Blue plaque for Oxford alumnus
07 Aug 08
An Oxford University alumnus is to be immortalised in Oxford’s history this weekend when the county’s 41st Blue Plaque is unveiled.
The ceremony, at the Old Rectory, Islip on Sunday 10 August (3pm), celebrates William Buckland (1784-1856) a scientist and former Dean of Westminster Abbey. The Blue Plaques celebrate distinguished Oxfordshire men and women.
Professor Jim Kennedy, Director of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History said: ‘William Buckland revolutionised the teaching of science in Oxford, and was the most charismatic teacher of his day.'
‘His collections are housed in the University Museum of Natural History, and we are delighted to be associated with the installation of this Blue Plaque commemorating such a distinguished academic, cleric, and eccentric.’
William Buckland lived intermittently in the Rectory between 1845 and 1856 when it was his country residence. He and his wife Mary Morland are buried in nearby Islip Churchyard.
He was born in Devon in 1784, and attended Oxford University’s Corpus Christi College. He gained his BA in 1804, and was elected a Fellow four years later. He became Reader in Mineralogy in 1813, and Reader in Geology in 1818.
In 1825 he was appointed Canon of Christ Church, and married Mary. In 1845 Robert Peel persuaded Queen Victoria to appoint Buckland Dean of Westminster at the second attempt – calling it ‘the best appointment I ever made’. With this came the Rectorship of Islip.
From the end of 1849 until his death, Buckland suffered periods of mental illness. Buckland’s fame as a scientist came from a string of discoveries including the prehistoric Hyaena Den at Kirkdale in Yorkshire (for which he was awarded the Royal Society’s highest award, the Copley Medal), and the description of the ‘Great Lizard of Stonesfield’ in which he provided the first scientific description of the giant reptiles now known as dinosaurs.
Buckland is described as a great showman and eccentric and ‘the man who ate everything’. He allegedly remarked that the only thing he had eaten that was worse than mole was bluebottles and John Ruskin once mentioned his regret at having missed a breakfast at the Bucklands’ which included toasted dormice. He is even said to have been shown a box containing the heart of a French monarch, rescued from the revolutionary destruction of St Denis, at the great house at Nuneham Courtenay, south of Oxford. Claiming he had ‘eaten most things, but never the heart of a King’, he allegedly did just that.
During his time in Islip, Buckland improved local agriculture (by acquiring an experimental farm at Middleton Stoney), drainage of Otmoor, roads, and the education of the local community. He was known for his bear Tiglath Pileser, or ‘Tig’, who accompanied him on horseback rides in the area and terrorised the owner of the village shop when wandering loose in search of sweets.