William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse: Astronomy and the castle in nineteenth-century Ireland 9781526101921

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Astronomy Astronomyand andthe thecastle castle ininnineteenth-century nineteenth-centuryIreland Ireland Edited by R. Charles Mollan Charles Mollan

Astronomy and the castle in nineteenth-century Ireland

W i l l i a m Pa r s o n s , 3 r d E a r l o f R o s s e

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Portrait in Birr Castle of Sir William Parsons, K.P., 3rd Earl of Rosse, wearing the breast star and sash of the Illustrious Order of St Patrick, painted by Stephen Catterson Smith (photograph by David Davison).

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William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse Astronomy and the castle in nineteenth-century Ireland

Edited by Charles Mollan

Manchester University Press Manchester and New York

Published in association with the

Royal Dublin Society distributed in the United States exclusively by Palgrave Macmillan

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William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse Copyright © Manchester University Press 2014 While copyright in the volume as a whole is vested in Manchester University Press, copyright in individual chapters belongs to their respective authors, and no chapter may be reproduced wholly or in part without the express permission in writing of both author and publisher. Published by Manchester University Press Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9NR, UK and Room 400, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010, USA www.manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk Distributed in the United States exclusively by Palgrave Macmillan, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010, USA Distributed in Canada exclusively by UBC Press, University of British Columbia, 2029 West Mall, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 1Z2 British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data applied for ISBN  978 0 7190 9144 5  hardback First published 2014 The publisher has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for any external or third-party internet websites referred to in this book, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. Typeset by Carnegie Book Production, Lancaster

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Royal Dublin Society – Science and Irish Culture Series No. 1  Why the History of Science Matters in Ireland Edited by David Attis and Charles Mollan, 2004 No. 2  Science and Ireland – Value for Society Edited by Charles Mollan, 2005 No. 3  It’s Part of What We Are (Scientific Biographies) By Charles Mollan, 2007 (For more information – see www.rds.ie) No. 4  William Parsons 3rd Earl of Rosse Edited by Charles Mollan, 2014 Published by Manchester University Press in Association with the Royal Dublin Society

Sponsors

Manchester University Press acknowledges with thanks sponsorship of this publication by: Royal Dublin Society Birr Scientific and Heritage Foundation Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies Scientific Instrument Society Magdalen College, Oxford Institute of Physics in Ireland

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This book is dedicated to the memory of Sir Bernard Lovell (1913–2012) and Sir Patrick Moore (1923–2012) Sir Bernard Lovell and Sir Patrick Moore are sadly missed at Birr Castle, where they were regular visitors. Both were friends of the 6th Earl and his wife, Anne, and, on his death, they helped and encouraged the present Earl in his endeavours to restore the telescope. Sir Patrick, among his other talents, was an enthusiastic cricketer and once captained a castle team to play against the Irish Georgians. Sir Bernard, however, had an especially strong second link with the Demesne: he shared with both the 6th and 7th Earls a love and knowledge of trees and gardening. Both these great astronomers would have been delighted to know of the publication of this book.

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Contents Contents

List of illustrations ix

List of contributors xiii Foreword by Jocelyn Bell Burnell xvi Preface: why this book? by Daniel McDowell xix

Acknowledgements xxi Introduction 1 Charles Mollan Succession of the Parsons family at Birr

14

1 History of the Parsons family and Birr Castle The Earl and Countess of Rosse

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2 Origin of the 3rd Earl’s interest in astronomy Trevor Weekes

3 Mary, Countess of Rosse (1813–85) Daniel McDowell; Alison, Countess of Rosse; and David Davison

4 William Parsons’ influence on the town and community of Birr Margaret Hogan

5 Negotiating ‘a difficult sectarian terrain’: the public life and political opinions of the 3rd Earl of Rosse Andrew Shields

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30 44 90 122

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Contents

6 A consummate engineer Charles Mollan

7 Birr Castle observations of non-stellar objects and the development of nebular theories Wolfgang Steinicke

8 William Parsons and the Irish nineteenth-century tradition of independent astronomical research Allan Chapman

9 ‘A presiding influence’: the relations of the 3rd Earl of Rosse with scientific institutions in Britain and Ireland Simon Schaffer

10 The 3rd Earl of Rosse: an assessment Trevor Weekes

159 210 271 298 329

Select bibliography 346

Index 356

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Illustrations Illustrations

Picture credits: AP © An Post BC © Birr Castle BCA © Birr Castle Archives CM © Charles Mollan DD © David Davison DDR © reproduced by David Davison from Birr Castle originals ILN © Illustrated London News MT © Michael Tubridy RAS © Royal Astronomical Society ROE © Royal Observatory, Edinburgh RS © Royal Society SM © Science Museum, London – Science and Society Picture Library ZD Drawing by Zara Davison Other illustrations are sourced from out-of-copyright publications Frontispiece: Sir William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse, KP (BC)

ii

I.1 The Leviathan, c. 1865 (DDR) I.2 Discovery Postage Stamps, 2000 (AP)

2 12

1.1 Birr Castle in 2009 (CM) 1.2 Parsonstown House, 1668 (BCA) 1.3 Old picture postcard of Chearnley Column, Birr 1.4 Gothic saloon, Birr Castle (DD) 1.5 Birr Castle, c. 1855 (DDR)

18 21 25 27 28

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Illustrations

3.1 Mary, Countess of Rosse (DDR) 3.2 Letter from Mary Field, 1820 (BCA) Watercolour of Mary, c. 1839 (BC) 3.3 Parsons children, c. 1854 (DDR) 3.4 3.5 Richard Wharton Myddleton (DDR) 3.6a Mary’s model of the Castle entrance gate (DD) 3.6b Birr Castle entrance gate (DDR) Birr Castle Keep Gate (DD) 3.7 Captain Knox (DDR) 3.8 3.9 Darkroom at Birr Castle (DD) 3.10 Stereo photograph (DDR) 3.11 Stereo photograph (DDR) 3.12 Medal awarded to Mary Rosse (DD) 3.13 Landscape with suspension bridge (DDR) 3.14 Examining stereo photographs (DDR) 3.15 Playing Solitaire (DDR) 3.16 Group portrait, c. 1856 (DDR) Selection of Mary Rosse’s photographs (DDR)

45 50 56 59 60 61 61 62 66 73 76 77 78 79 82 83 83 84–87

4.1 Fireworks at Birr Castle in 1851 (ILN) 117 5.1 Birr Castle, 1895 (from Ball R. 1895) 5.2 Oxmantown Mall, Parsonstown (from Ball R. 1895) 5.3 Fitzsimon’s election poster (BCA) 5.4 Parsonstown Agricultural Society Report, 1847 (BCA)

128 129 136 153

Water wheel at Birr Castle (DDR) 161 6.1 6.2 Suspension bridge at Birr Castle (BCA) 163 6.3 The Rev. Thomas Romney Robinson (DDR) 171 6.4 Newtonian telescope optics (ZD) 177 6.5 Concentric speculum (ZD) 179 6.6 Segmented specula (from Parsons W. 1861) 179 6.7 Set-up for casting the speculum (ZD) 182 6.8 System of levers for speculum support (ZD, from Parsons W. 1861) 185 6.9 Speculum trolley (DDR) 186 6.10 Castle and telescopes painted by Henrietta Crompton (DDR) 187 6.11 Grinding and polishing machine (SM) 189

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Illustrations 6.12a Back and front of grinding and polishing tool (from Parsons W. 1861) 6.12b Grinding and polishing tool (DDR) 6.13 Workshop painting by Henrietta Crompton (DDR) 6.14 First mounting of 36-inch telescope (DDR) 6.15 Second mounting of 36-inch telescope (RAS) 6.16 Equatorial mounting for 36-inch telescope (RAS) 6.17 Drawing of equatorial mount for 36-inch telescope (from Parsons L. 1880a) 6.18 Details of the Leviathan (from Parsons W. 1861) 6.19 Detail of the telescope mechanism (DDR) 6.20 Leviathan ladders (RAS) 6.21 Old picture postcard of the Leviathan 6.22 Mechanism of the restored Leviathan (MT) 6.23 Old Leviathan tube being removed (BCA) 6.24 The restored Leviathan (BCA)

xi 191 191 192 194 195 196 196 198 199 201 201 202 203 203

7.1 Group of non-stellar objects 211 7.2a William Rambaut 213 7.2b George Johnstone Stoney (RS) 213 7.2c Bindon Blood Stoney 213 7.3 Timeline of Parsons’ assistants, 1848–68 213 7.4 The 36-inch telescope (DDR) 217 7.5 M 51 (Spiral) sketched by John Herschel, 1830 219 7.6 M 57 sketched by Lord Rosse, 1843 220 221 7.7a M 1 (Crab) sketched by Lord Rosse, 1843 7.7b M 1 (Crab) sketched by Lord Rosse, 1855 221 7.8 Sketch of Leviathan from behind 224 7.9 M 42 (Orion) sketched by Bindon Stoney, 1851–52 228 7.10 M 51 (Spiral) sketched by Lord Rosse, 1845 233 7.11a M 51 (Spiral) sketched by Rambaut, 1848 235 7.11b M 51 (Spiral) second sketch by Lord Rosse, 1848 235 7.12 M 51 (Spiral) Johnstone Stoney notes and sketches, 1849 (BCA) 236 7.13 M 99 (Spiral) sketched by Lord Rosse, 1848 239 7.14 M 51 (Spiral) micrometrical measurements by G. J. Stoney, 1849–50 240 7.15 M 33 (Spiral) sketched by Lord Rosse, 1849 241

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7.16 M 97 (Planetary) sketched by Lord Rosse (a) and by Rambaut (b), 1848 243 245 7.17 NGC 7009 (Planetary) sketched by Lord Rosse, 1848 7.18 NGC 7479 (Spiral or Annular) sketched by Lord Rosse, 1849 245 246 7.19 M 102 sketched by Lord Rosse, 1850 248 7.20 A page from Hunter’s observing book, 1862 (BCA) 7.21 NGC 1514 – Herschel (a), modern (b), B. Stoney (c) 251 7.22 M51 Roberts photograph 253 7.23 Number of observations made by Birr Castle observers 265 9.1 9.2

British Association meeting in Cork, 1843 (ILN) 306 Charles Piazzi Smyth’s drawing of Lord and Lady Rosse, 1850 (ROE) 310

10.1 Statue of Lord Rosse in Birr (BCA) 10.2 Sir Laurence Parsons, 4th Earl of Rosse (DDR)

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330 339

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Contributors Contributors

William Brendan Parsons, 7th Earl of Rosse, spent nearly 20 years working for the United Nations Development Programme in third-world countries. He and his family returned to Birr on his father’s death. Since then, he has worked hard to enrich the Demesne. He founded The Birr Scientific and Heritage Foundation, raised money from the Irish State and privately to restore the great telescope and opened Ireland’s Historic Science Centre in the old stable yard. Alison Rosse looks after Birr Castle with her husband and family. She works with the rest of the team in running the Garden, the Estate and Woods, the Archives and Ireland’s Historic Science Centre. She is an artist, painting landscapes in oil in the surrounding countryside and the west of Ireland. Like Mary Rosse, she comes from Yorkshire. Jocelyn Bell Burnell (University of Oxford) discovered pulsars (rapidly rotating neutron stars) while a graduate student in Cambridge. She has subsequently worked in most branches of astronomy. A Fellow of the Royal Society and Past-President of both the Royal Astronomical Society and the Institute of Physics, she has received many academic awards. Her interests include the public understanding of science and encouraging more women into science. Allan Chapman is a historian of science at Oxford University. He lectures and broadcasts extensively, and is the author of nine books and over 80 academic articles. His specialisms are the history of the independently funded tradition of science, primarily in astronomy and medicine and the relationship of science with Christianity. David Davison, a photographer specialising in architecture and the fine arts, has illustrated numerous books on historic and contemporary

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Contributors

subjects. Formerly Senior Lecturer in Photography at the Dublin Institute of Technology, he has undertaken primary research into Irish photography of the nineteenth century, on which subject he writes and lectures. He has exhibited in Europe and America. Margaret Hogan, M.A., graduated from University College, Dublin and lives in Birr. She researches, writes and lectures on the history of Birr, especially monastic Birr, Birr Workhouse and the nineteenth-century town. She edited the 1990 reprint of Cooke’s History of Birr. She also writes and lectures on the history of women in Ireland. Daniel McDowell is the British representative of the Birr Scientific and Heritage Foundation; is a partner in the Chaucer Head antiquarian booksellers (founded 1830); formerly head of the Department of Social Science, Didsbury College, Manchester (now Manchester Metropolitan University); and director of the Nuffield enquiry into teacher education at the University of York. Charles Mollan was Science and Arts Officer at the Royal Dublin Society. He founded his publishing house, Samton Limited, in 1993. He has edited over 20 books on scientific subjects, and is author of the Irish National Inventory of Historic Scientific Instruments (1995), and It’s Part of What We Are, an 1,800 page, two-volume biographical dictionary of Irish scientists (2007). Simon Schaffer is Professor of History of Science at the University of Cambridge. He is a Fellow of the British Academy and joint winner of the 2005 Erasmus prize for contributions to European culture. His publications include several studies of nineteenth-century astronomy, including the Leviathan of Parsonstown. He often contributes to BBC broadcasts on the history of science and technology. Andrew Shields was educated in Ireland and Canada. His research has focused on the political history of mid-Victorian Ireland. His book, The Irish Conservative Party, 1852–68: Land, Politics and Religion, was published by Irish Academic Press in 2007. He has held a postdoctoral research fellowship at St Patrick’s College, Drumcondra, Dublin, and has taught at a number of Australian universities. Wolfgang Steinicke is a German physicist and astronomer, receiving his PhD with a thesis on nineteenth-century observations of nebulae and clusters. He is a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and member of international scientific associations. He has written six books on

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astronomy and its history, published about 200 articles, and frequently gives conference talks and courses. Trevor Weekes was born and educated in Ireland (University College, Dublin); he has been a high energy astrophysicist at the HarvardSmithsonian Center for Astrophysics since 1966. There he pioneered a new technique in high energy gamma-ray astronomy. He is the author of two monographs on astrophysics. In 2002, he was awarded an Honorary D.Sc. degree from the University of Chicago.

