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Third time lucky! Does this help. See page 8 first.
Does this help? href=”https://www.bing.com/ck/a?!&&p=4bf8ca1abbda9c4bJmltdHM9MTcxOTg3ODQwMCZpZ3VpZD0wOGY4MmQ1Yi0wYzUxLTY5OTUtMWQ2NC0zOWViMGQ3NjY4MTQmaW5zaWQ9NTIxNw&ptn=3&ver=2&hsh=3&fclid=08f82d5b-0c51-6995-1d64-39eb0d766814&psq=measuring+luminance+with+a+digital+camera&u=a1aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuYXRlY29ycC5jb20vYXRlY29ycC9tZWRpYS9wZGZzL2RhdGEtc2hlZXRzL3Rla3Ryb25peC1qMTZfYXBwbGljYXRpb24ucGRm&ntb=1″>atecorpSee page 8 first. Callibration starts at page 6.
It will take an age to list all the links. The 1881 census is what I started with as that gives the address you have. I show above the link for her baptism which is probably the best way to set you on a path for the others. Before clicking on the baptism entry scroll down and you will see a link to the 1861 census. Click on the link and before viewing the image, click on Catherine Ashley (mother) and that will give you access to other links.
The 1881 census lists Mary Ashley’s occupation as an astronomer so may be she was more that an amateur. Good luck with your book. I hope you find time to publish a piece on Miss Ashley.
He is the 1881 census link for Ancestry.
I have old copies of the JBAA on the BAA DVDs. A search shows Mary Ashley is mentioned in Vol 13-4: “A special mention was made of a gift by Miss Ashley of valuable astronomical books and diagrams together with two telescope stands”. She also bequeathed items to the BAA. See especially Vol 13-10, p376. Books were duplicates to the BAA library, and so were offered to members. Yes, with hindsight, the BAA should have kept it. Her name is also mentioned in later journals as a person who bequeathed certain items listed in the inventory stated in those journals.
Mary Ashley (1842 – 1903) of New King Street Bath.
Having read your request for information re the above named, I have done a little research and my findings are as follows:
You are probably aware that Mary Ashley died on March 28, 1903, as you say you have found her place of burial. She was the daughter of the Reverend John Ashley LLD and his wife Catherine, who was the daughter of Charles Ward and his wife Elinor (the daughter of the Right Hon. Stephen Radcliffe) who lived at Holly Mount in the Queen’s County and at Merrion Square, Dublin, Ireland. Elinor Ward died at Avenue House, Southampton, in 1857, age 87.The Reverend John Ashley, who was born at Ashley Hall in Jamaica, married Catherine Ward on August 3, 1824, at Millbrook, Hampshire (Ancestry and Gentleman’s Magazine). Catherine died on October 13, 1867, at 28 Gay Street, Bath. She previously lived at number 18. Mary’s sister, Ellen, died the following month. The sister Catherine was a landscape painter. On September 15, 1868, John Ashley married Elizabeth Treadwell at Marylebone, by licence. She was half his age. John died in 1886 (Probate in Principal Registry). He was a founder of a mission for seamen. Mary’s grandfather, also John Ashley, was a slave owner (died 1850 – probate in Prerogative Court of Canterbury) and Mary’s father was also involved.
Mary’s age on census returns is consistent: 1851 (age 8); 1861 (18); 1871 (28), 1881 (38), which gives her date of birth as c1844. Her baptism can be found at Shirehampton, Gloucestershire on October 30, 1844. However, an image of the baptism which may be viewed on Ancestry, shows an entry in the right-hand margin which states she was baptised privately shortly after her birth. An entry in the left-hand margin gives her date of birth as September 1, 1842.
The 1851 census, incidentally, shows John Ashley’ wife as Mary which is clearly in error. The details match that of Catherine. The details of Mary’s siblings are in full agreement with other censuses, so it is the same John Ashley.Interestingly, Mary appears to have lodged a patent (17354) according to the Langport and Somerton Herald of September 14,1901. The print is smudged so I am not able to fully make out what is written but it appears to be something to do with decorations! You may be able to find out more with the patent number.
Lawrence Neville Holden (8 February 1864 – 12 March 1940).
An interesting personal journal attributed to Lawrence Neville Holden. I suspect his friend Frank is actually his brother, Francis John Gerald Holden, who was an electrical engineer.
Neville Holden is mentioned in Memoirs of the BAA, 1897, in respect of the Norway visit – see page 33. Frank G Holden is on the same list.
For the other book, 165 copies were printed, so at least 165 exist (or did). Holden’s journal is a one-off, so should sell for a greater sum, but yes, priceyThe comet mentioned in your image of Lockyer’s notes was, at the time, known as “Rosa’s Comet”, having been discovered by Father Rosa at Rome on July 25, 1862. An image of the comet’s path in the night sky was produced in the Illustrated London News of August 16, 1862. On August 30 it was predicted to be between Iota Herculis and Alpha Corona; on September 2 between Alpha Herculis and Alpha Serpentis. Your image of Lockyer’s notes reports it to be on a line between Alpha Draconis and Gamma Ursae Minoris on August 22.
