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Emerging from the museum: Joseph Dawson, mineralogist, 1740–1813

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 January 2004

A. J. PACEY
A. J. PACEY
Affiliation:
8 North Street, Addingham, Ilkley, West Yorkshire, LS29 OQY, UK.
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Abstract

Joseph Dawson is known mainly as one of the founders of Low Moor Ironworks, near Bradford (Yorkshire). But he also had wide interests in science. Local museum collections illustrate several aspects of his work in chemistry and mineralogy. His mineral collection is particularly important because it is accompanied by a rare early catalogue in Dawson's hand. This shows how he arranged his 2206 mineral specimens according to Thomas Thomson's essentially Wernerian classification. Dawson's comments about minerals as well as about iron furnaces demonstrate a view of science in which chemistry was fundamental. Moreover, his contacts with other iron-masters and leading industrialists, as well as with mineralogists and Nonconformist ministers, show him active within several networks through which scientific ideas, attitudes and practices were disseminated.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal for the History of Science , Volume 36 , Issue 4 , December 2003 , pp. 455 - 469
Copyright
© 2003 British Society for the History of Science

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Footnotes

I am indebted to Alison C. Armstrong, Natural Sciences Curator, Bradford Metropolitan District Museums, Cliffe Castle, Keighley, showing me the Dawson collection and sharing her own research. I am also grateful to Hugh S. Torrens for much advice and information, to James H. Nunney of the Leeds Museum Resource Centre for showing me Dawson's chemistry set, to Margaret Pacey for investigating material held by Dr Williams's Library, and to Denise Crook and Jack Morrell for commenting on an earlier draft of this paper.