The Geological Survey 1836-1841

From 1835 De la Beche became an even more accomplished lobbier o f government. He exploited the sly fait accompli, covertly changed the terms o f an agreement, hoisted his critics with their own petard, inserted the thin edge o f the wedge, appealed to precedent, and built up a state-supported geological empire bit by bit. He successfully lobbied Spring-Rice for a Museum of Economic Geology which was effectively established in 1837 in Craig’s Court, Whitehall, London, under his direction and the control o f the Department o f Woods, Forests, Land Revenues, Works, and Buildings. Two years later, as a result o f pressure exerted by Sopwith and the British Association, De la Beche was put in charge o f the adjacent Mining Record Office which opened in 1840. In 1845 he transformed the Survey from a military to a civilian enterprise when it was transferred from the Board of Ordnance to the Department o f Woods and Forests. His final coup occurred in 1851 when the new Museum o f Economic Geology, in Jermyn Street, London, was opened and the government School o f Mines was established there. By that time he superintended four different geological ventures, the Survey, the Museum, the School, and the Mining Records Office, all o f which were government institutions.