Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Hutton, Frederick Wollaston
HUTTON, FREDERICK WOLLASTON (1836–1905), geologist, born on 16 Nov. 1836 at Gate Burton, Lincolnshire, was second of the seven sons (and ten children) of Henry Frederick Hutton, rector of Gate Burton, and afterwards of Spridlington, near Lincoln (where he inherited an estate from a godfather). His mother was Louisa, daughter of Henry John Wollaston, rector of Scotter, a relation of William Hyde Wollaston [q. v.]. Wealth came to the father's family through his great-grandfather, Thomas Hutton, a lawyer at Gainsborough, whose son purchased Gate Burton Hall for the family seat, with the advowson of the rectory. Frederick's eldest brother, Henry Wollaston (b. 1835), is prebendary of Lincoln; his youngest brother, Arthur Wollaston (1848-1912), was rector of St. Mary-le-Bow, Cheapside.
Frederick, educated at Southwell and the Naval Academy, Gosport, served for three years in the Indian mercantile marine. Afterwards he entered King's College, London, and in 1855 obtained a commission in the 23rd royal Welsh fusiliers, becoming lieutenant in 1857 and captain in 1862. He saw service in the Crimea 1855–6; and in the Indian Mutiny he shared in the capture of Lucknow and in the defeat of the Gwalior mutineers by Sir Colin Campbell, afterwards Lord Clyde [q. v.], receiving medals for both campaigns. In 1860–1 he passed with distinction through the Staff College, Sandhurst, and thenceforth his interest in scientific studies rapidly developed.
In 1866 Hutton sold out of the army, and the following January emigrated with his family to New Zealand. As a colonist on the Waikato he was hardly successful, but in 1871 he was appointed assistant-geologist to the New Zealand geological survey and removed to Wellington. In 1873 he left that town for Dunedin on being appointed provincial geologist of Otago and curator of the museum. In 1877 he became professor of natural science in the Otago University. In 1890 he went to Christchurch as professor of biology and geology in the university of New Zealand, but resigned that post in 1893 for the curatorship of the museum. In March 1905 he revisited England, after an absence of thirty-nine years. On the return voyage, near Cape Town, he died at sea (where he was buried) on 27 Oct. 1905.
Besides geology, Hutton had a good knowledge of ornithology and ethnology; and many of the skeletons of the extinct moa (Dinornis) now in Europe were obtained by him. In addition to thirteen official catalogues and reports, he wrote more than a hundred scientific papers, the majority contributed to the 'Transactions of the New Zealand Institute.' Eight appear in the 'Quarterly Journal' of the Geological Society (London), among them being a valuable description of the Tarawera district, shortly after the great eruption in 1886. He was also the author of a 'Classbook of Elementary Geology' (1875); of 'Darwinism and Lamarckism, Old and New' (1899); and 'Index Faunæ Novæ Zealandiæ' (1904); and was joint author of 'Nature in New Zealand (1902) and 'Animals of New Zealand ' (1904). In 1902 he published 'The Lesson of Evolution,' a series of essays, which at the time of his death he had enlarged and almost rewritten. This was printed for private circulation in 1907, but deserves to be more widely read. His last article, written while in England, on 'What is Life ?' appeared in the 'Hibbert Journal' (1905). Hutton maintained life to be something immaterial and independent of matter, which, however, it required in order to display itself. He was an original thinker and was often involved in controversy, where he fought strenuously but fairly.
He was elected F.G.S. in 1861, a corresponding member of the Zoological Society of London in 1872, and F.R.S. in 1892. He was also a corresponding member of other European, colonial and American societies, was president of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science in 1901 at the Hobart Town meeting, and was first president of the board of governors of the New Zealand Institute, by which a memorial medal and prize was founded.
In 1863 Hutton married Annie Gouger, daughter of Dr. WiUiam Montgomerie of the Bengal mihtary service, who introduced gutta-percha into practical use in Europe. His wife, three sons (one an officer in the royal engineers) and three daughters survived him.
[Geol. Mag. 1905; Quarterly JoTirnal Geol. Soc. 1906; Proc. Roy. Soc. 79 B; memoir prefixed to The Lesson of Evolution, 1907 ; information from Prebendary H. W. Hutton.]