Grenville A. J. Cole

Grenville Arthur James Cole FRS, FGS, MRIA (21 October 1859 – 20 April 1924) was an English geologist. He was from 1890 the Professor of Geology and Mineralogy in the Royal College of Science for Ireland, and from 1905 he became the fifth Director of the Geological Survey of Ireland.

Early life and family

Cole was born in London, and was the son of John Jenkins Cole (1815–1897) an architect, and Anna Maria Josephine Smith (c.1832-1903). He attended the City of London School and the Royal School of Mines, London, going on to become a demonstrator in geology from 1878 to 1890.

Cole married Blanche Vernon in 1896. Blanche's father was J. E. Vernon of Clontarf Castle. They had one son, Vernon. Blanche had been one of his students and she produced fine drawings of his thin section petrography, to illustrate his published papers. From 1896 to 1902, they lived at 3 Dartmouth Square, and later kept two houses, one at 10 Winton Road from 1902 to 1920, and Orohova (later Glenheather), Carrickmines 1902 to 1924. In later life, he suffered from rheumatoid arthritis. He died at his home in Carrickmines on 20 April 1924 and is buried in Dean's Grange Cemetery, Dublin.

Career

Cole supported women in their geological studies, including by teaching at Bedford College, London between 1886 and 1890. From 1890 to 1924, he was professor of geology at Royal College of Science, Dublin. Mabel Crawford MacDowall was one of Cole's students at the Royal College of Science for Ireland. She married William Bourke Wright, a geologist. She then deployed her talents in the Geological Survey by studying fossils from the Leinster coalfield, and publishing a paper in 1920, under the directorship of Cole.