Bishop, George (1785-1861), born in Leicester, who made his fortune in British wine-making. At his home at South Villa, regent’s Park, he established a splendid observatory (ODNB; see County of London).
Durrad, John William (1854-1939), born in Leicester, with an Interest in astronomy from a young age, discovered several new ‘crevasses’ feature on the Moon near Gassendi. He was active with the astronomical section of the Leicester Literary and Philosophical Society and built a small observatory in the garden of his home. Elected as a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1876 ((Obit., MNRAS, 100 (1940), p.238).
Dyson, Frank Watson (1868-1939), born Measham, Derbyshire [now Leicestershire], educated at trinity College, Cambridge, second wrangler. Astronomer Royal for Scotland, 1905-10, Astronomer Royal 1910-33. In 1928 he installed a new free pendulum clock, and introduced the transmission of more accurate Greenwich mean Time by broadcasting ‘pips’. A keen eclipse observer, in 1919 he organised observation of the solar eclipse to test and prove Einstein’s Theory of Relativity (ODNB; see County of London).
Goodacre, Walter (1856-1938), born Loughborough, he later moved to London (see Middlesex; Hampshire; Obit., MNRAS, 99 (1939), 310-1).
Pearson, William [Dr., Revd.] (1767-1847), born at Whitbeck, a small village at the extreme south-west limit of the old county of Cumberland, a co-founder of the London Astronomical Society in 1820 (QJRAS, 35 (1994), 271-92). Author of Practical Astronomy. He established his South Kilworth ‘Rectory’ Observatory in 1829 (see Surrey & Cumberland; ODNB; Obit., MNRAS, 8 (1848), 69-74; Frost 2006b; Frost 2010).
Survey of Astronomical History 