Samuel Woodward

Who was Samuel Woodward?

Samuel Woodward, English geologist and antiquary, was born at Norwich.

He was for the most part self-educated. Apprenticed in 1804 to a manufacturer of camlets and bombazines, a taste for serious study was stimulated by his master, Alderman John Herring and by Joseph John Gurney. Becoming interested in geology and archaeology, he began to form the collection which after his death was purchased for the Norwich museum. In 1820 he obtained a clerkship in Gurney's bank at Norwich, and Hudson Gurney and Dawson Turner, both fellows of the Royal Society, encouraged his scientific work.

He communicated to the Archaeologia articles on the round church towers of Norfolk, the Roman remains of the country, etc., and other papers on natural history and geology to the Mag. Nat. Hist. and Phil. Mag.

He was author of:

A Synoptical Table of British Organic Remains, the first work of its kind in Britain

An Outline of the Geology of Norfolk

The Norfolk Topographer's Manual issued posthumously

The History and Antiquities of Norwich Castle issued posthumously

His eldest son, Bernard Bolingbroke Woodward, was librarian and keeper of the prints and drawings at Windsor Castle from 1860 until his death.