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Date: Not listed
Format: Sketch
Description: Self-portrait of Scottish geologist John MacCulloch. He undertook the creation of a geological map of Scotland, starting two decades before De la Beche began mapping Devon. He was the first geologist to be directly employed by the British government, and his map of Scotland was the first time a government had officially surveyed and published a national geologic map. His relationship with his employers was not always cordial, and in one fiery meeting with the head of the Trigonometrical Survey (which employed him), he pleaded to be allowed to complete his map, abused his boss, and threatened to shoot and hang himself. Perhaps that stormy temperament explains the gun drawn in the self-portrait, and his haggard expression.
Questions about the validity of travel expenses MacCulloch claimed in the course of creating the map would become a sticky point for De la Beche when attempting to secure funds from the British Government for his survey in the 1830s.
Unfortunately, the reproduction of this sketch in Bate (2010) only has a brief caption, and does not explain what, if anything, is know about its context.
Sources & further discussion:
Bate, D. G. (2010). Sir Henry Thomas De la Beche and the founding of the British Geological Survey. Mercian Geologist, 17(3), 149-165. Link [nora.nerc.ac.uk]
Flinn, D. (1981). John Macculloch, MD, FRS, and his geological map of Scotland: His years in the Ordnance. 1795-1826. Notes and records of the Royal Society of London, 36(1), 83-101. Link [royalsocietypublishing.org]
Image yoinked from:
The British Geological Survey web version of Bate (2010) [bgs.ac.uk]
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