Extracts from Life_and_Letters_of_Sir_Joseph_Prestwich.pdf
[TO EDIT AND ADD TO...]
[1]
SIR JOSEPH PRESTWICH.
CHAPTER I.
ANCESTRY AND YOUTH.
THE family of Prestwich of Prestwich¹ and Hulme, from whom the subject of this memoir was descended, were holders of land in the county of Lancaster at a very early date . In the end of the twelfth century they possessed estates in this county, and the name occurs as Prestwych or Prestwich again and again, now in one reign, now in another of the early English kings, chiefly in records touching tenures of land, marriages, &c.
[JP's ancestors ...]
[6]
But all our interest centres in the Prestwich, whose life we shall now attempt to trace.
His father, Joseph, after whom he was named, was one of a firm of wine merchants in Mark Lane, who imported, and supplied the trade in the provinces as well as in Scotland and Ireland. Joseph Prestwich, senior, was the only son of Elias Prestwich of Broseley in Shropshire (whose grandparents had migrated there from Ireland, one of the family having taken refuge and settled there during the Civil Wars); and his wife was Catherine,
[7]
the only surviving daughter of Edward Blakeway, the squire of Broseley. It was in Clapham, and amid its then rural surroundings, that the father and mother of our Joseph Prestwich began their married life.
Early in the century Clapham and its neighbourhood were very different suburbs of London from what they are to-day. The fields and green lanes of those years have vanished, and their place has been invaded by ever-extending blocks of brick and mortar. At that time comfortable houses stood in their own grounds or gardens, the gardens generally merging into productive orchards. Now coal-trucks and sheds cover sites which were noted for their heavy crops of fruit.
Then railways were unknown, nor had tram-cars, which run in rapid succession in the now noisy thoroughfares, ever been heard of. In short, the aspect of the place is altogether changed.
Of the parents of Joseph Prestwich it may be remarked that his father was a man of ability, widely read, with a knowledge of art, who enjoyed nothing more than his tours and journeys in France and Holland, when he was occasionally accompanied by his wife. Foreign travel was then for the few, and was not made easy for the many. He was of a sanguine temperament, racy and witty — "very good company," as a relative explained, when describing his ever-ready repartee.
The mother of our geologist, to whom throughout life he was tenderly attached, was the eldest of seven.
Three of the little Blakeways died in childhood, and the survivors were Catherine, Edward, John, and James. Catherine (Mrs) Prestwich was greatly beloved by her family and friends: she was entirely domestic, sweet-natured, and refined — a good wife and
[8]
an affectionate mother. She made a happy home, and her distinguished son in after-years often acknowledged that he could not have accomplished the work that he did but for the advantages of this quiet and cheerful abode.
Mrs Prestwich was cast in a different mould from her mother, whose maiden name was Prytherch. Mr Blakeway of Broseley had been some time a widower when he confided to his friend the Rev. Stephen Prytherch, the vicar of Leighton (who had a bevy of very handsome daughters), that his home was lonely and that he wished to marry again: would he give him one of his daughters? The vicar was delighted, but the question was, Which? His advice, " Better take the eldest," was followed. It was a wooing not long a-doing, and Catherine Prytherch soon became Mrs Blakeway of Broseley Hall. Although there was great disparity in age, the squire being thirty years the lady's senior, she made an excellent wife, and they became an attached couple.
But she was a strange mother: she made a point of sending all her children out to nurse soon after their birth, so as to have no further trouble with them. They were placed with a much-respected Quaker family, and their father, who was fond of his children, rode daily over to see them.
Mrs Prestwich used to say that the amusement which she and her little brothers liked best was sitting on the banks of the river and listening to the sound of the water. Their mother took no more concern about them until they were sent home old enough to be packed off to school. Thus mother and daughter were very unlike: Mrs Blakeway with her marked individuality and strong will, her daughter, Mrs
[9]
Prestwich, all unselfishness and gentleness, and full of thoughtfulness for others.
The Blakeways had been connected with the Church for many generations, and a kinsman, the Rev. John Brickenden Blakeway, rector of St Mary's, Shrewsbury, was joint author with Archdeacon Owen of a ' History of Shropshire. ' Mr and Mrs Prestwich had ten children, three of whom died in infancy.
The eldest surviving was our geologist, who was born at Pensbury, Clapham, on the 12th March 1812, and whose death took place at Darent-Hulme, Shoreham in Kent, on the 23rd June 1896. He was the second of the name, the first-born Joseph having lived only a few months. Thus the two sons and five daughters were Joseph, Isabella, Civil, Catherine, Eliza, Emily, Edward Elias, and Civil Mary.
The two survivors are Eliza (Mrs Tomkins) and Emily Prestwich.
