William John Pugh

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Date Details 28 June 1892 Born
1914 Graduated in BA geography University College, Aberystwyth
WW1 served in the Royal Welch Fusileers
1919–1931 University College, Aberystwyth as Professor of Geology
1929 to 1931 Dean of Faculty, University College, Aberystwyth
1931—1950 Professor of Geology and Director of the Geological Laboratories at the University of Manchester
1948–1949 president of Section C (Geology) of the British Association for the Advancement of Science (1948–49
1951 Emeritus Professor
1951–1960 Director of the Geological Survey of Great Britain and of the Museum of Practical Geology
18-Mar-74 Died
Honours
Croix de Guerre
1919 OBE
1956 Knight Bachelor
1951 Fellow Royal Society
1952 Murchison Medal

Biographies and obituaries

Pugh, William John (1892-1974), Director of Geological Survey of Great Britain Dictionary of Welsh Biography

William Pugh (geologist) — Wikipedia article

Williams, Alwyn 1975 William John Pugh, 28 July 1892 - 18 March 1974 Biogr. Mems Fell. R. Soc.21485–495. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbm.1975.0015

Publications

Works listed in the BGS Library catalogue

Pugh, W.J. Arthur Elijah Trueman 1894-1956 : [obituary]. Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of The Royal Society of London v.4 1958 p.291-305.

Pugh, W.J. The building of north Wales. North Western Naturalist 12(2) 1937 p.151-160.

Jones, O.T. ; Pugh, W.J. ; Cox, A.H. ; International Geological Congress (1948). Central and South-west Wales : guide to excursions C.7 of the 18th IGC. London : The Congress.

Jones, O.T. ; Pugh, W.J. The complex intrusion of Welfield, near Builth Wells, Radnorshire. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London 102(2) 1946 p.157-188.

Pugh, W.J. (1930). A contribution to the geology of central Wales. I.C.Peate (ed), 1930, Studies in regional conciousness and environment: essays presented to H.J.Fleure D.Sc., F.S.A. Oxford. (1930).

Pugh, W.J. ; Jones, O.T. An early Ordovician shore-line in Radnorshire, near Builth Wells. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London 105(1) 1949 p.65-99.

Pugh, W.J. ; Jones, O.T. The form and distribution of dolerite masses in the Builth-Llandrindod inlier, Radnorshire. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London 104(1) 1948 p.71-98.

Blyth, F.G.H. ; Jones, O.T. ; Pugh, W.J. The form and distribution of dolerite masses in the Builth-Llandrindod inlier, Radnorshire by W.J.Pugh & O.T.Jones : Discussion. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London 104(4) 1948 p.530-531.

Pugh, W.J. The geological map of Great Britain : The Ramsden Memorial Lecture. Memoirs & Proceedings Manchester Literary & Philosophical Society 95 1954 p.85-101.

Pugh, W.J. ; Geological Survey of Great Britain. Geological Survey boring in Great Britain. Nature 172(4366) 1953 p.12-13.

Pugh, W.J. The Geological Survey of Great Britain : Two Cantor Lectures. Journal of the Royal Society of Arts 106(5024) 1958 p.569-588.

Pugh, W.J. The Geological Survey of Great Britain. Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers Part 1 General 3(5) 1954 p.582-595.

Pugh, W.J. (1957). The Geological Survey of Great Britain. World Science Review 1957 p.31-34 (1957).

Pugh, W.J. Geology of the district around Corris and Aberllenfenni. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London 79(4) 1923 p.508-545.

Pugh, W.J. Geology of the district around Dinas Mawddwy, Merioneth. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London 84(2) 1928 p.345-381.

Pugh, W.J. ; Jones, O.T. Geology of the district around Machynlleth and the Llyfnant Valley. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London 71(2) 1916 p.343-385.

Pugh, W.J. The geology of the district between Llanymawddwy and Llanuwchllyn (Merioneth). Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London 85(3) 1929 p.242-306.

Pugh, W.J. ; Jones, O.T. The geology of the districts around Machynlleth and Aberystwyth. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association 46(3) 1935 p.247-300.

Pugh, W.J. ; Jones, R.C.B. The geology of the Lancashire coalfield. Colliery Guardian 157(4063) 1938 p.850-851.

Pugh, W.J. The ice age in Britain. North Western Naturalist 14(3/4) 1939 p.170-178.

Jones, O.T. ; Pugh, W.J. The laccolithic series. American Journal of Science 247(6) 1949 p.353-371.

Pugh, W.J. ; Jones, O.T. A multi-layered dolerite complex of laccolithic form, near Llandrindod Wells, Radnorshire. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London Vol. 104 pt/no 1 (1948) p.43-70 ; p.43-70.

