H. Krauss Nield and the Manchester AS

Posted by Jeremy at 09:55 on 2013 Jun 23

One of the highlights of the BAA Exhibition meeting yesterday was to view the book containing the lists of officers of the BAA North Western Branch (for in 1892 and a decade later becoming the Manchester Astronomical Society, MAS) which is in the care of the MAS. One can see signatures of famous astronomers of the region, including Fr. A.L. Cortie and Fr. Walter Sidgreaves of Stonyhurst College, William Porthouse and the variable star observer Joseph Baxendell Jnr. There is something very special about seeing a signature as it seems to make an immediate connexion between the past and the present: it is almost as if you can touch the past. A feeling reinforced by a visit to the MASs Godlee Observatory.One other signature that caught my eye is one H. Krauss Nield. Harry-Krauss Nield (1870-1926) was born in Altrincham and stood unsuccessfully for parliament in the 1923 General Election as the Liberal Candidate for Macclesfield (he had previous stood in St Albans). An architect by profession, he was a member of the BAA, FRAS and FRGS. He participated in the 1900 solar eclipse expedition to Algiers, along with other BAA members. A few weeks before his sudden death, he had been to the USA where he married Margery Porritt of Connecticut.Go well!Jeremy