Searles Valentine Wood

Wood went to sea in 1811 as a midshipman in the British East India Company's service, which he left in 1826. He then settled at Hasketon near Woodbridge, Suffolk.[1]

Wood devoted himself to a study of the mollusca of the Newer or Upper Tertiary (now Neogene) of Suffolk and Norfolk,[2] and the Older Tertiary (Eocene) of the Hampshire Basin. His work in East Anglia focussed on the Crag deposits, "crag" being a local term for shelly sand that has been adopted by geologists.[3] Opportunities for fossil-gathering were then plentiful, as these deposits were quarried to be used for fertiliser[4] These studies led to his chief work, A Monograph of the Crag Mollusca (1848–1856), published by the Palaeontographical Society. He was awarded the Wollaston medal for this work in 1860 by the Geological Society of London. A supplement was issued by him in 1872-1874, a second in 1879, and a third (edited by his son) in 1882.

He worked on the older deposits with his friend Frederick Edwards, Edwards describing the univalves and Wood the bivalves.[4] This resulted in the publication of A Monograph of the Eocene Bivalves of England (1861–1871), also issued by the Palaeontographical Society.

He died at Martlesham, near Woodbridge.[1]

His son, Searles Valentine Wood (1830-1884), was for some years a solicitor at Woodbridge, but gave up the profession and devoted his energies to geology, studying especially the structure of the deposits of the crag and glacial drifts.[1]

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Wood, Searles Valentine". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

Attribution

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Wood, Searles Valentine (1798-1880)". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.