George Mercer Dawson (1849–1901)

Canadian scholar and civil servant. Eldest son of John William Dawson and Margaret Ann Young Dawson. Studied at the Royal School of Mines, London, 1869–72; graduated with distinction, winning the Forbes Medal and Prize in natural history and palaeontology, and the Murchison Medal in geology. Naturalist and geologist on the international boundary survey, 1872–4. Geologist, Geological Survey of Canada, 1875–83; assistant director, 1883–5; acting director, 1885–6. Wrote on the ethnology and anthropology of western Canadian native peoples. FRS 1891.