Among the family papers there are forty-two little volumes of pocket-books containing brief diaries which were kept by our Joseph Prestwich's mother, and which date from the year of her marriage, 1809, to 1850, the year of her death. The entries are short, being only a few sentences recording the events of each day. But the volume for 1812 has a pathetic interest: when a second little Joseph had arrived to replace the first-born, the daily entries betray the constant motherly anxiety, and every symptom of the health of the infant is recorded. We give no extract: the reading was intended for a mother's eyes. In the diaries of the next few years there is only occasional allusion to little Joseph, since other children had been born to share in and claim the maternal care. It is evident, however, that the boy was, like most healthy little boys, restlessly active, with a tendency to lead his
[10]
small sisters into trouble. At the tender age of five the child was placed as a boarder at a school about a mile distant. This early launching into life will be told in his own words, in a few pages of an autobiography which nearly eighty years later Joseph Prestwich had been urged to write, and which had only just been begun in those last months when he was attacked by fatal illness:
_____
[quotation starts]
I must have been a mischievous boy. At five years of age I was sent to school. The last misdemeanour which led to it was this. Our house at Lavender Hill stood in a large garden and orchard in which was a fish-pond. One fine summer's day the nurse was, I am told, sent to fetch us children and put us to bed. Preferring an outdoor life, I persuaded my little sister, who was eighteen months younger than myself, to hide in the pond, where I felt sure they would never seek us. Accordingly we marched in until the water was up to our necks, and there we might have remained, heedless of the cries of the nurse, until what I judged would be a fitter time for bed, had not my sister betrayed us by an uncontrollable fit of laughter.
The school to which I was sent at Wandsworth was about a mile distant from our home, and was kept by a Madame Saqui, I presume a French emigrant. She suffered from dropsy, and adopted a mode of exercise which I have never since seen. At the end of the schoolroom was a tall seat formed by thick cushions with springs, and having arms to hold on by on either side. On this she bobbed up and down, while she could see all that was going on in the schoolroom. It was very comical, but to laugh we dared not. I do not remember what I learned -I imagine it was but little. I remember better our amusements. At that time (1817) fairs were held in all towns and villages around London, which had its own great central fair in Smithfield. To the Wandsworth fair we never failed to be led, and were then each presented with a bun. We had also our daily walks. On one of those we passed by the lodge of our house, and the gate being open, and having an innate dislike to school, I ran off down the avenue until stopped by
[11]
the barking of a little dog which fronted me: whence possibly my subsequent want of affection for the species.
This school being found too near home, I was sent to one on Forest Hill. Again the fairs on Peckham Rye and Camberwell Green are the objects which cling most to my recollection. We were, I think, treated kindly, though our fare was at times somewhat hard. On Saturdays, the servants being much oссupied, the ordinary dinner was replaced by a more simple meal of bread and cheese, the bread being not unfrequently speckled green. Our playground was a field on the top of a hill of bare London clay. I then had a small garden in which I dug what I was pleased to consider a well, London clay being water-tight. I had the satisfaction of frequently having it full of water. How little I thought then how much I should subsequently be connected with the structure and geological history of that formation. When the field was too wet we were allotted 200 to 300 yards of the public road which ran in front of the house for our playground, and occasionally levied small blackmail on the few passers-by.
In the meantime our family had removed from Lavender Hill to "The Retreat," South Lambeth. It was a three-storeyed house surrounded by a parapet wall. A favourite amusement was to walk all round the wall followed by the most fearless of my sisters, but the amusement not being considered safe, it was stopped. I was now sent to a day-school adjoining, where I fear my book studies progressed no more rapidly than before.
Nature had more attractions for me. With my sisters we used to walk along the Wandsworth Road as far as Lavender Hill, and I well remember the interest with which I noticed two springs which then existed on that road. One was on Rush Hill, where it broke out from beneath a bed of gravel lying on the London clay. The other was at a lower level, and at the base of the gravel covering Battersea Fields. How well I remember wondering where the water came from: it was a mystery. These springs have long since disappeared from sight, for the road is no longer the quiet country road it was then, with only an occasional vehicle passing, but had been, when I last saw it, transformed into the resemblance of the Whitechapel Road, paved and street-like.
[12]
Our clergyman was a man of the world and of society. At his house I saw among many public characters Rammohun Roy, whose conversion to Unitarianism made at that time a great stir in London. He was a tall, striking-looking, grave man of about forty. Barnes, the editor of the 'Times,' was also a frequent visitor there.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raja_Ram_Mohan_Roy]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Barnes_(journalist)]
It was now decided that I should be sent to school in Paris.
Accordingly, early one fine summer morning, escorted by both parents and with my eldest sister, we started in the basket of the Union coach for Dover. Arriving in the evening, we had to wait till next day for crossing. Starting at ten, Calais was reached at about twelve. The rest of the day was spent in passing our luggage through the custom-house, getting our passports viséd, and securing places in the diligence. Before leaving Calais, I took the opportunity of going down one of the shallow wells which were then to be found in most of the court-yards of the town, and came up, I imagine, not much the wiser.
Diligences started for Paris morning and evening. We left on a morning by the Messageries Royales, and after spending two nights and part of two days on the road, arrived in the great yard in the Rue Notre Dame des Victoires. I was now eleven years old, and the interest I felt in all I saw was excessive. I was never tired of seeing the streets -which then, with the exception of the Rue de la Paix, had no footpaths -and of watching the traffic and listening to the many cries.
The school selected for me was at the top of the Rue des Martyrs, at the foot of Montmartre. It was a large school, kept by a M. Colin. I was placed more particularly in charge of Mme. Colin and their only daughter, Mdlle. Fannie, who was two to three years older than myself. M. Colin was a man about forty, with only one leg -a sight at that time very common in Paris, when men with one leg or arm were constantly met with.