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Foreword Jocelyn Bell Burnell Foreword

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ne hundred years ago the world’s largest telescope was at Birr, in the centre of Ireland. It had held that rank for almost 70 years but within a few years the title would pass to the one hundred inch aperture Hooker telescope at Mount Wilson in California. The Birr telescope, known as the Leviathan of Parsonstown, was huge; its seventy-two inch aperture speculum metal mirror had a focal length of fifty-three feet and the telescope tube was a few feet longer still. The whole thing weighed twelve tons. It had been built by William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse, as much an engineering project as an astronomical project, and was designed to address one of the topics hot in the mid-1800s. In this it was successful, seeing the first evidence for stars and spiral structure in nebulae. This delightful book, through a series of specialist chapters, sets the historical, social, religious and astronomical context for this story as well as filling out the story itself. And what a rich tapestry it is! Many strands are interwoven and each is unpacked and displayed by scholarly essays. There are insights into the Anglo-Irish community and into this atypical Anglo-Irish family, in particular; into the building of the telescope, with limited input from the astronomical establishment, and the huffiness of that establishment when this upstart Irish Earl started making major discoveries! One’s track record was important, even then! An intriguing question I am left with is how this rich amateur subsequently became one of the pillars of that scientific establishment, serving as President of the Royal Society, no less! There is excellent material on Mary, Countess of Rosse, who had married the young William Parsons, and on the nature of their marriage. She was the elder daughter of a wealthy Yorkshire man, and on his death inherited his estate. This money enabled William to build telescopes.

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Foreword

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If she had had a brother to inherit the estate, how different would have been the history of astronomy, I wonder? They were an unusual but well-matched couple, each stimulating the other and lifting the other to greater achievements. Mary was not too bound by what society considered appropriate in a woman, and indeed was in a position to be her own woman. In the book, the human element is well brought out and we feel for the couple losing seven of their eleven children. Of the remaining four, one followed his father into astronomy and one into engineering, ultimately buying up the Grubb Telescope Company and forming Grubb-Parsons. The family were unusual landlords (for that time) in that they lived in Ireland and knew how their tenants lived. How commendable that astronomy ceased when the potato famine struck and the family’s funds and efforts went into projects to relieve the famine and the consequent poverty. The telescope was mounted between two massive walls seventy feet high and pointed due south (i.e. it was a transit instrument) with limited east–west movement. By altering its angle to the vertical it was possible to observe over a large altitude or north–south range. This is one of the simplest constructions – although less convenient for the observer – and likely the only way such a massive telescope could be mounted. The operation of the telescope is described – moving it needed four assistants, later reduced to two! The observer was often perched perilously on a high platform, and (as I only appreciated for the first time on reading this book) trying to sketch what he was seeing using minimal light so as not to wreck too seriously his dark-adapted vision. Bad weather frequently prevented observations; the site is a terrible one for optical astronomy, on the edge of the Shannon river valley and close to the Bog of Allen! The telescope was built where it was convenient for the Earl, and before our understanding of the importance of careful site selection. There is always a risk of seeing what one wants or expects to see in data, especially when one is sketching the picture oneself. It can still happen with photographic images. I remember an argument with a colleague about whether the galaxy at the centre of a cluster of galaxies was a cD galaxy or not – it affected the classification of the cluster. Nevertheless, photography is more objective than sketching. Interestingly, Mary was pioneering the use of the camera and there is fascinating material on this too in the book. Before the Leviathan came into use, observers knew that in addition to the stars they could see dark patches in the sky and misty nebulae. The nature of the nebulae was unclear; were they gaseous or were they lots of faint stars? Today we know there are some of both, but this was hotly

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Foreword

debated in the first half of the nineteenth century. To resolve it, a large telescope well able to see faint objects was needed, and the seventy-two inch was built to address this question. By 1861 the Birr telescope had observed almost nine hundred objects and found for the first time spiral structure in about seventy of them, with the Earl himself having been the first to see any spiral structure (in M51, now known as the Whirlpool galaxy). We now recognise these objects to be other galaxies, spiral like the Milky Way but external to it. It would be another fifty years before it was clear that these spiral nebulae were other galaxies, but the recognition of spiral structure in them was a major milestone. This remains the chief attainment of the telescope. The advent of spectroscopy (for which the telescope could not be easily adapted) ultimately limited the usefulness of this telescope. Improvements in the optics to give crisper images and a photographic method of recording the images would soon have been needed also. The glory of this book is that it sets the context of the work, the people and the place. An outline of the Earl of Rosse’s work is (now) quite widely known, but how much better it can be appreciated when its context is understood. It is also wonderful for the reader to be able to make connections: oh, they knew Piazzi-Smyth! ah, that’s how it relates to the work of the Herschels! so the potato famine was starting just as construction of the telescope was ending! oh, Dreyer worked at Birr, and started the observations for his New General Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars there! And so on. I am delighted to have had the opportunity to write this Foreword; I have long been aware of Birr and its significant role in the history of astronomy, and it is good to have more of the detail filled in now. It is a fascinating read, providing context not just for the scientific history but for the social history of Ireland too, and it makes the people real. It is scholarly and enjoyable. I hope readers will enjoy it as much as I have.

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Preface: why this book? Daniel McDowell Preface: why this book?

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s a non-scientist and therefore without the informed appreciation of the marvel that is the great telescope and its associated technology, my reaction on first visiting Birr was, I suspect, a common one, which is: ‘How and why did this happen here, of all places; a large castle, an aristocratic family, world-class gardens and in a relatively remote situation – bang in the middle of Ireland, midway between Dublin and Cork?’ The more familiar I became with the Rosse and Birr heritage, the more enthralled was I with the story of the long and complex attempts to build the telescope(s) and with the people – William, the 3rd Earl, and his wife, Mary, who together made a working reality of William’s ambitious ideas which other men of scientific standing claimed were not achievable. There were, of course, other realities to their lives, including that of being parents who produced four very able sons, in large measure educated at home and three of whom made significant careers in what, for the sake of brevity, we will call technology. Laurence (1840–1908) the eldest became, like his father, an astronomer of importance and also, like his father, an inventive technologist; Clere (1851–1923), became an engineer of note who for some time worked with the youngest brother, Sir Charles Parsons (1854–1931), whose life and work in engineering was, by any standards, memorable. The marriage, in 1836, of William Parsons and Mary Field of Heaton, Bradford, brought together two imaginative, inquisitive and energetic people who shared and encouraged each other’s enthusiasms and projects. The immediate context for their lives and achievement is most obviously determined by the space and resources provided by a large estate, the status and influence of William, and the necessary catalyst of Mary’s large inheritance. The broader and more elusive context is that of the

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Preface: why this book?

nature of Irish life and culture, including science, and the vibrancy and confidence of Victorian Britain, which included a growing fascination with science, technology and manufacturing. A danger involved in this ‘contextualisation’ is that the emphasis may all too easily be given to the more easily understood context itself, to the detriment of the ‘technical’ and scientific nature of the development and of the principles underlying it. This book certainly aims to examine the context(s) – my initial ‘how and why’ – and also to describe the development and the issues, some technical, some not, which will, I hope, allow the reader to appreciate the problems, the excitement and the outcomes involved in William’s achievement in creating and deploying the ‘Leviathan of Birr’. There are, of course, existing books and articles which cover many aspects of the life and work of William and Mary; I have read most of them, besides spending many hours in the extensive archives held at Birr and, fascinating though most of the published work is, I realised, as a scientific layman, that there was no work which set out to describe and evaluate the Rosse–Birr phenomena. This book was conceived as an attempt to do that by bringing together eminent scholars of the history of science with interested and non-scientific observers. I was delighted with the initial response when I floated the proposal, and even more delighted when, at the suggestion of Professor Schaffer, Dr Charles Mollan agreed to edit the work. As some readers will know, Charles has written extensively on the history of science in Ireland; his role as editor, involving the usual pursuit of contributors for their essays, has succeeded in bringing together a very disparate group of people, including several of great repute and others, like myself, who have something different to contribute, which we hope may be of some value.

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Acknowledgements Acknowledgements

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his book owes its existence to the initiative of Daniel McDowell, the British representative on the Birr Scientific and Heritage Foundation. As he reports in his Preface, he considered it surprising that there was no biographical publication devoted to Sir William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse, and to his wife and times. He had discussed this with several interested people who agreed with him, and, to my great surprise, he asked me to edit such an overdue volume. As I had had a long appreciation of the remarkable achievements at Birr, I was happy, after some initial hesitation, to accept this challenge. Between us, we recruited suitably qualified authors, and this is the result. The first acknowledgement must thus go to the authors, who responded with enthusiasm, and considerable research effort, to the invitation to contribute. Their willing co-operation in the editing process has been greatly appreciated. I must thank especially Brendan Parsons, 7th Earl of Rosse, and Alison, Countess of Rosse. As well as being authors, they have been bombarded with questions about their family history and requests for access to their Archives, and have always responded with great charm and generosity. Another person who deserves special commendation is David Davison. As the author of the definitive book about the photography of Mary, Countess of Rosse, Impressions of an Irish Countess (1986), he was in a position to give us access to his fine collection of Birr photographs, and we have made great use of his magnanimity to enhance the book. I am most grateful to Jocelyn Bell Burnell, Ireland’s most eminent astronomer, for agreeing to write a Foreword for the book. Others who deserve my thanks for their help in various ways are Dervilla Donnelly, Ian Elliott, Michael Duffy, Joanna Quinn, Denis Weaire and Gerard Whelan.

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Having recruited suitable authors, the next task was to find a publisher, and we have been most fortunate that Manchester University Press agreed to take it on. It has been a pleasure to work with its Editorial Director, Emma Brennan, and Senior Commissioning Editor, Matthew Frost, who have guided me through the publishing process with patient support. I was particularly anxious to include other illustrations, in addition to those provided by the Birr Scientific and Heritage Foundation and by David Davison, as they are important to this book and, in spite of this, to try to keep its price as low as possible. Our special thanks are due to the sponsors who have supported us in this ambition: Royal Dublin Society Birr Scientific and Heritage Foundation Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies Scientific Instrument Society Magdalen College, Oxford Institute of Physics in Ireland. We have also greatly appreciated permission to use illustrations granted by: An Post, the Irish Postal Service; the Royal Astronomical Society; the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh; the Royal Society; and the London Science Museum. On a personal note, I would like to thank my wife, Clara Clark, for her indulgence and support throughout the preparation of the book. Finally, and not least, thanks to you, the reader, for your support. Charles Mollan 17 Pine Lawn Blackrock County Dublin

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Introduction Charles Mollan Introduction

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his volume, in the form of a collection of chapters by specially invited authors, provides both biographical information about, and historical national and international context to, an important nineteenth-century personality, who deserves such acknowledgement but has not until now received it. It is widely known, in Ireland and further afield, that Sir William Parsons (1800–67), 3rd Earl of Rosse, of Birr Castle in King’s County (Offaly), built what was for some 70 years the largest telescope in the world (Figure I.1). He published extensive details of his remarkable inventive initiatives, as he manufactured telescopes based on increasingly larger mirrors of reflective speculum metal (an alloy of copper and tin), financed by the wealth of his wife, Mary. A summary of his labours is given in my chapter, ‘A consummate engineer’ (Chapter 6), where it is noted that there had been a tradition of engineering and architectural initiative at Birr Castle over a lengthy period. There it is also noted that Parsons’ real interest was in engineering, and it was the engineering challenge presented by a (literally) burning question in astronomical science (i.e., are all the bright lights in the sky discrete stars like our Sun?) that motivated him. When observing the sky, it was clear that there were indeed discrete stars in abundance. But there were also fuzzy bits. Was it because they were blurred by atmospheric conditions between us and them, or were too far away and thus beyond the range of the telescope, or both, which made them appear fuzzy? The hope was that telescopes with improved light grasp would settle this query, and so Parsons got to work. What he and his assistants saw is fully covered in Wolfgang Steinicke’s, ‘Birr Castle observations of non-stellar objects and the development of nebular theories’ (Chapter 7). They found that some of the fuzzy bits indeed appeared to be resolvable, but there was doubt about

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William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse

I.1  The last picture that Mary Rosse took of the Leviathan telescope (c. 1865)

others. This was not the fault of Parsons’ ingenious telescopes, which, in the best conditions – not too common at Birr – worked very well indeed. It was because, while some can indeed be resolved, it transpired subsequently that others are actually burning gases and cannot. And there were many more unresolved objects beyond the range of Parsons’ telescopes. However, as a consolation prize, Parsons – and it was Parsons himself – probably at 0:58 am on 6 April (New Moon) 1845 (see p. 230), noticed that one of the objects he was observing was spiral in shape, an observation of profound importance in astronomical history. Apart from this, word has got around in some circles that Parsons’ telescopes, especially the ‘Leviathan’, his enormous instrument with a mirror of 72-inch [183 cm] diameter, while of course very impressive, was an expensive failure. Wolfgang Steinicke, in his detailed Chapter 7, scotches this suggestion. The astronomical observing programme at Birr produced extensive and important results. The 3rd Earl is variously called (Sir) William, (Sir) William Parsons, Parsons, the Earl of Rosse, the 3rd Earl of Rosse, the 3rd Earl, or just Rosse, throughout the book. Different contexts indicate different forms,

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and in most cases no attempt has be made to make the appellation consistent, so long as no ambiguity is involved. It can also be confusing when alternate Earls of Rosse are called Laurence and William, and this is made clear where necessary. The first name of the present, 7th Earl, is William, although he uses Brendan, while the first name of his elder son, Patrick, Lord Oxmantown, is Laurence (see p. 16). While almost all the focus on Birr Castle in the nineteenth century has been on the astronomical endeavours there, and this book will, to a considerable extent, follow suit, we wanted also to address the question: what do we know about the man behind this? Can we place him also in the context of local history as a landlord, and of international history as a promoter of science, technology and human progress? He was more than ‘just’ an astronomer. This book is our response to this challenge. The ‘Succession of the Parsons family at Birr’ (pp. 14–16) and the ‘History of the Parsons family and Birr Castle’ (Chapter 1), by the Earl and Countess of Rosse, set the scene for the rest of the book. One mystery seems to remain: why was the 3rd Earl born in York? In his little booklet Reminiscences, the Reverend Randal Parsons (1848–1936), the third surviving son of the 3rd Earl, tells us that: The family of Parsons, it is said, came from Norfolk in the time of Elizabeth, and settled first in the County of Wexford. The title Rosse is derived from lands which they possessed in that county. The second title, Oxmantown, was taken from a district in Dublin where apparently they had property. Christchurch Cathedral stands in that district … The name Oxmantown is a corrupt Ostomontowne, the town of the Eastmen, i.e., the Danes.1 There can be no doubt that William Parsons was born in York, since the York Courant of Monday 23 June 1800 records: ‘On Tuesday evening [17th June] the lady of Sir Lawrence [sic] Parsons of Parsonstown, MP for King’s County, Ireland, was safely delivered a son and heir at their lodgings in this city.’2 Letters from Thomas Clere Parsons, the 2nd Earl’s brother, show that the 2nd Earl was in Harrogate and Scarborough in Yorkshire at dates between July and September 1800,3 and that he went to York at the end of September ‘to get William inoculated’. A suggestion can be made.4 It is well documented that the Earl was unhappy with the 1800 Act of Union (and refused to be corrupted by Parsons, R. undated, 1 Daniel McDowell, personal communication

