Obituary Notice

STANLEY WESTHEAD was born in Clitheroe,Lancashire, on 2nd September, 1910. He was educatedat Royal Grammar School and Giggleswick Schoolbefore entering the family textile business. During theSecond World War Stanley was a Major in the RoyalCorps of Signals. He later served as a magistrate ,including several years as Chairman of the Bench, andreceived the Golden Acorn award for his contributionto the scouting movement.

Stanley joined the Geologists' Association in 1933and was a member of the N.E. Lancashire Group formany years, which he also served as a committeemember. Star-ley's great geological interests were thefossil echinoderms, in particular the Carboniferouscrinoids of the Clitheroe area, where he lived all hislife. In all Britain there was no richer fossiliferoussequence than that on Stanley's own doorstep and hebecame an amateur collector par excellence. TheWesthead Collection was always a delight to browsethrough, being beautifully displayed and curated.There was always some new curiosity to discuss andadmire. I suspect that I was not the only professionalpalaeontologist who felt a pang of consciencewhenever these well-regimented drawers of fossilswere displayed. An idea of the importance ofStanley 's collection can be gained by glancing throughJames Wright 's Monograph on the British Car­boniferous Crinoidea, where the descriptions of fourrare species figure Westhead material, of which threeare types species (two are fittingly named westheadiy .The Westhead Collection , now curated within theDepartment of Palaeontology of the British Museum(Natural History), is a fitting monument to Stanley'sdedication and perserverance.

In 1971, the southwest slope above Salthill Quarryin Clitheroe was scraped clear and Stanley collectedfrom this new, and superbly rich, site for 15 years.Stanley identified over 30 species of macrocrinoid cup

from this important locality. Even some of the rarerspecies are represented by tens of specimens withinhis collection. This continuous attack on site yieldedmagnificent rewards and is a model that should beremembered when discussing fossil abundance basedon only limited field data. Stanley's collections fromhis other local sites, particularly Bellman and CoplowQuarries, are no less impressive.

Stanley's enthusiam was infectious. The energy withwhich he collected and cleaned his specimens wouldput many young undergraduates to shame. Even inearly 1986, Stanley was persuading the Clitheroe townCouncil to name a road through Salthill Quarry,Lincoln Drive , rather than Coplow Way, thusavoiding confusion (to the geologist) with nearbyCoplow Quarry.

I was last at Salthill with Stanley in August 1985.The sun shone and the weather was ideal for fieldwork.Despite having lost an eye in 1983, Stanley was aseager as ever , sieving mud through his riddle andpicking out any hopeful looking specimens forcleaning at home. Always the gentleman and alwaysthe enthusiast, Stanley would chat and show his latestfinds to a succession of young (and not so young)enthusiasts that came to inspect the scraped surface orwere just interested in finding out what these twoeccentrics were doing.

Following a short illness, Stanley Westhead died on9th July, 1986, at the age of 75. He is survived by hissons. Stanley is sadly missed by all his many friend s ingeology, both amateur and professional alike. AStanley Westhead Room is to be opened at theClitheroe Castle Museum.

I thank John Stopforth and Derek Learoyd for theirhelp in preparing this obituary.

Stephen Donovan

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