John William Salter (15 December 1820 – 2 December 1869) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

naturalist,

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, althou ...

, and

palaeontologist Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...

. Salter was

apprentice Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners to gain a ...

d in 1835 to

James De Carle Sowerby James De Carle Sowerby (5 June 1787 – 26 August 1871) was a British mineralogist, botanist, and illustrator. He received an education in chemistry. Sowerby was born in London, the son of botanical artist James Sowerby (1757–1822), and his ...

, and was engaged in drawing and engraving the plates for Sowerby's ''Mineral Conchology'', the ''Supplement to Sowerby's English Botany'', and other natural history works. In 1842, he was employed for a short time by

Adam Sedgwick Adam Sedgwick (; 22 March 1785 – 27 January 1873) was a British geologist and Anglican priest, one of the founders of modern geology. He proposed the Cambrian and Devonian period of the geological timescale. Based on work which he did on W ...

in arranging the

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

s in the Woodwardian Museum at

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a 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. Cambridge bec ...

, and he accompanied the professor on several geological expeditions (1842–1845) into

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

. Salter was born in Pratt Place, Camden Town, the son of John Salter (1779–1837), a banking clerk, and his wife, Mary Ann. His birth was registered at Dr. William's Library near Cripplegate, London. In 1846, Salter married Sally, daughter of James De Carle Sowerby, and eventually fathered seven children with her. Also in 1846, Salter was appointed on the staff of 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 ...

and worked under

Edward Forbes Edward Forbes FRS, FGS (12 February 1815 – 18 November 1854) was a Manx naturalist. In 1846, he proposed that the distributions of montane plants and animals had been compressed downslope, and some oceanic islands connected to the mainlan ...

until 1854. He succeeded Forbes as palaeontologist to the survey and gave his chief attention to the

Palaeozoic The Paleozoic (or Palaeozoic) Era is the earliest of three geologic eras of the Phanerozoic Eon. The name ''Paleozoic'' ( ;) was coined by the British geologist Adam Sedgwick in 1838 by combining the Greek words ''palaiós'' (, "old") and '' ...

fossils, spending much time in Wales and the border counties. He contributed the palaeontological portion to

Andrew Crombie Ramsay Sir Andrew Crombie Ramsay (sometimes spelt Ramsey) (31 January 18149 December 1891) was a Scottish geologist. Biography Ramsay was born at Glasgow. He was for a time actually engaged in business, but from spending his holidays in Arran he beca ...

's ''Memoir on the Geology of

North Wales , area_land_km2 = 6,172 , postal_code_type = Postcode , postal_code = LL, CH, SY , image_map1 = Wales North Wales locator map.svg , map_caption1 = Six principal areas of Wales common ...

'' (1866), assisted

Roderick Murchison Sir Roderick Impey Murchison, 1st Baronet, (19 February 1792 – 22 October 1871) was a Scotland, Scottish geologist who served as director-general of the British Geological Survey from 1855 until his death in 1871. He is noted for investigat ...

in his work on ''Siluria'' (1854 and later editions), and

by preparing ''A Catalogue of the Collection of Cambrian and Silurian Fossils contained in the Geological Museum of the University of Cambridge'' (1873). Paradoxides davidis from Porth-y-rhaw

In the very early 1860's, whilst collecting fossils in

South West Wales South West Wales is one of the regions of Wales consisting of the unitary authorities of Swansea, Neath Port Talbot, Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire. This definition is used by a number of government agencies and private organisations including ...

as part of his duties for the British Geological Survey, Salter was examining coastal exposures by boat around the

St Davids St Davids or St David's ( cy, Tyddewi, , "David's house”) is a city and a community (named St Davids and the Cathedral Close) with a cathedral in Pembrokeshire, Wales, lying on the River Alun. It is the resting place of Saint David, W ...

peninsula and landed in the small inlet of Porth-y-rhaw, in the mistaken belief that it was

Solva Solva ( cy, Solfach) is a village, community and electoral ward in Pembrokeshire, Wales. The village comprises principally Lower Solva and Upper Solva. The community also includes Middle Mill and Whitchurch. Location Solva lies on the north ...

Harbour a short distance to the east. In 1862, whilst investigating the eastern cliff section and in strata now known as the Menevia Formation (Rees ''et al''., 2014, p. 73) Salter discovered remains of one of the largest

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 At ...

s ever found (over 50 cm long) and which, in 1863, he named ''

Paradoxides ''Paradoxides'' is a genus of large to very large trilobite found throughout the world during the Middle Cambrian period. One record-breaking specimen of ''Paradoxides davidis'', described by John William Salter in 1863, is . The cephalon was se ...

davidis'' after his friend David Homfray (1822–1893), an amateur fossil collector from

Porthmadog Porthmadog (; ), originally Portmadoc until 1974 and locally as "Port", is a Welsh coastal town and community in the Eifionydd area of Gwynedd and the historic county of Caernarfonshire. It lies east of Criccieth, south-west of Blaenau Ffest ...

