| Heddle was born on Hoy, Orkney. As a youth, he was a good shot, and
bold and skillful in handling small boats. He was sent to school in Edinburgh,
and followed on to the university, from where he graduated Doctor of Medicine.
He practiced for a short time, but chemistry and botany interested him
greatly. However, when he lent his herbarium to a friend, and an accident
occurred whereby it was totally ruined, he changed his mind about botany
and decided to devote himself to geology and mineralogy instead.
In 1856 he became assistant to Professor Connel, Professor of Chemistry in the University of St. Andrews, and succeeded to the chair in 1862. From 1856 until his death, he was a member of the St. Andrews Literary and Philosophical Society, and appointed one of the Vice Presidents in December 1884. |
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Courtesy of the University of St. Andrews Library, Special Collections Kate Kennedy Cartoon 1872.
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His life's work was his Mineralogy of Scotland, for which he spent forty years building up what was to be judged by experts the finest collection ever got together of any one country's minerals. His collection, several hundred specimens, is now held by the National Museums of Scotland.
In 1861, the Council of the St. Andrews Literary and Philosophical Society, funded by the British Association, excavated at Dura Den. Dr. Heddle and Dr. Anderson were among those supervising. On the 15th of August, 1861, The Fifeshire Journal reported that the excavations had resulted in the discovery, not only of the Holoptychius, which has hitherto been so often found, but of the Pterichthys, which has not been found for upwards of twenty years, and of the Dipteris and others, which are supposed to be new genera or species, all lying in the same spot.
A large and unique group was added to the Museum's collection, bringing the total of Dura Den slabs to some sixty pieces. These transferred to the University of St. Andrews in 1904, and were eventually displayed in the Bell Pettigrew Museum. In 1966, a large group of fossils collected by Dr. Heddle became the property of the National Museums of Scotland, and the display of some of them has become known as The Wall of Death.