The BSA stalagmite collection
- Thread starter Pitlamp
- Start date
langcliffe
Well-known member
We did look into this, and I think we tentatively concluded that it finished up with the Natural History Museum, but I cannot recall what evidence we based this on.
NHM have 8 stalactites listed with no provenance, plus 1 from Victoria cave and 2 from castleton:
https://data.nhm.ac.uk/search
Also 1 stalagmite (although, in both cases, lots of samples don't tell us what they are)
6 Stalactites BM.81657 to 62 are consecutive (others presumably won't have been listed yet)
https://data.nhm.ac.uk/search
Also 1 stalagmite (although, in both cases, lots of samples don't tell us what they are)
6 Stalactites BM.81657 to 62 are consecutive (others presumably won't have been listed yet)
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Pitlamp
Well-known member
Mike's contribution has been very helpful; thanks! I tried assorted search terms but drew a blank for the specific BSA stalagmite collection. So I've emailed the Natural History Museum directly. I'll transfer any useful information received onto this forum, as it may prove useful to others in future.
I am following up this search with both BGS and the Natural History Museum and have made some small progress. We do know that Simpson was collecting on a near-industrial scale in the early 1930's and definitely as late as May 6th. 1935, only 2 months prior to the founding of BSA. Details of the collecting done by Simpson and some young colleagues can be found in the Peter Binns Diaries for 1934 and 1935, all in the BCRA Online Archives. The collecting expedition on May 6th. 1935 was on "Jubilee Day" and a winch meet was on at Gaping Gill, allowing easy access to Stalactite Chamber; Peter Binns records the episode in his diaries.
Pitlamp
Well-known member
Thanks Jenny. The particular stalagmite of potential interest could not have been collected until early 1940.
If you're able to rule out Cymmie still accumulating stals as late as that then this query has reached a blind alley. If there is a possibility he still was collecting around then, this is well worth pursuing exhaustively.
If you're able to rule out Cymmie still accumulating stals as late as that then this query has reached a blind alley. If there is a possibility he still was collecting around then, this is well worth pursuing exhaustively.
I'd be surprised if he stopped.
"The 1935 Silver Jubilee, celebrated on May 6, marked the 25th anniversary of King George V's reign with widespread nationwide celebrations, street parties, and a thanksgiving service at St. Paul's Cathedral. It was the first British monarch's Silver Jubilee, featuring a Royal procession, a radio broadcast from the King, and special medals issued to military and public officials."
George V died less than a year later
"The 1935 Silver Jubilee, celebrated on May 6, marked the 25th anniversary of King George V's reign with widespread nationwide celebrations, street parties, and a thanksgiving service at St. Paul's Cathedral. It was the first British monarch's Silver Jubilee, featuring a Royal procession, a radio broadcast from the King, and special medals issued to military and public officials."
George V died less than a year later
Pitlamp
Well-known member
That's what I thought too Mike.
Let's see what Jenny manages to come up with when she's had chance to progress her investigations.
langcliffe
Well-known member
I wouldn't, with the range of highly respected academics he was now having to work with. He was no longer, for a few brief years, beholden only to himself. But who knows, without positive evidence, either way?
Langcliffe also previously noted this, not necessarily related, first paragraph:
Pitlamp
Well-known member
I suspect attitudes to cave conservation were quite different, pre-war. Cymmie would probably have been influenced by that "definitive" list of the equipment necessary for exploring caves written earlier by Edouard Martel, which included a sledge hammer for smashing off stalagmites
eek.
I can't help wondering if Leakey's experience of Simpson's (and probably others'?) stal removal was at least part of what motivated him eventually to form the Cave Preservation Society on 1952.
eek.I can't help wondering if Leakey's experience of Simpson's (and probably others'?) stal removal was at least part of what motivated him eventually to form the Cave Preservation Society on 1952.
Outside of BCA membership it's not entirely changed:
Other online samples (NT have two):
www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk
collections.st-andrews.ac.uk
Other online samples (NT have two):
Results, Object Type: “stalactite”
www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk
Stalactite
Light brown calcitic stalactite. An elipsoid cross-section with a radius of ~1cm. Slightly bumby and mottled texture on the surface. White streak and a pearly lustre
collections.st-andrews.ac.uk
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Of course, some were just collateral damage (in 2nd case not naturally occurring):
cliftonbridge.org.uk
Whilst important visitors even used to be given samples:
When a Stalactite Falls - Clifton Suspension Bridge
The twelve cavernous, vaulted chambers underneath the Leigh Woods Tower are festooned with fragile stalactites which can occasionally fall from the ceiling, ...
cliftonbridge.org.uk
People collected all sorts of things at the time (see 'From the Archives' post for previous comments on this)
& Still do: https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_...trksid=p2334524.m4084.l1313&_odkw=stalactites
& Still do: https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_...trksid=p2334524.m4084.l1313&_odkw=stalactites
langcliffe
Well-known member
I remember when stal. dating was in its infancy, Mel Gascoyne came over from McMaster in the mid-1970s and bashed large lumps of stal. in Lancaster Hole and Gaping Gill, amongst other places, and I confess to helping him. I remember my wife lying over one particular stal. in East Passage to protect it from his hammer.
Derek Ford reassured me that the "majority of Mel's samples (a few were completely destroyed by the chemistry) are now back in Britain for future use by others".
Derek Ford reassured me that the "majority of Mel's samples (a few were completely destroyed by the chemistry) are now back in Britain for future use by others".
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