Joseph Carne

Joseph Carne (17 April 1782 – 12 October 1858) was a British geologist and industrialist.

Carne was born at Penzance, Cornwall, United Kingdom, the eldest son of William Carne, a banker, and his wife Anna Carne née Cock of Helston. He was educated at home and at the Wesleyan school, Keynsham, near Bristol. One of his four younger brothers was the author and traveller John Carne. From an early age Carne showed an interest in mineralogy and geology. He was in the habit of walking round to the copper mines, and collecting specimens of the rarer ores, which the miners were glad to sell at low prices, thereby forming the nucleus of his mineralogical collection.

On 23 March 1808 he married Mary Thomas, the daughter of William Thomas of Kidwelly, MD, physician at Haverfordwest. After his marriage he lived for a short time at Penzance, and in 1808 he removed to Rivière House, Phillack on being appointed manager of the Cornish Copper Company's smelting works at Hayle. His good business habits and quickness at figures well fitted him for this situation. Seven of his eight children (two boys and five girls) were born at Rivière House, before he resigned his role as manager (remaining an investor like his father) and returned to Penzance. His youngest son was born and died in their home in Chapel Street, Penzance.

Carne was a close observer, and paid special attention to the granitic veins of St Michael's Mount, and the vein-like lines of porphyritic rocks provincially termed elvans. In 1816 and 1818 Carne communicated to the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall his investigation On Elvan Courses, in which he established their general characters and fixed the probable dates of their intrusion into the granite masses and the clay-slates. The Granite of the Western part of Cornwall and the Geology of the Scilly Isles were additional communications made to the local geological society.

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