of George Barrett, an iron-founder of 247 Tottenham Court Road. In 1847 he was sent to school in Royston, Hertfordshire, where he collected fossils from the local chalk pits as a hobby. He transferred to University College School, in Gower Street, London, in 1851 but during the holidays he would stay with relatives in Cambridge and it was there he made the acquaintance of Adam Sedgwick for whom he would later work as Curator at the Woodwardian Museum in Cambridge between 1855-1859.

It was during Barrett's time as Woodwardian Curator that he published his geological map of the Cambridge. First issued in 1857, it was reprinted a number of times over the years.

Barrett was elected Fellow of the Geological Society in 1855.