William Whitaker (1836-1925) - pre-eminent Essex Geologist
W.H. George 11 Sterry Road, Barking, Essex IG 11 9SJ
William Whitaker is probably the pre-eminent Essex Geologist. His connections with
Essex geology are essentially threefold. Firstly he was employed as a geological surveyor
by the Geological Survey of England and Wales from 1856 until his retirement in 1896.
His career involved him geologically mapping Essex from the mid 1860s. His beautiful
hand coloured maps started to be published in 1868. These are listed in Table 1 while
his geological memoirs to accompany and explain these maps are listed in Table 2.
Secondly he acted as a water supply consultant, mainly after he retired in 1896, and took
a great interest in wells and borings. He collected, analysed and published this information
- see Table 3. Thirdly, Whitaker was a lifelong member of the Field Club and led several
field trips, listed in Table 4, wrote papers for the Club, listed in Table 5, and chaired
meetings, especially during his Presidency of the Club. Whitaker's work is very detailed,
methodical and accurate. Following his retirement from the Geological Survey he worked
as a water supply consultant and continued to publish reports on Essex water supply as
follows:
He also wrote official geological memoirs to accompany and explain these maps. Those
covering Essex are as follows:
Essex Field Club Newsletter No. 44, May 2004
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