Benjamin Neeve Peach (6 September 1842 – 29 January 1926) was a British geologist.

Life

Peach was born at Gorran Haven in Cornwall on 6 September 1842 to Jemima Mabson and

Charles William Peach Charles William Peach ALS (30 September 1800 – 28 February 1886) was a British naturalist and geologist. He discovered fossils in Cornwall, after it had been stated by the geologists William Conybeare, that there were no fossil-bearing rocks ...

, an amateur British naturalist and geologist. He was educated at the Royal School of Mines in London and then joined the Geological Survey in 1862 as a geologist, moving to the Scottish branch in 1867. He is best remembered for his work on the Northwest Highlands and Southern Uplands with his friend and colleague John Horne, where they resolved the long-running "Highlands Controversy" with their 1907 publication of '' The Geological Structure of the North-West Highlands of Scotland''. In 1881 he was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...

. His proposers were Archibald Geikie,

Sir Charles Wyville Thomson Sir Charles Wyville Thomson (5 March 1830 – 10 March 1882) was a Scottish natural history, natural historian and marine zoology, marine zoologist. He served as the chief scientist on the Challenger expedition; his work there revolutionized oc ...

, Peter Guthrie Tait and Robert Gray. He won the Society's

Neill Prize The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...

for the period 1883–86. He served as the Society's Vice President from 1912 to 1917. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1892. The citation on his candidacy form read: "''District Surveyor of the Geological Survey of Scotland. Past President of the Physical Society of Edinburgh. Recipient of the Wollaston Donation Fund of the Geological Society in 1887. For thirty years actively engaged on the Geological survey, during which time he has mapped many of the most complicated districts of Scotland. Has charge of the surveying of the NW Highlands, and has taken the leading part in unravelling the remarkable structural complications of that region. Author of various papers on palaeontological subjects: – 'On some New Crustaceans from the Lower Carboniferous Rocks of Eskale and Liddesdale' (Trans Roy Soc Edin, vol xxx, p. 73); 'On some new species of Fossil Scorpions from the Carboniferous Rocks of Scotland' (ibid, p 399); 'Further Researches among the Crustacea and Arachnida of the Carboniferous Rocks of the Scottish Border' (ibid, p 511); 'On some Fossil Myriapods from the Lower Old Red Sandstone of Forfarshire (Proc Roy Phys Soc Edin, vol vii, p 179). Joint author with Mr J Horne of many papers on stratigraphical and physical geology, including : – 'The Glaciation of the Shetland Isles' (Quart Journ Geol Soc, vol xxxv, p 778); 'The Glaciation of the Orkney Islands' (ibid, vol xxxvi, p 648); 'The Old Red Sandstone of Shetland' (Proc Roy Phys Soc Edin, vol v, p 30); 'The Glaciation of Caithness (ibid, vol vi, p 316); 'Report on the Geology of the North-West of Sutherland' (Nature, vol xxxi, p 31); 'The Old Red Sandstone Volcanic Rocks of Shetland' (Trans Roy Soc Edin, vol xxxii, p 539); 'Report on the Recent Work of the Geological Survey in the North-West Highlands of Scotland, based on the Field Maps of B N Peach, J Horne, W Gunn, C T Clough, L Hinxman, and H M Cadell' (Quart Journ Geol Soc, vol xliv, p. 378).'' " In 1905 he succeeded Ramsay Heatley Traquair as President of the Geological Society of Glasgow. He was succeeded in time in 1908 by John Walter Gregory. He was awarded the Wollaston Medal of the

Geological Society The Geological Society of London, known commonly as the Geological Society, is a learned society based in the United Kingdom. It is the oldest national geological society in the world and the largest in Europe with more than 12,000 Fellows. Fe ...

in 1921. A monument to the work of Peach and Horne was erected at

Inchnadamph Inchnadamph is a hamlet in Assynt, Sutherland, Scotland. The name is an anglicisation of the Gaelic name Innis nan Damh meaning 'meadow of the stags'. Assynt is a remote area with a low population density. Inchnadamph contains a few houses, a l ...

, close to the

Moine Thrust The Moine Thrust Belt or Moine Thrust Zone is a linear tectonic feature in the Scottish Highlands which runs from Loch Eriboll on the north coast south-west to the Sleat peninsula on the Isle of Skye. The thrust belt consists of a series of t ...

where they did some of their best-known work. The inscription reads: "To Ben N Peach and John Horne who played the foremost part in unravelling the geological structure of the North West Highlands 1883–1897. An international tribute. Erected 1930.". Peach was twice married. His first wife was Jeanie Bannatyne (1846–1884) with whom he had four daughters and two sons. He then married Margaret Anne MacEwen (1868–1921), with whom he had two sons. Two of his sons and two of his daughters survived him. His later home was at 72 Grange Loan in Edinburgh. The grave of Ben Peach, Morningside Cemetery

The grave of Ben Peach, Morningside Cemetery

He died of a

cerebral thrombosis A thrombus (plural thrombi), colloquially called a blood clot, is the final product of the blood coagulation step in hemostasis. There are two components to a thrombus: aggregated platelets and red blood cells that form a plug, and a mesh of c ...

at his niece's house at 33 Comiston Drive on 29 January 1926. He is buried in

Morningside Cemetery, Edinburgh Morningside Cemetery is a cemetery in south Edinburgh. It was established in 1878 by the Metropolitan Cemetery Company, originally just outwith the then city boundary, the nearest suburb then being Morningside. It extends to just over 13 ac ...

. The grave lies in the fenced western section, and is inaccessible without prior arrangement.

Notable persons working with Peach

Peach's survey team included several notable geologists including:

Charles Barrois Charles Eugene Barrois (21 August 18515 November 1939) was a French geologist and palaeontologist. Life Barrois was born at Lille and educated at the Jesuit College of St Joseph in that town, where he studied geology under Professor Jules Goss ...

William Savage Boulton William Savage Boulton FGS (8 August 1867, Oldswinford, Worcestershire, UK – 1954) was an English geologist, mining engineer, and water engineer. Boulton was educated at King Edward's School, Birmingham, Mason Science College, and the Royal Col ...

Charles Hawker Dinham Charles Hawker Dinham BA FRSE (1883-1955) was a British geologist, cartographer and author of numerous scientific textbooks. He did much joint work with Charles Thomas Clough. He worked in both England and Scotland in the early 20th century. He ...

Thomas John Jehu Thomas John Jehu (19 February 1871 – 18 July 1943) was a British physician and geologist. The Jehu-Campbell Fossil Collection at the University of Edinburgh was donated by Jehu in combination with Robert Campbell and is now the main component ...

, Aubrey Strahan, Sidney Hugh Reynolds and James Ernest Richey.Assynt: The Geologists Mecca, by P M Dryburgh etc. .

References

External links

Ben Peach
archive * {{DEFAULTSORT:Peach, Benjamin 1842 births 1926 deaths Geologists from Cornwall Wollaston Medal winners Fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society

Life

Notable persons working with Peach

See also

References

External links