RE-ESTABLISHING THE REPUTATION OF GEORGE BARTLETT (1810-1891) AFTER HIS ‘COVERT EXCLUSION’ FROM THE HISTORICAL RECORD BY WILLIAM PENGELLY

ABSTRACT

The now virtually unknown George Bartlett was an autodidactic scientist of Brixham, Devon, England; the author of geological charts and pamphlets; a lecturer and an advocate of universal education; and an innovator in agricultural science. His remarkable synoptic Index Geologicus of 1841 epitomizes his character and assiduous scholarship. He was a contemporary of the renowned Cornish geologist, William Pengelly, though they never collaborated. Bartlett was, in fact, a typical example of those unqualified but experienced Victorian scientists so often discredited or simply ignored by elite contemporaries. Although locally respected, as a provincial outsider he was isolated from the prestigious Geological Society of London, and since professionalization of science had barely begun, he struggled to earn an adequate living. His paleontological discoveries are mostly unrecognized nowadays, mainly due to an insidious, systematic undermining of his reputation, orchestrated by Pengelly, whose character is necessarily reassessed herein. We also introduce and define the term ‘covert exclusion’ for such underhand scheming. The resulting erasure of Bartlett from geological history was so complete by the time he died, that it is still unwittingly perpetuated by recent authors. This paper seeks to restore Bartlett’s reputation and to reinstate him as one of the pioneers of bone-cave research in Devon; the discoverer of the first reliable evidence for reindeer inhabiting Great Britain; and the first paleontologist to determine fossils from the famous Brixham Cave, his credit having been usurped by Pengelly, promoted uncritically and hence probably unwittingly by his peers.