Encyclopaedia Britannica 11th Edition

BRISTOW, HENRY WILLIAM

(1817-1889), English geologist, son of Major-General H. Bristow, who served in the Peninsular War, was born on the 17th of May 1817. He was educated at King's College, London, under John Phillips, then professor of geology. In 1842 he was appointed assistant geologist on the Geological Survey, and in that service he remained for forty-six years, becoming director for England and Wales in 1872, and retiring in 1888. He was elected F.R.S. in 1862. He died in London on the 14th of June 1889. His publications (see Geol. Mag., 1889, p. 384) include A Glossary of Mineralogy (1861) and The Geology of the Isle of Wight (1862).