Levett Landon Boscawen Ibbetson
Encyclopedia
Geologist
A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid and liquid matter that constitutes the Earth as well as the processes and history that has shaped it. Geologists usually engage in studying geology. Geologists, studying more of an applied science than a theoretical one, must approach Geology using...
, inventor, organiser and soldier. He is particularly associated with early developments in photography
Photography
Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...
, and was a Fellow of the Royal Society
Royal Society
The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
(elected 6 June 1850).
From his London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
home (46 Margaret Street, near Cavendish Square), Ibbetson corresponded with William Henry Fox Talbot in 1842, having spent some years trying to produce a lithograph from an original daguerrotype, writing "I have been going on with experiments in the Callotype & have had some very good results as to depth of Colour." Ten years later, in 1852, Ibbetson exhibited work produced using the Talbot calotype
Calotype
Calotype or talbotype is an early photographic process introduced in 1841 by William Henry Fox Talbot, using paper coated with silver iodide. The term calotype comes from the Greek for 'beautiful', and for 'impression'....
process, called Le Premier Livre Imprimè par le Soleil, at a London Society of Arts exhibition. This book, originally published in 1840, was an album of contact prints of ferns, grasses and flowers and used "the independently invented process of Friedrich Gerber of Berne
Berne
The city of Bern or Berne is the Bundesstadt of Switzerland, and, with a population of , the fourth most populous city in Switzerland. The Bern agglomeration, which includes 43 municipalities, has a population of 349,000. The metropolitan area had a population of 660,000 in 2000...
, published in January 1839, when Ibbetson was residing in Berne."
An enthusiastic geologist, one of Ibbetson's finds on the Isle of Wight
Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight is a county and the largest island of England, located in the English Channel, on average about 2–4 miles off the south coast of the county of Hampshire, separated from the mainland by a strait called the Solent...
, the fossilised remains of a Hybodus, was sent to Sir Philip Malpas de Grey Egerton, and was discussed in the Proceedings of the Geological Society in 1845.
During the 1840s, Ibbetson was also engaged in various geological surveys associated with the expansion of the British railway system, during which work he corresponded with eminent geologist Henry Thomas De la Beche.
He wrote a book, with contributions from Edwin Lankester
Edwin Lankester
Edwin Lankester MRCS, FRS was an English surgeon and naturalist who made a major contribution to the control of cholera in London: he was the first public analyst in England.- Life :...
, published around 1852, entitled Notes on the geology and chemical composition of the various strata in the Isle of Wight ... With a map in relief. With Professor Edward Forbes
Edward Forbes
Professor Edward Forbes FRS, FGS was a Manx naturalist.-Early years:Forbes was born at Douglas, in the Isle of Man. While still a child, when not engaged in reading, or in the writing of verses and drawing of caricatures, he occupied himself with the collecting of insects, shells, minerals,...
, he produced a description of the geology between Blackgang Chine
Blackgang Chine
Blackgang Chine is the location of a now-destroyed chine in the soft Cretaceous cliffs about 6 miles from Ventnor at the southern tip of the Isle of Wight just below St Catherine's Down. Since 1843 it has been home to the Blackgang Chine amusement park, run by the Dabell family who also run the...
and Atherfield Point, in the Isle of Wight, for the Geological Society.
In 1851, Levett
Levett
Levett is an Anglo-Norman territorial surname deriving from the village of Livet-en-Ouche, now Jonquerets-de-Livet, in Eure, Normandy. Ancestors of the earliest Levett family in England, the de Livets were lords of the village of Livet, and undertenants of the de Ferrers, among the most powerful of...
Ibbetson helped manage the Great Exhibition. At this event, public toilets were relatively novel, and Ibbetson was given the task of writing an 'Official Report On The Waiting Rooms and Washing Places in the Exhibition Building' - during which he recorded "The largest receipt from the Waiting Rooms was on Wednesday, 8th October 1851 when 11,171 persons made use of them".
Ibbetson died at Biebrich
Biebrich
Biebrich is the name of two places in Germany.*Biebrich, a borough of Wiesbaden, Hesse, until 1926 an independent town*Biebrich, Rhineland Palatinate, a small municipality in the Rhein-Lahn district, near Katzenelnbogen...
in Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
, where he had lived for several years. Some years earlier he presented a valuable collection of fossils to the Museum of Practical Geology
Geological Museum
The Geological Museum is one of the oldest single science museums in the world and now part of the Natural History Museum in London...
in London.
Capt. Levett Landon Boscawen Ibbetson was the father of Major Henry Levett Boscawen Ibbetson of the 77th (East Middlesex) Regiment of Foot
77th (East Middlesex) Regiment of Foot
The 77th Regiment of Foot was a line regiment of the British Army . In 1881 it was united with the 57th Regiment of Foot to form The Middlesex Regiment ....
of the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
. Capt. Levett Landon Boscawen Ibbetson was the son of Sophy and Major Levett Ibbetson, a native of Bushey, Hertfordshire, where his father the Right Rev. Dr. James Ibbetson, D.D. (1717–1781), was the rector of Bushey, the Archdeacon of St Albans and Prebend of Lincoln as well as an author. Major Levett, his son, was a soldier in the 28th (North Gloucestershire) Regiment of Foot
28th (North Gloucestershire) Regiment of Foot
The 28th Regiment of Foot was a British infantry regiment from 1782 to 1881.For their conduct at the Battle of Alexandria in 1801 the 28th were given the unique honour of wearing a badge on both the front and rear of their head dress.. They served throughout the Peninsula War including the battles...
of the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
. Major Levett Ibbetson lived at West Teignmouth
Teignmouth
Teignmouth is a town and civil parish in Teignbridge in the English county of Devon, situated on the north bank of the estuary mouth of the River Teign about 14 miles south of Exeter. It has a population of 14,413. In 1690, it was the last place in England to be invaded by a foreign power...
, Devon, England.
Works by L. L. Boscawen Ibbetson
- On the Tertiary and Cretaceous Formations of the Isle of Wight, co-authored with Prof. E. Forbes, 1844
- Notes on the Geology and Chemical Composition of the various Strata in the Isle of Wight, J. Van Voorst, London, 1849