Bernard Edward Cammell is a bit of a mystery. He joined the BAA in 1892, and contributed some very artistic planetary drawings. He admitted, in the 1894 Mars Memoir, that he was a relative beginner in the study of the Red Planet, but nonetheless his drawings are actually very good. Always conscious of rising costs, the Council found his Memoir too long to publish in full, so the veteran Mars observer N.E. Green was asked to edit it for length. After resigning the Directorship in 1895, Cammell disappeared into obscurity. He was still a BAA member in 1904, but was no longer in the membership list for 1905. There is no published obituary. He lived at Wokingham, Berkshire, and used a 32-cm (12.5-inch) reflector for his work.

The modern firm of Metro-Cammel is associated with the family of Bernard Cammell, so if you travel by underground to attend meetings of the BAA in London, look down at the maker’s plate for the carriage as you step over it to exit the door. Now as we have no portrait to offer, here are two of Cammell’s very attractive drawings of Mars from the 1894 Memoir. It will come as no surprise to learn that, like N.E.Green, he trained as an artist.

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