Email: Survey Officer
Astronomers
Forbes, Georges [FRAS] (1849-1936), established an observing platform built at his small wooden country retreat, ‘The Shed’ in Pitlochry, Scotland (see County of London).
Murray, Sir William Keith [FRAS; lt. Colonel] (1801-1861), born Ochtertyre House, he was educated at Harrow and at Sandhurst. A Scottish landowner, soldier, and peer (1837), his interest in astronomy developed later in life. He first established an observatory at Stonehaven (1850) and later (1851) at his family seat at Ochtertyre, Perthshire. The latter observatory was equipped with 6 and 9-inch refractors along numerous smaller telescopes. Although a few observations of the Sun and planets survive, Murray was happy to share views of the heavens with visitors and his neighbours (Obit., MNRAS, 22 (1862), 108-10; Gavine 1981, 258-61).
Robertson, John (1830-1920), born Corston, Aberlemno, Angus, who later in life became a railway porter at Coupar Angus station. He developed a knowledge of astronomy after attending a lecture by Dr Thomas Dick in 1848. His astronomical interest were conveyed to passengers passing through his station and brought him celebrity. He was subsequently interviewed by Samuel Smiles further enhancing his reputation. Due his work schedule, his observations were mainly solar and meteors, which were submitted to the BAA (Dryerre 1903, 74-80; Smiles 1884, 321-31; Chapman 1998,206-9).
Smart, William Marshall (1889-1975), born in Doune, Perthshire. He was educated at Glasgow University, where he was a student of Ludwig Becker, Director of the Observatory, and then at Trinity College, Cambridge. After the war he returned in 1919 as Chief Assistant at the University Observatory, Cambridge, where his duty was to work the Sheepshanks telescope, where he achieved what was then pioneering work in photographic photometry. His principal work then became from 1923-40 stellar kinematics, reflecting the current preoccupation with radial velocities and the structure of the galaxy. In 1937 Smart left Cambridge to succeed Becker as Regius Professor of Astronomy in Glasgow. The Horselethill Observatory was completely obsolete and compromised by being engulfed by the smoky city, and the chair was under threat. He saved the chair, closed the observatory, and with a fraction of the proceeds built a teaching observatory in the University Gardens, with a 7-inch refractor and small transit. The Observatory was opened by Sir Arthur Eddington in 1939. He had already begun to teach undergraduates successfully, and to attract a small group of graduate students (Obit., QJRAS, 18 (1977), 140-46).
Observatories
Aytoun Observatory [AyO] (1864- ?), Aytoun House, Abernethy, built by William Livingstone Watson (1835-1903), to housed the ‘Trophy Telescope’. The 11-inch refractor – optics by Andrew Ross, mount by Ransome & May – formerly from Wester Elchies that Watson had bought from James William Grant. Its subsequent use and history is unknown, beyond footings little remains of the structure (Gavine 1981, 273).
Murray’s Stonehaven Observatory [SOM] (1850-1), Keith Lodge nr. Stonehaven, established by Sir William Keith Murray (Bart.) on his country estate. The Equatorial Room (4.6m dia.) was of the design used by John Herschel at the Cape, the square rotating roof covered with zinc sheets. It housed a 5 ½-inch refractor (fl 96-inch) on a cross-axis mount, along with a 2 ¾-inch transit instrument, both by Troughton & Simms. A few sunspot observations are recorded (Gavine 1981, 258).
Ochtertyre Observatory [OO] (1853-1861), Ochtertyre House, nr. Creiff, established by Sir William Keith Murray (Bart.) in the ground of his estate. It consisted of two equatorial buildings with octagonal rotating domes, wooden frame covered with canvas – completed 1857. These housed the two principal telescopes on equatorially mounts, a 6.3-inch telescope by Merz, and a 9-inch refractor by T. Cooke. They were initially carried on ‘mortar mounts’, a design devised by C.P. Piazzi (compact cross-axis mount), built by brass founder, Milne and Adie of Edinburgh. The Merz telescope was acquired from Frederick Brodie (1856) and was later remounted on mount by Dallmeyer. After Murray’s death in 1861, the Cooke telescope was sold to Horselethill Observatory, Glasgow (Obit., MNRAS, 58 (1896), 131-3; Gavine 1981, 258-64).
Survey of Astronomical History 