Sir (Cyril) James Stubblefield FRS (1901–1999) was a British geologist. Stubblefield was the president of the

Geological Society of London 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 ...

from 1958 to 1960 and was the director of the

Geological Survey of Great Britain The British Geological Survey (BGS) is a partly publicly funded body which aims to advance geoscientific knowledge of the United Kingdom landmass and its continental shelf by means of systematic surveying, monitoring and research. The BGS h ...

from 1960 until 1966.

Early life

Stubblefield was born in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...

, the only son of a gardener and his wife. He gained a scholarship to

The Perse School (He who does things for others does them for himself) , established = , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent day school , religion = Nondenominational Christian , president = , head_label = Head , h ...

, Cambridge.

Education

After work as a junior factory chemist, Stubblefield moved to London to continue his education at evening classes at the South-Western Polytechnic (later Chelsea College). He gained a further scholarship to

Imperial College, London Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a c ...

, where he gained an ARCS and BSc in geology in 1923, with first class honours. Sir Cyril James Stubblefield was a member of the

Links Club The Links is a private club in New York City. It is located at 36 East 62nd Street on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. Charles_B._Macdonald, a golf champion and founder of the United States Golf Association, started the Links in 19 ...

of the

City and Guilds College The Faculty of Engineering is the engineering school of Imperial College London, and one of the three main faculties the college. It was formed in 2001 from the former City and Guilds College and the Royal School of Mines—two of the three o ...

whilst at Imperial College.

Career

Stubblefield was appointed demonstrator in geology at Imperial and began research into the early Palaeozoic rocks of

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to ...

, gaining his PhD in 1925 and also the Daniel Pidgeon fund of the Geological Society, with Oliver Bulman. In 1929 he published the ''Handbook of the Geology of Great Britain'' with J. W. Evans. In 1928 Stubblefield joined the

Geological Survey A geological survey is the systematic investigation of the geology beneath a given piece of ground for the purpose of creating a geological map or model. Geological surveying employs techniques from the traditional walk-over survey, studying outc ...

, at the

Museum of Practical Geology The Geological Museum (originally the Museum of Economic Geology then the Museum of Practical Geology), started in 1835 as one of the oldest single science museums in the world and now part of the Natural History Museum in London. It transfe ...

, where he soon joined the palaeontology department. Here he worked on the Lower Palaeozoic fossils of Shrewsbury, the Carboniferous of the coalfields of south Wales and

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

, and other rocks in Cumberland. Stubblefield became chief palaeontologist of the Geological Survey and Museum in 1947 and director in 1960, until retirement in 1966. Following reorganisation he became the first director of the Institute of Geological Sciences, later renamed the British Geological Survey.

Honours

Stubblefield was secretary of the

Palaeontographical Society The Palaeontographical Society is a learned society, established in 1847, and is the oldest extant Society devoted to the advancement of palaeontological knowledge. The Society publishes monographs that further its primary purpose, which is to pro ...

from 1934 to 1948, and subsequently president and compiler of the

trilobite Trilobites (; meaning "three lobes") are extinct marine arthropods that form the class Trilobita. Trilobites form one of the earliest-known groups of arthropods. The first appearance of trilobites in the fossil record defines the base of the ...

section of

Zoological Record ''The Zoological Record'' (''ZR'') is an electronic index of zoological literature that also serves as the unofficial register of scientific names in zoology. It was started as a print publication in 1864 by the Zoological Society of London, a ...

. He was president of the Geological Society (1958–60), receiving the

Murchison Fund The Murchison Fund is an award given by the Geological Society of London to researchers under the age of 40 who have contributed substantially to the study of hard rock and tectonic geology. It is named in honour of Prof. Roderick Impey Murchison. ...

, the

Bigsby medal The Bigsby Medal is a medal of the Geological Society of London established by John Jeremiah Bigsby. It is awarded for the study of American geology. Recipients SourcThe Geological Society See also * List of geology awards * Prizes named afte ...

(1945), and the

Murchison Medal The Murchison Medal is an academic award established by Roderick Murchison, who died in 1871. First awarded in 1873, it is normally given to people who have made a significant contribution to geology by means of a substantial body of research and ...

(1951). He received his London DSc in 1942, and was elected FRS in 1944. Stubblefield was knighted in the

1965 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1965 were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. They were announced in supplements to the ''Lond ...

. He was president of the Sixth International Congress of Carboniferous Geology and Stratigraphy in 1967. A trilobite genus, ''Stubblefieldia'', was named in his honour, as were many other species.

Private life

Stubblefield married Muriel Yakchee in 1932. They had two sons Rodney and Peter. He died in 1999 and was cremated in Ruislip.

References

External links

British Geological Survey Archive Catalogue - C J Stubblefield
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stubblefield, Cyril James 20th-century British geologists British palaeontologists 1901 births 1999 deaths Alumni of the Royal College of Science Fellows of the Royal Society People educated at The Perse School