John Strachey was a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 geologist

Geology

Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...

.

He was born in Chew Magna

Chew Magna

Chew Magna is a village and civil parish within the Chew Valley in the Unitary Authority of Bath and North East Somerset, in the Ceremonial county of Somerset, England. The parish has a population of 1,161.To the south of the village is Chew Valley Lake...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, a member of the Strachey Baronets. He inherited estates including Sutton Court

Sutton Court

Sutton Court, Stowey, also known as Stowey Court, is a large English house built on the site of a fourteenth century castle, with sections built in the fifteenth and sixteenth century....

 from his father at three years of age. He matriculated at Trinity College, Oxford

Trinity College, Oxford

The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity in the University of Oxford, of the foundation of Sir Thomas Pope , or Trinity College for short, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It stands on Broad Street, next door to Balliol College and Blackwells bookshop,...

 and was admitted at Middle Temple

Middle Temple

The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers; the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn and Lincoln's Inn...

, London, in 1688. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1719.

He introduced a theory of rock formations known as Stratum

Stratum

In geology and related fields, a stratum is a layer of sedimentary rock or soil with internally consistent characteristics that distinguish it from other layers...

, based on a pictorial cross-section of the geology under his estate at Bishop Sutton

Bishop Sutton

Bishop Sutton is a small village within the Chew Valley in Somerset. It lies south of Chew Valley Lake and north of the Mendip Hills, approximately ten miles south of Bristol on the A368, Weston-super-Mare to Bath road...

 and Stowey

Stowey

Stowey is a small village within the Chew Valley in Somerset, England. It lies south of Chew Valley Lake and north of the Mendip Hills, approximately south of Bristol on the A368 road Weston-super-Mare to Bath...

 in the Chew Valley

Chew Valley

The Chew Valley is an area in North Somerset, England, named after the River Chew, which rises at Chewton Mendip, and joins the River Avon at Keynsham...

 and coal seams in nearby coal works of the Somerset coalfield

Somerset coalfield

The Somerset Coalfield included pits in the North Somerset, England, area where coal was mined from the 15th century until 1973.It is part of a wider coalfield which covered northern Somerset and southern Gloucestershire. It stretched from Cromhall in the north to the Mendip Hills in the south, and...

, projecting them according to their measured thicknesses and attitudes into unknown areas between the coal workings. The purpose was to enhance the value of his grant of a coal-lease on parts of his estate. This work was later developed by William Smith

William Smith (geologist)

William 'Strata' Smith was an English geologist, credited with creating the first nationwide geological map. He is known as the "Father of English Geology" for collating the geological history of England and Wales into a single record, although recognition was very slow in coming...

.

In addition to his map making and geological interests he had several other publications including An Alphabetical List of the Religious Houses in Somersetshire (1731).

He died in Greenwich

Greenwich

Greenwich is a district of south London, England, located in the London Borough of Greenwich.Greenwich is best known for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich Meridian and Greenwich Mean Time...

, London. He had married twice; firstly Elizabeth Elletson, with whom he had 18 children and secondly Christina Staveley, with whom he a further one child.

Strachey Stump

Strachey Stump

Strachey Stump is a flat-topped mountain rising to 1,630 m, located 5 nautical miles northeast of Mount Wegener in Read Mountains, Shackleton Range, in Antarctica....

, a flat-topped mountain in Antarctica, is named after him.