COUNTY SURVEY
The Society would be delighted to hear from anyone with more information about this county’s links with astronomy. Can you add anything to the names of the people and places listed below? Please contact me if you have anything however small.
Email: Survey Officer
SHA County co-ordinator: Paul Haley Email: PAHAstro@aol.com
Astronomers
Webb, Thomas William [Rev.] (1807-1885), born Ross-on-Wye, clergyman and antiquarian with an interest in astronomy. Appoited vicar of Hardwicke, near Hey-on-Wye in 1856, he best known for his observational guide Celestial Objects for Common Telescopes first published in 1859 (ODNB; Robinson 2006).
With, George Henry (1827-1904), born in Chelsea, he spent two years at St John’s College, Battersea, became a schoolmaster. In 1851 he was appointed Master of the Blue Coat School in Hereford, and remained there 25 years. Aroun 1860 he adopted the new technology of making silver on glass mirrors, and began producing excellent mirrors that replaced speculum metal. It made better telescopes more readily affordable, and led to a great expansion in amateur astronomy (see Marriott 1996).
