James Eccles FGS (1838 – 6 June 1915) was an English

mountaineer Mountaineering or alpinism, is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending tall mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas. Indoor climbing, sport climbing, an ...

and geologist who is noted for making a number of

first ascents In mountaineering, a first ascent (abbreviated to FA in guide books) is the first successful, documented attainment of the top of a mountain or the first to follow a particular climbing route A climbing route is a path by which a climber rea ...

in the

Alps The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Sw ...

during the

silver age of alpinism The silver age of alpinism is the name given in the United Kingdom to the era in mountaineering that began after Edward Whymper and party's ascent of the Matterhorn in 1865 and ended with W. W. Graham and party's ascent of the Dent du Géant in ...

Life

Eccles was born in

Blackburn Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the Ribble Valley, east of Preston and north-n ...

in 1838, the eldest son of Edward Eccles of

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

.''Newsletter of the Geological Curators Group'', 2, 3, September 1978
, geocurator.org, retrieved 23 September 2010 He was on the board of Blackburn School, and a minute recording a donation of his to the

Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery The Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery is the local museum service for the borough of Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council. It is a museum with collections of Christian icons, Egyptian hieroglyphs, and local history, as well as those of the for ...

styles him as "James Eccles, JP" He was elected a member of the Manchester Geological Society in 1866, becoming a vice-president in 1872. He was a Fellow of the Geological Society from 1867 to 1915. Eccles married in 1863 and moved to London by 1874, where he lived at 15, Durham Villas, Fillimore Gardens,

Kensington Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West End of London, West of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up b ...

. A notice in the ''

London Gazette London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

'' states that on 2 November 1874 Eccles, together with John William Eccles and Robert Langley Wilson, presented a petition to the

Lord Chancellor The lord chancellor, formally the lord high chancellor of Great Britain, is the highest-ranking traditional minister among the Great Officers of State in Scotland and England in the United Kingdom, nominally outranking the prime minister. The ...

for the winding up of the British Timber Company. He died in 1915, leaving £163,334 in his will.

Mountaineering

Alps

Eccles began climbing in the Alps in the 1860s and made an early ascent of the

Matterhorn The (, ; it, Cervino, ; french: Cervin, ; rm, Matterhorn) is a mountain of the Alps, straddling the main watershed and border between Switzerland and Italy. It is a large, near-symmetric pyramidal peak in the extended Monte Rosa area of the ...

on 20 July 1869 from the Breuil side, employing J. A. Carrel and Bich as guides, together with two Chamoniards with whom he would subsequently often climb – the Payot brothers, Alphonse and Michel. Alpine historian C. Douglas Milner called Eccles a climber of "exceptional calibre" and his guides the Payot brothers as "the finest that Chamonix could provide at that time".Milner, C. Douglas, ''Mont Blanc and the Aiguilles'', Robert Hale Limited, 1955, p. 74 Eccles had a special interest in the mountains of the

Mont Blanc massif The Mont Blanc massif (french: Massif du Mont-Blanc; it, Massiccio del Monte Bianco) is a mountain range in the Alps, located mostly in France and Italy, but also straddling Switzerland at its northeastern end. It contains eleven major indepen ...

– Dumler calls him "that assiduous Mont Blanc explorer"Dumler, Helmut and Burkhardt, Willi P., ''The High Mountains of the Alps'', London: Diadem, 1994, p. 182 – and made the first ascent of the

Aiguille du Plan The Aiguille du Plan (3,673 m) is a mountain in the Mont Blanc massif in the French Alps. Its needle-like summit lies in the centre of the Chamonix Aiguilles when viewed from Chamonix Chamonix-Mont-Blanc ( frp, Chamôni), more commonly known as ...

in July 1871 with Alphonse and Michel Payot. This party also made the first ascent of the

Aiguille de Rochefort The Aiguille de Rochefort (4,001 m) is a mountain in the Mont Blanc massif in France and Italy. The peak lies on the Rochefort arête between the Dent du Géant and the Grandes Jorasses and is usually climbed during a traverse of the ridge.Dumler ...

in 1873 and the

Dôme de Rochefort The Dôme de Rochefort ( it, Dôme de Rochefort) (4,015 m) is a mountain in the Mont Blanc massif in Haute-Savoie, France and of Aosta Valley, Italy. See also *List of 4000 metre peaks of the Alps This list tabulates all of the 82 official mo ...

in 1881, the latter via its north-west face. Eccles made the first ascent of the upper part of the Peuterey ridge,Dumler, Helmut and Burkhardt, Willi P., ''The High Mountains of the Alps'', London: Diadem, 1994, p. 193Bueler, William M.
''Roof of the Rockies: a History of Colorado Mountaineering''
The Mountaineers Books, 2000, p. 51 having failed in an attempt on 28 July 1877.Milner, C. Douglas, ''Mont Blanc and the Aiguilles'', Robert Hale Limited, 1955, p. 75 Milner writes that Eccles had also failed in an earlier attempt in 1875, intimidated by the Innominata face. Back in London, while walking down the

Strand Strand may refer to: Topography *The flat area of land bordering a body of water, a: ** Beach ** Shoreline * Strand swamp, a type of swamp habitat in Florida Places Africa * Strand, Western Cape, a seaside town in South Africa * Strand Street ...

