Dr Thomas Wright
FRS FRSE
Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...
FGS (9 November 180917 November 1884) was a Scottish surgeon 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 ...
.
Wright published a number of papers on the fossils which he had collected in the
Cotswolds
The Cotswolds (, ) is a region in central-southwest England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and Evesham Vale.
The area is defined by the bedrock of Jur ...
and elsewhere, including ''Lias Ammonites of the British Isles'', and monographs on the British fossil echinoderms of the Oolitic (
Jurassic
The Jurassic ( ) is a Geological period, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately Mya. The J ...
) and
Cretaceous
The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of th ...
formations.
Life
Wright was born in
Paisley on 9 November 1809 the son of Thomas Wright and his wife, Barbara Jarvis, and was educated at
Paisley Grammar School
Paisley Grammar School is a secondary school in Paisley, the largest town in Renfrewshire, Scotland. The school was founded in 1576 by royal charter of King James VI and is situated on Glasgow Road. The school is recognised as one of Scotland's ...
.
He studied medicine at the
Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland
The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) is a medical professional and educational institution, which is also known as RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ireland's first private university. It was established in 1784 ...
based in
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
. He returned to Scotland to practice and received his doctorate (MD) from
St Andrews University
(Aien aristeuein)
, motto_lang = grc
, mottoeng = Ever to ExcelorEver to be the Best
, established =
, type = Public research university
Ancient university
, endowment ...
in 1846.
In 1846 he moved to
Cheltenham
Cheltenham (), also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a spa town and borough on the edge of the Cotswolds in the county of Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort, following the discovery of mineral s ...
, where he became medical officer of health to the urban district, and surgeon at
Cheltenham General Hospital
Cheltenham General Hospital is an NHS district general hospital in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, run by Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. It provides general hospital services including Accident and Emergency.
History
The Cheltenh ...
.
In his leisure time, he took up
geological
Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Eart ...
pursuits, became a member of the Cotteswold Naturalists' Club, and made a collection of Jurassic fossils.
In 1855 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 proposer being Sir
William Jardine. In 1859 he was elected a Fellow 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 London. He won the
Wollaston Medal
The Wollaston Medal is a scientific award for geology, the highest award granted by the Geological Society of London.
The medal is named after William Hyde Wollaston, and was first awarded in 1831. It was originally made of gold (1831–1845), t ...
in 1878 and became a fellow of the
Royal Society
The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...
in 1879.
After his death part of his fossil collection was sold to the
British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
.
Family
He married twice: firstly around 1830 to Elizabeth May; secondly in 1845 to Mary Ricketts (died 1878), youngest daughter of
Sir Robert Tristram Ricketts.
He had one son, Thomas Lawrence Wright, and two daughters, the elder of which married the geologist
Edward Wethered.
References
External links
*
1809 births
1884 deaths
Scottish palaeontologists
19th-century Scottish medical doctors
Fellows of the Royal Society
People from Paisley, Renfrewshire
Wollaston Medal winners
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