Iwas the only English boy in the school, and nothing could be kinder than their treatment of me. I was a little bullied by the boys, for Waterloo was then of fresh memory, but I always found a few to take my part: there was the cachot if they were caught in the act [of bullying me], so I got on very well. The place was barrack-like and the fare simple. The floors were all tiled and the dormitories without furniture....The breakfast was
[13]
very simple: the boys marched into the réfectoire, where long loaves were run under a sort of chaff -cutting machine, and as the great hunks fell on one side they were snatched up by the boys-played at ball with, and then eaten and washed down with a little water. Dinner consisted of bouillon and bouilli followed by a dish of vegetables, the beverage being what the boys called abondance -that is to say, one bottle of vin ordinaire to one bucket of water. But all seemed contented, whilst I, as a stranger, was allowed a few indulgences. The school, however, soon broke up, and M. Colin removed to a small house, with a few boys, lower down the street.
Education in Paris was at that time (1823) very cheap. As extras I was taught, besides Italian, drawing, dancing, and fencing, at one franc per lesson. Our school was attached to the Collége Bourbon (changed to the Lycée Condorcet ), but I was considered too young to profit by the connection. Amongst the students attending the Collége was the Duc d'Orléans, son of Louis Philippe, who a few years later was killed by a fall from his carriage. We had two half-holidays a week, when we were taken generally either to play in amongst the chestnut-trees of the Tuileries gardens, or to the top of Montmartre with its swings and quarries. The fossils were then unknown to me, but I took great interest in the fine crystals of gypsum, which we could cleave into plates as thin as a wafer and as clear as glass. In summer we were frequently taken to one of the large baths on the Seine, and there, wrapped in a peignoir, would spend long hours. On Sundays I was taken to the French Protestant church, or else went to spend the day with my sister in the Rue de Valois. Occasionally Mdlle. Fannie would take me with her in early morning to the great central markets. Nothing, in fact, could have been kinder and more considerate than the treatment I received, and I shall ever hold the memory of M. Colin and his family in affectionate remembrance. Mme. Colin treated me as a son. In fact, Mdlle. Fannie used to exclaim, " Oh ! qu'il est gaté ce petit Joseph ! " But with all this my studies were not neglected, and I learned easily and quickly.
[quotation ends]
_____
He was petted and caressed, but was not spoilt, and the happiness of school-life in Paris was never
[14]
forgotten. Perhaps in later years the very remembrance of it unconsciously acted as a magnet, and drew him to France and to his many friends there. A few months after his arrival the boy had an illness, and such was M. and Mme. Colin's kindness that they had him then to sleep in their own room. The reason that Madame Colin alleged for her devotion to the little English boy was always, " Il est si raisonnable, le petit Joseph ! " It is not surprising that Mademoiselle Fannie became jealous. This jealousy, however, on the part of the young daughter was short-lived, and when in later years she became Madame Nyon, her eldest child was named after the sister of " le petit Joseph. " The letters which he sent to his father at this time -always in French-are very amusing. The following is a specimen:
__________
[quotation starts]
PARIS, Mars 9, 1824.
MON CHER PAPA, -Je ne vous ai pas écrit plutot parceque je voulais attendre jusqu'à la fin du carnaval pour vous dire tout ce que j'ai vu. Le premier dimanche appelé le dimanche gras, j'ai été voir le bœuf gras qui est le plus beau qui se trouve dans tout Paris, il est suivi d'un char dans lequel il y a un joli petit enfant habillé comme un amour, le char est conduit par un homme qui represente le temps, tous ceux qui l'entourent et tous les musiciens qui l'accompagnent sont déguisés en soldats romains. Après avoir vu cette mascarade qui attire toujours la foule, j'ai été me promener sur les boulevards pour voir les masques, mais comme il faisait un très mauvais temps je n'en ai pas vu beaucoup.
Lundi je suis allé au spectacle où j'ai vu Pierre de Portugal, tragédie de Mr Arnauld, et les rendez-vous bourgeois travestis, cette dernière piece est une farce de carnaval dans laquelle tous les hommes sont déguisés en femmes et toutes les femmes déguisées en hommes. Mardi j'ai vu dans les voitures beaucoup de masques très droles qui allaient à un bal masqué. Le soir chaque élève a mis quinze sous nous avons acheté du cidre, une tarte àla
[15]
frangipane et d'autres choses. Madame Colin nous a donné une crème, des crèpes, des cerises, du vin, et du jus de la fleur d'orange et avec cela, nous avons fait une jolie collation après laquelle nous avons été nous coucher. Je n'ai recu votre lettre que six semaines après qu'elle avait été écrite car vous l'avez écrite le 19 Janvier, et je ne l'ai recu que le 7 Mars. J'ai appris de Madame Thiebaut que j'avais une nouvelle petite sœur cela m'a causé beaucoup de joie. Je donnerai mes dessins à Madame Billin qui les enverra en Angleterre par l'Ambassadeur. J'ai presque fini celui qui est destiné à Monsieur Colin. Je n'ai pas encore commencé le paysage mais je m' [en] occuperai bientôt si vous le desirez. J'ai un nouveau maitre de danse qui est bien meilleur que le dernier, car il me fait faire beaucoup d'exercices.