, he saw displayed in a shop window a telephoto showing Mont Blanc and that amphitheatre taken from Crammont. This photo revealed the best exit from the amphitheatre, by the couloir to the Peuterey ridge. Milner implies that photo was the key to success of the climb. On their successful ascent, Eccles's party reached the foot of the climb by crossing the Innominata ridge from the Brouillard glacier, thereby gaining the Frenay glacier. From there they climbed onto the Peuterey ridge above the Grand Pilier d'Angle via a steep couloir, reaching the summit of

Mont Blanc de Courmayeur Mont Blanc de Courmayeur (; it, Monte Bianco di Courmayeur) is a point () on the south-east ridge of Mont Blanc that forms the peak of the massive south-east face of the mountain. It is connected to the main summit via the ''Col Major'' (). De ...

nine hours after leaving their bivouac under Pic Eccles. When Eccles reached the summit of Mont Blanc itself he was appalled by the amount of litter that he found. The party descended to Chamonix in the swift time of three hours and forty minutes. Pic Eccles at the foot of the Innominata ridge on

Mont Blanc Mont Blanc (french: Mont Blanc ; it, Monte Bianco , both meaning "white mountain") is the highest mountain in the Alps and Western Europe, rising above sea level. It is the second-most prominent mountain in Europe, after Mount Elbrus, and i ...

is named after him, as is the Eccles bivouac hut below Pic Eccles's summit. Col Eccles on the Brenva side of Mont Blanc is also named after him.''Newsletter of the Geological Curators Group'', 1, 6, April 1976
, geocurator.org, retrieved 23 September 2010

Rockies

Eccles was one of the first British mountaineers to make ascents of the higher peaks of the

Rockies The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico in ...

. On 7 August 1878, in a party of eight including surveyor

Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden (September 7, 1829 – December 22, 1887) was an American geologist noted for his pioneering surveying expeditions of the Rocky Mountains in the late 19th century. He was also a physician who served with the Union Ar ...

, topographer A. D. Wilson and Eccles's favourite guide, Michel Payot, Eccles made the second ascent of

Fremont Peak Fremont Peak can refer to one of several peaks. In the United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in Nor ...

(once mistakenly considered the highest peak in the Rockies); he also climbed Wind River Peak in the

Wind River Range The Wind River Range (or "Winds" for short) is a mountain range of the Rocky Mountains in western Wyoming in the United States. The range runs roughly NW–SE for approximately . The Continental Divide follows the crest of the range and incl ...

while accompanying the Hayden Survey, together with A. D. Wilson and Payot. Eccles offers the following description of Wilson: Eccles attempted to make the first ascent of

Grand Teton Grand Teton is the highest mountain in Grand Teton National Park, in Northwest Wyoming, and a classic destination in American mountaineering. Geography Grand Teton, at , is the highest point of the Teton Range, and the second highest peak in t ...

(an ascent was claimed in 1872 by Nathaniel P. Langford and James Stevenson, but was probably of The Enclosure, a side peak of Grand Teton) in 1878 with Wilson, his assistant

Harry Yount Henry S. Yount (March 18, 1839May 16, 1924) was an American Civil War soldier, mountain man, professional hunter and trapper, prospector, wilderness guide and packer, seasonal employee of the United States Department of the Interior, and ...

, and Payot. Eccles and Payot were unfortunately held up by the disappearance of two mules, and so were unable to accompany Wilson and Yount.

Geology

Eccles described many geological phenomena in the north of England, as well as in the Alps and the Rockies. Of his 1878 trip with Hayden's team he wrote in preface to his "On the Mode of Occurrence of some of the Volcanic Rocks of Montana, U.S.A.": In 1881 Eccles befriended T. G. Bonney, an alpinist of some repute and professor of geology at

University College, London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = � ...

. Eccles provided photography for Bonney's geological volume ''The Building of the Alps'', and accompanied him on trips to the Alps that provided material for Bonney's paper "On the Crystalline Schists and their Relation to the Mesozoic Rocks in the Lepontine Alps." Bonney wrote Eccles's obituary in the ''

Alpine Journal The ''Alpine Journal'' (''AJ'') is an annual publication by the Alpine Club of London. It is the oldest mountaineering journal in the world. History The magazine was first published on 2 March 1863 by the publishing house of Longman in London, ...