Birr Castle Archives, D/5/21 Margaret Hogan, personal communication

1

3

2

4

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William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse

the bribery connected with it), so he may have taken his pregnant wife out of the country in disgust. He and Alice were married in May 1797, but William was not born until June 1800. Is there a suggestion here that there were complications with an earlier pregnancy or pregnancies? Perhaps the 2nd Earl knew of a particularly eminent, or otherwise recommended, obstetrician in York, and so travelled there to ensure the best outcome for his wife. Trevor Weekes, in his chapter ‘Origin of the 3rd Earl’s interest in astronomy’ (Chapter 2), gives us information about the childhood of the then Lord Oxmantown, who, with his also talented brother John (1802–28), was educated by tutors at home. It was unusual for such aristocratic Ascendancy children to be educated at home, rather than at an English boarding school, and this is considered of extreme importance in the formation of the remarkable engineering genius of William himself, and of his sons Laurence (1840–1908, later the 4th Earl) and Charles Parsons (1854–1931),5 the latter the inventor of the steam turbine engine. Oxmantown went, via Trinity College Dublin (from which his father had graduated BA in 1780), to Magdalen College Oxford, where, in December 1822, he earned a first class honours degree in Mathematics. But Trevor Weekes concludes that William’s interest in engineering and astronomy was largely based on his access to workshops at Birr, to his father’s wide knowledge of science, and to his parents’ influence on the curriculum which the tutors were required to teach. The 2nd Earl’s wide erudition, in science as well as theology, is apparent in the book which he wrote to try to deal with the heart-breaking early death of his son John, in his 25th year – An Argument to Prove the Truth of the Christian Revelation.6 He wrote: ‘During the long period of deep affliction for so great a loss, I studied the subject of this argument’,7 and this did allow him to reconcile the death with his continued faith. The book showed that he was widely read in theology and science, and, to give just one example, it gave a ‘Proof that the Mosaic account of the Creation allows sufficient time for the formation of the primary rocks’, 8 a topic of much controversy both then and for some time after. In Chapter 3, dealing with the heiress wife of the 3rd Earl, Mary Rosse (1813–85), the current Countess of Rosse gives us a picture of life in the Castle as William and Mary’s four boys grew up. As in most families, there were good times and bad. The worst of the bad was the death of no fewer than seven of their eleven children. Several of them, Scaife 2000, 91 Parsons L. 1834

Parsons L. 1834, iii. Parsons L. 1834, 411.

5

7

6

8

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including three girls, died after a few days; their eldest child, Alice, died at age 8, and two boys died at age 11. Four boys, Laurence, Randal, Clere and Charles, survived to productive adulthood, three of them as accomplished engineers – most notably the latter, inventor of the steam turbine engine, which revolutionised marine transport and electricity generation9 – and the fourth as a clergyman. Like their father, the boys were educated by tutors at home in Birr, with an exacting timetable (see p. 62), and they were clearly inspired by the engineering miracles being developed there. Interestingly, Randal, although he ‘disliked mathematics exceedingly’, initially found it more convenient to study with his brothers’ mathematical tutor, and he obtained first honours in the Trinity College Dublin exams in his first two years, before transferring to the theological course for the next two years.10 Mary herself was a remarkable woman, and is thus entitled to much more than a passing mention, the fate of so many women in biographies of their nineteenth-century husbands. Evidently an admirer, the Reverend Thomas Romney Robinson (1793–1882) writes: ‘She sympathised in all his pursuits, mastered enough of astronomy to help him in his calculations, and entered into all his plans for the welfare of his tenantry and the good of her adopted country. And this last required no common strength of mind, for there was what might well startle a young Englishwoman.’11 In the same chapter Daniel McDowell tells us of her family background in Yorkshire and her mighty inheritance, and David Davison describes and illustrates her talent as a pioneer photographer. He has happily provided copies of many of Mary’s photographs, used throughout the book, together with technical details for those who have an interest in the history of photographic methods at a time of significant development (pp. 70–87). The times were challenging during the adult life of the 3rd Earl. Thomas Romney Robinson comments, in his typically strident way, that the Earl was: Resolute in supporting the authority of law and in putting down the murderous societies which were the terror and curse of that part of Ireland. This, of course, made him a mark for the assassin; he knew his danger; but the knowledge neither made him shrink from his duty, nor embittered his feelings against the misguided people who were conspiring against him. He held on his steady way, sustained Mollan 2007, 1255–83. Parsons R. undated, 24.

9 10

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Robinson 1867, xxxvii.

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William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse by his calm determined courage, and perhaps by the fear inspired by his great physical power and consummate skill in the use of arms.12

Margaret Hogan in ‘William Parsons’ influence on the town and community of Birr’ (Chapter 4), and Andrew Shields in ‘Negotiating “a difficult sectarian terrain” – the public life and political opinions of the 3rd Earl of Rosse’ (Chapter 5), fill in the details, albeit in more moderate terms. Hogan notes (p. 94) that: ‘the legal and political responsibilities of the Parsons family inevitably clashed with tenancy disputes, illicit distilling, secret societies, faction fights, Ribbonmen and Rockite combinations’. The Earl’s son, Randal, records: I can remember times of great unrest, murders and robberies of arms. My father used to go out to the telescope to observe with pistols in his pockets. The lands near the telescopes were kept cut down to a foot or two [30–60 cm] in height, so as not to afford cover for an evilly disposed person to be concealed. Yet I do not think there was any real danger, as the family was very popular … The King’s County Militia had their headquarters in the new stables and my father was Colonel of the Militia, so we felt quite secure. The lower windows of the Castle were furnished with iron linings to the shutters and all necessary precautions were taken.13 Margaret Hogan, already a keen student of Birr’s history, has further researched the local background. She found the Famine a difficult subject, but cautiously concluded that the 3rd Earl comes out reasonably well in the conflicting situation in which he found himself. He went to great lengths and expense to give employment to his tenants and to relieve distress, but, as a wealthy Protestant landlord, at a time of increased political agitation, he was always going to be walking on eggshells. That he didn’t break too many eggs demonstrates that he achieved something of a balance between compassion and reality. He and his surviving family managed to retain considerable respect, and indeed affection, in the local community. Margaret gives a blow-by-blow account of an interesting local religious crisis, beginning in the early 1820s, in which the 3rd Earl became entangled. Instinctively, most would assume that this would have been yet another Protestant/Catholic fracas, not unknown in Ireland. But, no, this one was Catholic/Catholic, in which the local curate, Michael Crotty, managed to turn most of the Catholic worshippers against 12

Robinson 1867, xxvii.

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Parsons R. undated, 14.

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their parish priest, Father Patrick Kennedy. The 3rd Earl, as the local magistrate, albeit a committed member of the Protestant Church of Ireland, had to mount guard over the celebration of the Mass (p. 96). While Crotty hoped to take possession of the Catholic church, he didn’t succeed, though he and his followers did later manage to build a little one of their own on Castle Street, which still survives. It is significant that the Parsons family donated the sites for the new Church of Ireland church (1816), for the new Catholic church (1817), for the Methodist church (1828), and for the Crotty church (1837) – ‘blessed are the peacemakers’. Anyway, Crotty, buoyed by his own success (or should that be ‘hoist with his own petard’?14), eventually ended up in a ‘refuge for the mentally ill’ (p. 97) in Belgium. In contrast, Father Kennedy became Bishop of Killaloe, serving from 1836 to 1851. The Parsons were representative politicians, both before and after the Act of Union. Andrew Shields deals with the 3rd Earl’s political and social career. As Lord Oxmantown, he represented King’s County in the Westminster House of Commons from 1821 to 1834. At the other end of his life, as the Earl of Rosse, he was a representative Peer in the House of Lords from 1845 to 1867. He was, however, no stellar performer, and was described as a ‘reluctant politician’,15 though Shields considers this as ‘slightly exaggerated’ (p. 133). Unsurprisingly, Rosse was particularly concerned with the land question. Shields (p. 123) writes: ‘Throughout his life, Rosse was to be a strong defender of the rights of property and of the privileges of the landed classes to which he belonged’, and he favoured the emigration of poorer farmers and agricultural labourers to mitigate the overpopulation of the country, which was leading to increased sub-division of farm holdings. He published pamphlets on the land question in 1847 and 1867. But, in contrast to others of the Ascendancy, he was tolerant towards Roman Catholicism, as is evident, for example, in his role in the Crotty schism, mentioned above. He was not, though, a fan of Daniel O’Connell and his agitation for the repeal of the Union, which was raising tensions and leading to increases in agrarian crime. Rosse was very much engaged with educational issues. He was appointed to the Board of Visitors to Maynooth College in 1845, was elected Chancellor of Trinity College Dublin in 1862 and, shortly before his death in 1867, was also appointed to chair the Royal Commission on primary education. He was very much in favour of what we would 14

Hamlet, Act III, Scene IV, 207.

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Scaife 2000, 14.

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William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse

now call multi-denominational education but, as we know, sectarian influences won out, and this remains a burning issue to-day. While I didn’t know it at the time, I was in agreement with the 3rd Earl, since I had the privilege of serving on the Council of what was called the ‘Dalkey School Project’, under the forceful chairmanship of Dr Michael Johnston, son of the late war correspondent and playwright Denis (also a Council member), which campaigned for the setting up of the first multi-denominational primary school in the Republic. The campaign eventually succeeded with the opening of the School in South County Dublin in 1978. There are now over 65 such schools in the Republic under the banner of ‘Educate Together’, now in the process of moving into secondary education, with three secondary schools scheduled to open in 2014.16 How would our education system look to-day, had Lord Rosse’s influence prevailed; indeed how would our national history, North and South, have differed? But we can’t rewrite history. Simon Schaffer in ‘“A presiding influence”: the relations of the 3rd Earl of Rosse with scientific institutions in Britain and Ireland’ (Chapter 9), details the Earl’s considerable influence on the scientific life of these islands. He didn’t always get his own way, and Schaffer (p. 318) describes, for example, how his support for Charles Babbage’s calculating engine failed to produce the desired result. In his Presidential address to the Royal Society in November 1854, he regretted: That the first great effort to employ the powers of calculating mechanism in aid of the human intellect, should have been suffered in this great country to expire fruitless, because there was no tangible evidence of immediate profit, as a British subject I deeply regret, and as a Fellow my regret is accompanied with feelings of bitter disappointment.17 His support for the siting of a large reflecting telescope in Melbourne did eventually come to fruition, but it turned out to be an expensive failure. However, overall, he was certainly a positive influence on the development of science policy and practice, particularly through his involvement in the Royal Society and the British Association for the Advancement of Science. The Earl’s modesty is illustrated in his remarks upon being chosen as President of the British Association when it met in Cork in 1843: 16 17

www.educatetogether.ie. Parsons W. 1854, 256 (Parsons C. 1926, 78).

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This very embarrassing position is not of my own seeking. To have aspired to the high honour of presiding at one of your meetings would have been an act of presumptuous vanity, which I never did, which I never could have contemplated. A communication from Manchester, announcing that the Association had actually made their selection, was the first intimation which reached me that my name had been thought of. Under such circumstances, to have declined the honour, and to have shrunk from the responsibility, would, in my opinion, have been inconsistent with proper respect.18 He was also mightily, and understandably, if a little naively, relieved at the lack of politics and animosity in the Association (see also p. 299): The man of the world who, busied in the changing scenes of life … cannot fail to look with surprise, and, I may add, with gratification, at a meeting so large (and in this country [Ireland] too), from which politics are altogether excluded. Here he will see no angry conflict of passions, none of that feeling of bitterness and animosity, which never fails to attend the contests between man and man: all proceeding from the same cause, or nearly so – a struggle for power.19 And he did appreciate the fact that what was often the lonely experience of the scientist, especially one at a distance from the centre of activity, could be alleviated: In the ordinary circle of acquaintances, the man engaged in scientific pursuits will find very few, if any, who can understand and appreciate his labours; but in such associations as this, there are always many who see exactly the object aimed at, the difficulties to be encountered, and who are readily [sic] to acknowledge with gratitude every successful effort in the cause of science.20 Schaffer details the Earl’s public influence on the promotion of science, noting (p. 314) that: The years of his Royal Society presidency represented the zenith of Parsons’ public role as administrator and scientific politician. His workload was remarkable. Presidency of the Royal Society made him ex officio Visitor of the Royal Observatory and Trustee of the British 18 19

Parsons W. 1844, xxix. Parsons W. 1844, xxix.

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Parsons W. 1844, xxxii.

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William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse Museum, while his contacts with the Prince Consort prompted his appointment as a commissioner and financial guarantor for the Great Exhibition. The same year he was named a member of a commission to inquire into the affairs of Trinity College Dublin, which directly addressed issues of religious affiliation, overhaul of administration and changes in salaries.21

While, as would be expected, details of the astronomical work carried out at Birr by the 3rd Earl are recorded in some detail in the book, much space is given also to the context in which it was carried out. The 3rd Earl, with his ample funds, was not the only wealthy individual to turn to the challenges of science. Allan Chapman in ‘William Parsons and the Irish nineteenth-century tradition of independent astronomical research’ (Chapter 8), outlines what he has called the ‘Grand Amateur’ tradition of observational astronomy carried out by such people in observatories equipped with the latest equipment. Among these were William and John Herschel, William Wilson, Edward Joshua Cooper and John Birmingham. This volume ends with Trevor Weekes’s ‘The 3rd Earl of Rosse: an assessment’ (Chapter 10). He gives a mixed verdict. Rosse’s foresight about the significance of iron-clad ships, his recommendations on land reform and the hoped-for results from his telescopes did not have the conclusions that he would have wished. Nevertheless, he was clearly a formidable character, an out-of-the-box thinker, socially and scientifically, a conscientious landlord and father and the most internationally famous Earl of Rosse in a highly talented succession. Parsons received many honours during his lifetime. Several of these have already been mentioned above, while Agnes Mary Clerke, in her biography in the Dictionary of National Biography, writes that, in addition to his receiving the Royal Medal of the Royal Society in 1851: The university of Cambridge conferred upon him in 1842 an honorary degree of LL.D., and the Imperial Academy of St. Petersburg admitted him to membership in 1853. He was a knight of St. Patrick (1845), and Napoleon III created him a knight of the Legion of Honour at the close of the Paris Exhibition of 1855 … [he] belonged to the senate of the Queen’s University, [and] sat on the royal commission of weights and measures.22

21

Parsons W. 1851; Luce 1992, 93–6.