J'ai été voir le spectacle franconi avec ma sœur, Madame Thiebaut et Mademoiselle Victoire. On donnait la prise de trocadéro et le petit tambour. Je vous remercie bien des dix francs que vous m'avez envoyés mais je les devais pour le panier que j'ai donné à ma sœur et je les ai payés tout de suite. Isabelle et moi nous nous portons très bien. J'espere que vous, Maman, mes scœurs et mon frere et ma [ bonne] se portent bien. Adieu, mon cher Papa. Je suis votre fils soumis, J. PRESTWICH.
[quotation ends]
_____
After this date his father stipulated that all his letters were to be sent as they were written un-corrected.
The boy delighted in Paris, and entered with keen enjoyment into the life and amusements of the school.
He made great progress in drawing, for which he had unusual talent, and the crayon heads, &c., which he sent home from time to time, were remarkable as the work of a schoolboy. This faculty for drawing proved of great service to him in after-life when sketching sections in the field.
In reading these few pages of autobiography we have to bear in mind that this MS., alas! was never re-read, never corrected by its writer.
[16]
And now began my education in earnest. I soon mastered French, and carried away various prizes-amongst others that for Cacographie, which consisted in rendering into correct French a paper of text badly spelt. My translations of Latin into French were approved, and my reading of Dante and Ariosto gave satisfaction to my Italian master, who recorded his approval in the following lines 1:-
_____
[quotation starts]
"Al Gentilissimo Signor GIUSEPPE PRESTWICH in attestato di verace affetto il servo suo divoto FREDERICO BROGLIO.
SONNET (ofwhich a free translation is here given).2 " PARIS, 8th July 1825.
" When now, as wont, you turn and leave behind Fair France, at this last moment, in words brief, Full of esteem and love for you, I find Expression for my thoughts and for my grief.
Benign One ! hearken to my loving lay.
May not these accents to the winds be sent, But in my heart for ever may you stay, There find a home and soften my lament.
On your return midst household gods again, With troops of chosen friends around you, then, Upon that man unknown to fame, ah ! deign Upon him, far removed by seas, as when He taught you Tuscan tones in bygone days, To think, for he will ever love and praise ! " ” Amongst the public events which I witnessed during my residence in Paris were the return of the French army from Spain and the arrival of the Duke of Northumberland as ambassador to " Louis Dix-huit. " The procession of carriages and military in the latter case was very gorgeous, and the most extravagant reports were circulated of the great wealth of the Duke. I was in the crowd in the Rue du Faubourg Saint Denis, and the people around me were speculating, not upon his yearly income, but upon how much he was in receipt of
[quotation ends]
_____
1 These were evidently farewell verses addressed to him when leaving school in Paris.
2 By the writer's youngest sister.
[17]
per day, per hour, and per minute. At the other striking scene I climbed on the pedestal of the great statue at the entrance to the Tuileries, where I could command a view from the Arc de l'Étoile down the Champs Elysées, the whole length of which was filled by squadrons of foot and cavalry marching in from Neuilly. I think it took them about two hours to defile by. They were a fine body of men, much stained and weatherbeaten. The exhibition of fireworks at night was on a large scale, and very effective.
At the end of two years, during which I had once visited England, I returned home. My French costume created some amusement. I wore a long blue swallow-tailed coat with brass buttons and a tall hat. I found that in the meantime the family had removed from "The Retreat " to "The Lawn" — the house No. 8, afterwards occupied by Mr Fawcett. I was now sent to a school at Norwood. •..
I here received my first introduction to science &mdash one master giving us occasional lectures on chemistry, which fascinated me; but my home-work was confined for a time to chemical experiments.
I was also instructed in history, geography, arithmetic, and book-keeping. On holidays we played hockey with the masters, as I had done in Paris. In the autumn we were allowed a day's run in the wood, which then extended from Norwood to Penge, to gather blackberries, which afterwards appeared on the table for three days in the shape of blackberry puddings. I then made my first and last appearance on the stage in the " Bourgeois Gentilhomme " of Molière; but though I was a good French scholar, my performance was not such as to encourage for me a repetition of it at this annual festival.
At that time Guy Fawkes' Day was religiously kept by all boys. We were allowed to gather sticks in the woods, and these, with the aid of a tar-barrel, made a large bonfire, on which a guy was burnt to the accompaniment of many squibs and crackers.
I was now sent to Dr Valpy's school at Reading, who considered that my education had been greatly neglected, as I knew nothing of Greek. Here I went through the usual course of classics, with a little geography in the shape of a paid extra. I managed to escape flogging for the two years I was
[18]
there, though I was occasionally called upon to hoist better scholars than myself. The doctor was noted for his flogging propensities; but having the authority of my father to run away in case I had to change places in this performance, the thought of it gave me but little anxiety, otherwise the discipline was not strict. In fact, it was too much the contrary-at least on the side where I was boarded.
[quotation ends]
____
Dr Valpy was a noted classical scholar, and doubtless found that the boy's education had been sadly desultory. We do not hear of Joseph having taken a good place in the school; his dancing, drawing, and fencing, his Italian and French, could not have helped him much. He was said to be " a quiet, shy boy, but full of energy, and always the leader of his companions. " His letters from Reading find him invariably in the same financial position as he found himself when in Paris: when pocket-money was sent it was spent directly in presents for those at home, and always included a gift for his old nurse, thus leaving him penniless. The thorough way in which in one Reading letter the schoolboy makes a financial statement to his father, when he had not the means to pay his debts, and the method by which he shows every side of the case quite dispassionately, either for or against himself, were characteristic of him throughout life. He entered with zest into all the fun among the boys, who used to buy of the day-boarders blackbirds and thrushes, which they roasted and ate with relish. They also made custards in private, and excellently well they made them.
