Female students of geology in Victorian Dublin

Abstract

AbstractThe science of geology began to thrive during the middle of the nineteenth century, with the expansion and consolidation of geological mapping of the Geological Survey of Great Britain and Ireland, and the foundation of geological societies across the islands of Britain and Ireland. As the desire for geological knowledge and understanding among the general public grew, so did the provision of lectures and courses open to the public. These public lecture series proved popular with a wide cross-section of men and women of Victorian Britain and Ireland.This paper explores the provision of geological lectures by officers of the Geological Survey of Ireland through the Museum of Irish Industry in Dublin, and the women who took these courses during the 1850s and 1860s, and completed geological examinations for London's Science and Art Department in Dublin as a result of these lectures. It provides a glimpse into the scientific and, specifically, geological interests and activities of these women at a time when it was not possible for them to become members of the geological societies in the cities in which they lived.