Interesting watch.
Thanks for posting it Ronan.
The comment in the presentation that there were over 1000 people attending the BA meetings got me thinking. There were probably a lot more “gentlemen astronomers” from this era, viz Mr Birmingham, than maybe we realise!
The list of big scopes is revealing, “the biggest refractor in the world at the time”! How many amateurs can make a claim like that today!? ; – ))
Like Mr Birminghams’ work, all of this great effort has more than likely been lost forever, which is rather sad.
I really like the quote at the bottom of the last image, “… to excite simple admiration rather than scientific reflections”.
A wonderful reminder that we all need to take a step back from time to time.