The urgency of the postscript in this Reading letter will provoke a smile:
_____
[quotation starts]
READING, May 1827.
DEAR FATHER,-I received your letter about three weeks ago, which I intended to have answered the next day had not a cricket-ball knocked off the top of my little finger, which has
[19]
hindered me from writing till the present moment: it is not well yet, and I have only just begun to write. I am very much obliged to you for the pound you ordered Mr Knight to give me, but which I am ashamed yet forced to own I have spent; for there are an old man and woman that live on the Forbery who sell to us all sorts of things that we want. When you sent me the money I owed them about 15s. I went to pay her directly I got the money, but she said that I must wait till she made my bill.
The next day being the fair day, I spent a great part of it in books, but I did not buy any trash, nor go into any shows; with the rest I paid my debts to the boys, and before she had finished my bill ( which was a day or two ago) all my money was gone.
But why I wish you to send me some now is because yesterday one of the Doctor's sons, a clergyman, went into the shop, and seeing a great many bills lying upon the table, took them up, and perceiving that the boys owed her a great deal, some of them £2 or £3, and others only 6d. or 9d., went to the Doctor and told him of it, who said that he would put all the boys on the obstinate list (when any one is on it, he has to do a long imposition every day, has to say almost all the lesson when his class goes up, generally gets caned if he says a word wrong, and seldom escapes a flogging during the week) till it is paid off, which he does by giving the woman sixpence a-day for those that owe her anything until they are out of her debt, so I should be on the list for a month. So, dear father, it would be the same to you whether you send it me now or had it put down on your bill. Please, if you send the money at all, send it before the end of this week. I was rather surprised when you said I was not to have any parcels; but since it is your desire that I should not have any I will submit to it, though I should prefer having them continued, for though it is a great school, most of the boys don't despise having wine, cakes, fruits, &c., sent them.
I have not bathed yet, for I do not think it warm enough. Please to excuse the writing on account of my finger, which I find very awkward still. I hope you, dear mother, sisters, and brother are quite well; and with my love to you and them, I remain, dear father, your dutiful son, J. PRESTWICH.
N.B. Please to answer this letter directly, if it is convenient to you. Mr and Mrs Hornbuckle desire their compliments to you.
[quotation ends]
_____
[20]
The autobiography continues:
_____
[quotation starts]
On the occasion of the battle of Navarino, where the combined fleets of England, France, and Russia managed to destroy the Turkish fleet, greatly to the advantage of the latter Power and little to the profit of the first two, the boys were given a half holiday, and naturally looked upon the battle as a glorious victory. A great event was a general election, for as elections then lasted three weeks, the boys shared in the excitement by siding with the blues or the yellows, finding it a pleasant break in the monotony of school-life. Boating and bathing we had in plenty in the Thames at Caversham and Pangbourne. Among my contemporaries there was Jackson, afterwards Bishop of London, a studious tall lad, who joined but little in the school games.
Reading was then a quiet country town without railways, and with little trade except its breweries; [Huntley and] Palmer and Sutton were still below the horizon.
Leaving school, I was entered at sixteen years of age at University College, London, then recently opened. Having partly my own choice of subjects, I selected Chemistry under Dr Turner, a popular and excellent teacher; English under Mr Dale; Latin, Prof. Key; Greek, Prof. Long; Natural Philosophy under Dr Lardner; and Mathematics, Augustus de Morgan. As I had to walk four miles daily to and from South Lambeth, I found my curriculum rather too extended; and as I had little liking for the classics, I fear I neglected them in favour of chemistry and natural philosophy.
Unfortunately I missed the first few mathematical [lectures], and then feeling discouraged in being unable to follow, I ceased to attend, much to my subsequent regret. All my spare time, spare pocket-money, and spare thoughts were spent on chemistry.
I also entered the practical class, then under the direction of Robert Warington, a most kind and painstaking teacher. In this subject I passed a good examination and obtained a certificate [ with honours, Ed. ]
[quotation ends]
_____
At " The Lawn," at the foot of a few steps leading down from the breakfast-room, there was a small dark room, which was our student's laboratory, and known
[21]
as his " Den. " When at home he was usually to be found in it at work amongst his minerals, acids, &c.
Here he manufactured the laughing-gas which he administered to his companions (and he had always a following), with occasionally alarming effects; here he blew glass and set himself to make philosophical instruments. The five young sisters hung upon his words, and looked up with admiration at their clever elder brother, sharing in the delight and often in the danger of some of the experiments. Frequently in later years he urged that every boy and girl should be taught at least the elements of chemistry.
In appearance the thin tall stripling, now 5 feet 10 inches in height, resembled his mother's family.
