Seminar 3: Reward for Good Conduct: Henry De la Beche, Slavery, and Britain’s Geological
Foundations
We’ll be meeting on Wednesday 5th November, 5-6pm GMT, online using Zoom. Sign up to receive the joining link and reminders. Registration closes 1 hour before seminar start time.
Abstract
This paper traces the trans-imperial biography of a medal commissioned by the geologist Henry De la Beche (1796–1855), first given to enslaved labourers on his Jamaican plantation and later reissued as a prize for scientific achievement at the Royal School of Mines, London. Originating as a cameo portrait carved by Italian engraver Tommaso Saulini, the medal underwent two further iterations by Royal Mint engravers William and Leonard Wyon.
Using archival and material evidence, the paper considers the abolition of slavery in 1833 as a catalyst for the recognition of geology as a formal scientific discipline worthy of state funding in Britain. The medal materialises this shift: its evolving design and function crossing geographic, institutional, and ideological boundaries – from plantation reward to academic accolade. It exposes how geological science and colonialism were materially intertwined, and how slavery’s visual and symbolic legacies persisted across seemingly disconnected spheres.
