1796-1855, geologist; caricaturist, English; British

1800 - travelled with his family to Jamaica, after they inherited a slave plantation.

1801 - after the death of his father, he returned to England with his mother.

1809 - entered the Royal Military College at Marlow. 1812 - settled at Lyme Regis.

1816 - toured Scotland and the north of England with Thomas Coulson Carpenter and George Holland.

1817 - joined the Geological Society of London.

1819 - set off on a year-long tour of the continent where he established contacts with Georges Cuvier, Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire and other leading naturalists.

1823 - elected to the Royal Society of London.

1839 - published Report on the Geology of Cornwall, Devon and West Somerset.

1842 - knighted.

1847 - elected president of the Geological Society.

1851 - published the Geological Observer, which became known as the survey ‘Bible’.

1855 - awarded the Wollaston medal.