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'David Thomas Ansted' (February 5, 1814–May 13, 1880) was an English geologist and author.

Contents

Youth, education

Noted geologist

Books, surveying coal fields in the eastern U.S.

Charles Darwin

Legacy

See also

References

Youth, education

Ansted was born in London on February 5, 1814. He was educated at Jesus College, Cambridge, and after taking his degree of M.A. in 1839 was elected to a fellowship of the college.

Noted geologist

Inspired by the teachings of Adam Sedgwick, his attention was given to geology, and he was a respected geologist by age 30. [1] In 1840, he was elected professor of geology in King's College, London, a post which he held until 1853.
Meanwhile he became a fellow of the Royal Society in 1844, and from that date until 1847 he was vice-secretary of the Geological Society. The practical side of geology now came to occupy his attention and he visited various parts of Europe and the British Islands as a consulting geologist and mining engineer.

Books, surveying coal fields in the eastern U.S.

Dr. Ansted's ''Gold-Seekers Manual'' (1849) attempted to improve the prospects of emigrants to the California gold rush. His other published works include ''Geology, introductory, descriptive, & practical'' (1844), ''The Geologist's Text-Book'' (1845), ''Syllabus of lectures on mineralogy, geology, and practical geology...'' (1848), ''An elementary course of geology, mineralogy, and physical geography'' (1850), ''The Great Stone Book of Nature'' (1853), ''The applications of geology to the arts and manufactures...'' (1865).
By 1853, his reputation was sufficient that he was hired by potential investors to survey promising coal fields along the New River in southern Virginia in the United States, and he was one of the earlier geologists to identify the rich bituminous coal seams which lay there. His work set the stage for a mining boom in the area, where he invested in land along the Midland Trail in Fayette County in what became the new state of West Virginia in 1863 during the American Civil War (1861-1865).
A protégé of Dr. Ansted, William N. Page (1854-1932), became a leading industrialist and developer of iron furnaces, coal mines and railroads in the area, leading and managing such enterprises as the Victoria Furnace in Goshen, Virginia and the Gauley Mountain Coal Company for absentee investors, many of whom were based overseas in the United Kingdom.

Charles Darwin

Dr. Ansted exchanged correspondence with Charles Darwin about 1860. In 1868, Dr. Ansted became an Examiner in Physical Geography to the Science and Art Department of King's College.
Ansted died at Melton near Woodbridge in Suffolk, England on May 13, 1880.

Legacy

The town of Ansted in Fayette County was named in his honor in 1873.

See also

★ William N. Page

★ Ansted, West Virginia

★ Winding Gulf Coalfield

References

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