Willoughby Verner: Difference between revisions

| name = William Willoughby Cole Verner

| caption = Colonel William Willoughby Verner in a 1903 colour photograph by [[Sarah Angelina Acland]]

| death_date = January{{death 25,date and age|df=yes|1922|1|25|1852|10|22}}

| death_place = [[Algeciras]]

| known_for = Author, Ornithologistornithologist, Cavecave discoverer

Colonel '''William Willoughby Cole Verner''' (22 October 22, 1852 – 25 January 25, 1922) was a [[United Kingdom|British]] soldier, writer and, ornithologist, and inventor of a type of compass. He was briefly a Professor of TopologyTopography<ref name=iwm/> at the [[Royal Military Academy Sandhurst]]. He is remembered for bringing [[Cueva de la Pileta]], a cave filled with prehistoric paintings, to international attention.<ref name=lawson>{{cite book|last=Lawson|first=Andrew J.|title=Painted Caves: Palaeolithic Rock Art in Western Europe|year=2012|publisher=Oxford University Press|pageslocation=480Oxford, UK|page=66|url=httphttps://books.google.co.ukcom/books?id=kU-10lGjDYoC&dqpg=William+Willoughby+Cole+Verner+professor&source=gbs_navlinks_s66|accessdate=219 JanuaryNovember 20132015|pagesisbn=382–6978-0-19-969822-6}}</ref>

Verner was born in 1852 and he showed an early interest in bones owningcollecting the fossils of extinct animals.<ref name=lawson>{{cite book|last=Lawson|first=Andrew J.|title=Painted Caves: Palaeolithic Rock Art in Western Europe|year=2012|publisher=Oxford University Press|pages=480|url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=kU-10lGjDYoC&dq=William+Willoughby+Cole+Verner+professor&source=gbs_navlinks_s|accessdate=21 January 2013|page=382-6}}</ref> By 1867 he had started his own diary recording his interest in egg collecting and shooting. In 1874 he joined the [[Rifle Brigade (Prince Consort's Own)|Rifle Brigade]] and was posted to Gibraltar although he also holidayed on the Scottish island of [[Tiree]] with fellow naturalist [[Leonard Howard Loyd Irby|Howard Irby]] where they continued their interest in studying, shooting (and eating) the local wildlife. He continued his diary until 1890.<ref name=bio>{{cite web|title=The Natural History Diaries of Willoughby Verner|url=http://www.waltersgill.org.uk/THE_NATURAL_HISTORY_.html|publisher=Waltersgill|accessdate=14 January 2013}}</ref>

[[File:Elliot arm buckle (650 x 733).jpg|thumb|upright|An Elliot Bros London First World War British Army military sketching board says "Major Verners Patent". It is 24 cm high and 17.5 &nbsp;cm wide.]]

He took out patents to improve a [[Military Sketching Board|cavalry sketch board]] which was designed to be used strapped to the wrist.<ref name=brink>{{cite web|last=Brink|first=Ted|title=British Army military sketching board with compass|url=http://tedbrink1.webs.com/gbdirectionboard.htm|publisher=Collecting Military Compasses|accessdate=11 May 2013}}</ref><ref name=iwm>{{cite web|title=cavalry sketch board Mk IV|url=http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/30013774|publisher=Imperial War Museum|accessdate=11 May 2013}}</ref> In 1895 Verner had a novel version of a prismatic [[compass]] named after him with a luminous dial. The compass was manufactured by two different companies and version nine of the design was still being made in 1942.<ref>[http://www.compasscollector.com/article_page_5.htm Verners Pattern Prismatic Compasses], compasscollector.com, accessed January 2013</ref>

[[File:Verner compass model VIII.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Verner's Pattern no VIII by a Swiss Clockmaker, Ed Koehn, dated 1916]]

Verner became the official historian of the [[Rifle BrigideBrigade]] and he edited the letters home of a[[George majorSimmons (British Army officer)|one of its majors]] to createproduce ''A British Rifle Man: The Journals and Correspondence of Major George Simmons, Rifle Brigade, during the Peninsular War & Campaign of Waterloo''.<ref>[httphttps://wwwarchive.bookdepository.co.ukorg/British-Rifle-Man-George-Simmonsdetails/9781108054096abritishriflema00simmgoog A British Rifle Man: The Journals and Correspondence of Major George Simmons, Rifle Brigade, during the Peninsular War & Campaign of Waterloo], Major George Simmons, Bookat Depository,the accessed[[Internet January 2013Archive]]</ref>

He wrote ''Sketches in the Soudan (sic)'' in 1885 and ''Rapid Field-Sketching and Reconnaissance'' and ''Advanced Guard and Outpost Duties for Riflemen'' in 1889. ''The First British Rifle Corps''. He wrote ''An historical account of the Rifle Brigade and of the King's Royal Rifle Corps'' in 1890 and ''Some Notes on Military Topography'' in 1891 and ''Map Reading and the Elements of Field Sketching'' in 1893. In 1894 his friend (Leonard) [[Howard Irby]] published ''The Ornithology of the Strait of Gibraltar'' and after he retired to [[Algeciras]] he wrote ''My Life among the Wild Birds in Spain. With illustrations'' in 1909.<ref name="amaz">[httphttps://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=sr_pg_3?rh=n%3A266239%2Cp_27%3AWilliam+Willoughby+Cole+Verner&page=3&ie=UTF8&qid=1358197377 William Willoughby Cole Verner], Amazon.co.uk, accessed January 2013</ref>

In 1911, Verner discovered [[Cueva de la Pileta]] in [[Benaoján]] and with [[Henri Breuil|Abbe Breuil]] also discovered [[Devil's Tower Cave]] in [[Gibraltar]].<ref name="devils cave">[http://underground-gibraltar.com/#/devils-tower-cave/4572552144 Devils Tower Cave], http://underground-gibraltar.com, accessed 22 February 2013</ref> BreilBreuil had come to Spain because of Verner's reporting of ''Cueva de la Pileta'' near [[Ronda]]. Verner had been told of the cave that had been discovered by a Spanish farmer called ''José Bullón'' in 1905 who was looking for bat [[guano]]. Bullón had found human remains and markings on the walls, but assumed that they were made by the [[Moors]]. Verner had himself lowered into the cave and later reported his findings in the London-based [[Saturday Review (London)|''Saturday Review'']].<ref>[http://www.cuevadelapileta.org/textos_archivos/ingles/piletainter.html Cuerva de la Pieta], accessed 20 January 2013</ref> Verner wrote a number of weekly reports for the ''Review'' which factually described the cave, although Verner accounted for the drawings of extinct animals by assuming that they had been sketched a result of observing the fossil bones that were there. It was these reports that brought Breuil to Spain with [[Hugo Obermaier]], [[Paul Wernert]] and the Spaniard [[Juan Cabre Aquilo]]. Breuil stayed in Spain for two months studying the cave paintings whilst funded by the [[Prince of Monaco]].<ref name=lawson/> Verner later co-authored a scientific paper with Breuil and [[Obermaier]] on ''Cueva de la Pileta''.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Burkitt |first=M. C. |date=1922 |title=Col. Willoughby Verner |journal=Nature |language=en |volume=109 |issue=2729 |pages=213–214 |doi=10.1038/109213b0 |bibcode=1922Natur.109..213B |issn=0028-0836|doi-access=free }}</ref>

|NAME={{DEFAULTSORT:Verner, William Willoughby Cole}}

[[Category:SoldiersRifle Brigade officers]]