| Description | Scrapbook of newscuttings collected and notes made by Dr John Percy between 1864 and 1888, including transciptions of a series of twelve lectures given at the Royal School of Mines between December 1863 and January 1864, as published in 'Chemical News' between January and August 1864. The lectures, entitled 'Chemical Geology', are annotated and cover subjects such as silicon, alumina, sulphur and diamond.
These cuttings from 'Chemical News' are interspersed with those from several other publications, primarily the 'Engineering and Mining Journal', 'Mining Journal', and 'The Times' newspaper, as well as handwritten notes by Percy. Content mostly involves diamonds, diamond mining, and other mining activities. |
| Administrative History | John Percy was born in Nottingham on 23 April 1817, the son of a solicitor. Although initially studying medicine in Paris and Edinburgh, followed by practice in Birmingham, he became increasingly interested in chemistry, specifically metallurgy.
He gave up medicine in 1851 to lecture in metallurgy at the newly established Royal School of Mines, Jermyn Street, remaining there until the School moved to South Kensington in 1879. He published on many subjects, including medical science and social and political issues, as well as metallurgy. Intending to write the first comprehensive work on metallurgy in English, he published four volumes between 1861 and 1880, but the work remained unfinished.
He was highly regarded in his field, receiving recognitions such as the Bessemer medal from the Iron and Steel Institute (now IOM3) and the Albert Medal from the Royal Society of Arts, which was awarded to him two days before his death. He became a Fellow of the Geological Society in 1851, serving on the Society's Council between 1853 and 1856, and died on 19 June 1889. |