From St James Chronicle of Aug 7, 1862 (and other publications): “M. Temple of Marseilles, has sent the following letter to the journals concerning Father Rosa’s comet: – “The comet discovered at Rome on the 23 ult. by Father Rosa, is a new one, and not identical with that I observed here on the 2d ult. I perceived yesterday that his comet was still in the constellation of Camelopardalus ……”. “The comet of July 2, which M. Julius Schmidt, Director of the Observatory at Athens, discovered at the same time as I did, is now in the constellation of Virgo”. (23ult, elsewhere 25th).From: Descriptive Astronomy, George Frederick Chambers, 1867:
“280. Discovered by Schmidt and Temple on July 2; on July 4 it had a tail half a degree long, and was then visible to the naked eye: between July 3rd and 4th it traversed 24 degrees of a great circle”.
281 Discovered by H.P. Tuttle and Simmons, July 18; by Pacinotti, July 22; and by Rosa, July 25. Conspicuously visible to the naked eye for 2 to 3 weeks in August – September; with a tail, on August 27, as much as twenty five degrees long, according to Schmidt. An elliptic orbit; period assigned, 123 years”.
Tousaint appears to have discovered it on the same day as Pacinotti.Yes, the Natural History Museum(BM) has a superb collection of meteorites. Many years ago I was privileged to be able to view some of the stored specimens. A rare opportunity indeed. The NHM, however, is very much a working museum for scientific analysis and so most of the meteorite collection is not on display and cannot be accessed by the general public. There is however some information about meteorites on the museum website which you may find of interest if you haven’t read this already.
There are 4 stars near Hubble’s Star (V1), a Cepheid variable in M31. Is this Hubble’s constellation? Take a look at Jim Al Khalili’s The Beginning of the Universe on the BBC Channel 4, BBC iPlayer if you have not seen it. Take a look at 8 minutes in. The programme was shown tonight, so perhaps this prompted your posting.
V1 at RA 0.41 22.77 DEC 41. 9″ 35.08 on ESA website. It would make sense if a group of stars near the variable was labelled Constellation 1 for identification purposes, but that doesn’t prove anything, of course. Perhaps Constellation 1 is somewhere else.
The plaque in the picture gives a date c1865, but, having not seen the actual telescope it looks the finished article to me. I would therefore guess a little later – c1867. William Wray’s patent on Improvements in Achromatic Object Glasses was filed in 1866. See 920 of English Patents of Inventions, Specifications: 1866, 903-966. The witness to the September piece is J Turnbull, which I suspect is his brother-in-law, Joseph, who was also an optician.
Wray, however, was at Clifton Villas up to at least the spring of 1874, but he had changed his address to Laurel House sometime in 1875, so the telescope must date before then.The Science Museum Group website, incidentally, states the company name changed from W Wray to Wray Ltd after the merger with Aitcheson in 1908 and that the name became Wray Optical Works Ltd in 1950. However, the London Gazette shows the business name was Wray Optical Works Ltd as early as 1944.
In 1860, two years before he was elected FRAS, Wray visited Spain where he assisted James Buckingham in his observations of the 1860 solar eclipse on July 18. Also in the large group was the Astronomer Royal. Wray was also a member of the Microscopical Society.
Wray died at Laurel House on 31 December 1885 and was buried at Camden on January 4 the following year.Have you seen the obituary in the BAA Journal? Vol 74 pp79-80 Feb 1964 RLW
Purchased 7.5 inch photovisual by Cooke. Obtained 5.5 inch Zeiss photographic triplet of 28 inch focus for which he built a camera. Mounted it on 7.5 inch equatorial. Later bought 12.5 inch Calvin reflector which previously belonged to Hallowes. Became FRAS in 1920. Joined Varaiable Star Section in 1922. A keen musician running his own string quartet Played violin and piano. Sailed his own yacht.
Geoffrey Francis Kelleway
Profession was apparently farming.
Rediscovery of Comet Daniel (1909IV) seen by Kelleway on 30 Nov 1943 and mentioned in Nature 152 P747. Dec 25 1943.
Mentioned in History of the BAA Comet Section (M. Hendrie 1990). He operated a 0.14m aperture f5 Zeiss triplet. Independently discovered van Gent-Peltier-Daimaca in 1943 but a fourth name could not be added.
At billiongraves website: buried West Coker (St Martin of Tours) churchyard Nov 1962.I would also like to add my thanks to the team who put together the streaming of the Christmas Lecture. Having missed the last few due to rail engineering works and then SARs-Cov 2, it was a pleasure to have been able to watch this event live on-line.
As a supporting member of the Natural History Museum (BM) I feel privileged to have twice had the opportunity to join a small group visiting the behind-the-scenes work area at the NHM where the meteorite collection is kept. On both occasions we were shown specimens by Dr Caroline Smith who was excellent in her explanations of these different types of visitors from outer space.
Professor Sara Russell’s mention of the analysis of meteorites through the electron scanning microscope and the x-ray by-product from firing the electrons reminded me of another visit to the NHM where the group on that occasion was able to handle one of the solar panels from Hubble which was brought back to earth by the space shuttle. These panels, which are basically as thin as crisp or peanut wrappers, have small impact holes. The scientist fire the electrons at the impact holes which reveal the structure of those holes and from the x-ray by-product the scientist are able to tell if the impact material was natural or man-made. If the impact material was man-made it was likely to be rocket fuel and through the spectral analysis they could determine if it came from an American or Russian rocket due to the different chemical compositions of the fuel used. I forget the exact ratio of man-made material to natural material but, if memory serves me correct, it was around forty five percent to fifty five percent. My understanding is that rocket fuel is less of a problem nowadays due to most satellites being placed in geostationary orbits.
The talk by Professor Heymans was excellent and interesting Sky Notes as always.
Many thanks,
David C Rayment.