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22

Agnes Mary Clerke, DNB.

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It is perhaps unsurprising that he was elected to Honorary Membership of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1849.23 Romney Robinson, the author of Rosse’s obituary for the Royal Society, wrote: His appearance promised a long life, but it was cut short by an accident so trifling that it was neglected till too late. A slight sprain of the knee produced, after some months, a tumour which was ultimately removed by a severe operation. The wound was slowly healing, but his strength sunk in the process; and on October 31 he died.24 A commemorative plaque, courtesy Dublin Tourism and of the Seapoint and Salthill Association of County Dublin, was unveiled by the 7th Earl at No. 1 Eaton place, Monkstown, on 12 July 1997: DUBLIN TOURISM SIR WILLIAM PARSONS BART., K.P., P.R.S., 3RD EARL OF ROSSE 1800–1867 RENOWNED FOR HIS GREAT TELESCOPE AT BIRR DIED HERE ON THE 31ST OCTOBER 1867 (KP = Knight of St Patrick; and PRS = President of the Royal Society.) To celebrate the millennium, a set of six stamps was issued by An Post, the Irish Postal Service, on 29 February 2000 (Figure I.2). They celebrated ‘Discoveries’, and two of these related to Ireland: the induction coil, invented by the Reverend Nicholas Callan at Maynooth, and the Birr Telescope. The others were Thomas Edison’s electric light, Albert Einstein’s relativity, Marie Curie’s radium, and Galileo’s astronomy. While one of the 72-inch specula was transferred to the Science Museum in London in 1914 (see Chapter 10), attempts to find the other have been unsuccessful. Patrick Moore wrote: ‘According to Charles Parsons, the 36-inch was still “nearly intact” as recently as 1927, but nothing of it now remains in the Castle grounds.’25 Actually, this is not quite true. When carrying out an inventory of the historic scientific instruments preserved 23

Ian Elliott, personal communication; Scaife 2000, 77.

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24 25

Robinson 1867, xxxvii. Moore 1971, 67.

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William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse

I.2 Set of ‘Discoveries’ stamps issued in 2000

at Birr, I found part of a speculum, and Patrick Wayman, then Director of Dunsink Observatory in Dublin, was able to measure its focal length, which established that it was indeed a fragment of a 36-inch speculum.26 The life and work of the 3rd Earl and his family are imaginatively exhibited in Ireland’s Historic Science Centre at the Castle, set up under the initiative of the current, 7th Earl. This book complements the displays and will provide more details about this complex and talented man.

26

Mollan 1995, 30.

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References

Luce 1992: Trinity College Dublin: the First 400 Years, by J. V. Luce, Trinity College Dublin Press. Moore 1971: The Astronomy of Birr Castle, by Patrick Moore, Michael Beazley, London. Mollan 1995: Irish National Inventory of Historic Scientific Instruments, by Charles Mollan, Samton Limited, Dublin. Mollan 2007: It’s Part of What We Are – Some Irish Contributors to the Development of the Chemical and Physical Sciences, in two volumes, by Charles Mollan, Royal Dublin Society. Parsons C. 1926: The Scientific Papers of William Parsons, Third Earl of Rosse 1800–1867, Collected and Republished by the Hon. Charles Parsons, K.C.B. F.R.S., Percy Lund, Humphries, London. Parsons L. 1834: An Argument to Prove the Truth of the Christian Revelation, by Laurence Parsons, 2nd Earl of Rosse, John Murray, London. Parsons R. undated (between 1914 and 1936): Reminiscences, by Randal Parsons, printed for private circulation only. Parsons W. 1844: ‘Address by the Earl of Rosse’, in Report of the Thirteenth Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science held at Cork in August 1843, John Murray, London, pp. xxix–xxxiii. Reprinted in Parsons C. 1926, pp. 44–9. Parsons W. 1851: Papers on the Great Exhibition, 1851, Birr Castle Archives, J/16. Parsons W. 1854: ‘Address’, by the Earl of Rosse, Proceedings of the Royal Society, 7, pp. 248–63. Reprinted in Parsons C. 1926, pp. 72–9. Robinson 1867: ‘Obituary of William Parsons’, by Romney Robinson, Proceedings of the Royal Society, 16, pp. xxxvi–xlii. Scaife 2000: From Galaxies to Turbines – Science, Technology and the Parsons Family, by Garrett Scaife, Institute of Physics Publishing, Bristol.

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Succession of the Parsons family at Birr Succession of the Parsons family at Birr

The Earls of Rosse of the second creation Sir Laurence Parsons, 6th Bart, b. 1738, 2nd Earl of Rosse, 1807–41* Sir William Parsons, 7th Bart, b. 1800, 3rd Earl of Rosse, 1841–67 Sir Laurence Parsons, 8th Bart, b. 1840, 4th Earl of Rosse, 1867–1908 Sir William Parsons, 9th Bart, b. 1873, 5th Earl of Rosse, 1908–18 Sir (Laurence) Michael Parsons, 10th Bart, b. 1906, 6th Earl of Rosse, 1918–79 Sir (William) Brendan Parsons, 11th Bart, b. 1936, 7th Earl of Rosse, 1979– * Laurence, b. 1749, 1st Earl of Rosse, 1806–7, was uncle to the 2nd Earl and lived at Newcastle, Co. Longford, not Birr.

Previous generations of the Parsons family James(?) Parsons of Leicestershire(?) married Catherine Fenton, sister of Sir Geoffrey Fenton (1539–1608), Secretary of State for Ireland from 1580 to 1608. His sons may have come to Ireland, under the patronage of their uncle Geoffrey.1 The eldest was William (c. 1570–1650), who succeeded his uncle as Surveyor General of Ireland in 1602. His descendants became the first creation of the Earls of Rosse. They lived at Belamont Forest outside Dublin, but the line died out in 1764. The title was recreated in 1806. There are conflicting sources here and the name of the father of the boys is not known for certain.

1

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Laurence, his younger brother (d. 1628), was knighted in 1620 (the same year as William), and was granted 1,000 acres around Birr.2 He married Anne Malham from Yorkshire, and the couple had two sons, Richard and William (d. 1652). The former, who had one daughter, died young in 1634, and William succeeded at Birr, marrying Dorothy Philips from Newtown Limavaddy, County Derry. Their eldest son was Lawrence (c. 1637–98), who was created a Baronet in 1677.3 He married Frances Savage from Castle Rheban, Athy, in County Kildare.4 Their son, William (1661–1740), succeeded as 2nd Bart in 1698. He married Elizabeth Preston from Craig Millar in Scotland, but their son, also William, died before his father, so it was his grandson, Laurence (1707–57), who succeeded to the title as 3rd Bart. The eldest son of Sir Laurence and his first wife, Mary Sprigge from Cloghnevoe, Co. Offaly, was William (1731–91), who succeeded as 4th Bart in 1757. With his second wife, Anne Wentworth, Sir Laurence had a second son, another Laurence (1749–1807), who became the 1st Earl of Rosse, of the second creation, in 1806, not long before his death in 1807. He had been created Baron Oxmantown in 1792, and Viscount Oxmantown in 1795. As he had no male child, the Viscountcy became extinct, but the other titles devolved to Laurence (1758–1841), his nephew,5 the son of his elder half-brother, William, and his wife, Mary Clere from Kilbury, Co. Tipperary. Laurence thus combined the titles of 6th Bart and 2nd Earl of Rosse. Lord Oxmantown continues to be the courtesy title of the heir to the Earldom. The eldest son of Sir Laurence, the 6th Bart and 2nd Earl of Rosse, and his wife, Alice Lloyd from Gloster, Birr, was William (1800–67), the subject of this book, who succeeded to the title 7th Bart and 3rd Earl of Rosse in 1841. William, 3rd Earl, married Mary Field, from Bradford, Yorkshire, and their eldest son, Laurence (1840–1908), 4th Earl, succeeded to the title in 1867. Laurence, 4th Earl, married Cassandra Harvey-Hawke, from Womersley Park, Yorkshire, and their eldest child, William (1873–1918), 5th Earl, succeeded to the title in 1908, and died from war wounds in 1918. Judy Barry in DIB. Piers Wauchope in ODNB.

John Bergin in DIB. Debrett 1968, 955.

2

4

3

5

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He married Lois Lister-Kaye from Denby Grange, Yorkshire, and their eldest son, Laurence Michael (1906–79), 6th Earl, succeeded to the title in 1918. Laurence Michael married Anne Messel from Nymans, Sussex, and their eldest child, William Brendan (b. 1936), 7th Earl, succeeded to the title in 1979. He married Alison Cooke-Hurle of Startforth, Yorkshire, and their eldest child, Laurence Patrick (b. 1969), bears the courtesy title, Lord Oxmantown. His siblings are Alicia (b. 1971) and Michael (b. 1981). Lord Oxmantown married Anna Lin from Tienjing, China, in 2004, and their children are Olivia (b. 2006) and William (b. 2008).

Sources Family tree supplied by the Earl and Countess of Rosse. Debrett 1968: Debrett’s Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage, and Companionage, 166th year, Kelly’s Directories Limited, Kingston upon Thames. DIB: Dictionary of Irish Biography, Under the Auspices of the Royal Irish Academy, Royal Irish Academy, Dublin, and Cambridge University Press, published in 9 volumes in 2009. ODNB: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, the revision of the Dictionary of National Biography, published in 60 volumes in 2004.

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History of the Parsons family1 and Birr Castle The Earl and Countess of Rosse History of the Parsons family and Birr Castle

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he family of William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse, had been in Ireland some three and a half centuries by the time the great telescope was built. There is no doubt that William thought of himself first and foremost as an Irishman. His father, Sir Laurence Parsons, had been a member of Grattan’s Parliament at the end of the previous century and was an orator and patriot; it was said of him that he was the only honest member of the House. He had been violently opposed to the Act of Union, which took away Ireland’s own parliament and forced him to travel to England. Sir Laurence, who became the 2nd Earl of Rosse on the death of his uncle, was a great influence on his three sons, as will be seen later, bringing them up and educating them in Ireland and encouraging their scientific and mathematical side (see Chapters 2 and 3). The Parsons family came to Ireland from England probably towards the end of the sixteenth century. There were at least three Parsons brothers, the eldest of whom was William, with Laurence probably the next. These two names, William and Laurence, alternate down the generations of the family at Birr. Nothing is known of their father, and there is only speculation on the place where the family originated – probably central England. However, their mother, Catherine Fenton, was well connected. She was a sister of Sir Geoffrey Fenton, Secretary of State for Ireland at the end of the devastating Elizabethan wars. The Fentons were an interesting Elizabethan family of scholars and explorers, well known at the Court of Queen Elizabeth. Through this connection, William, the eldest, became Surveyor General after his uncle, while Laurence, ancestor of the Birr See also ‘Succession of the Earls of Rosse’, pp. 14–16.

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1.1  Birr Castle in 2009

branch of the family, stayed in the south at Youghal, where he worked with Richard Boyle, the great Earl of Cork. Laurence and Richard Boyle were cousins by marriage, as Boyle had married another Fenton, a daughter of his uncle Sir Geoffrey, also called Catherine. Laurence took over Sir Walter Raleigh’s house in Youghal, later known as the Myrtle Grove. He had begun his career as a seafarer and trader, which, in the early seventeenth century, probably involved him in straightforward piracy. Indeed he managed to get off accusations in the Court of the Star Chamber, although admitting that he did ‘sometimes help himself to trifles and petty commodities’.2 Over the second decade of the seventeenth century, Laurence built up his career as Recorder of Youghal. In 1620, he was appointed Attorney General and Vice Admiral of Munster: poacher turned gamekeeper. The 3rd Earl’s ancestor – ex-pirate and entrepreneur – was ready to strike off on his own. His cousin and colleague, the Earl of Cork, remained at Lismore Castle in Cork. Richard had sixteen children, one of whom was Robert Boyle, the great mathematician and scientist and author of Boyle’s law. It is a rather distant relationship, but certainly it would be possible for William, the 3rd Earl, to claim kinship with Robert Boyle through the Fentons. Appleby 1985, 323.

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Laurence’s move to Birr, like the family’s origins, was also mysterious. It seems strange that a man who had built up his career on the coast of Ireland should move to the very centre of the country. However, no doubt it was the practicality of land being available. Laurence had a network of powerful friends, one of whom was Sir Adam Loftus of Rathfarnam Castle, nephew of Archbishop Loftus, first Provost of Trinity College. Laurence’s eldest son, Richard, was later to marry one of his daughters. Sir Adam owned lands in the Slieve Bloom, an area of low mountains in the centre of Ireland, near Birr. It was here that Laurence first purchased land, at Leiter Luna, near the village named after Loftus, Cadamstown, on the slopes of the mountains. However, shortly afterwards he managed to exchange these lands for the fortress at Birr, nearby, which had been recently acquired by Sir Robert Meredith. He exchanged his Slieve Bloom land with Meredith. The Castle at Birr had been an O’Carroll stronghold, the territory around it being known to this day as Ely O’Carroll, but the O’Carrolls had sold it in 1588 to the powerful Ormond Butlers. They in turn had sold it to Sir Robert Meredith. All this took place in 1620, the year that Laurence was knighted, an honour which gave him the status appropriate to a local governor. The Castle at Birr was at this time in a ruinous state. Sir Laurence decided to abandon the tall tower-house built by the O’Carrolls, called the Black Tower, which stood on a motte overlooking the river. He decided to make his living quarters in the gate tower, which led into the fortress from the town. The carriage-way through the gate house, wide enough for carts and carriages, still exists as a broad passage in the basement of the Castle, between immensely thick walls. This gate house probably dates back to the late thirteenth century and was built by the Anglo-Norman invaders. Sir Laurence’s extensions to the gate house form the basis of the shape of the present Castle. Sir Laurence was a good administrator. He used his experience as Recorder of Youghal to enact a series of ordinances for the governance of Birr and set about improving the town. He ordered that all houses had to have stone chimneys, to reduce the incidence of fire; he also ruled against single women as barmaids. He built a prison and he paved the main street at his own expense, and then declared that any person who ‘cast any dunge rubbidge filth or sweepings into the forestreet’ was to pay a fine.3 His wife and family, including one of the Boyle children, whom they fostered, came to join him, and thus started family life at Birr for the Malcolmson 2008, x.

