1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Ansted, David Thomas

ANSTED, DAVID THOMAS (1814–1880), English geologist, was born in London on the 5th of February 1814. He was educated at Jesus College, Cambridge, and after taking his degree of M.A. in 1839 was elected to a fellowship of the college. Inspired by the teachings of Adam Sedgwick, his attention was given to geology, and in 1840 he was elected professor of geology in King’s College, London, a post which he held until 1853. Meanwhile he became a fellow of the Royal Society in 1844, and from that date until 1847 he was vice-secretary of the Geological Society and edited its Quarterly Journal. The practical side of geology now came to occupy his chief attention, and he visited various parts of Europe and the British Islands as a consulting geologist and mining engineer. He was also in 1868 and for many years examiner in physical geography to the science and art department. He died at Melton near Woodbridge, on the 13th of May 1880.

Publications.—Geology, Introductory, Descriptive and Practical (2 vols., 1844); The Ionian Islands (1863); The Applications of Geology to the Arts and Manufactures (1865); Physical Geography (1867); Water and Water Supply (Surface Water) (1878); and The Channel Islands (with R. G. Latham) (1862).