Dr. Peadar McArdle, former Director of the Geological Survey, Ireland

will present on

Thomas Weaver (1773-1855): Ireland's first economic geologist?

Abstract: Before he was thirty, Thomas Weaver was a successful engineer and geologist who was managing Avoca's main copper mine as well as the nearby Woodenbridge gold workings. Born in Gloucester, he trained in Freiberg's mining academy, where the celebrated Abraham Werner was professor of geology. He would have been easily accepted as a member of Wicklow's Protestant Ascendancy. In the unsettled political climate of the 1790s he was a senior officer in the Cronebane Yeomanry and helped to suppress the 1798 rebellion. He carried out extensive geological mapping. His 1819 map and publication covered large areas of east and southeast Ireland, an enormous endeavour. It was much praised for its insights, including on the origin of Avoca's copper ore. In the 1820s he worked on many prospects around Ireland, including the Ross Island mine at Killarney. Around this time he mapped a large part of the south of Ireland, but his subsequent publication met with considerable criticism. He lived through an extraordinary revolution in geological ideas, during which he often took a dissenting role. His many contributions will be discussed.