Lawrence Wager – “Bill” to his friends – was by any measure one of the most important geologists of his time. His discovery and studies of the Skaergaard Intrusion of East Greenland were a landmark contribution to igneous petrology, and his work, together with that of his students and colleagues contributed to some of the most basic concepts of magmatic differentiation. – Alexander R. McBirney, University of Oregon

by G. P. Glasby, Department of Geochemistry, GZG, Goldschmidtstrasse 1, D-37077 Göttingen, Germany

Introduction

In May 1965, I decided to do my Part II thesis in chemistry at Oxford in the Geology Department. My tutor (L.E. Sutton) arranged for me to meet Malcolm Brown to discuss my thesis topic. When we had finished, he took me to see the professor to confirm the arrangements. I was introduced to a short man (5 ft 4 1/2 ins) with receding white hair who looked older than his 61 years (at least by today’s standards) but with a very erect posture and an athletic frame. When we shook hands, he squeezed my hand in a powerful grip. I knew immediately that I had met Somebody. As we left, I asked Malcolm Brown whom that was. ‘That was Professor Wager. He was highest up Everest before the war.'

Lawrence Rickard Wager was born in Batley in West Yorkshire in 1904 and his younger brother, Hal, in Hebden Bridge in 1906 (Hargreaves 1991). In 1905, his father became headmaster of Hebden Bridge Secondary School where he stayed until 1926. From the early days, his parents rented a cottage at Arncliffe in Littondale in the Yorkshire Dales and the two boys lived for the 14 weeks of holiday each year at Arncliffe. There, they were free to wander as they pleased and made most of this freedom. From an early age, Lawrence searched out fossils and minerals from the local lead mines and later became interested in the Carboniferous Limestone of Littondale. Hal, on the other hand, was more interested in plants and algae. There is no doubt that this freedom to roam in some of the most beautiful scenery in Britain had a profound influence on the boys.

Lawrence attended his father’s school from 1914 until 1919. However, in 1916 his mother died of pernicious anaemia, casting a dark shadow over family life. His father became run down by the war and his wife’s death and, in 1919, was granted leave of absence for one year to take the boys to Trinidad. The highlight of the year was a two-day expedition to Tucutche, the highest mountain in Trinidad (3,012 ft), to collect rare ferns for Kew.

On their return, Lawrence went into the sixth form at Leeds Grammar School from 1920 to 1922. During this time, he stayed with his uncle, Harold Wager, who was a chief inspector of schools, a botanist and a Fellow of the Royal Society (Seward 1930). Harold Wager had a great love of nature and it is hardly surprising that he had a great impact on a maturing schoolboy with a scientific bent (Deer 1967).

In 1922, Lawrence obtained his Higher School Certificate in Applied Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry with distinctions in Applied Mathematics and Chemistry and was awarded an Exhibition in Science by Pembroke College, Cambridge (Hargreaves 1991). He went up to Cambridge to read geology at a time when geology at Cambridge was very strong. J.E. Marr was Woodwardian Professor, Alfred Harker Reader in Petrology and Gertrude Ellis and C.E. Tilley members of the teaching staff (Deer 1968). Wager always felt it was Harker to whom he owed his real awakening to the science of petrology (Anon 1965).

In 1926, Wager obtained a First in Geology in Part II of the Natural Science Tripos. As an undergraduate, Wager joined many societies and rowed for his college 4th eight in the Lent term of 1924. However, his main interest at Cambridge was always the Cambridge University Mountaineering Club (CUMC) of which he became Treasurer in 1924-25 and President in 1925-26. The meets in the vacations became an integral part of his life (Hargreaves 1991). Wager’s brother Hal followed him up to Cambridge and subsequently obtained his Ph.D. in botany there.

Following his success in Finals, Wager was awarded a Goldsmiths’ Company Research Studentship which he used to work on metasomatism in the Whin Sill and on the joint pattern tectonics of the Great Scar Limestone of the Craven highlands of West Yorkshire. This work is described in some detail by Deer (1967). During this time, he took up Morris Dancing and became a member of the Cambridge Morris Men in 1928. It was here that he acquired the name Bill by which he became known by his close friends and colleagues for the rest of his life. In 1929, Wager was appointed to a lectureship in Mineralogy and Petrology at Reading University under Professor H.L. Hawkins who did much to further his career (Vincent 1994). Wager took up his position in Reading in October of that year.

By the time he left Cambridge in 1929, Wager was already beginning to establish his credentials as a field geologist and had acquired a reputation as being one of the best and safest climbers in Britain.

Lawrence Wager had the rare distinction of making his mark (at the highest levels) in three separate fields, as an explorer, mountaineer and geologist, as I will now attempt to show.

Page One: Introduction
Page Two : Wager the Explorer
Page Three : Returns to Greenland
Page Four: Geology and War Service
Page Five: Conclusions
References

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