Archive: John Thomas Wattison (23rd June 1884 - 12th January 1974)

Born in the Potteries, John Thomas Wattison was one of the last great amateur collectors of the geological world. He was in the pottery industry, lived 26 years in Portugal, returned to England in 1936 spending the next 27 years at Shrewsbury before returning to Shrewsbury upon retirement.

Whlist in Portugal he collected Ordovician trilobites (most of which are now in the Natural History Museum) from the Oporto hinterland and wrote a standard text on Portuguese butterflies. At Shrewsbury he organized a geological collection in the County Museum, now featured at Rowley’s House Museum, Shrewsbury. The bulk of his collection, approx 18000 specimens were bequeathed to Birmingham University Geological Museum, with Stoke-on-Trent Museum housing a further 200 specimens

Obituaries: Cope, F. W. & Strachan, I. 1975, Annual Report of the Geological Society 1974, 47.

Watkin, E. A. & Steward, D. I. 1979 Geological Curators’ Group newsletter 2, (7), 430.

Wattison's Handwriting