Elizabeth Carne

Elizabeth Catherine Thomas Carne (1817–1873) was a British geologist, conchologist, banker, natural philosopher and mineral collector. Today we would probably place her contributions to science in the realm of human ecology, writes a recent author.[1] She was the fifth daughter of eight children born to Joseph Carne, FRS, and his wife Mary Thomas Carne of Glamorgan. Elizabeth was born at Rivière House, in the parish of Phillack,near Hayle Cornwall, United Kingdom, and baptised in Phillack church on 15 May 1820. At Riviere House the cellars were fitted out as laboratories where smelting processes of copper and tin were tested, and minerals and rocks studied for their constituents. To that laboratory had come, before she was born, such as Davies Gilbert, bringing with him the young Humphry Davy to view the workings of a scientific environment.[2] Born into a wealthy and influential Methodist family of mine owners and merchants, Elizabeth was acutely aware throughout her life of the poverty and deprivation in surrounding mining areas, and the dire need for education and social support for those less fortunate. She read widely, studied mathematics and the classics, and learned several languages. Both her grandfather and her father were staunch and active Methodist class leaders within the Church of England, and the local Methodist book room was lodged in their home. Educated at home in Chapel Street by her parents, Penzance with her sisters, she assisted her father with his extensive mineral collections, and shared his keen interest in geological formations, age and density.[3]

Charitable works

On her father's death in 1858, having come into an ample fortune, she spent considerable sums in charitable purposes, gave the site for St Paul's school which was opened at Penzance on 2 February 1876, founded schools at Wesley Rock (Heamoor), Carfury, and Bosullow, three thinly populated districts in the neighbourhood of Penzance, and built a museum in which to exhibit to the public a fine collection of minerals which she had inherited from her father.[3]

Geologist and author

She was the head of the Penzance bank from 1858 to her decease. She inherited her father's love of geology, and wrote four papers in the ‘Transactions of the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall:’ ‘Cliff Boulders and the Former Condition of the Land and Sea in the Land's End district,’ ‘The Age of the Maritime Alps surrounding Mentone,’ ‘On the Transition and Metamorphosis of Rocks,’ and ‘On the Nature of the Forces that have acted on the Formation of the Land's End Granite.’[3] She was also, unusually for a woman at that time, elected a member of the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall.[4]

Many articles were contributed by her to the ‘London Quarterly Review,’ and she was the author of several books.[3]

Death

She died at Penzance on 7 September 1873, and was buried at Phillack, five days later, on 12 September. Her funeral sermon was preached in St Mary's Church, Penzance, by the Rev Prebendary Hedgeland on 14 September.[3]

Works

She was the author of:[3]

References

  1. ↑ Elizabeth Catherine Thomas Carne: A 19th century Hypatia and her circle, M Hardie-Budden in Transactions of the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall Bicentennial issue, April 2014
  2. ↑ History of the Cornish Copper Company, W H Pascoe
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Boase, G.C. (1886). "Carne, Elizabeth Catherine Thomas (1817–1873)". Dictionary of National Biography Vol. IX. Smith, Elder & Co. Retrieved 2007-11-21. The first edition of this text is available as an article on Wikisource:  "Carne, Elizabeth Catherine Thomas". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
  4. ↑ Denise Crook, ‘Carne, Elizabeth Catherine Thomas (1817–1873)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 21 Nov 2007
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