North West Wales North West Wales ( cy, Gogledd-Orllewin Cymru) refers to an area or region of Wales, commonly defined as a grouping of the principal areas of Conwy County Borough, Gwynedd and the Isle of Anglesey in the north-west of the country. These princip ...

. For many years and up to the time of his death, Homfray was Clerk to the Justices of the Peace for the

Penrhyndeudraeth Penrhyndeudraeth (; ) is a small town and community in the Welsh county of Gwynedd. The town is close to the mouth of the River Dwyryd on the A487 nearly east of Porthmadog, and had a population of 2,150 at the 2011 census, increased from 2,0 ...

Division. Encouraged by Salter, Homfray made many important fossil discoveries in the Porthmadog district,

Gwynedd Gwynedd (; ) is a county and preserved county (latter with differing boundaries; includes the Isle of Anglesey) in the north-west of Wales. It shares borders with Powys, Conwy County Borough, Denbighshire, Anglesey over the Menai Strait, and C ...

, especially within the

Tremadocian The Tremadocian is the lowest stage of Ordovician. Together with the later Floian Stage it forms the Lower Ordovician Epoch. The Tremadocian lasted from to million years ago. The base of the Tremadocian is defined as the first appearance of the ...

rocks, and Salter named several species after Homfray to honour his efforts, e.g. ''Niobe (Niobella) Homfrayi'' (Salter, 1866, p. 143, pl. 20, fig. 9.), ''Asaphus Homfrayi'' Salter (1866) – now ''Asaphellus homfrayi'' (Salter) – see Morris (1988): Lectotype, from Garth Hill, near Porthmadog, and ''Conularia Homfrayi'' Salter; undifferentiated Type, also from Garth Hill. Salter 1866, p. 354, pl. 10, fig. 11); Salter (1873, p. 18, p. 323); Woods, H. (1891, p. 119) From the Clogau Formation of Waterfall Valley near

Maentwrog Maentwrog () is a village and community in the Welsh county of Merionethshire (now part of Gwynedd), lying in the Vale of Ffestiniog just below Blaenau Ffestiniog, within the Snowdonia National Park. The River Dwyryd runs alongside the villag ...

, Homfray also discovered for the first time in Britain, ''Conocoryphe coronata'' Barrande, 1846, and another species named in his honour, ''"Conocoryphe" Homfrayi'' Salter, subsequently assigned to '' Ptychoparia'', Hawle and Corda, 1847. In 1865 Salter collaborated with Henry Woodward to produce a Chart of Fossil Crustacea. and in the same year published a paper on some Additional Fossils from the ''Lingula''-Flags. in which he named several trilobite species that were subsequently described by Hicks (1872). Salter prepared several of the ''Decades of the Geological Survey'' and became the leading authority on trilobites. He resigned his post on the Geological Survey in 1863 and sadly committed suicide on 2 December 1869 by throwing himself into the Thames. He was buried on the eastern side of

Highgate Cemetery Highgate Cemetery is a place of burial in north London, England. There are approximately 170,000 people buried in around 53,000 graves across the West and East Cemeteries. Highgate Cemetery is notable both for some of the people buried there as ...

in an unmarked grave (no.15356). At the time of his death he had barely completed the illustrated 'Catalogue of Cambrian and Silurian Fossils' (q.v.) in the Woodwardian Museum and he left unfinished a 'Monograph of British Trilobites,’ published by the ''Palæontographical Society'' (1864–1867). He was elected an associate of the Linnean Society in 1842, made a fellow of the Geological Society of London (FGS) in 1846, and in 1865 was awarded the Wollaston donation-fund by the Geological Society.

Fossils named in honour of John William Salter

Problematica

* ''

Salterella ''Salterella'' is an enigmatic Cambrian genus with a small, conical, calcareous shell that appears to be septate, but is rather filled with stratified laminar deposits. The shell contains grains of sediment, which are obtained selectively (with ...

Billings Billings is the largest city in the U.S. state of Montana, with a population of 117,116 as of the 2020 census. Located in the south-central portion of the state, it is the seat of Yellowstone County and the principal city of the Billings Metrop ...

, 1861. An enigmatic early Cambrian genus questionably assigned to extinct phylum Agmata? and family Salterellidae Walcott, 1886. The genus is characterized by a small calcareous, apparently septate conical shell and lends its name to the ''Salterella'' Grit Member of the An t-Sron Formation which forms a narrow, discontinuous belt, extending along the North-western side of

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

Trilobites

* ''Salteria''

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

, 1864 amily:_Raphiophoridae.html" ;"title="Raphiophoridae.html" ;"title="amily: Raphiophoridae">amily: Raphiophoridae">Raphiophoridae.html" ;"title="amily: Raphiophoridae">amily: Raphiophoridae Type species, by monotypy, ''Salteria primaeva'' Thomson, 1864. Balclatchie Group (Caradoc Series) of the Girvan district, Strathclyde, Scotland. * ''Salterolithus'' Bancroft, 1929 [Family:Trinucleidae]. Type species: ''Trinucleus Caractaci'' Murchison, 1839. Harnagian, Welshpool, Powys, Wales. * ''Salterocoryphe salteri'' (Rouault, 1851) amily:_Calymenidae.html" ;"title="Calymenidae.html" ;"title="amily: Calymenidae">amily: Calymenidae">Calymenidae.html" ;"title="amily: Calymenidae">amily: Calymenidae Middle Ordovician (Dapingian – Darriwilian)], upper part of the Valongo Formation in Northern Portugal; the Llanvirnian at Guadarranque in Cadiz (Andalusia), Spain and; the 'Llandeilo' south of Rennes in Brittany.

