Robert Townson ( ): an all too long forgotten Salopian

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1 ISSN X (Print) ISSN (Online) Robert Townson ( ): an all too long forgotten Salopian Hugh Torrens 1 with an introduction by Keith Hotchkiss 2 TORRENS, H.S. (2010). Robert Townson ( ): an all too long forgotten Salopian. Proceedings of the Shropshire Geological Society, 16, Townson provided the first substantive account of the geology of Shropshire within his privately published book. His contributions regarding Shropshire are explored in detail by the author through reproduction of a book chapter first published in Hungary. 1 Lower Mill Cottage, Furnace Lane, Madeley, Crewe, Cheshire, CW3 9EU, UK. gga10@keele.ac.uk 2 All Stretton, Shropshire SY6 6HN, UK. kah22@btinternet.com INTRODUCTION In 1799 Robert Townson privately published Tracts and Observations in Natural History and Physiology, printed by J. White of Fleet Street, London. This contained a 48-page section entitled A Sketch of the Mineralogy of Shropshire : the earliest substantive description of the geology of the County. Secondhand copies occasionally come up for sale, but there is also a scanned version available through the Google Books project, which may be accessed by entering the exact title at Alternatively this can be obtained in hardcopy using Print on Demand (go to search author Townson, title Tracts and Observations, and choose from the suppliers). On 26 th September 1997 a symposium was held in Debrecen, Hungary, to celebrate Robert Townson. Fifteen of the presentations, some in Hungarian and some in English, were subsequently published in 1999 as a book entitled Robert Townson s Travels in Hungary (Figures 1 and 2). Torrens lecture to the symposium, Robert Townson ( ): Thoughts on a Polymathic Natural Historian and Traveller Extraordinary, formed the basis of his subsequent talk to the Shropshire Geological Society (in October 2010). This covered similar ground and so, in the hope of giving Townson both due recognition and raising our awareness of his contribution to our understanding of the local geology, the text of Torrens Hungarian chapter, pages 19 26, is reproduced here, with kind permission of the Editor, Dr Péter Rózsa. Keith Hotchkiss Proceedings of the Shropshire Geological Society, 16, Shropshire Geological Society

2 H.S. TORRENS Figure 1. Frontispiece from Robert Townson s Travels in Hungary edited by Dr Péter Rózsa and published in 1999 by Kossuth Egyetemi Kiadó, Debrecen. Proceedings of the Shropshire Geological Society, 16, Shropshire Geological Society

3 ROBERT TOWNSON ( ) Figure 2. Preface by Dr Endre Dudich to Robert Townson s Travels in Hungary edited by Dr Péter Rózsa. Proceedings of the Shropshire Geological Society, 16, Shropshire Geological Society

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5 ROBERT TOWNSON ( ) Proceedings of the Shropshire Geological Society, 16, Shropshire Geological Society

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12 H.S. TORRENS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The authors would like to thank Dr Péter Rózsa, Editor of the book arising from the proceedings for the Townson Symposium held in Hungary, entitled Robert Townson s Travels in Hungary, for permission to reproduce the chapter written by Hugh Torrens. Copyright Kossuth Egyetemi Kiadó, Debrecen 1999 and Shropshire Geological Society ISSN x Proceedings of the Shropshire Geological Society, 16, Shropshire Geological Society