Adames, Henry Bridger [FRAS] (1882-1922), office worker who was born in Chichester, Sussex and after having spent time abroad in Canada settled in Ilford, Essex. Primarily known for observing eclipses and variable stars. (Obit., MNRAS 83 (1923), p.232).
Airy, George Biddell [FRS, FRAS] (1801–1892) – see County of London.
Barclay, Joseph Gurney [FRAS](1816-1898), born Russell Sq., London he was a member of the Barclay banking family. As a boy he lived at Knotts Green, Leyton, now London, and later in life developed an interest in astronomy, establishing an observatory at his home in 1854. It was first equipped with a 7.5-inch refractor that was later replaced by a 10-inch telescope – both supplied by T. Cooke & Sons. Barclay employed George Talmage as his observer (1865-86), after Talmage’s death he donated the telescope to the Radcliffe Observatory (Obit., MNRAS, 59 (1899), 218-9).
Birt, William Radcliff [FRAS] (1804–1881), born in Southwark, Surrey, an aspiring amateur astronomer who scraped a living as a minister in Bethnal Green, London. He is notable for his work with the British Association for the Advancement of Science in mapping the Moon at a greater scale prior than before. He was given access to various telescope both refracting and reflecting, observing from London and Lee’s observatory at Hartwell House, Bucks (ODNB; Obit., MNRAS, 42 (1882), 142-4; Wiki).
Boreham, William Wakeling (1804-1886), born Haverhill, Suffolk. Educated in Saffron Walden he showed great talent in mathematics and Music. Later he followed his father’s occupation becoming a brewer first in London then Manchester and then returned to Haverhill. Here he erected an observatory to make observations of comets and minor planets. An admirer of science, later in life, he promoted it locally along with higher education. In addition to being a member of the Royal Astronomical Society he was also a fellow of the Anthropological Society (Obit., MNRAS, 47 (4 ), 135).
Bradley, James [Rev] (1693 -1762), established an observatory using the 12½-inch 12½-feet zenith sector by Graham of London was used here. It was moved to the ROG in 1749 – see James Pound’s Observatory (1727-47), Wanstead (ODNB).
Calver, George (1834-1927), born in Walpole near Halesworth. In Yarmouth in the 1860s he became a professional mirror maker in Widford, near Chelmsford, Essex. There until 1904, then back in Walpole, with one or two assistants he made or refigured nearly 4,000 mirrors (Dall 1975; Ken Goward, ‘George Calver, Master Mirror Maker’) – see Suffolk page.
Challis, James (1803-1882), born Braintree. Astronomer and physicist, elected Plumian professor and director of the Cambridge Observatory (1836-60). He was a skilled observer, but failed to find Neptune albeit in difficult circumstances (ODNB).
Gregory, Christopher Clive Langton [FRAS] (1892–1964), British astronomer, who established the University of London Observatory.
Hall, Chester Moor (1703–1771), an English gentleman of Moor Hall, Essex, who in 1729 appears to have been the first to construct, or cause to be made, an achromatic telescope, using flint concave and crown convex lenses. He made several, but did not make publicize his invention, now generally ascribed to Dollond. Hall was born Dec. 9, 1703, Leigh, Essex, died March 17, 1771 at Sutton, Surrey. English jurist and mathematician who invented the achromatic lens, which he utilized in building the first refracting telescope free from chromatic aberration (colour distortion). Convinced from study of the human eye that achromatic lenses were feasible, Hall experimented with different kinds of glass until he found…(See King 1955, 144-6 & 154-5; ODNB).
Hendrie, Michael J. (1931-2018), educated at Cranbrook School Hendrie had a lifelong interest in astronomy, joining the BAA in 1951. His interest lay with observing comets and photographing them, his published image being Comet Honda 1955g. Living in Brentwood and later near Colchester, where he erected a run-off roof shed observatory that housed various telescopes (5-inch refractor & 10-inch reflector). At a later date, at the latter location the observatory housed the Player Telescope that had been used by Reg. Waterfield for many years (Obit., JBAA, 128 [3], 181-2; Hendrie 1994).
Hyde, Frank Wilsenham (1909-1984), born Rochford who followed a career as an electrical engineer. An amateur radio astronomer he established a radio observatory in Martello Tower ‘B’, near Clacton-on-Sea, Essex (Obit., JBAA 94 (1984), p.229; Mobberley 2018a).
Knobel, Edward Ball (1841-1930), born in Baker Street, London. Interested in astronomy as a child, in the 1860s he purchased a 3-inch refractor, and in 1872 an 8½-inch Browning reflector. From 1875-93 he lived in Braintree whilst manager of the Courtaulds Bocking silk factory. Knobel made many observations of planets, the Sun and Moon, and specialised in photometry, and made micrometer measurements of doubles. His last observations were of Mars in 1884. he became President of the BAA in 1910 (see County of London; ODNB).
Pound, James [Rev.] (1669–1724), an experienced observer who mentored James Bradley as his observatory at Wanstead, c.1710 See: Howse. On 16th November 1724, Rev. James Pound died and was buried in the chancel of the old parish church, where his grave can still be seen today. His widow left the rectory and moved to a small house on her brother’s estate, the Grove. This house stood on the site of the Corner House in the High Street. Bradley resided with his aunt for some years in this house, hence the green plaque on the Corner House today. In the upper room of this house in 1727, he had a zenith sector of 12½ feet radius mounted for him. He moved to Oxford with his aunt in 1732, but still returned to Wanstead to make observations with this instrument, until it was moved to Greenwich Observatory in 1749 (ODNB).
Rogers, Norman (1922-2012), born in Southend-on-Sea on 9th February 1922 and in the early thirties his family moved to North Hillingdon. He left school in January 1938 for an insurance firm and this remained his profession until he retired in 1983. Norman died on the 24th August 2012. Norman’s house in Ruislip had 2 telescopes (sorry, but there are currently no details of them) in the garden through which he studied the moon and sunspots. He was the 3rd oldest member of the British Astronomical Association after TV astronomer Patrick Moore. Norman enjoyed the music of Tchaikovsky and Mozart but also supported the local amateur dramatic and operatic societies. He was a member of the Paddle Steamer Preservation Society.
Talmage, Charles George [FRAS] (1840–1886)
Tomkins, Herbert Gerard [FRAS] (1869–1934), born Streatham, London, educated both in England and India. Tomkins followed a career as an Indian Civil Servant finally becoming the head of the Financial Department of the Indian Government. Whilst in India he founded the Astronomical Society of India, a group that did not survive his removal back to Britain when he retired to East House, Dedham near Colchester. Here he established an observatory first equipped with a 24-inch reflector and later with a larger 30-inch instrument. The telescope was used to take detailed images of the Moon – the instrument was offered to Kyoto University Japan (Obit., MNRAS, 95, 332-3; Obit., JBAA, 45 [2] (1934), 80-2 ).
Rendell, Robert Fermor [Rev., FRAS] (1873-1954), born, Ballarat, Australia who was educated at Roan School. He worked as a computer at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich (1892-1902) then First Assistant at Durban Observatory. In 1907 he took holy orders first as curate at Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria and later Rector of Brightlingsea, Essex (see Lancashire; Obit, MNRAS, 115 (1955), p.130).
Rowe, Cecil Charles Hilton [FRAS; FRSA] (fl.1941-1970), known to have served in the RAF and was elected to the RAS in 1941 (Whitchurch, Hants). Nothing is known of his astronomical interest but he lived for the latter part of his life in Colchester.
Survey of Astronomical History 