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Parsons family. Laurence may not have imagined, but would be happy to know, that he was founding a dynasty. Some eight generations of Laurences and Williams at Birr stretch back from William, the 3rd Earl. The seventeenth century continued with very troubled times. Sir Laurence died suddenly at Rathfarnham Castle, the great house belonging to Sir Adam Loftus. He was on the legal circuit at the time and had left his wife and several young children at Birr. Anne Parsons, his wife, was born Anne Malham, and came from a Yorkshire family. She bravely stayed on and, from our archives, we know how well she was able to take over the reins and run the estate. Another blow to her was that her eldest son, Richard, died young, soon after his marriage to Loftus’ daughter, and her second son, William, took over the Castle. The castle was attacked twice in the seventeenth century. The first time was in 1641. The troubles in England which culminated in the Civil War and the death of Charles I cast their long shadows of unrest and revolution into Ireland. The arrival of Thomas Strafford, Viscount Wentworth and Charles I’s Lord Deputy, only stirred things further. In 1636 Strafford was briefly at Birr, probably to discuss troops with William. William was made Governor of Ely O’Carroll and was given permission by the King to raise a small army for its protection. He was a good soldier, as we see from his diary, which we have still, kept in the Castle archives. If the family had any scientific leanings during the seventeenth century, they could hardly be expected to show themselves. The family’s pressing need was to hang on to its land and home. Governor Parsons was still a young man, barely thirty, and at first the skirmishes between his troops and the rebels seemed little more than a dangerous game of raiding and pillaging. There were some deaths, woundings and indiscriminate hangings. Once, William himself narrowly escaped capture as, when galloping home hotly pursued, his horse fell while crossing the river. The Castle was besieged by the Confederate Catholics in the winter of 1641 and the family was finally forced to leave, and moved to London during the civil war. Captain William died in London, but his young son Laurence, only in his late teens, returned with the restoration. A period of happiness and prosperity then followed, during which Laurence embellished the house with an elegant yew staircase. This, and earlier seventeenth-century plasterwork from the generation before, can still be seen in one of the flanking towers. Laurence was created a Baronet in 1677. In the archives from this time is a cook book, written by Laurence’s sister Dorothy. The book included not only cooking instructions but medicinal ones also, especially for the healing of wounds and bruises,

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1.2 Parsonstown House, 1668 – a drawing in Dorothy Parsons’ cookbook ‘Choyce Recepts’

showing the need for such in those troubled times. The book gives a fascinating view of domestic life in an Irish household during the middle of the seventeenth century. However, one of the most remarkable things in the book is a drawing, a bird’s-eye view of the castle, which was now grandly known as Parsonstown House. It is captioned: ‘An Exclent [sic] Receipt to Spend 4000 pound’. It shows how the old gate tower, and flanking towers built on by the first Sir Laurence, had been gentrified into a large, Dutch-style building with gabled attic windows, a balcony, and a terraced garden running down towards the town, the river flowing alongside (Figure 1.2). With the death of Charles II and the ascent to the throne of his Catholic brother, James, trouble again came to Ireland. It became once again a time for the old order of the Gaelic Irish to try to re-assert their power. Sir Laurence had worked with a land agent who was a staunch Jacobite. He was an English Catholic called Hugh Oxburgh, and his

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daughter was married to one of the O’Carroll clan, who claimed to be the original owners of the Castle. As war raged across Europe, the conflict in Ireland between the Catholic King James and the Protestant King William became part of an international struggle. At Birr, the revival of the Jacobite cause gave Oxburgh the chance to make trouble for Sir Laurence. Owing to a legal battle over a case brought against them, Laurence’s wife, Frances Savage, from an Irish family of similar background to the Parsons, was forced to leave for England. Laurence was incarcerated in the town jail by another O’Carroll, a lawyer named Owen Carroll. The Castle was taken over, and even the garden was dismantled by the predatory O’Carrolls: ‘a load of Cypress trees, tulips and other flower roots, and herbs’ were taken away.4 Oxburgh’s daughter and family moved into the Castle. Laurence waited as Oxburgh erected a gallows on the area still called Gallows Hill. Sir Laurence, from the jail, only a few hundred metres up-river from his home, pleaded ill-health and gout, which prevented him from mounting the scaffold. Eventually he was taken with other prisoners to Dublin. However, with the Battle of the Boyne in the summer of 1690, the situation changed for Laurence. King James was defeated and the dual monarchy of William, Prince of Orange, and his wife, Mary, both Protestants, was confirmed. Although Laurence himself remained in Dublin, other members of his family regained the Castle. But the fires of rebellion against the crown had not been extinguished and, in September 1690, Birr Castle found itself again under siege from a force commanded by Patrick Sarsfield, fresh from his triumph at the siege of Limerick. Sarsfield was now with his forces in Banagher, holding the line of the Shannon against the Williamites. He was joined by Parsons’ traitorous agent, Oxburgh, and the hot-headed young Duke of Berwick, an illegitimate son of James II, known for his pleasure in destroying castles. A fascinating blow-by-blow account exists in the Castle archives: ‘The infantry marched towards the castle … colours flying, trumpets sounding, drums beating and bagpipes playing … the besieged hoisted a bloody flag on top of the castle, being determined to hold out’. Sarsfield, who may well have been a guest at the Castle in happier days, tried to dissuade them from attacking: ‘it would do them no good … it was a pity to destroy the gentleman’s castle’. He was over-ruled, and the siege went on for two or three days. The Castle inhabitants held out valiantly, even melting down the lead cistern Birr Castle Archives, A/24.

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that Frances had used for ‘salting the beefes’, to make bullets. The final attack began at 2:00 pm. It lasted till sunset, when Sarsfield called off his troops and left the castle. The scars of these sieges can be seen on the walls of the east flanker, and the cannon balls which lodged there are now displayed in the Castle’s hall. One of Sarsfield’s cannon remains in front of the castle (p. 114), but now it points the other way. The Battle of Aughrim, only 30 miles north-west of Birr, was fought on 12 July 1691. It was the last great battle in Ireland in what has been called the Three Kings’ War. The Marquis de St Ruth (General Charles Chalmont) commanded the Jacobite side, and the Williamites were led by the Dutch general, Godert de Ginkell. Both armies were about 20,000 strong. The soldiers of St Ruth’s army were mostly Irish Catholic, while Ginkel’s were English, Scottish, Danish, Dutch, French Huguenot and Irish Protestant. It was a hard-fought battle and evenly matched. The strategy of the two generals is still debated but, in the middle of the battle, St Ruth had the misfortune to be decapitated by a cannon ball. The Irish troops, demoralised by the horrific death of their leader, were wiped out. It is said that 7,000 of the Irish died, though many also on the other side. Horses, riderless or with their owners clinging on half dead, straggled back to the scattered farms and villages along the Slieve Bloom. Oxburgh lost three of his sons and fled, among many others, to France. This Jacobite defeat finally finished the Stuart cause in Ireland. However, the victory did little good for the Parsons family at Birr. The victorious Williamite army arrived in the town and did as much damage as any invading force: the Castle was taken to house some of the army, the flocks of sheep and cattle were rounded up to feed the troops. Thus the dawning of the eighteenth century found Birr Castle once again in an almost ruinous state. It was even then used as a military hospital and was said to be full of vermin; carcases of dead horses were found inside the bawn. By the time Sir Laurence’s son, another William, the 2nd baronet, inherited, there was little money and, although he tried hard to claim compensation from the crown, there was never enough to rebuild or adequately restore the building. William was born in the time of the Restoration, and lived through the second siege and troubles as a young man, fighting in different parts of the country on the Williamite side. If he fought in the battle of Aughrim, it is not recorded. He lived on at Birr well into the eighteenth century and, after the death of his wife, Elizabeth Preston, he married again, a younger woman, Elizabeth St George. The old house was well filled with four generations of the Parsons family. He died a very old

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man, having outlived his eldest son, and the Castle was inherited in 1741 by his grandson Laurence, the 3rd baronet. A long period of consolidation followed the Williamite wars, and the Parsons family lived the life of provincial administrators and country gentlemen. Little seems to have been done to the Castle, a new chimneypiece added here, a bit of plasterwork there. The wars of the last century had left the Parsonses without money to spend on major improvements. However, the eighteenth century was the first period of sustained peace that Ireland had undergone for very many years. Music and the arts and architecture flourished and, despite their rural seclusion, William became a patron of Handel and family members were painted by some of the best artists Ireland could offer. In Dublin, the Dublin Society was founded in 1731. It was set up to promote and develop ‘Husbandry, Manufactures, and other useful arts’.5 A couple of weeks after its initial foundation, the word ‘sciences’ was added and there was a call for inventions of a scientific nature by its new members. Here are seen possibly the first stirrings of the scientific gene or genius in the Parsons family. Sir William, if not a founder member, was among the very early contributors to the Society – known since 1820 as the Royal Dublin Society. Records show that the Parsons family supplied more scientific inventions than did any others to this new body. Among them, Sir William provided and invented a machine ‘for moving large trees’, a ‘scoop spade’ and another for pulling weeds out of a lake (p. 159). These are said to have remained at and could be seen in the Society up to the 1850s. They would no doubt have had practical application for Sir William, and they show a background of inventiveness in the future managing of the estate at Birr. A few years later, in the 1740s, Samuel Chearnley, a young cousin of the Parsons, began his portfolio of extraordinary architectural designs. Old Sir William had died by this time, and Chearnley worked with his grandson, Sir Laurence. The drawings were probably done in the Castle, as the portfolio remains here to this day, and several of the designs are credited to Sir Laurence. Sadly, owing to Chearnley’s early and mysterious death at Birr, aged only 29, and also no doubt his cousin’s lack of funds, the only monument now known to have been designed by him is the column in the centre of the main square in Birr, still there today (Figure 1.3). The two rivers of Birr, the Camcor and the Little Brosna, have always played a part in the lives and imaginations of the Parsons family. They Berry 1915, 6, 10.

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1.3  The column in the Central Square in Birr, designed by Samuel Chearnley

meet in the Demesne and flow into the Shannon. The Camcor flows directly below the Castle. Sir William may have been the first to see their potential and, where the Camcor flowed through a marshy lake in the park, attempts were made to divert it and re-landscape it to form a proper lake. One of the few books that remain from the Castle’s old library, sadly almost totally destroyed in a smoky fire in the 1920s, is a curious book of waterworks and other strange machines: Böckler’s Teatrum Machineria Novum. These would have been available to Samuel Chearnley and his enthusiastic patron when, over a short period in 1744–45, just before his early death, Chearnley drew his fantasies of garden design and architectural conceits. Many of them included water, with fountains, bridges and curious waterworks. The practical application of science and engineering in the Parsons family was certainly fostered by the rivers, but it was not until the next century that a complicated arrangement of waterworks was constructed. The river was eventually made to flow behind the lake and at a lower level to it, while a head-race channel took water from higher up the river (p. 160). It then fed the lake by flowing in a tunnel beneath the river itself. By the time of the 3rd Earl, a waterwheel also had been

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constructed which brought water drained from the fields upwards, into the lake (see Figure 6.1). Sir Laurence, as well as being a patron of the architect Samuel Chearnley, travelled in Northern Europe, and had his portrait painted in fashionable eighteenth-century attire. He married Mary Sprigge, from a Tipperary family, and she also brought more land and a small amount of money into the family. Their eldest son, William, was born in 1731. Throughout the last half of the eighteenth century, the Parsonses were living the life of the country gentleman, as well as moving further into public life. Sir William, 4th Baronet, was a Member of Parliament in the Irish House of Commons for King’s County (as County Offaly was then known) and was High Sheriff of King’s County in 1779. He had a house in Dublin, and his account books from his time in Dublin show that he lived well, visited the theatre and subscribed to the pamphlets and papers of the time. Jottings show that he lost money at cards, powdered his wig and bought black silk stockings and the Philosophical Survey of Ireland. They convey vividly the atmosphere of late eighteenth-century Dublin, with its coffee houses and intellectual discussions in elegant surroundings. Sir William married Mary Clere, of Kilbury, a distant relative of the Boleyn family, which had migrated to Ireland in the sixteenth century. She brought to the castle the beautiful Elizabethan paintings that hang in the saloon. William also played an enthusiastic part in the volunteer movement of the 1770s. We still have the ‘colours’ or banner of the Parsonstown Volunteers, and a glass and tableware. These were troops raised by the local gentry to defend against possible invasion from France. William and his wife, Mary, had four sons, two of them trained in the law: Laurence, his eldest, and Thomas. It is, however, Laurence, later to inherit the Earldom of Rosse from his uncle, who holds a decided place in Irish political and cultural history. (His uncle, his father’s younger half-brother, had become 1st Earl of Rosse of the 2nd creation in 1806, with remainder to his nephew Laurence.) With Laurence, father of William the builder of the telescope, we move towards the end of this short history. Laurence was an independent, perhaps even eccentric, character. As a politician, he was rather a loner; he did not play party politics. In other ways too, he took a different line to his contemporaries: he refused to send his sons to a public school; he took no interest in sports; he was reluctant to flog his soldiers; and, although he was a scholar in Latin and Greek, he came to the defence of Celtic literature by supporting a legacy to found a chair for the study of ancient literature by Henry Flood. He

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1.4  The Gothic saloon in Birr Castle

was a protégé and admirer of the politician Henry Flood and became an executor of his will. Many of Flood’s papers are in the Birr archives. At Birr, improvements to the Castle and the town continued and, some time towards the end of the century, a new entrance to the Castle was built and the Castle was given a new crenellated façade in Gothic style, now facing the landscaped park. The fortress which in 1620 the first Sir Laurence had proudly turned into his ‘English house’ was now a castle again. Old fortifications had already been swept away by Laurence’s father, including the remains of the Black Tower of the O’Carrolls. We have many drawings, some by Sir Laurence himself, for extending and updating his house. Laurence became 2nd Earl of Rosse in 1807, inheriting the title from his uncle, but he did not inherit the fortune that he hoped would go with it. For this reason, many of his more grandiose plans were not to take effect. It was said that Laurence might have married his uncle’s heiress daughter Jane, his cousin, thus getting the money as well as the title. But this did not happen. He married for love his neighbour’s daughter, Alice Lloyd, and the letters that he wrote to her when he had to leave Birr,

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1.5  Birr Castle, c.1855, one of the earliest photographs taken by Mary, Countess of Rosse

travelling to London after the Act of Union, show his great affection for her.6 She was one of three pretty sisters from a neighbouring family, and it was probably to please her that he built the beautiful Gothic saloon looking over the river (Figure 1.4). The beautiful harp bought at this time still remains in the room. It was made by George Eagon, the most fashionable Irish harp maker of the time, and there is music – quadrilles and polkas – written especially for her, which was played in the room. Below the long windows, which reach down to the floor, the river flows over a weir created to enhance the vista. Laurence’s career developed; in 1809 he became Postmaster General of Ireland and in 1814 was involved in the design of the new General Post Office. The well-known classical building on O’Connell Street is very different to the Gothic saloon he was planning at home. Laurence sat in the House of Lords as an Irish Representative Peer from 1809 until 1841, and eventually the family had a house in London. However, it was in Birr and his home that he was no doubt happiest Birr Castle Archives, D/10/1–13.

