Walter Howchin

[2] He was one of eleven children[1] and attended the Academy, King's Lynn, which he left aged 12 to study for the Methodist ministry.

Howchin discovered abundant glacial till at Haltwhistle, the study of which led to work that later made him famous.

In 1876, in conjunction with H. B. Brady, Howchin did some important work on the foraminifera of Carboniferous and Permian age, and became a fellow of the Geological Society of London in 1878.

For some time he served as a supernumerary minister in South Australia, did some journalistic work, and was secretary to the Adelaide Children's Hospital from 1886 to 1901.

But he proved to lead a long and vigorous life; it is claimed that he was still collecting specimens and visiting sites into his nineties.