.... and Henry Hicks was even smarter

Henry Hicks (1837-1899)

He was born on the 26th of May 1837 at St Davids in Pembrokeshire, Wales. Following in the footsteps of his father Thomas, he studied medicine...... He practised in St Davids until 1871

Geological career

His interest in geology was first stimulated whilst growing up in Wales, particularly after meeting John William Salter, palaeontologist for the Geological Survey, who was devoted to the study of the rocks and fossils of South Wales.

In 1865, in conjunction with Salter, he established the Menevian group, Middle Cambrian characterized by the trilobite Paradoxides. He then wrote papers on the Cambrian and Lower Silurian rocks, and described many new species of fossils. Later he studied the Pre-Cambrian rocks of St David's where he described the Dimetian (granite) and the Pebidian volcanic rock. He subsequently worked on the Pleistocene deposits of Denbighshire, and then became a leading expert in Devonian rocks, where he was the first person to identify fossils in the Lower Devonian and Silurian Morte slates from Mortehoe in Devon. His observations on ice directions and erratic transport in Pembrokeshire were accurate and astute.

He was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society F.R.S. in 1885, and was president of the Geological Society of London 1896-1898.