Vincent Charles Illing FRS (24 September 1890 – 16 May 1969) was a geologist at the Royal School of Mines, London where he specialized in petroleum geology.
His father retired to England and they lived in Nuneaton where he, aged thirteen, went to the King Edward VI Grammar School.
He initially considered entering the Indian Civil Service but was drawn into science by the lectures of W.G.
He received a Harkness Scholarship, and while an undergraduate, he examined the Cambrian trilobites at Hartshill near his home.
[2][3] He married Frances Jean Leslie in 1919 and went to Trinidad where Illing worked briefly for Naparima oil company.