Complex sentence: He then studied geology and became in 1875 an sssistant at Madras College, St Andrews, and in 1881 the first Professor of Geology at Mason's College, which later became the University of Birmingham, and taught there until his retirement.
Split into simpler sentences: He then studied geology and became in 1875 an assistant at Madras College in St Andrews. Fife, and then in 1881 the first Professor of Geology at Mason's College, later the University of Birmingham, where he taught until his retirement.