Fossils & Faith Book

This the story of the life and times of Reverend William Samuel

Symonds (1818-87), the Worcestershire clergyman who became

one of Victorian Britain’s most influential popular geologists.

From his tiny parish of Pendock in South Worcestershire he wrote

5 geology books and two historical novels.

Symonds educated the teenage Alice Roberts, the future Lady Elgar

and was a strong advocate for the education of women. He founded

the Malvern Naturalists' Field Club and was a friend of Sir Charles

Hastings, founder of the Worcestershire Naturalist's Association (and the BMA). He also

founded the first Malvern Museum.

The book uncovers new evidence about his fieldwork in the Malvern Hills and King

Arthur's Cave in the Doward, and his connections to all the luminaries of Victorian science,

including major scientific figures such as Charles Lyell, Roderick Murchison and

Charles Darwin. Symonds' collection of local fossils is part of the Worcester museum

collection.