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William Joscelyn Arkell, FRS

1904-58.  Geologist and paleontologist, regarded as a leading authority on the Jurassic Period.

Arkell was the youngest of the seven children of a brewer and an artist. From an early age he displayed a keen interest in natural history, explored the countryside, and collected insects, plants, and fossils. Educated at Wellington College, Berkshire, and New College, Oxford, he made geology and palaeontology his special subjects. In 1925 he gained the only first-class honours of his year in geology and was soon awarded the Burdett-Coutts scholarship, which opened the way for research in his chosen field. In 1929-33 he was lecturer in geology at New College, an appointment which enabled him to devote most of his time to research, and thereafter he held senior research fellowships at New College (1933-40) and at Trinity College, Cambridge (1947-58). He received the DSc degree of the University of Oxford in 1934.  During the War he worked as a temporary civil servant in London.

Elected FRS in 1947, Arkell was awarded the Mary Clark Thompson gold medal of the National Academy of Sciences of America in 1944, the Lyell medal of the Geological Society of London in 1949, and the von Buch medal of the German Geological Society in 1953. He was also an honorary member or correspondent of several foreign learned societies.  He was an authority on building stones, and painted watercolours in his spare time.