He had strongly marked features, a clear fresh complexion, a thick crop of hair which was nearly black, and an unusually fine forehead. But his eyes were the great feature of his face, -luminous hazel eyes which mirrored every emotion, now liquid, yet always with a light in them, or when indignant or angry (and he could be both) flashing fire. Naturally he was quick in temper, and on one occasion when his anger lasted, and when reminded that this was possibly the temper of his ancestor, the old knight-banneret, cropping out, he burst into laughter, and the anger, like a lightning-flash, went as it came. Nothing stirred his indignation so much as when he met what was false, or a sham, or underhand, and then he spoke out his mind. He could not conscientiously join in repeating the Athanasian Creed, so he made no feint of an open prayer-book, but deliberately shut it, whereas when the " Benedicite omnia opera " was sung, no one in the congregation joined with greater fervour. He delighted in that song of praise.
[22]
At this period of his short college course he was in the habit of versifying, writing rhymes to his companions, or penning sonnets to his pretty partners at dances, and he had always many pretty partners, being quite what is termed " a lady's man. " Later on we hear of his escorting his sisters and elder cousins, and also daughters of friends, to school in France, a responsibility which rested very agreeably on his shoulders. His poetry consisted chiefly of Odes in blank verse on Nature's varying and changing moods, of which he was the watchful observer. Although never a talkative lad, he was eminently sociable, his father and mother were both hospitable, and in all the exuberance of his young life he enjoyed to a degree the evening parties and gatherings of relatives and friends.
Yet underlying all his delightful buoyancy of spirits there was that intense earnestness-that determination to interpret for himself the records of the rocks. He was preparing for that work, the obstacles to which at one period seemed overwhelming, but to which he was steadfast throughout life, and which held his heart to the very end.
It is evident that while at University College every subject was neglected for the sake of chemistry and natural philosophy. It is evident, too, that he took the direction of his studies into his own hands: Latin and Greek were set aside; mathematics also were neglected, though most unwillingly. On leaving college he worked at mathematics with a private tutor, but never ceased to regret that he had not attended the college course. In the intervals between lectures he frequented the British Museum: he also found time
[23]
for lessons in oil-painting and lithography from Mr Waterhouse Hawkins. Subsequently the sale of his paintings enabled him to purchase materials and apparatus for experiments.
The economies which he practised during those college days, in order to provide himself with money for the purchase of chemical materials, were carried to excess, and involved no little self-denial. An ample allowance was given to him for dinner in town, but, conscious of his parents' liberality, he never confessed to the family that most frequently dinner consisted of a bun or a roll, or occasionally a sausage-roll.
" The Lawn " at South Lambeth was four miles distant from University College, so that daily he had an eight miles' walk, which was lengthened by his making a long round by Doulton's factories, to save the toll on Vauxhall Bridge, which was the direct road. One ingenious device to put him in funds was the sale to his mother of arrowroot made from potatoes at so much per lb., she having presented him with the potatoes ! Then there was a great demand for arrow-root in the household, the young sisters petitioning for its daily consumption.
In jottings for 1831 there is an entry of three oil-paintings being given in part payment for a mountain barometer and sextant. The only specimen of his painting which escaped conversion into money is the copy of a small picture by Wouvermann.
The system of working hard day after day on stinted food must have had a bad effect on his health, and it is a question whether it did not tell injuriously on him in after-life. Supper over, whether tired or not, he repeated some experiments to the small
[24]
appreciative family audience, which was often increased by one or two old school-fellows, who were always welcome.
_____
[quotation starts]
At that time geology was not taught anywhere in London.
The only nominal instruction then in geology and mineralogy was to be had in three lectures by Dr Turner at the end of his course of forty lectures on chemistry. Parkinson's ' Organic Remains ' in three quarto volumes and his small octavo in one volume constituted the student's stock-in-trade.¹ I had a Conularia from Coalbrook Dale. It puzzled me, as it did the Professors of my acquaintance.2 Chemical analysis led me to the study of rocks and minerals, so it was on that side that I approached geology. The variety of paving-stones which I passed in my daily walks to college caught my attention, and led me to inquire what they were made of and how made. I used also to go to the British Museum in Great Russell Street to inspect the organic remains, and pondered especially over the well-preserved and attractive series of the Calcaire Grossier.3 The following years my holidays were spent at Broseley in Shropshire, a market-town celebrated for its tobacco-pipes and iron- and coal-works. The latter soon attracted my attention, and I spent hours at the heaps of ironstone, the seam worked being the Pennystone, so rich in marine remains. My chief work there was, however, on a subsequent and longer visit.
[quotation ends]
_____
It is pleasant to find that on one of these journeys to Broseley he was most kindly and hospitably received by his grandmother, who, as he reports in a letter to " The Lawn, " " entertained me sumptuously. " An anecdote is told of her, that when on a visit to Mrs Prestwich,
_____
1 Sowerby's ' Mineral Conchology, then in course of publication, was beyond the student's reach.
2 The true relationship of Conularia has not yet been established, although it is regarded as a Pteropod, belonging to an order of pelagic Mollusca.
3 A richly fossiliferous series of limestones, &c., equivalent to our Bracklesham Beds.
_____
[25]
her only daughter, to whom she was greatly attached, the young Prestwiches were all away from home.
