Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- [1865-1872] (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
17 maps
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Frederic William Harmer was born on 24 April 1835 in Norwich. His father, Thomas Harmer, was a partner in the local clothes manufacturing company Harmer and Rivett. At the age of 15, Frederic joined the family firm and would eventually change the firm's name to F W Harmer and Co.
The early period of his life was focussed on business, but in 1864 he met the younger Valentine Searles Wood (1830-1884) on the Mundesley shore and began a firm friendship and geological partnership. Together they studied the Pliocene deposits, the fauna of which was then being described in the monographs of the Palaeontographical Society ('The Crag Mollusca') by Searles Wood the elder. The Drift deposits also engaged their attention, and between them the two men surveyed an area of 2000 square miles, Harmer undertaking the survey of Norfolk and Northern Suffolk. Their map, produced on a scale of 1 inch to the mile, was claimed to be the first 'drift' map of the kind.
The prolonged illness and then death of the younger Searles Wood in 1884, and his reluctance to study geology alone, saw Harmer devoting the next few years to municipal duties and politics of the day. However a disagreement over the question of Irish Home Rule, caused Harmer to return whole-heartedly to geology.
His later work concerned the Tertiary and Quaternary deposits of East Anglia and the Continent, and comparing the Pliocene sequence in Britain with that in Holland and Belgium. He devoted the last few years of his life updating the 'Monograph of the Crag Mollusca'. Harmer died on 11 April 1923.
He became a Fellow of the Geological Society in 1869, and was awarded the Murchison Medal in 1902 in recognition of his work on the Pliocene and other deposits of East Anglia.
Repository
Archival history
GB 378 LDGSL/714 [1865-1872] Series 17 maps HARMER , Frederic William , 1835-1923 , palaeontologist
Frederic William Harmer was born on 24 April 1835 in Norwich. His father, Thomas Harmer, was a partner in the local clothes manufacturing company Harmer and Rivett. At the age of 15, Frederic joined the family firm and would eventually change the firm's name to F W Harmer and Co.
The early period of his life was focussed on business, but in 1864 he met the younger Valentine Searles Wood (1830-1884) on the Mundesley shore and began a firm friendship and geological partnership. Together they studied the Pliocene deposits, the fauna of which was then being described in the monographs of the Palaeontographical Society ('The Crag Mollusca') by Searles Wood the elder. The Drift deposits also engaged their attention, and between them the two men surveyed an area of 2000 square miles, Harmer undertaking the survey of Norfolk and Northern Suffolk. Their map, produced on a scale of 1 inch to the mile, was claimed to be the first 'drift' map of the kind.
The prolonged illness and then death of the younger Searles Wood in 1884, and his reluctance to study geology alone, saw Harmer devoting the next few years to municipal duties and politics of the day. However a disagreement over the question of Irish Home Rule, caused Harmer to return whole-heartedly to geology.
His later work concerned the Tertiary and Quaternary deposits of East Anglia and the Continent, and comparing the Pliocene sequence in Britain with that in Holland and Belgium. He devoted the last few years of his life updating the 'Monograph of the Crag Mollusca'. Harmer died on 11 April 1923.
He became a Fellow of the Geological Society in 1869, and was awarded the Murchison Medal in 1902 in recognition of his work on the Pliocene and other deposits of East Anglia.
Papers of Frederic William Harmer, comprising maps of East Anglia, annotated with geological lines, notes and colouring, used as field maps during research into glacial deposits in the south east of England, in collaboration with Searles Valentine Wood jnr, [1862-1872]. Base maps are Ordnance Survey, one inch (Old Series) sheets nos 50-51, 65-69 (quarter sheets).
Access is by appointment only, daily readership fee is applicable unless you are a member of the Society. Please contact the Archivist for further information.
Copies, subject to copyright and the condition of the original, may be supplied. Requests to publish original material should be submitted to the Archivist.
English
Online, detailed catalogue will be available shortly.
For the field maps of Searles Valentine Wood jnr, see: LDGSL/713/2/3-8.
Other material relating to Frederic William Harmer include: Geological notebooks and correspondence, held by the British Geological Survey (refs: IGS1, IGS3, GSM1/512 ); Catalogues of fossils and autograph album containing 86 signatures cut from letters addressed to Harmer, held by the Natural History Museum (ref: L MSS HARM); 27 mineral specimens donated to the Norfolk Museum.
Sources: obituary, 'Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London', vol 80 (1924); www.museums.norfolk.gov.uk (accessed 4 October 2012); www.heritagecity.org (accessed 4 October 2012). Description Caroline Lam. Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997. October 2012. Geologists Research work Field work Surveys Geological surveys Surveying Cartography Geological mapping Scientists Scientific personnel Geology Harmer , Frederic William , 1835-1923 , palaeontologist Suffolk England UK Norfolk Personnel Western Europe People by occupation Europe People
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Papers of Frederic William Harmer, comprising maps of East Anglia, annotated with geological lines, notes and colouring, used as field maps during research into glacial deposits in the south east of England, in collaboration with Searles Valentine Wood jnr, [1862-1872]. Base maps are Ordnance Survey, one inch (Old Series) sheets nos 50-51, 65-69 (quarter sheets).
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Access is by appointment only, daily readership fee is applicable unless you are a member of the Society. Please contact the Archivist for further information.
Conditions governing reproduction
Copies, subject to copyright and the condition of the original, may be supplied. Requests to publish original material should be submitted to the Archivist.
Language of material
- English
Script of material
- Latin
Language and script notes
English
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
For the field maps of Searles Valentine Wood jnr, see: LDGSL/713/2/3-8.
Finding aids
Online, detailed catalogue will be available shortly.
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
Other material relating to Frederic William Harmer include: Geological notebooks and correspondence, held by the British Geological Survey (refs: IGS1, IGS3, GSM1/512 ); Catalogues of fossils and autograph album containing 86 signatures cut from letters addressed to Harmer, held by the Natural History Museum (ref: L MSS HARM); 27 mineral specimens donated to the Norfolk Museum.
Notes area
Alternative identifier(s)
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
Genre access points
Description control area
Description identifier
Institution identifier
Rules and/or conventions used
Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.
Status
Level of detail
Dates of creation revision deletion
Language(s)
- English