William Talbot Aveline (1822–1903) was a British geologist and archaeologist. He was born in

Batheaston Batheaston is a village and civil parish east of the English city of Bath, on the north bank of the River Avon. The parish had a population of 2,735 in 2011. The northern area of the parish, on the road to St Catherine, is an area known as No ...

, Somerset and grew up in Wrington. When he was 18 he became assistant to

Henry De la Beche Sir Henry Thomas De la Beche KCB, FRS (10 February 179613 April 1855) was an English geologist and palaeontologist, the first director of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, who helped pioneer early geological survey methods. He was the ...

working for 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 ...

. He undertook field work in the Mendip Hills, Wales,

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

and the Lake District.

Aveline's Hole Aveline's Hole is a cave at Burrington Combe in the limestone of the Mendip Hills, in Somerset, England. The earliest scientifically dated cemetery in Britain, 10,200 and 10,400 years old, was found at Aveline's Hole, constituting the largest a ...

Burrington Combe Burrington Combe is a Carboniferous Limestone gorge near the village of Burrington, on the north side of the Mendip Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, in North Somerset, England. "Combe" or "coombe" is a word of Celtic origin found i ...

in the limestone of the Mendip Hills was named after him in 1860 by his friend and student

William Boyd Dawkins Sir William Boyd Dawkins (26 December 183715 January 1929) was a British geologist and archaeologist. He was a member of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, Curator of the Manchester Museum and Professor of Geology at Owens College, Man ...

. In 1862 he married Elizabeth Perkins and they had seven children. The Stockdale Shales were named by Aveline from the beck and hamlet of that name in

Longsleddale Longsleddale () is a valley and civil parish in the South Lakeland district of the English county of Cumbria. It includes the hamlet of Sadgill. The parish has a population of 73. As the population taken at the 2011 Census was less than 100, deta ...

. In 1894 he became a fellow of the Geological Society and won 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 ...

which is awarded annually by the council 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 ...

. He died in London in 1903 and was buried in the churchyard of

Church of All Saints, Wrington The Church of All Saints is the Church of England parish church for the large village of Wrington, Somerset, England. There has been a church here since the 13th century, though much of the present building dates from the 15th century. Historic E ...

References

1822 births 1903 deaths People from Bath, Somerset 19th-century British geologists Fellows of the Geological Society of London {{UK-geologist-stub