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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.