John Hailstone

John Hailstone (13 December 1759 – 9 June 1847) was an English geologist. He was second in both competitions to James Wood who became master of Saint John's, and Dean of Ely.

Career Hailstone was elected fellow of Trinity in 1784, and four years later became Woodwardian Professor of Geology. He held the Woodwardian chair for over thirty years, standing down in 1818 so that he could marry (the terms of appointment at that time required that the incumbent be unmarried).

He went to Germany, and studied geology under Werner at Freiburg for about twelve months. On his return to Cambridge he devoted himself to the study and collection of geological specimens, but did not deliver any lectures. He published, however, in 1792, ‘A Plan of a course of lectures’. The museum was considerably enriched by him.

He was elected to the Linnean Society in 1800, and to the Royal Society in 1801. When the Geological Society was founded, Hailstone was one of the forty-two people elected as honorary members.

Hailstone contributed papers to Transactions of the Geological Society (1816, iii. 243–50), Transactions of the Cambridge Philosophical Society (1822, i. 453–8), and the British Association (Report, 1834, p. 569).

Later life He married, and retired to the vicarage of Trumpington, near Cambridge, in 1818, and worked zealously for the education of the poor of his parish. He devoted much attention to chemistry and mineralogy, as well as to his favourite science, and kept for many years a meteorological diary. He made additions to the Woodwardian Museum, and left manuscript journals of his travels at home and abroad, and much correspondence on geological subjects.