Pugh, W.J. Nature the destroyer. I.Cox (ed), 1939, The wild life around us, and the story of the rocks. London: Allen & Unwin p.143-152.

Jones, O.T. ; Pugh, W.J. Ordovician rocks of the Builth district: a preliminary account. Geological Magazine 78(3) 1941 p.185-191.

Pugh, W.J. Owen Thomas Jones 1878-1967 : [obituary]. Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of The Royal Society of London v.13 1967 p.223-243.

Wood, A. ; Jones, O.T. ; Pugh, W.J. (1969). The Pre-Cambrian and Lower Palaeozoic rocks of Wales : report of a symposium held at the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, in honour of Professor O.T. Jones and Sir William Pugh. Cardiff : University of Wales Press.

Pugh, W.J. ; British Association for the Advancement of Science. Recent work on the Lower Palaeozoic rocks. Advancement of Science 6(23) 1950 p.203-212.

Pugh, W.J. (1928). A shell-marl deposit in Montgomeryshire : Montgomeryshire Collections (Powys-Land Club) 40(3) 1928 p.234-241.

Cox, A.H. ; Pugh, W.J. ; International Geological Congress (1948). South Wales. guide to excursion A.10 of the 18th IGC (1948).

Pugh, W.J. Stephen Henry Straw : [obituary]. Proceedings of the Geological Society of London no.1611 1963 p.156-159.

Jones, O.T. ; Pugh, W.J. Summer field meeting in the Aberystwyth area. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association 46(4) 1935 p.413-428.

Pugh, W.J. Triassic salt: discoveries in the Cheshire-Shropshire Basin. Nature 187(4734) 1960 p.278-279.

BGS archives

Ref No Title Description
GSM/DR/Pu William John Pugh Pugh became Director in 1950 on the retirement of McLintock. He had been Professor of Geology at Manchester and was unusual as an external appointment.
GSM/DR/Pu/5 Misc.letters to Pugh as Director of the Survey and Museum.

William John Pugh as Director of the Survey

Extract from: From: Wilson, H.E. Down to earth - one hundred and fifty years of the British Geological Survey. Edinburgh:Scottish Academic Press, 1985. [In all directions: developments under Sir Henry's fourteen successors In all directions: developments under Sir Henry's fourteen successors]

When McLintock retired in 1950 it seemed probable that Phemister would succeed him, for he had been the administrative lynch-pin for the last five years, but the law of the Scottish succession had been overturned and that of the Welsh had come into force. Presumably the new Director was selected by the Secretary of D.S.I .R. after consultation with the Geological Survey Board and its Chairman, Sir Arthur Trueman (1894-1953), then Professor of Geology at Glasgow. Perhaps the presence on the Board of Phemister's brother, Prof. T. C. Phemister, was a contra-indication; perhaps the anti-Scots lobby was able to make its voice heard; maybe the influence of O. T. Jones, Professor at Cambridge, was effective; but to the astonishment of the staff the new incumbent was named as William John Pugh (1892-1974), Professor at Manchester.

For Pugh the transition to London was an opportunity to take a greater share in the activities of the geological 'establishment'. He came with the reputation of being an administrator, having been Deputy Vice Chancellor at Manchester, but most of his junior staff found him a remote and somewhat pompous figure, who made relatively little impression. He had the incubus, for the first two years, of Phemister as his senior Assistant Director, but when Stubblefield replaced the latter in 1953 he found Pugh a conscientious Director who did what he could to uphold the Survey's traditions. Pugh initiated the primary six-inch survey of the Cheshire Saltfield — astonishingly this important area had never been surveyed in any detail — including a drilling programme supervised by F M Trotter (1897-1968), District Geologist in Manchester, which revealed that the Cheshire salt reserves were at least twice the previous estimates.

In 1952 the head of the Water Department was raised to District Geologist rank, but with the resignation of K.C. Dunham from the post of Petrographer in 1949 that role was filled for a decade at a lower grade. In Scotland a new Field Unit was formed in 1952 when the Lowlands Unit was divided, but when Archie MacGregor was promoted to Assistant Director in that year his post as District Geologist of the Highlands and Islands Unit was not filled and the unit was headed by a Principal Geologist for five years.

In 1957 a new Assistant Director (W.N. Edwards) was appointed to control the field work in the North of England and the regional office which was opened in Leeds in 1959. The post of Curator of the Museum was divorced from that of the Assistant Director in the same year and the Curator henceforth ranked as a SPSO. In 1959 the incumbent Petrographer (P A Sabine) was up-graded to the traditional rank of District Geologist, but it was 1962 before the head of geophysics (W Bullerwell) was elevated to this rank as Chief Geophysicist.

After Pugh's retirement in 1960 the Department returned to an internal promotion and he was succeeded by C.J. Stubblefield.