John Phillips. Yorkshire’s traveller through time

When John Phillips (1800-74) arrived in Yorkshire in 1819 as a penniless teenager with his uncle, the great geological pioneer William “Strata” Smith, he could have no idea how the landscapes of Yorkshire were going to dominate his life. A brilliant cartographer and early geologist, Phillips became Secretary of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society and first keeper of the Yorkshire Museum. Becoming a world renown palaeontologist he was appointed Professor of Geology at Oxford University and Keeper of its Museum of Natural History.

This book is about another side of John Phillips – the pioneer walker-writer and artist. Having tramped thousands of miles in geological wandarings, Phillips produced two of the best early guidebooks to Yorkshire, including one of the world’s first-ever railway guidebooks.

Colin Speakman’s John Phillips.Yorkshire traveller through time is published by Gritstone Publishing, Hebden Bridge, and is available (online, delivered) from Gritstone Publishing website (online and delivered). Copies are also available from Waterstones or Amazon price £15