* ''Clarella salteri'' (Hicks ''in'' Salter 1865) amily:_Centropleuridae.html" ;"title="Centropleuridae.html" ;"title="amily: Centropleuridae">amily: Centropleuridae">Centropleuridae.html" ;"title="amily: Centropleuridae">amily: Centropleuridae Menevia Formation, ''Pt. punctuosus'' Biozone, Porth-y-rhaw, St David's, Dyfed, Wales. * ''Cnemidopyge Salteri'' Hicks MS (Salter 1873, p. 22) amily:_Raphiophoridae.html" ;"title="Raphiophoridae.html" ;"title="amily: Raphiophoridae">amily: Raphiophoridae">Raphiophoridae.html" ;"title="amily: Raphiophoridae">amily: Raphiophoridae Penmaen Dewi Formation (Whitlandian), middle Arenig Series of Pwlluog, N end of Whitesands Bay, near St David's, Dyfed, Wales. ** ''Flexicalymene (Onnicalymene) salteri'' Bancroft, 1949 amily:_Calymenidae.html" ;"title="Calymenidae.html" ;"title="amily: Calymenidae">amily: Calymenidae">Calymenidae.html" ;"title="amily: Calymenidae">amily: Calymenidae Acton Scott Beds (Actonian, Marshbrook, Shropshire, England. * ''Leptoplastides salteri'' (Callaway, 1877) [Family: Olenidae]. Sheinton Shales (

Stage) of

Sheinton Sheinton is a small rural village and civil parish just outside Telford, and within Shropshire. It is situated on the south bank of the River Severn opposite the Wrekin, a notable Shropshire landmark. In October 2008 its historic bridge colla ...

, Shropshire, England. * ''Robergiella salteri'' (

Reed Reed or Reeds may refer to: Science, technology, biology, and medicine * Reed bird (disambiguation) * Reed pen, writing implement in use since ancient times * Reed (plant), one of several tall, grass-like wetland plants of the order Poales * Re ...

, 1899) amily:_Remopleuridae.html" ;"title="Remopleuridae.html" ;"title="amily: Remopleuridae">amily: Remopleuridae">Remopleuridae.html" ;"title="amily: Remopleuridae">amily: Remopleuridae Tramore Limestone Formation, ('Llandeilo' and Caradoc Series) of Tramore, Co. Waterford, Republic of Ireland. * ''Oryctocephalus salteri'' Reed, 1910 [Family: Oryctocephalidae]. Wuliuan stage in north side of the Parahio River, Spiti region, India. Parahio Formation, ''Oryctocephalus salteri'' Zone. * ''

Phacops ''Phacops'' is a genus of trilobites in the order Phacopida, family Phacopidae, that lived in Europe, northwestern Africa, North and South America and China from the Late Ordovician until the very end of the Devonian, with a broader time range d ...

(Viaphacops) salteri'' Kozlowski, 1923 (p. 54 – 56 pl. 6, fig. 5) amily:_Phacopidae.html" ;"title="Phacopidae.html" ;"title="amily: Phacopidae">amily: Phacopidae">Phacopidae.html" ;"title="amily: Phacopidae">amily: PhacopidaeFrom the Devonian of Bolivia and Columbia.Floresta Fauna at Fossilworks
.org * ''Lotagnostus salteri'' Westrop and Ed Landing, Landing, 2017 [Family: Agnostidae]. From the Chelsey Drive Group, north shore of East Bay, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, ''Ctenopyge tumida'' Zone.

Brachiopoda

* ''Broeggeria salteri'' (Holl, 1865) amily:_Elkaniidae.html"_;"title="Elkaniidae.html"_;"title="amily:_Elkaniidae">amily:_Elkaniidae">Elkaniidae.html"_;"title="amily:_Elkaniidae">amily:_Elkaniidae_''Obolella_salteri''_Holl,_1865_is_type_species_of_the_Cambrian_lingulid_genus_''Broeggeria_Walcott'',_1902_and_is_recorded_from_the_Whiteleaved-Oak_Shales_(Tremadocian_ The_Tremadocian_is_the_lowest_stage_of_Ordovician._Together_with_the_later_Floian_Stage_it_forms_the_Lower_Ordovician_Epoch._The_Tremadocian_lasted_from__to__million_years_ago._The_base_of_the_Tremadocian_is_defined_as_the_first_appearance_of_the_...

Fossils named in honour of John William Salter

Problematica

Trilobites

Brachiopoda

Bivalvia

Gastropoda

Eurypterida

Ophiuroidea

Thyestiida

Graptolithina

See also

References

External links