This is an exciting find, offering insights into the earliest years of the Geological Society and the mineral collectors of that time. Of particular interest to us is that it complements materials already held in our Eyles Collection.
Robert Ferguson MP (1767?1840), is infamous for having run off with Mary Elgin, the wife of Lord Elgin (of the Elgin Marbles). Elgin subsequently sued Ferguson, who had been his best friend, for £10,000 for the breakdown of his marriage. A unique archive of material belonging to Robert Ferguson FRS has just been purchased by the University of Bristol Library's Special Collections. The archive, until now owned by the Ferguson family, was uncovered by historian of geology, Dr Cherry Lewis, while she was researching the early history of the Geological Society for her book, The Making of the Geological Society of London . Ferguson was a Scottish mineral collector, a wealthy patron of science and a strong supporter of the newly-founded (1807) Geological Society of London in its difficult early years. A large part of the correspondence is between Ferguson, one of the Society's first four vice-presidents and Count de Bournon FRS (1751?1825), one of the founders of the Geological Society. The material, mostly from the early 19th-century, sheds light on developments within the Geological Society during its first years.
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