From 1837 to 1844 he was Assistant Curator in the Bristol Museum, a post he relinquished to join the staff of the British Geological Survey in London. In 1854 he became assistant naturalist, under Edward Forbes and afterwards under Huxley.[2] In 1857 he was transferred to the Irish branch of the Geological Survey, as acting palaeontologist, and retained this post until the end of his life.[2]