| Administrative History | George Bellas Greenough had died in 1855 but had made over the copyright of the map to the Society just after the second edition had been issued. In 1857 the Society was approached by the map seller Edward Stanford with a proposal to purchase the copyright of Greenough’s Map for £150 with a view to producing further editions. Although initially accepted, this was rescinded after a new Map Committee recommended that the Society should produce a revised edition of the Map in house again.
The new committee comprised Sir Roderick Murchison (1792-1871), Colonel Henry James (1803-1877), John Phillips (1800-1874), Robert Godwin-Austen (1808-1884), Joseph Prestwich (1812-1896) and John Morris (1810-1886). Murchison and James were Directors of the Geological and Ordnance Surveys respectively. John Phillips was appointed General Superintendent, overseeing the joint labours of the Committee.
The map came out in two parts, Sheets 3 & 5 covering Wales and the South West of England were issued first in 1860. The final of the remaining four sheets was not ready until 1865, and the complete map was published in the late summer of that year.
Months before the third edition’s official publication, the President William John Hamilton (1805-1867) unhelpfully criticised the accuracy of the map in his Anniversary Address to the Society in February 1865, pointing out errors in East Anglia and north of England of sheets. Following further complaints about its accuracy, a meeting of the Map Committee was held in January 1870 but it was considered wise to hold off on any further revision lest it anger those who had just purchased the map or put off potential customers.
The final meetings of the Committee were held in the spring of 1883. Archibald Geikie (1835-1924), Director of the Geological Survey, announced his organisation’s intention of bringing out its own geological map of England in around three years’ time. The Committee postponed any ideas of revising the map until then. It did not reconvene. |