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(Figure 1.5). Alice’s recipes for large quantities of lemon whisky are still usable, and we know she gave good parties. We also know, from a sad document he wrote after the death of his second son, that he spoke Latin and Greek round the fire with his boys. John, who died of scarlet fever in his twenties, was said to have been even more brilliant than his elder brother. Laurence was in touch with other similar intellectual families such as the Edgeworths, and corresponded with the novelist Maria Edgeworth regarding the use of the ancient round towers. He puzzled over the new scientific theories, eventually putting his thoughts and arguments into a book, The Christian Revelation,7 written in his old age. It was in this atmosphere of enquiry and intellectual stimulation, and a happy home life at Birr, that he brought up his five children and that William, the future builder of the telescope, spent his childhood. References

Appleby 1985: ‘The Irish Admiralty: its organisation and development, c.1570– 1640’, by John C. Appleby and Mary O’Dowd, Irish Historical Studies, 24, pp. 299–326. Berry 1915: A History of the Royal Dublin Society, by Henry F. Berry, Longmans, Green & Co., London. Malcolmson 2008: Calendar of the Rosse Papers, by Anthony Malcomson, Irish Manuscripts Commission, Dublin. Parsons L. 1834: An Argument to Prove the Truth of the Christian Revelation, by Laurence Parsons, 2nd Earl of Rosse, John Murray, London.

Parsons L. 1834.

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Origin of the 3rd Earl’s interest in astronomy Trevor Weekes Origin of the 3rd Earl’s interest in astronomy

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hat forces motivated the 3rd Earl of Rosse (1800–67) to devote himself to astronomy and to build what was to be the largest optical telescope in the world? Why would the eldest son of an Irish earl with a considerable estate in the heart of nineteenthcentury rural Ireland choose to pursue a scientific enterprise that would tax the resources and ingenuity of even a large academic institution in the centre of the British industrial complex? Throughout much of his life, William Parsons, the future 3rd Earl, would live in an Ireland that was in a state of some turmoil. The Act of Union, whereby the Irish Parliament in Dublin was abolished, had been passed in 1800, despite the fierce opposition of the 2nd Earl. The landed aristocracy, largely Anglo-Irish and Protestant, were, in general, not an admirable group, having little regard for their obligations as landlords and little loyalty to the land of their birth. Indeed they were generally absentee landlords, their Irish estates a cash cow that enabled them to live elsewhere in a somewhat dissipated fashion. They solved the management responsibility by appointing an agent whose primary function was to make the estate produce the maximum short-term income so that the lord could dissipate his wealth in the more sophisticated surroundings of Dublin or, more likely, London. There, as an absentee landlord, he would be free of the sight of his impoverished serfs and could live like an aristocrat without any feeling of social obligation.1 Certainly his agent would feel no guilt at squeezing the estate for what it was worth. The native rural Irish population essentially consisted of peasants who identified little with this ruling class. Systematically discriminated against by the Penal Laws because of their Catholicism, they shared a resentment O’Tuathaigh 1972, 146–7.

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of authority and took pride in their ‘Irishness’. Despite the general poverty, the population had doubled in the early nineteenth century, with excessive economic dependence on the potato, to a level that was beyond what the land could reasonably support. The stage was thus set for the great Potato Famine of 1845 and the Easter Rising of 1916. It was into this society that William Parsons was born in 1800 and in which he made the momentous decision, less than three decades later, to devote himself to the construction of optical telescopes on his rural estate, far from any engineering or academic facilities. The choice of a profession for the eldest son of a relatively wealthy nineteenth-century Irish lord (including not having one at all) was wide open, and it is of interest to investigate what led this eldest son to devote himself to astronomical pursuits before he was thirty. It is true that there would have been some pressure on him, as the future heir to a considerable estate with a large number of tenants and workers, to manage his assets and, if he was socially responsible, to care for his tenants and workers in the manner of a feudal lord. The future Earl (known as Lord Oxmantown from birth, until he succeeded his father in 1841) was unusual. Growing up in Birr Castle, where his father, the 2nd Earl, had charted an exceptional and exemplary role as a resident landlord and had taken an active role in national politics, the future 3rd Earl would have been mindful of his privileged position and the obligations that went with it. His father had sat in the Irish House of Commons for many years and had taken a principled stand against the Act of Union in 1800. In his student days, the 2nd Earl had been the contemporary of the Irish revolutionary, Wolfe Tone, the father of Irish republicanism and one of the leaders of the ill-fated rebellion of 1798; although their politics were quite different they had a mutual respect. Tone had called him ‘one of the few honest men in the Irish House of Commons’.2 Disillusioned with politics after the chicanery that resulted in the Act of Union, the 2nd Earl nonetheless later accepted the role of joint Postmaster General of Ireland. An early supporter of Catholic emancipation and the repeal of the Penal Laws, he became less enthusiastic as he grew older and saw the extension of the franchise to Catholics. However, he had donated the land in the town on which the new Catholic church was built; in fact its dedication ceremony was the first public act of his son, Lord Oxmantown, in 1818. Free of national political concerns, the 2nd Earl became active in the planning of the town of Birr (also known as Parsonstown) and in making improvements to Birr Castle (see Chapters 4 and 5). Scaife 2000, 12.

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The Castle schoolroom The 2nd Earl and his wife took an intense interest in the education of their children.3 While it would have been customary for Irish aristocrats to send their sons for education to the legendary boarding schools in Britain, the Earl and his wife had their sons educated at home with private tutors (for whom the 2nd Earl sometimes substituted). In doing so, they protected them from some of the prejudices inherent in the British public schools. There is a family tradition that the interest in mathematics came from Lady Rosse, a member of the talented Lloyd family. The 2nd Earl’s interests were wide ranging and included Irish antiquities, and architecture. Although the family was relatively geographically isolated, its house guests included the author Maria Edgeworth and the politician Sir Robert Peel. The Birr Castle Demesne would have been the schoolroom for studies of nature; the Castle workshops would have been the laboratory for engineering experimentation. With much construction activity underway in the Castle and the town, there would have been ample opportunity for seeing practical engineering at work. When the future Earl was aged 18, together with his younger brother John, he attended Trinity College in Dublin. ‘Attended’ is somewhat of a misnomer, since, in those days, it was necessary to physically attend for only a few days per year (during which examinations were taken). In 1821 both boys graduated and went to Oxford, where they spent a year, both graduating with Firsts in Mathematics. That same year, the young Lord Oxmantown was elected from County Offaly (the so-called ‘King’s County’) to the British Parliament (see Chapter 5). For the next decade, he would spend a part of each year in London attending to his political responsibilities. His stint in Parliament was not distinguished, and it was clear that he did not desire, nor was he suited for, a career in politics; he seems to have been only too happy to suspend his political career in favour of a scientific and engineering one, particularly if it could be pursued at home in Ireland. With a father who had been a statesman but was no longer politically active, with a unusual and personalised home education, with a society that was in a state of turmoil and political agitation, with a strong family tradition of Christian values, with a variety of cultural interests and with a strong attraction for the Irish countryside and rural life, the future Earl would have been under some pressure to adopt a career that would be Parsons L. 1967.

3

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both socially productive, intellectually stimulating and within his means. His university career had indicated that he was mentally well equipped to pursue any profession that he might choose. The untimely death in 1828 of his younger brother, John, who had been his close companion at each stage of his education, and whose death had broken his elderly father’s heart, must also have put additional pressure on the future Earl. The 2nd Earl had a massive memorial in the form of a Grecian temple erected to his son on John’s Mall, so named for his son, and dedicated his book on Christian belief to him.4 John had clearly not been lacking in intellectual ability, since he had been able to keep up with his brother, who was two years his senior. Lord Oxmantown must have felt a strong need to fulfil the family expectations for both himself and his talented brother.

The call of the stars But why astronomy? It must be remembered that, in the nineteenth century, in Britain and Ireland, there were virtually no professional research astronomers, nor was there felt any need for them. Although, on the Continent, there was already a move to establish the profession by demanding a PhD in astronomical subjects as a basis for such a professional career, in Britain (and Ireland) this was not seen as necessary, and astronomical research was in the hands of the ‘gifted’ and wealthy ‘Grand Amateurs’ (see Chapter 8).5 The Grand Amateurs were a remarkable set of talented individuals who were independently wealthy by virtue of either their inheritance or their financial success in their primary profession. They were generally self-educated in astronomy but deeply curious, and were prepared to spend their later years in the pursuit of some self-chosen astronomical goal. These individuals carried the astronomical research torch in Britain and Ireland through the Victorian age. There is no doubt that, among the educated gentlemen of the day, an interest in all aspects of natural philosophy would be assumed and, if we are to judge from the number of public lectures and demonstrations, astronomy had a large following in the general populace. Certainly there was a greater following for the marvels of science, particularly the physical sciences, than there is today; the attraction of astronomy was partially because many of the practitioners, unhindered by a wealth of definitive observations, did not hesitate to speculate wildly on cosmology and matters theological. London would, of course, be the centre for such intellectual activity, but even Dublin, in the midst of its political turmoil, Parsons L. 1834.

4

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Chapman 1998, 5–9.

5

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had its share of learned societies, such as the Royal Dublin Society and the Royal Irish Academy. Scientific thinking in the nineteenth century was largely personality driven, and the medieval German professor model of learning was favoured, whereby one colossus in a particular discipline gathered a group of disciples at his feet (or, more practically, on his faculty or at his observatory) and determined their future research and careers. Although Lord Oxmantown could easily have apprenticed himself to some such dominant scientist, there is no evidence that he did so, and it may well be that the dominant intellectual force in his life came from his cumulative earlier educational influences. Lord Oxmantown was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1831, very shortly after he became a regular visitor to London as a Member of Parliament. Thereafter, he became a member of the newly formed Astronomical Society, soon to become the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS), and became a regular participant at its scientific meetings. However he was not a founder member of the RAS and never held office (although he was to become the President of the Royal Society). By 1827, he had begun experiments in mirror manufacture, and felt sufficiently expert in this process to publish two short papers on his work the following year. Years later, Sir Robert Ball would comment on the early motivation of the young Lord as follows: It appears that when he found himself in the possession of leisure and of means, he deliberately cast around to think how that means and that leisure could be most usefully employed. Nor was it surprising that he should search for a direction which would offer special scope for his mechanical tastes. He came to the conclusion that the building of great telescopes was an art which had received no substantial advance since the great days of William Herschel. He saw that to construct mighty instruments for studying the heavens required at once the command of time and the command of wealth, while he also felt this was a subject the inherent difficulties of which would tax to the uttermost whatever mechanical skill he might possess. Thus it was he decided that the construction of great telescopes should become the business of his life.6

But Ball had only known the 3rd Earl in the two years before his death and this reminiscence may be tainted with benign hindsight. Ball does not indicate when this epiphany occurred (he certainly did not have ‘the Ball 1895, 276.

6

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command of wealth’ when he began his work in astronomy), but we can presume it was his marriage to Mary Field in 1836, and the inheritance which arrived with her, which was the key motivator.

Stellar influences There is the question of where the scientific motivation to devote himself to astronomy originated. Clearly, this occurred before 1827, although the full commitment may not have come until later. Four possible interactions can be considered for when the seed of astronomical interest might have been planted. In practice the possibility cannot be discounted that it was a cumulative process, with many contributing influences: 1  his home education and environment (1800–18) 2  interaction with Trinity College and its scholars (1818–21) 3 Oxford University (1821–22) 4  the Royal Society/Astronomical Society (1822–27)

It makes some sense to examine these influences in reverse chronological order. There can be no question that the bulk of Lord Oxmantown’s astronomical education and his professional interactions would have come from his attendance at meetings of the Astronomical Society and the occasional meetings of the Royal Society which were devoted to astronomical topics. There he would have learnt of the current interests of the astronomical community: the mystery of the nebulae, the motion of the planets, the cataloguing of stellar positions, the study of double stars and the search for features on the moon and nearby planets. More importantly, to one with an apparent engineering bent, he would have seen the limitations of the existing telescopes and the clever methods that were being used to improve their sensitivity. Coming from a fairly sheltered educational background, he would, perhaps, have been surprised (and pleased) at the frank way in which the results were presented and debated, and he would have seen that, while there was great pride in individual achievements, there was generally a consensus in arriving at the truth, without too much regard for who was the proponent of the new theory or the provider of the new data. Later, he would come to realise that, while there was openness with regard to the observations, many of his future astronomical colleagues jealously guarded their methods of making their instruments (in particular their telescopes), which they often regarded as proprietary. He would have been particularly interested in the meetings devoted to technical topics. Although the society meetings would have been very important

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in his education and development as an astronomer and in making contacts with the experts in the British astronomical community, there is no evidence that Lord Oxmantown came under the influence of any particular astronomer before 1827, or that there was any one topic in astronomy that immediately attracted him. He would, of course, encounter at these meetings some of the outstanding astronomers of his day, but there is nothing to suggest that any one individual became his mentor or was responsible for his choice of career. Hence his astronomical calling probably came somewhat earlier.

