Peach & Horne

Ben Peach (1842 – 1926) and John Horne (1848 – 1828)

The names of these two close friends are usually spoken together; pioneering geologists who made a lasting contribution to their field. Although Ben Peach was not a Scot by birth, his father Charles was a coastguard posted from East Anglia to Wick in 1852, where the local academy provided Ben with much of his early education.

Already an amateur geologist of some distinction, his father became a close friend of the Thurso baker and self-taught botanist and palaeontologist, Robert Dick. It was no wonder young Ben aspired to be a geologist himself. His father’s friendship with Sir Roderick Murchison, the Director-General of the Geological Survey, facilitated Ben’s entry to the Royal School of Mines and, in 1862, recognising his accomplishments, ultimately into the Geological Survey itself.

John Horne, four years younger, was born at Campsie near Stirling and while still studying at Glasgow University also gained employment with the Survey in 1867, apprenticed to Ben Peach. The partnership proved immensely successful and lasted the rest of their lives. They were tasked with mapping rocks in the Central Belt in winter, and in summer, when the weather allowed more arduous field work, in the North West Highlands.