Editing Roderick Murchison (section)

==Early life and work==
Murchison was born at [[Tarradale Castle|Tarradale House]], [[Muir of Ord]], [[Ross-shire]], the son of Barbara and Kenneth Murchison. His wealthy father died in 1796, when Roderick was four years old, and he was sent to [[Durham School]] three years later<ref name="ODNB"/> and then to the [[Royal Military College, Great Marlow]], to be trained for the army. In 1808, under [[Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington|Wellesley]], he landed in Portugal, and was present at the actions of [[Battle of Roliça|Roliça]] and [[Battle of Vimeiro|Vimeiro]] in the [[Peninsular War]] as an ensign in the [[36th (Herefordshire) Regiment of Foot|36th Regt of Foot]]. Subsequently, under Sir [[John Moore (British Army officer)|John Moore]], he took part in the retreat to [[Province of A Coruña|Corunna]] and the final battle there.

After eight years of service Murchison left the army and married [[Charlotte Murchison|Charlotte Hugonin]] (1788–1869), the only daughter of General Hugonin of Nursted House, Hampshire. Murchison and his wife spent two years in mainland Europe, particularly in Italy. They then settled in [[Barnard Castle]], County Durham, England, in 1818, where Murchison made the acquaintance of Sir [[Humphry Davy]]. Davy urged Murchison to turn his energy to science, after hearing that he wasted his time riding to hounds and shooting. With encouragement from his wife Charlotte,<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Kölbl-Ebert|first=Martina|date=January 1997|title=Charlotte Murchison (Née Hugonin) 1788–1869|journal=Earth Sciences History|language=en|volume=16|issue=1|pages=39–43|doi=10.17704/eshi.16.1.97014235w8u4k414|bibcode=1997ESHis..16...39K |issn=0736-623X}}</ref> Murchison became fascinated by the young science of geology and joined the [[Geological Society of London]], soon becoming one of its most active members. His colleagues there included [[Adam Sedgwick]], [[William Conybeare (geologist)|William Conybeare]], [[William Buckland]], [[William Henry Fitton|William Fitton]], [[Charles Lyell]] and [[Charles Darwin]].

Exploring with his wife, Murchison studied the geology of the south of England, devoting special attention to the rocks of the north-west of [[Sussex]] and the adjoining parts of [[Hampshire]] and [[Surrey]], on which, aided by Fitton, he wrote his first scientific paper, read to the Geological Society of London in 1825. Turning his attention to Continental geology, he and Lyell explored the volcanic region of [[History of Auvergne|Auvergne]], parts of southern France, northern Italy, [[Tyrol (state)|Tyrol]] and Switzerland. A little later, with Sedgwick as his companion, Murchison attacked the difficult problem of the geological structure of the [[Alps]]. Their joint paper giving the results of their study is a classic in the literature of Alpine geology.

Murchison was an opponent of [[Charles Darwin]]'s theory of evolution. He opposed the [[transmutation of species]] and supported [[Progressive creationism|successive creation]].{{sfn|Geikie|1875|pp=321–322}}{{sfn|Branch|2016|p=}}