Major-General Joseph Ellison Portlock (30 September 1794 – 14 February 1864) was born at
Gosport
Gosport ( ) is a town and non-metropolitan borough on the south coast of Hampshire, South East England. At the 2011 Census, its population was 82,662. Gosport is situated on a peninsula on the western side of Portsmouth Harbour, opposite t ...
and was a
British geologist and
soldier, the only son of
Nathaniel Portlock, and a captain in the
Royal Navy.
Educated at
Blundell's School and the
Royal Military Academy, Portlock entered the
Royal Engineers
The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...
in 1813. In 1814, he took part in the frontier operations in
Canada. In 1824, he was selected by Lieut-colonel (afterwards Major-General)
T.F. Colby (1784–1852) to take part in
Ordnance Survey of Ireland. He was engaged for several years in the trigonometrical branch and subsequently compiled information on the physical aspects,
geology, and economic products of
Ireland, including the Memoir for which he wrote substantial sections on productive economy.
In 1837, he formed at
Belfast a geological and statistical office, a museum for geological and zoological specimens, and a laboratory for the examination of
soils. The work was then carried on by Portlock as the geological branch of the Ordnance Survey, and the chief results were embodied in his ''Report on the Geology of the County of Londonderry and of parts of Tyrone and Fermanagh'' (1843), an elaborate and well-illustrated volume in which he was assisted by
Thomas Oldham.
After serving in
Corfu
Corfu (, ) or Kerkyra ( el, Κέρκυρα, Kérkyra, , ; ; la, Corcyra.) is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea, of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the margin of the northwestern frontier of Greece. The isl ...
and at
Portsmouth, he was, in 1849, appointed Commanding Royal Engineer at
Cork
Cork or CORK may refer to:
Materials
* Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product
** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container
***Wine cork
Places Ireland
* Cork (city)
** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...
, and from 1851–1856, he was Inspector of Studies at the Royal Military Academy,
Woolwich. For a short time, commanding officer at
Dover
Dover () is a town and major ferry port in Kent, South East England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies south-east of Canterbury and east of Maidstone ...
, when the Council of Military Education was formed in 1857, he was selected as a member.
During these years of active service, he contributed numerous geological papers to the scientific societies of
Dublin and to the British Association. He published, in 1848, a treatise on geology in
John Weale's ''Rudimentary Series'' (3rd. ed., 1853). He was president of the geological section of the British Association at Belfast (1852) and of the
Geological Society of London (1856-1858). He wrote a ''Memoir of the late Major-General Colby, with a Sketch of the Origin and Progress of the Trigonometrical Survey'' (reprinted in 1869 from Papers on Subjects connected with the Royal Engineers, vols. iii-v.). He also contributed several articles on military subjects to the 8th edition of the Encyclopaedia. He was elected a Fellow of the
Royal Society in 1837. He died in Dublin on 14 February 1864.
He married twice: firstly Julia Browne at Kilmaine, Co Mayo, Ireland on 24 February 1831, and secondly to Fanny Turner at Cork, Ireland on 11 December 1849. Fanny was the 4th daughter of
Major General Charles Turner
Major ( commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicator ...
, KH commander of the Cork District. There was no issue from either marriage.
He conducted experimentation, using oxyhydrogen drummond light heliostats to reflect the sun's rays 108 miles over the St George Channel, proving the earth does not have detectable curvature to support a globe hypothesis.
Bibliography
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References
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* Proceedings of the Royal Society - Vol. XIV - 1865, pp xiii-xvii
{{DEFAULTSORT:Portlock, Joseph Ellison
1794 births
1864 deaths
British geologists
Fellows of the Royal Society
People from Gosport
Royal Engineers officers
People educated at Blundell's School
British Army major generals