Kate, the second grandchild, happened to arrive one day at "The Lawn" before the departure of her grandmother, whose exclamation, " Snow in harvest, " testified to anything but pleasure when she was told of the home-coming of the young girl. Doubtless Mrs Blakeway felt disappointed at the interruption to the quiet of her visit, and at the distraction that a child in the house must cause to the mother. On her visits to " The Lawn, " Mrs Blakeway's custom had been to give a present in money to each of her Prestwich grand-children; but to Joseph, the eldest, when a boy, she only gave half of what she bestowed on his sisters, saying she knew " that his money would be all spent directly "! Yet although she would have nothing to say to children, this very original old lady had keen pleasure in the society of her grandson when he was no longer a child. His name must have been made widely known throughout the Broseley district by the miners. His youth, his enthusiasm in descending and working among their coal-pits, and his characteristic courtesy to all with whom he came in contact, must have won their hearts.
His grandmother often declared that she intended to live as long as her husband, who died in his ninety-third year, and she actually attained that age.
__________
CHAPTER II .
1830-1834.
CITY AND HOME LIFE — ZETETICAL SOCIETY — VISITS TO SHROPSHIRE — NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY.
WHEN Joseph Prestwich entered upon his City career, which was to last over forty years, he was about eighteen years of age. It was not the career he would have chosen, it was not congenial, but circumstances were such that it was his duty to adopt it, and therefore he applied himself to business with all the conscientiousness and earnestness of his nature. Perhaps there are few endowed as he was, who would have had the moral courage to resist the fascinations of science.
At the outset he planned out his life and resolved that there should be no interruption to his geological work.
The hours at his own disposal he allotted, as before, to the identification of fossils and to the analysis of minerals. Time for that work, and for practical chemistry as well as for his mathematics and reading, had to be found in the early morning before breakfast and after his return from the City at six or seven in the evening, when each hour had its appointed subject.
By this method he was able to accomplish much ; yet one is at a loss to understand how he found leisure
[27]
lso for painting and for his very successful lithography . As will be seen by the table on page 28 , he gave a stated time to read with his sisters, who were respectively fourteen, fifteen, and nearly seventeen years of age .
This unobtrusive little table is strongly significant.
It was planned by no promptings from without. The youth seemed to have had an intuitive consciousness that there was something for him to do, that he himself might aspire to demonstrate some truth in God's nature, and henceforward every hour he could call his own was set apart to train and gird himself for the task. He had an uplifting purpose in life from which he never swerved, and hindrances seemed to be stimulants instead of deterrents. Yet with all this stern and persistent devotion to close study, no one more enjoyed with gladness of heart the Christmas dances and family parties. There was constant and affectionate intercourse between the Prestwiches and their young cousins, the children of Mr John Blakeway. One of that large family of ten cousins was Mrs Rouquette, with whom there was close intimacy throughout life ; another is Mrs Mushet; and one is Mrs G. Murray Smith, wife of the publisher . Young Prestwich had a passion for waltzing, an exercise which suited his active temperament, and as quadrille-parties were also then in fashion, there were frequent opportunities for this welcome relaxation from incessant desk and head work.
Music was always a great pleasure to him: the only instrument, however, that he played was the flute.
Eventually he found that there was time for little else but geology. Saturdays and Sundays came to be regarded as his own, when he went out to observe and learn, and when the foundation was laid of his
[28]
[TABLE: Rise at a quarter to 6 etc]
[29]
knowledge of the geological structure of the London basin. Dr G. Owen Rees,¹ his friend from boyhood, was a frequent companion in these Saturday and Sunday walks, when he often laughingly declared that Joseph always starved him. The same complaint was made in after years by one or two other friends, who grumbled at the hard and scant fare, yet who were always eager to accompany him. One in especial was Edward I'Anson, the eminent architect, whose wife was Catherine, the second daughter of Mr John Blakeway, the uncle of our geologist. They had been brought .
up together as children — nay, as infants (having been near neighbours), and throughout life they remained the same attached friends. When veterans with a long retrospect of years, it was touching to hear them address each other as " Edward " and " Joseph," which they did to the last. Rees told humorous anecdotes of their geological adventures. Once, late on a Saturday night, the two young men arrived at a village inn not far from Prestwich's future home, and asked for quarters. Dusty and worn, and in clothing not improved from visits to pits, and one of them probably with a rough bag of fossils and sundry specimens of clay or gravel slung over his shoulders, they were looked upon as suspicious characters, and refused admittance ; so they had nothing for it but to trudge on several miles in the dark to a more hospitable house, which was not reached until midnight.
When the family in 1830 were at Boulogne for the holidays, we hear that Joseph took his brother Edward, a boy of ten, to inspect certain quarries which were
1 G. Owen Rees, M.D.; born in 1813, died 1889.
2 Edward I'Anson, F.G.S., President of the Royal Institute of British Architects ; born in 1812, died in 1888 .
[30]
fifteen miles distant. An account-book for that year is chiefly a list of small disbursements for fossils and many varieties of minerals, showing the strong bent of his mind.
Alarge scrap-book of printed geological sections, and quaint, crude views of coal-mines, volcanoes, basaltic rocks , minerals, skeletons of Plesiosaurus, &c. , and with descriptive letterpress, is very interesting. In its pages are occasional verses, entirely geological, gleaned chiefly from ' An Old Fragment. ' A quotation from Milton is given in the first page: "He the world Built on circumfluous waters calm, in wide Crystalline ocean. " This scrap-book also contained a coloured map and sections of the Boulogne district, which were evidently drawn during the summer sojourn of the Prestwich family there, as they bear the inscription in his hand-writing : " Carte et Profils géognostiques du Bassin du Bas Boulonnais, par M. Rozet, J. Prestwich fecit. 1830. " He was then eighteen years of age.
