William Archibald Macfadyen (1893–1985) was a British

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 ...

petrologist Petrology () is the branch of geology that studies rocks and the conditions under which they form. Petrology has three subdivisions: igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary petrology. Igneous and metamorphic petrology are commonly taught together ...

, author,

polyglot Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingualism, monolingual speakers in the World population, world's pop ...

and a pioneer in geoconservation. He was a veteran of both

World Wars A world war is an international conflict which involves all or most of the world's major powers. Conventionally, the term is reserved for two major international conflicts that occurred during the first half of the 20th century, World WarI (1914 ...

and was a

Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , ''asteriskos'', "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often voc ...

Education

Macfadyen was born on 5 November 1893 and attended Rydal Mount School, in North Wales. He then went on to study

chemistry Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...

and geology at St. Johns college,

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

Army service

Macfadyen enlisted in the British army during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in "The Buffs" (The Royal East Kent Regiment). On 7 August 1914 he was deployed to

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

and then to

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

. In 1916 he was promoted to

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...

and subsequently acting captain. Due to suffering knee and wrist injuries by machine gun fire in 1917 in Iraq, he was declared unfit for further service. He was awarded the Military Cross. After leaving service he resumed his studies at Cambridge and went on to contribute to the war effort in Sheffield relining artillery barrels. In 1943, during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, he served in England, the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

and

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...

, as a

hydrogeologist Hydrogeology (''hydro-'' meaning water, and ''-geology'' meaning the study of the Earth) is the area of geology that deals with the distribution and movement of groundwater in the soil and rocks of the Earth's crust (commonly in aqui ...

, being part of the well-drilling units and trained more junior military geologists. For his efforts he was promoted from second lieutenant to war substantive lieutenant and was subsequently promoted to major.

Work in the field

After returning from the war, he resumed his studies at Cambridge and in 1920 went on to join the Anglo Egyptian Oilfields Ltd working as their primary geologist. From 1922 to 1925 He was headquartered at Hurghada and extensively mapped the Eastern Desert, the western Sinai, and the Suez Canal areas. For a period of 2 months he acted as concessions manager, also undertook geological reconnaissance and published many maps. In 1926 he spent half a year studying and meticulously mapping the Farsan Islands, in the Southern Red Sea, and reported on the oil potential for Sea Petroleum Co. Ltd. He also visited the Zebaiyir Islands, and spent another six months in Rumania working with Astra Romania S.A., where he geologically mapped a portion of the Doicesti area. While working in Somaliland in 1928–30, he gained his PhD, mapping the country geologically while working with Petroleum Company Ltd. During his time there he also studied the

Dhulbahante garesa Taleh ( so, Taleex, ar, تليح) is a historical town in the eastern Sool region of Somaliland. As of September 2015, both Puntland and Somaliland had nominal influence or control in Taleh and it's vicinity. The town served as the capital ...

s (dervish forts) and tombs in

Taleh Taleh ( so, Taleex, ar, تليح) is a historical town in the eastern Sool region of Somaliland. As of September 2015, both Puntland and Somaliland had nominal influence or control in Taleh and it's vicinity. The town served as the capital ...

.Taleh by W. A. MacFadyen, The Geographical Journal Vol. 78, No. 2 (Aug., 1931), pp. 125–128. He worked as a government geologist in Iraq between 1931 and 1937. In his records he explains that he "ran this service for four years; engaged on all sorts of geological investigations, including economic minerals, oil, and water supply, and engineering problems of dam sites, bridge sites, road and building materials, canal sites etc, but mainly on water supply". After returning from the Second World War in 1945, he once again worked as a civilian water geologist in Somaliland; after a brief time there he returned to the UK and was appointed a geologist position at the Nature Conservancy, the world's first statutory, non-voluntary conservation body. He went on to become the chief geologist for the conservancy. Other than his work on the geology of Somaliland, he is most known for his 25 publications on the palaeontology of

Foraminifera Foraminifera (; Latin for "hole bearers"; informally called "forams") are single-celled organisms, members of a phylum or class of amoeboid protists characterized by streaming granular Ectoplasm (cell biology), ectoplasm for catching food and ot ...

Legacy

Macfadyen is commemorated in the scientific name of a species of lizard, ''

Uromastyx macfadyeni ''Uromastyx macfadyeni'', Macfadyen's mastigure, is a species of agamid lizard. It is found in Somalia Somalia, , Osmanya script: 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒕𐒖; ar, الصومال, aṣ-Ṣūmāl officially the Federal Republic o ...

'', which is endemic to Somalia.. www.reptile-database.org.

Works

*''Geology and palaeontology of British Somaliland: The geology of British Somaliland, Volume 1'' *''Geological Highlights of the West Country (Handbooks / Nature Conservancy)'' *''Water Supplies in ʻIraq''

References