Arthur Raistrick

Arthur Raistrick (1896–1991) was a British geologist, archaeologist, academic, and writer. He was born in a working class home in Saltaire, Yorkshire. He was a scholar in many related, and some unrelated, fields. He published some 330 articles, books, pamphlets and scholarly treatises.

In his early life he was imprisoned as a conscientious objector to the First World War. During his confines in Durham and Wormwood Scrubs prisons he began an association with, and later membership of, the Society of Friends, that lasted throughout his life. As well as a pacifist, he was a socialist and had close ties to the early Independent Labour Party which he greatly valued into his old age.

His interests ranged widely. His early academic life was spent at Armstrong and Kings Colleges, Newcastle part of Durham University (later to become Newcastle University) where he attained the role of Reader in Applied Geology. His academic writings start from this period of his life, in 1925.

After work in mine safety, he once again settled into an academic life. His interests widened from geology and mining engineering into what would now be termed landscape studies. At the same time, his interest in mechanical engineering led him to carry out pioneering work on the lead mining industry of his native Yorkshire and elsewhere, including Two centuries of Industrial Welfare (on the London Lead Company).

Once again refusing war service in 1939, Arthur Raistrick was forced to leave his academic post in Newcastle. He stated that King's College "just had to suspend me", without pay. During the war years, he refused to earn sufficient money to pay income tax which would fund the war effort and he spent much of the time in converting a one-time barn into a home for himself and his wife, Sarah Elizabeth (née Chapman).

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