July The last portion of the autobiography touches upon another favourite holiday resort : —
_____
[quotation starts]
I soon had the opportunity of studying the subject in the field , my holidays being [again] spent at Broseley in the Coalbrook Dale Coalfield, where Pennystone iron-ore was [still] largely worked, and where I revelled day after day. I was shown by Mr John Anstie his fine collections from the Madeley pits, and he kindly gave me every facility to study or make use of his specimens.
They had already attracted the attention of Dr Buckland, who, I was told, coming one day to see the collection with bag and much mudded, went to the back door and experienced some difficulty from the servants in getting admitted. I also descended a large number of the pits to see the underground structure of the fossil plants in situ.
[quotation ends]
_____
[31]
His father naturally did not like those descents into coal-pits, and in a letter (when the young Joseph had gone to Broseley, accompanied by the son of their friend Mr Newton) writes : " Mr Newton, senior, has nothing to communicate. On my part I have to request that you would not allow his son to go into a coal-pit. I do not like the exploit for yourself , and as you have already descended into them you will not be accused of a superficial knowledge of your subject if you make your further researches by deputy." But Joseph Prestwich's work was never done by deputy.
_____
[quotation starts]
For a small remuneration (for then the wages of the working miners were only 2s. for a long day), I enlisted the services of several working men. The overlookers were also generally very willing to assist, so I returned night after night with my bag full. The pits were not large, nor were they very deep. From 150 to 500 feet was the general run. Descending them, however, was often a rough task. Sometimes we descended on trays ; at other times we stood on the platform ; a chain loop attached to the main rope was handed to each man, through which we placed one leg. At a given signal the rope was drawn up a few feet, when we all (generally there were seven or eight men ) swung together like so many herrings at the end of a bunch, and then holding on to one another we were let down to the bottom. Sometimes the descent was in an up shaft which would be full of smoke and like descending a chimney. However, I considered myself well rewarded by the sight of the strata and especially the faults, nor did I overlook the surface. The one-inch ordnance map of the district was just then published, the cost being 16s. a sheet. On this I laid down the surface geology, and with the aid of the pit sections, which were ever here readily given to me with permission to copy, I drew up my Memoir on Coalbrook Dale, which, later on, was published in the ' Transactions of the Geological Society . Sir Roderick Murchison, who was working in
the adjacent Silurian district, kindly gave me the benefit of his advice respecting the latter, and led me to make a considerable collection of Wenlock fossils. My kind friends the Pritchards of Broseley also placed a room at my disposal, which I soon filled.
Lindley¹ was then bringing out his ' Fossil Flora of Great Britain,' and I was able to furnish him with several new species, and to profit by his suggestions. I had now made the acquaintance of my lifelong friend, [Professor] John Morris, who undertook to describe and figure the plants for my Memoir, while the shells were taken in hand by Mr Sowerby. It was some time, however, before the paper appeared in the Transactions. My works of reference were Artis's ' Phytology ,' and Lindley and Hutton's ' Fossil Flora,' then in course of publication.
[quotation ends]
_____
Thus the results of his work among the Shropshire coal-pits under and above ground, and on the adjacent country, were embodied in a memoir read before the Geological Society. The first part, " On Some of the Faults which affect the Coal-field of Coalbrookdale, " was read in February 1834 ; while the second and principal part, on " The Geology of Coalbrookdale, " was read on two successive meetings of the Society, in April 1836. Although not published in the ' Transactions of the Geological Society ' until 1838, the memoir was in great part written when the author had just completed his twentieth year. His friend Sir John Evans, with whom he was on terms of brotherly affection until the end of life, with whom indeed he shared every joy and sorrow, remarks of this paper in an obituary notice to the Royal Society, " It at once established his reputation as a geologist, and it has ever since been numbered among our British classics. "
1Dr John Lindley, Professor of Botany in University College, London ; born 1799, died 1865.
2 John Morris, F.G.S., Professor of Geology in University College, London ; born 1810, died 1886.
[quotation starts]
&c. &c.
&c. &c.
...
...
[96]
[I]n 1854, Prestwich gave the first of three lectures on the 1st May at the Clapham Athenæum, on the geology of Clapham and of London generally. There was a particular fitness in his delivering these lectures, as he was a native of the place, and knew every inch of ground described; they were heartily received (the two other lectures being given in April 1856), and although not written with a view to publication, they were brought out (at the request of friends) in 1857 in book form, as the well-known little work, "' "The Ground Beneath Us: Its Geological Phases and Changes. "
There were then but few elementary treatises of geology, and none, like those at the present time, which combined the soundest instruction in the most simple and pleasing language, so as to make geology easy; therefore it supplied a real want. It was written with the terse clearness which characterises all his writings, and was deservedly popular. Letters of congratulation on the appearance of this booklet poured in from the old geological leaders, some of them couched in the most generous terms. It was acknowledged to be the best possible introduction to geology, and had a large sale.
Twenty years later Professor Huxley was heard by the writer to single it out and recommend it to his class for study, as the best exponent of the geology of London and its neighbourhood.
Back to the top of this page . . .