The Oxford experience Many decisions on an intellectual career are made at university and are influenced by student acquaintances and inspirational teachers. Since Lord Oxmantown’s only real exposure to university life came about during his time at Oxford University, it would not be unexpected if his interest was manifested by some epiphany during his year at Oxford. This must have been a heady time for the two Parsons boys, since it was their first time to be away from Birr Castle and parental supervision for any prolonged period. While their somewhat lonely early education would have ensured some shyness, they cannot have failed to be enthralled by the intellectual atmosphere of a university town such as Oxford. They obviously were zealous in their formal mathematical studies, but they would probably not have failed to take advantage of the educational ferment and the opportunity to hear lectures on a wide variety of topics. There was certainly astronomical activity at Oxford at the time, and this is the logical place where one might expect Lord Oxmantown to have developed an obsession with astronomical topics. There were observatories at six of the Oxford colleges, including Magdalen, where William and John were to graduate in Michaelmas 1822. A prominent scientist at Magdalen College at that time was Charles Daubeny (1795–1867), a scientist whose interests spanned chemistry, botany and geology, as well as astronomy. Although only six years older than Lord Oxmantown, he had been elected a fellow of the college in 1815. Daubeny was responsible for the establishment of the observatory at Magdalen, but this was not until 1857. It has been suggested that Daubeny might have been the inspiration for Lord Oxmantown to develop his astronomical interests.7 Certainly Daubeny knew the Earl of Rosse and, in fact, visited Birr Castle, but that was in 1857, when the 3rd Earl had already established Hutchins 1990.

7

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his astronomical reputation. The occasion was the annual meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science in Dublin, when the members made an outing to Birr to see the telescopes.8 At the dinner in the Castle, Dr Daubeny proposed the formal toast to their hosts, Lord and Lady Rosse. But there is no record of an on-going interchange between Lord Rosse and the Oxford don after his graduation. Indeed there is no record that Lord Rosse ever visited Oxford again.

Trinity College Hence there is no real evidence that Lord Oxmantown was strongly influenced by his year at Oxford, or by his association with astronomyminded Oxford college friends there, to seek a career in astronomy. We must therefore look somewhat earlier in his career to discern a possible astronomical influence. Trinity College was where he received his only formal education in Ireland and where he and his younger brother would receive their undergraduate degrees in 1821. This is the obvious place where the seeds of Lord Oxmantown’s astronomical curiosity might have been sown. Trinity College, the constituent college of the University of Dublin, had been established in 1592. The stated aim of the university was the promotion of Protestantism and that it be a foundation ‘whereby Knowledge, Learning and Civility may be increased, to the banishment of barbarism, tumults and disorderly living’.9 In fact, it was not until 1793 that the rules were relaxed enough to allow Roman Catholics and dissenters to attend. Trinity College was certainly at the heart of nineteenth-century Irish intellectual activity, and was not without its astronomical experts. In 1774, the will of the Provost, Andrews, had established a professorship of astronomy and the construction of the Dunsink Observatory, just outside Dublin city limits. Because of some legal problems with the will, the post was not filled until 1783, when it was occupied by Henry Ussher, a member of a distinguished Irish family with strong connections in the Established Church. (One of his ancestors was the famous Bishop James Ussher, who had used the Bible to calculate the precise age of the world as starting from 4004 BC.) By the time of his death in 1790, Ussher had established Dunsink as a working observatory. He was succeeded by the Reverend John Brinkley, an Englishman, who was to serve until 1826, when he became Bishop of Cloyne, County Cork. With his appointment, the professorship henceforth came with Chapman 1998, 99.

8

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Wayman 1987, 1.

9

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the designation of ‘Royal Astronomer of Ireland’, somewhat on a par with the English ‘Astronomer Royal’. Brinkley continued the work of Dunsink in positional astronomy, but his interests were in mathematics rather than instrumentation and observation. It seems unlikely that he would have been an inspiration to the experimentally minded Lord Oxmantown. While many observations were taken at Dunsink during Brinkley’s tenure, there was no serious attempt to reduce or publish them. However, Brinkley had a distinguished academic career and received the Copley Medal of the Royal Society in 1823. He effectively ceased his astronomical research on becoming bishop, but served as President of the Royal Irish Academy from 1822 to 1835 and President of the Royal Astronomical Society from 1831 to 1834. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Brinkley was ­characterised as being ‘a man of gentle and peaceful character’.10 Wayman11 has speculated that Brinkley may have influenced several of his Irish contemporaries in their choice of astronomy as a career (Thomas Grubb, William Parsons – Lord Oxmantown at the time – Edward Cooper and Thomas Romney Robinson), but there is no real evidence to this effect. Hence it is fanciful to suppose that Oxmantown was inspired by dark, clear nights spent with this gentle man at Dunsink during his brief Trinity College career. While he would certainly have known him at Trinity and they would have overlapped in London when they were both members of the RAS, their astronomical interests would have been somewhat different, with the elderly Brinkley primarily interested in the mathematical side of astronomy and Lord Oxmantown largely preoccupied with the challenges of instrumentation and engineering. Much has been made of the ‘Trinity network’ and the influence of ‘Trinity men’ in the nineteenth century,12 but Lord Oxmantown was not prominent in this network. As noted by McKenna-Lawlor,13 Ireland in that century had a greater proportion of astronomical observatories (institutional and private) than did Great Britain. Almost all the practitioners were members of a national elite with interests in landed estates, in the Established Church and in Dublin University (see Chapter 8). It is natural, then, to think that Lord Oxmantown might have developed his astronomical interests before he crossed the water to England. Although the 3rd Earl was in later life to become the Chancellor of Dublin University (1862–67), he did not have a close association with the University until then, at least no more than one would expect from 10 11

Wayman 1987, 50. Wayman 1987.

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12 13

McMillan 1990, 101–10. McKenna-Lawlor 1988, 85–96.

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a Trinity graduate who was a member of the aristocracy and of the Established Church and was one of the eminent scientists of his day. The conclusion, therefore, is that, while his astronomical interest may have been nurtured in Dublin, this was not where his dominant astronomical interest occurred. The Royal Irish Academy (RIA) was also an intellectual centre in Dublin and catered for a wide variety of intellectual interests. While the future Earl, who was elected to membership in 1832, may have attended some of its meetings before he became active in telescope construction, he was not an active member. Unlike his son, who was to be President from 1896 to 1901, he never held office in the RIA, although his early results were presented at its meetings by his collaborator, the Rev. Romney Robinson.

Parents’ influence More likely the seeds for astronomical investigation were planted even earlier. As noted previously, Lord Oxmantown’s early education at home in Birr Castle would have meant that his curriculum was largely dictated by his parents and by his tutors. We know little of the background of his tutors. The choice of tutor would have been dictated by his parents, and we may assume that the tutors reflected their interests. One, at least, was French and had formerly been a tutor to a Baron Stroganoff. William and John at an early age were fluent in French, and they conversed in that medium with each other quite comfortably. The Birr Castle Archives contain a letter from William addressed to his father: ‘Mon très précieux Papa’.14 The 2nd Earl was an erudite man who is remembered mostly for his political writings and architectural activities, but was also a founder member of the RIA and helped to draft its rules in 1785. He had a deep interest in science and theological matters, as would be expected of an educated gentleman of his day. When in 1800 he quit politics, his intellectual interests broadened, and culminated in the publication of his most serious work, An Argument to Prove the Truth of the Christian Revelation, in 1834.15 Although written when he was quite elderly and still grief stricken by the premature death of his beloved second son, John, this was a scholarly work in which the 2nd Earl strove to prove that much of what is contained in the Bible was in accordance with then-recent scientific discoveries. His basic thesis was that the account in Genesis of the creation of the universe agreed with the most recent 14

7th Earl, personal communication.

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15

Parsons 1967.

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nineteenth-century scientific information and that, since Moses (the assumed author of the early books of the Bible) could not have known these facts when the biblical account was put down, there must have been divine revelation. Although much of his argument is from a geological viewpoint, he demonstrates a wide knowledge of the other sciences. He quotes from Sir John Herschel’s recently published Astronomy, and demonstrates he is au fait with contemporary thought. He is sensitive to the criticism that the currently available geological ‘facts’ may not be the last word in scientific information. However, he argues that an interim conclusion is still possible, and points to astronomy for support. Is it not true, for instance, in the science of astronomy, that much remains still to be discovered? Has not the knowledge of new planets been added to our system latterly, and in our own time? Planets that Newton never had a glimpse of, nor thought of? Have not the movements of some of the fixed stars, and the addition of many others to their number, been also recent acquisitions to our knowledge? May we not also expect that, by the improvement of optical instruments, their parallax and other particulars respecting them, will soon be accurately ascertained? And also that many discoveries will be made respecting those luminous appearances in the heavens, called nebulae?16 [In view of his son’s later work, this last sentence is particularly significant.] In an attempt to derive the age of the universe and show that it is consistent with the Bible, he noted that the sun’s motion in the ecliptic is not uniform and that it appears that the summer division of the year is some seven days longer than the winter division. He pointed out that this rate is increasing and, if extrapolated back to when the two divisions were equal, the time interval agrees with his biblical estimate of the time elapsed since the creation. Although in many instances one can argue with his logic and scientific ‘facts’, there is no doubt that he was making a sincere effort to reconcile two disparate cultures. He demonstrated a broad knowledge of the science of his day and attempted to apply the scientific method wherever possible. Since the curriculum, if not the actual teaching, was dictated by a father (and mother) with these interests, it is hard to believe that a broad scientific tradition would not have permeated the two boys’ education. It would be reasonable therefore to assume that, just as the seeds of engineering improvisation were sown with the free run of estate 16

Parsons 1834, 117–18.

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workshops, the interest in astronomy and current scientific research would have germinated with his parents’ interest and encouragement and at least some of the tutors’ expertise. No doubt this interest would have grown in Lord Oxmantown’s years of off-site study at Trinity College and perhaps also in his year at Oxford. It would certainly have matured and been brought into focus years later by attendance at meetings of the Royal Society and the RAS in London.

Astronomical colleagues There can be no question that Lord Oxmantown benefited greatly from his association with the Reverend Romney Robinson, Director of the Armagh Observatory. Like himself, Robinson was a practical astronomer with a strong experimental bias.17 He was to play a large role in commissioning the major Birr Castle telescopes, but this association was after Lord Oxmantown had made his career choice. Robinson apparently helped to train the first scientific assistants (observers) in Birr to use the telescopes when they were completed, and probably played a major role in initiating their owner and builder in the vicissitudes of astronomical observation. In return, Lord Oxmantown would educate Robinson in the making of specula and grinding them with a machine-driven turntable. A lesser but important role was played in the young Lord’s astronomical education by Sir James South, a former surgeon who was a colourful member of the British Grand Amateurs.18 Both of these colleagues were to play an important part in persuading the British astronomical establishment of the merits of the Birr telescopes.19 It might have been natural for Lord Oxmantown to have forged close links with the Director of the Dunsink Observatory in Dublin. In 1827, this post was occupied by William Rowan Hamilton, probably Ireland’s most distinguished mathematician. However, he was not a practical observer and he and Lord Oxmantown did not have a close relationship. That religious and scientific concerns should be so commingled may appear strange, but is understandable, at least in the Irish astronomical context, where there was always a close relationship between the small astronomical community and the Established Church. Indeed Armagh Observatory had been founded by the Archbishop of Armagh, and Directors of both Dunsink and Armagh were often Church of Ireland clergymen.20 17 18

Bennett 1990, 59–152. Chapman 1998, 44–6.

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19 20

Weekes 2010, 146–62. Chapman 1998, 24–8.

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Lord Oxmantown began his work on astronomical telescopes in 1827; he was not to marry until 1836 and did not assume the title of 3rd Earl of Rosse until the death of his father in 1841. His early work, culminating in his construction of the two 36-inch [91.5 cm] specula could not have been completed without the tacit and material support of his father. The construction of a major telescope was an expensive undertaking and the Parsons family finances were not strong at this point, Lord Oxmantown’s father not having received the inheritance that he expected. It was only after his marriage in 1836 that Lord Oxmantown would have had sufficient funds (from his wife’s dowry) to pursue the construction of a ‘mighty instrument’. Initially, with the approval of his aging father, he must have had the support necessary to complete the construction of significant, if not ‘mighty’, instruments, and certainly to optimise his manufacturing techniques. That he had this kind of encouragement (and financial support) from his family suggests that there was more than a little interest in his proposed course of scientific investigation and that he did not lack for paternal guidance and support. His father would have seen strong religious justification for his proposed career. Acknowledgement

I am grateful to the 7th Earl of Rosse, Brendan Parsons, for suggesting the early education of the 3rd Earl in Birr Castle as his dominant educational influence and for providing access the Birr Castle Archives.

References

Ball 1895: Great Astronomers, by Sir Robert S. Ball, Isbister & Co., London. Bennett 1990: Church, State and Astronomy in Ireland: 200 Years of Armagh Observatory, by Jim Bennett, Armagh Observatory in association with the Institute of Irish Studies, The Queen’s University of Belfast. Chapman 1998: The Victorian Amateur Astronomer. Independent Astronomical Research in Britain 1820–1920, by Allan Chapman, John Wiley, Chichester. Hutchins 1990: Letters to the 7th Earl of Rosse, from Roger Hutchins, Birr Castle Archives, E/16A. McKenna-Lawlor 1988: ‘Astronomy in Ireland from the late eighteenth century to the end of the nineteenth century’, by Susan McKenna-Lawlor, in Science in Ireland 1800–1930: Tradition and Reform, edited by J. R. Nudds, N. D. McMillan, D. L. Weaire and S. M. P. McKenna-Lawlor, Trinity College, Dublin, pp. 85–96. McMillan 1990: ‘Organisation and achievements of Irish astronomy in the nineteenth-century – evidence for a “network”’, by Norman McMillan, Irish Astronomical Journal, 19, pp. 101–18.

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O’Tuathaigh 1972: Ireland before the Famine, 1798–1848, by Gearoid O’Tuathaigh, Gill and Macmillan, Dublin. Parsons L. 1834: An Argument to Prove the Truth of the Christian Revelation, by Laurence Parsons, 2nd Earl of Rosse, John Murray, London. Parsons L. 1967: ‘Williams Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse’, by Lawrence Parsons, 6th Earl of Rosse, Centenary Lecture, Trinity College Dublin [unpublished]. Parsons W. 1867: ‘Materials for a manual on the construction of reflecting telescopes, collected by the Earl of Rosse during part of the years 1866 and 1867; to be put away in a safe place, Nov. 8, 1867’, by the 3rd Earl of Rosse, Birr Castle Archives L/4/4. Scaife 2000: From Galaxies to Turbines – Science, Technology and the Parsons Family, by Garrett Scaife, Institute of Physics Publishing, Bristol. Wayman 1987: Dunsink Observatory 1785–1985; A Bicentennial History, by Patrick Wayman, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies and Royal Dublin Society. Weekes 2010: ‘The nineteenth-century spiral nebula whodunit’, by Trevor Weekes, Physics in Perspective, 12, pp. 146–62.

