Galashiels - The life and works of Charles Lapworth (1842-1920), an eminent geologist, have been commemorated by a plaque at the old Episcopal School in Galashiels unveiled on 15th May 2019. The listed building, now housing Scottish Borders Council offices, was originally the school where Lapworth was headmaster from1864-75. He married Janet Sanderson in 1869 and had four children, three of whom were born in the school house.
Lapworth carried out his initial geological research into the local greywacke rocks and their fossils while living in Galashiels. Later, while pursuing his teaching career in St Andrews, he published papers on the distribution of extinct organisms called graptolites and, in1879, he suggested the name “Ordovician” to describe the period between the Cambrian and Silurian ages, a name which was duly accepted across the world. The plaque is a fitting record of the time that Lapworth spent teaching and researching in Galashiels.