The Heritage Bank received an interesting request from Professor John Diemer of the Department of Geography & Earth Sciences at the University of North Carolina in Charlotte, USA.
He had found references to Roderick Murchison (1792-1871) on this website, including the fact that he married his wife, Charlotte (part of the Hugonin family who were living at Nursted House) in Buriton church in 1815.
He wished to use one of our photographs in a talk that he was giving to a Geological Society of America conference on 20 October 2025 in San Antonio, Texas.
We were already aware that Murchison was a remarkable man whose achievements eclipse many of the great adventurers of his time and who changed the face of geology. Within a few years of leaving the army and pursuing other interests he had become President of the Geological Society and wrote hundreds of scientific papers as well as working tirelessly to support explorations to unknown parts of the world. He now has a number of features named after him including mountains in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Antarctica; rivers and waterfalls in Uganda, Malawi and Greenland; as well as several fossil species and even a crater on the moon! Professor Diemer has, however, been able to find out much more.
The Professor is a sedimentary geologist who also has a particular interest in the history of geology in which he concentrates on the work of Roderick Murchison in Scotland, Russia and Scandinavia. His research, with colleagues, has resulted in numerous publications including a book entitled ‘Murchison’s Wanderings in Russia’. This is an annotated edition of Murchison’s autobiographical journal where he describes his experiences during two field seasons in Russia (1840 and 1841) during which he mapped all of Russia in Europe including the Ural Mountains. It was this work that led to the naming of the Permian System.
In Buriton we have always felt that at least some of Murchison’s success might (in part) be a case of ‘Behind every great man, there’s a great woman’. We understand that his wife, Charlotte (of Nursted House) was a big influence on launching him into his new career … But we may be a bit biased!
