Group photograph of geologists on a trip to Sweden, Norway and Lapland 1909/1910

BGS image ID: P883132

Group photograph from the Lady Rachel MacRobert collection. British Geological Survey Archives: LSA 213.  

Participants include John Horne, middle row, fourth from right (with moustache and prominent side-burns) Rachel Workman (later to become Lady Rachel MacRobert), middle row, third from right. Sir Alexander MacRobert is in the back row on the far right.  Edward Battersby Bailey, front row, second from the right (with hat)

Rachel Workman and  Sir Alexander MacRobert married in 1911. 

The photograph was possibly taken before/after a trip to Sweden, Norway and Lapland in 1909/1910. The trip included a stay with the Emperor of Lapland as well as with Dr Lundbohm, originator of the Swedish Ironworks. Rachel Workman's diary also mentions a Mr. Bailey, a young Highland surveyor, we believe Bailey is front row, second from the right (with hat).

Places mentioned in Rachel Workman's diary are Narvik and the snow mountains of Torne Trask and Gellivare. 

Many thanks to Vicky Duke of the The MacRobert Trust who supplied most of this information and the identification of Rachel Workman (Lady Rachel MacRobert).

Does any reader know any of the other participants or able to provide information about the background to the trip e.g. was the trip related to the 1910 International Geological Congress held in Sweden in 1910?

Bob McIntosh

British Association Section C. Dublin, 1908

Group photograph taken at the British Association for the Advancement of Science Meeting in Dublin, 1908. Gertrude Elles in centre, front row. Includes Tempest Anderson whose centenary it is this year.

Photograph from the Geologist Association Carreck Archive on deposit at the British Geological Survey.

On the Double Dykes, Hengistbury Head. GA Swanage Excursion, May 17th 1910.

On the Double Dykes, Hengistbury Head. GA Swanage Excursion, May 17th 1910.

Bob McIntosh

100 years ago - Geologists' Association Field trip to the Lizard, Cornwall, Easter 1913. Director Sir John Flett.

Geologists Association Field trip to the Lizard, Cornwall, Easter 1913. Director Sir John Flett. Group photograph and key.

Bob McIntosh

Easter 1916, Bourton, Dorset. Geologists' Association Excursion.

Geologists' Association Excursion Easter 1916 - a page from a GA photograph album.

The image is a page from one of the many GA photograph albums now on deposit at the National Geological Records Centre, British Geological Survey and currently undergoing digitization and cataloguing. The GA 'Carreck Archive' is an amazing resource. It consists of a large number of photograph albums/scrapbooks and many loose photographs and ephemera relating to the GA excursions from the 1890s to the 1970s.

Unlike many other geological organizations of the time ‘Ladies’ were eligible for membership of the Association from its formation in 1858, and as a consequence, many of the early women geoscientists are represented in photographs and signatures. There was also no age limit so children were allowed to join, today a highly popular junior club called Rockwatch carries on this tradition.

Bob McIntosh