''. As well as writing papers himself, Eccles was also a collector of rare rocks and minerals from places inaccessible to many geologists. For instance, specimens of glaucophane-epidote

schist Schist ( ) is a medium-grained metamorphic rock showing pronounced schistosity. This means that the rock is composed of mineral grains easily seen with a low-power hand lens, oriented in such a way that the rock is easily split into thin flakes o ...

, containing

garnet Garnets () are a group of silicate minerals that have been used since the Bronze Age as gemstones and abrasives. All species of garnets possess similar physical properties and crystal forms, but differ in chemical composition. The different s ...

sphene Titanite, or sphene (from the Greek ''sphenos'' (σφηνώ), meaning wedge), is a calcium titanium nesosilicate mineral, Ca Ti Si O5. Trace impurities of iron and aluminium are typically present. Also commonly present are rare earth metals in ...

and diallage collected by Eccles from several feet below the summit of

Monte Viso Monte Viso or Monviso (; oc, Vísol; Piedmontese: ''Brich Monviso'' or ''Viso'') is the highest mountain of the Cottian Alps. It is located in Italy close to the French border. Monte Viso is well known for its pyramid-like shape and, because it i ...

were described in an 1889 paper "On Fulgurites from Monte Viso" by Dr Frank Rutley FGS.Rutley, Frank
"On Fulgurites from Monte Viso"
''Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society,'' 1889, Vol. 45, issue 1–4, pp. 60–66 Some of Eccles's collection of rocks, minerals and fossils was given to the Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery. These include a number of fossils from Solenhofen in Germany.''Newsletter of the Geological Curators Group'', 1, 10, September 1977
, geocurator.org, retrieved 23 September 2010 The museum also houses Eccles's

Devonian The Devonian ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic era, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the Silurian, million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Carboniferous, Mya. It is named after Devon, England, whe ...

orthocones from Wissenbach and several remains of vertebrates from the Kupperschiefer.''Newsletter of the Geological Curators Group'', 2, 1, December 1977
, geocurator.org, retrieved 23 September 2010 Eccles donated specimens to the Museum of Practical Geology (now the

Geological Museum 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 ...

); one donation, in April 1873, contained two specimens of ''Productus humerosus/sublaevis'' from Caldron Low as well as a number of

Carboniferous The Carboniferous ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic that spans 60 million years from the end of the Devonian Period million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Permian Period, million years ago. The name ''Carbonifero ...

brachiopods Brachiopods (), phylum Brachiopoda, are a phylum of trochozoan animals that have hard "valves" (shells) on the upper and lower surfaces, unlike the left and right arrangement in bivalve molluscs. Brachiopod valves are hinged at the rear end, whi ...

(including one from the

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight ( ) is a county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the largest and second-most populous island of England. Referred to as 'The Island' by residents, the Isle of ...

) and corals. Eccles gave descriptions of his ''Productus humerosus'' specimens (which he collected from 1860 to 1870) in the 1870 issue of ''Trans. Manchester Geol. Soc.'', vol. 9, part 3, pp. 1–2.

Works by Eccles

*"Specimens showing the identity of Productus Humerosus," ''Transactions of the Manchester Geological Society'', Vol. 4, p. 1
"On some instances of the superficial curvature of inclined strata near Blackburn"
''Transactions of the Manchester Geological Society'', Vol. 7, p. 20 *"On the excursion to Holcolme Hill", ''Transactions of the Manchester Geological Society'', Vol. 7, p. 36 *"Denudation of rocks at Sabden", ''Transactions of the Manchester Geological Society'', Vol. 7, p. 61 *"Glacial striae on Kinder Scout grit at Mellor", ''Transactions of the Manchester Geological Society'', Vol. 7, p. 62 *"Starfishes from the Rhenish Devonian Strata", ''Transactions of the Manchester Geological Society'', Vol. 9, p. 51 *"Two dykes recently found in North Lancashire", ''Transactions of the Manchester Geological Society'', Vol. 9, p. 26 *"Carboniferous limestone fossils from Twiston", ''Transactions of the Manchester Geological Society'', Vol. 10, p. 70 *"Relations of the sedimentary and crystalline rocks in the chain of Mont Blanc and its immediate vicinity", ''Transactions of the Manchester Geological Society'', Vol. 10, p. 70 *"The Brouillard and Fresnay glaciers", ''Alpine Journal'', 1878 *"The Rocky Mountain Region of Wyoming and Idaho", ''Alpine Journal'', IX, p. 241 ff
"On the Mode of Occurrence of some of the Volcanic Rocks of Montana, U.S.A."
''Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society'', 1881, Vol. 37, issue 1–4, pp. 399–402 *Appendix to "The microscopic characters of the vitreous rocks of Montana, U.S.A." by Frank Rutley FGS, ''Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society'', 1881, Vol. 37, issue 1–4, pp. 391–98

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eccles, James 1838 births 1915 deaths 19th-century British geologists English mountain climbers Fellows of the Geological Society of London People from Blackburn 20th-century British geologists