Geology at the Western Front
Restaging Lt Col Tannatt Edgeworth David’s ‘Geology at the Western Front’
Thursday 10 July 2014
In the year which the world marked the centenary of the start of the First World War, the Library restaged the lecture given by Lt Col Tannatt Edgeworth David on 26 February 1919, before his return to Australia to be officially demobilised. Given by 2014 Sue Tyler Friedman Medallist Colonel Edward P.F. Rose, and supplemented with contemporary maps and images, the talk provided the first overall account of military applications of geology on the battlefield by any geologist to serve as such with British troops.
In the spirit of the original lecture, we recreated how the Ordinary General Meeting would have happened in 1919, with seating arranged in Parliamentary Style and reproduction paintings from the period on the bookshelves. The sold-out event was attended by Fellows, Friends of the Society, other members of the public as well as a group of sappers from the Royal Engineers.
Background to the lecture
Find out about the history of Edgeworth David and his important lecture
Image Gallery
A selection of images from the evening