William Jory Henwood

Who was William Jory Henwood?

William Jory Henwood FRS, Cornish mining geologist, was born at Perran Wharf, Cornwall.

In 1822 he commenced work as a clerk in an office of the Perran Foundry, owned by the Fox family of Falmouth, a post previously held by his father, John Henwood. He received some tuition in science at the home of Charles Fox.

Henwood soon took an active interest in the working of mines and in the metalliferous deposits. He was funded by the Fox family and local gentry to survey Cornish mines. He developed a theory on how metal lodes had been formed. Unfortunately, he saw Robert Were Fox, who was researching in the same field, as a plagiarist.

In 1832 Henwood was appointed to the office of assay-master and supervisor of tin in the duchy of Cornwall, a post from which he retired in 1838. Meanwhile he had commenced in 1826 to communicate papers on mining subjects to the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall, and the Geological Society of London, and in 1840 he was elected Fellow of the Royal Society.