The Historical Section’s meeting for 2024 was held in Ipswich on Saturday May 18th; we were guests of Orwell Astronomical Society. We met at Museum Street Methodist Church. On the Friday evening, section director Mike Frost spoke to Orwell AS at Museum Street, about the Yerkes Observatory.

Our first speaker on Saturday was Paul Whiting of Orwell AS, speaking about “The Aurora, Past and Present”. Unfortunately, Paul wasn’t able to attend in person, so instead we watched a pre-recorded presentation, in which Paul detailed aurora observations from East Anglia through history. You can see his excellent presentation here.

Next up was Jack Martin, speaking about “The Bicentenary of William Huggins”. Sir William Huggins (along with his wife, Margaret) was a pioneering spectroscopist from the 19th century, who showed that some nebulae had strong emission spectra. Jack, whose observatory is named for Huggins, told us about his investigations into Huggins’s life, including the location of the memorial to him at Highgate Cemetery.

After lunch, Andy Gibbs of Orwell AS told us about “One hundred and fifty years of astronomy at Orwell Park”. This historic observatory is located in a boarding school to the south of Ipswich, and is run by Orwell AS. It was built 150 years ago by Colonel George Tomline, a wealthy businessman.

Deputy section director Bill Barton was next up, detailing “Basil Brown’s Astronomical Achievements”. You might know the name from the excellent Netflix movie “The Dig”, starring Ralph Fiennes as Basil Brown, the amateur archaeologist who excavated the anglo-saxon burial site Sutton Hoo, which is to the north-east of Ipswich. As is hinted at in the film, Basil Brown was also an amateur astronomer, and Bill told us about his many observations for the BAA.

Last up was Dr. George Seabroke, a cosmologist at UCL, speaking about “A girl’s death, Rugby, rugby and astronomy: dating a Dollond telescope.” George Seabroke is the great-great grandson of an earlier George Seabroke, BAA President 1900-1902, and he told us the enthralling story of an antique telescope which has been in his family for generations. With the help of local historians in Rugby (including the section director) he was able to find out the history of the telescope and identify the girl whose name appears on the ‘scope. George had brought along the telescope, which was a very popular exhibit for the attendees.

The antique Dollond Telescope shown to us by Dr George Seabroke

On Saturday evening several of us visited the Orwell Park observatory. The weather was on our side, and we were able to make observations through the Troughton and Sims refractor, with a 10-inch lens by Merz. Targets included the Moon, the double star Porrima, the Ring Nebula (M57) , the Beehive Cluster (M44) and globular cluster M13.

On Sunday morning, May 19^th, four of us visited St Mary’s Church, Playford, a couple of miles to the north-east of Ipswich. The churchyard has the grave of Sir George Biddell Airy, seventh Astronomer Royal; close by is the house which was the country home of the Airy family, which features a commemorative plaque.

Neil Morley, Graham Winstanley, Bill Barton and Mike Frost at Playford Church

A great week-end!