July 4th John Hawkins FRS (Death)
     

 

St. Erth – born John Hawkins (1761 – 1841) was a geologist, traveller and writer.  The youngest son of Thomas Hawkins, Member of Parliament for Grampound, by Anne, John Hawkins’ elder brother was Sir Christopher Hawkins (April 6th), the St. Ives Member for St. Ives who became involved in the fraudulent elections.

Educated at Helston Grammar School, Winchester College and Trinity College, Cambridge.  Expected to become a lawyer, Hawkins instead travelled to Germany to study mineralogy and mining.

Having inherited considerable wealth and the Trewithen Estate near Probus (pictured in an 18th century engraving), Hawkins was able to dedicate himself to the study of art, literature and science.

Hawkins was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1791 on the basis of a number of papers he had penned on Cornish geology and was a founder member of the Royal Horticultural Society and of the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall (February 11th). He also wrote extensively on the, undersea, Wherrytown Mine (January 2nd), near Penzance.

Trewithen remains in the family of John Hawkins and is renowned for its gardens notably the oaks and the walled gardens.


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