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three

Mary, Countess of Rosse (1813–85) Mary, Countess of Rosse (1813–85)

Part 1: Mary Rosse’s English family background by Daniel McDowell

M

ary, the wife of William, the 3rd Earl of Rosse and mother of their four sons, three of whom can be accorded significant roles in the history of technology, is herself a fascinating figure who, at a time and in a society when ladies, particularly aristocratic ladies, were not expected or encouraged to be involved in ‘work’, played a very active part in the life and achievements of her extraordinary family (Figure 3.1). The virtuous wife in mid-Victorian Britain was expected to be a domestic and moral paragon, dedicated to her family and, in the case of upper-class ladies, to the social and moral lives of others. Mary also filled these obligations fully. Mary’s achievements in photography, so well described below by David Davison, can be largely attributed to her own efforts, and much of the evidence is still extant, as is the case for her efforts in designing and supervising the production of decorative cast-iron work, furniture and substantial extensions and alterations to Birr Castle itself. However, and despite the large catalogued archive held at Birr,1 the record of Mary’s life and work, including her childhood, is uneven and, in the case of the final 15 years of her life, spent in London, virtually non-existent. Some of this, at least in part, is due to the social and legal priority accorded to husbands in mid-Victorian Britain, which can mask and distort the achievements of women, even women as capable and active as Mary was. It is probably worth noting in this context that not until the Married Women’s Property Act of 1882 did married women have the right to retain an inheritance and, indeed, they were not recognised as a separate legal entity. However, Malcomson 2008.

1

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3.1 Mary, Countess of Rosse

in Mary’s case, marriage to an aristocrat, who himself had an open and enquiring mind and a generous nature, provided her with opportunities for self-realisation that were available to few women of her time and class, and what is undoubtedly true is that Mary’s inheritance was the critical factor which allowed for the lengthy and expensive projects in astronomy and engineering conducted by her husband and, later, by her eldest son, Laurence.

Childhood, family and place Mary Field, the future Countess of Rosse, was born in 1813 into a family of considerable wealth and lineage. Her father, John Wilmer Field, inherited substantial land in Heaton and in Shipley, on the then outskirts of Bradford in the West Riding of Yorkshire, together with other large holdings, acquired by marriage and purchase, in the North and East Ridings of Yorkshire.

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The Fields were resident in Heaton from the early years of the seventeenth century. John’s father, Joshua, known throughout the area as ‘Squire Field’, was a man of determination and ambition, described by contemporaries as ‘alive to his own interests’, who ‘inherited not only his father’s considerable estates but also his long-running feuds’.2 Joshua and John both married well: Joshua to the daughter and sole heiress of Randal Wilmer of Helmsley in the North Riding of Yorkshire, who ‘brought her husband not less than £180,000’,3 while John married Anne, daughter of Robert Wharton Myddelton of Grinke Park, also in the North Riding. In addition to land acquired by inheritance, marriage and purchase, the Fields benefited substantially from the Act of 1780 ‘for enclosing the waste ground of Heaton’, acquiring, as the largest landowner and as Lords of the Manor, some 300 additional acres. Later, due to the Shipley enclosure of 1815, they acquired an additional 130 acres. In addition to his extensive landholdings, Joshua also inherited from his father, John Field, an interest in the Bradford to Keighley turnpike. The turnpike system provided a complex of interlocking routes without which regional centres like Bradford would have found trade impossible to sustain; nonetheless they proved inadequate to a growing economy and to the transportation of goods and raw materials. The turnpike roads around Bradford had done little to reduce carrying costs of goods in bulk. They were a response to the increased economic activity in textiles and farming but the problem of moving and realising Bradford’s mineral resources remained unsolved. The exploitation of local coal, iron and limestone was the flashpoint in Bradford’s economic development in the late eighteenth-century. By 1770, after the turnpike boom, Bradford’s mineral wealth had yet to be realised and would only be so, by means of an alternative, superior transport form. It came in the shape of the canal system.4 The Bradford canal, opened in 1774, had Joshua as one of its earliest promoters and ‘in time, through the Industrial Revolution, would cause the transformation of the pretty, rural, eighteenth-century town of Bradford into the thriving, but smoky, grimy and over-crowded worsted­ opolis of the nineteenth-century’.5 John continued and built on his father’s entrepreneurial role: he was a supporter of, and investor in, early King 2001, 32. Simpson 1981, 39.

Firth 1990, 78. Allison 1999, 3.

2

4

3

5

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railway projects, developed the mineral resources of the Heaton and Shipley estates and was active in the family’s banking firm of Wickham, Field and Cleaver (renamed Field and Cleaver in 1800). The Field estates in Heaton and Shipley benefited in many ways from their location on the periphery of Bradford, whose population grew from 13,000 in 1800 to 145,000 in 1870. In addition to the ever-increasing demand for food, there was throughout the nineteenth century, and beyond, an increasing need for building land both for houses and for industrial development. The inventions and technical improvements in the late eighteenth century, such as James Watt’s improvement of the steam engine and Arkwright and Hargreaves’ spinning machines, soon found to be applicable to worsted as well as to cotton, provided a massive boost to the size and profitability of the worsted trade. By the middle of the nineteenth century, two-thirds of the country’s woollen production was based in Bradford, principally producing ‘worsted stuffs’. There was also a significant silk-manufacturing trade. The Fields’ estates, particularly the Heaton land, were a valuable source of stone for building materials needed for the erection of the new factories and warehouses such as Manningham Mills, immediately adjacent to Heaton, which eventually became the largest silk manufactory in Europe, and for Titus Salt’s worsted factory and village at nearby Saltaire, now a World Heritage Site. A valuation of Heaton in 1839 showed the estate – known by then as Lord Oxmantown’s estate – as having no fewer than five stone quarries; by 1875 these had increased to seventeen. The happy coincidence of successful marriage and the acquisition of land at a time of increasing values, due to industrialisation and the boom in trade following the end of the Napoleonic Wars, meant that John Wilmer Field, at the time of his succession in 1819, was a man of wealth and considerable status: he was a graduate of the University of Oxford, had held a commission in the Royal Horse Guards, held the lordships of Heaton, Shipley and Helmsley, was a magistrate and was regarded locally as ‘a man of parts’. In 1812, John married Anne, who gave birth to two daughters – Mary, in 1813, and Delia, the following year. Unfortunately, Anne died shortly after Delia’s birth. John remarried but there were no further children. John and his father were men of conservative and settled views, both politically and socially. In 1793, Joshua became a member of a Bradford-based committee, in response to what its members saw as a threat to the established order. They were particularly exercised by the influence of Thomas Paine’s The Rights of Man on the artisan classes; the committee condemned those ‘wicked and designing men who

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are endeavouring to overturn and subvert the constitution’.6 The same committee was later successful in pressing for and organising a Volunteer Corps; ‘the events of the early 1790s were a triumph for the hierarchical politics of the old society and Pittite Toryism’.7 Later, in 1825, we can see John occupying much the same high Tory High Anglican stance as his father. He was involved in both the selection and election, in the county Parliamentary elections, of John Fountayne Wilson (1783–1847), whose principal election slogan was to ‘protect and preserve, unimpaired, the Protestant Church and Government’, and claimed that Catholics were ‘unfit for performing the various duties connected with the legislature of a Protestant country’. While it is true that Mary reflected her father’s views on Church and society, she and William were socially very liberal and deeply involved in the life and well-being of the local community, most obviously in response to the Great Famine, when Mary organised and supervised extensive public works in order to provide employment (see Chapter 4). Her father would have approved. The Fields lived in considerable style. Heaton Hall, built by the Fields in the late seventeenth century, was a substantial family mansion [and] … had been extended and altered between 1765 and 1774 to suit the owner’s growing status. The South and East frontages were re-modelled on classical lines with dressed stone columns and pediments, and a servants’ wing was added at a later date … From the main entrance on the East front a carriage drive descended the well-wooded park to a gatekeeper’s lodge at the Southeastern edge of the estate. The vast kitchen, long line of stabling, brewhouse and out-offices, ministered to the wants of the family and, in addition to a numerous stud of horses, Mr. Field kept a pack of hounds.8 In 1827, John purchased a house in London in Hanover Square, where the family spent most of the year, returning occasionally to Heaton; ‘The family’s periodic returns to Heaton Hall were the occasion for celebration … immediately on his arrival Mr. Field gave orders for the preparation of a fête, which was sustained through the whole of the week, on a scale of unusual extent and splendour.’9 John, like his father, ‘Squire Field’, was assiduous in attending to his various business interests and, before his removal to London, to the many Leeds Intelligencer, 17 December 1792, quoted in Firth 1990, 194. 7 Firth 1990, 195. 6

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King 2001, 68. Bradford Observer, 30 October 1834.

8 9

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obligations, social and commercial, which his position entailed. However, as his purchase of a London house in Hanover Square suggests, he was less committed to the locality than was his father, and the record shows that he was making an increasing number of visits to London connected with business and, in one instance in 1825, his lengthy involvement in a Chancery case. In moving his family to London, a city with a richer social life, John was following a familiar pattern of behaviour by people of his wealth and class. In the eighteenth century a move like this would, more likely than not, have been to the provincial cultural capital of York. The move to London, leaving the estates in the care of a steward, was hugely successful from the point of view of an ambitious father, as both of his daughters eventually married into aristocratic families. John’s concern with the status of his family is reflected in his interest in his, and his daughters’, lineage. The compiler of the ‘Calendar of the Rosse papers’ recorded one entry: ‘letters and papers of John Wilmer Field about his snobbish request for a new coat of arms incorporating the maximum number of quarterings and rectifying the fact that the arms used by his father were bogus’.10 It is reported that a coat of arms of sixteen quarters hung at Heaton Hall for almost a century.11 Mary and Delia Field had two dominant influences during their childhood: their father and their governess, Susan Lawson. John had no male heir, and thus had to prepare his daughters to inherit the family’s carefully acquired wealth. He was clearly a very caring father and, equally clearly, he expected much of his daughters. A poignant example of the nature of Mary’s relationship with her father is a letter, in Mary’s hand, written to her father from Bath and dated 26 December 1820 (Figure 3.2). Mary, then 7 years old, writes: My Dear Papa, I am very sorry I gave you so much cause to be angry at my bad writing and hope you will think this better done. Mr. Mackenzie desires me to thank you for a very fine basket of game which arrived perfectly fresh and good. I have not had the tooth ache since I received your letter. Mrs. M. filled it with cotton which excludes the air. Mrs. and Miss Emerson of Weston Grove called upon us and desired their compliments to all at Heaton. Delia writes with me in Duty to you and Grandmama and love to my aunt. My dear Papa, your dutiful and affectionate daughter, Mary Field12 10 11

Malcomson 2008, 45. King 2001, 76.

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12

Malcomson 2008, 45.

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3.2  The first page of Mary Field’s letter of 26 December 1820

The sisters appear to be under the care of a Mr. Mackenzie and his wife, (possibly) Alice Mackenzie, who has written in the margins of Mary’s letter details about the skills (and their cost to John) which the girls are acquiring: ‘both take lessons in dancing, of Miss Connor. [Mary] has a bad carriage but we begin to think she improves. Delia calls dancing-day a day of joy!’ This letter is written from No. 6, The Vineyard, Bath; there is no record of a school at that address, nor of the Mackenzies. We do not know why John sent his daughters to Bath over Christmas, and at this young age. There are also extant several volumes of meticulously written notebooks kept by Mary between 1825 and 1831,13 most consisting of mathematical problems and calculations of some complexity, which appear to be a record of ‘lessons’ at Heaton, all almost certainly given by Susan Lawson. One of these consists of a series of personal reflections or homilies as, for example, ‘a resigned disposition is one of the greatest blessings that can be bestowed on us and is also essential to our general happiness’, and ‘Procrastination is the greatest enemy of advancement’, and ‘The search after truth is the most laudable of all pursuits, and should be a never-failing source of our enquiry’. Another and very different source bearing on the childhoods of Mary 13

Malcomson 2008, 45.

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and Delia is the journal for 1825 of a local doctor, John Simpson,14 who was a very regular visitor to Heaton Hall, on one occasion staying for no fewer than five weeks. Simpson was clearly an intimate of John Field and tells of his close attention to his business affairs and, interestingly, of John’s regular visits to London – at least four in 1825, and there may well have been more, and this at a time before railways. Simpson often visited Heaton when John was away, and records his impressions of Mary and Delia and the family; for example: 9 January 1825: … the late Mrs. Wilmer Field was a most amiable and beautiful woman. She died very young, leaving two daughters Mary and Delia; they are very fine girls and promise to be good and beautiful. 15 May 1825: The Miss Fields were at church. I went and dined with them. In the afternoon Mr. Thompson15 came up to see them … we all took a walk, or rather a romp in the gardens for the ladies were in high spirits. They showed me several birds’ nests and we had a game of hide and seek. Given that, at the time of Simpson’s journal, Mary was but 12 years old and Delia 11, they both appear, in his account of his conversations with them, often in relation to the long absences of their father, to be remarkably free and confident. There is one account which suggests a degree of anxiety on their part because of their father’s absence during the period between 17 April and 19 June 1825, when he was in London involved in a Chancery suit relating to his father’s will. There are two possible – and, in the first case, likely – influences in Mary’s childhood which may well have induced an early interest in, or at least awareness of, astronomy. On the outskirts of Leeds the grandfather of John Smeaton (1724–92), the great engineer and maker of scientific instruments, had built a substantial house, Austhorpe Lodge, in 1698. John Smeaton lived and worked from there for much of his working life and he built a four-storey tower adjacent to the house as a work-place, the roof of which was used as an observatory. Smeaton was fascinated by astronomy and published, for example, a paper titled ‘Observations of a Solar Eclipse the 4th of June, 1769, at the Observatory at Austhorpe, near Leeds, in the County of York’, in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society.16 Joshua Field, the younger brother of John Wilmer Field, who on his death in 1865 left Mary and Delia £20,000 each, 14 15

Simpson 1981. John Thompson, Field’s solicitor.

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16

Smeaton 1769, 286–8.

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lived at Austhorpe Lodge in the early nineteenth century. There is correspondence17 written by Joshua Field at Austhorpe to John, commiserating on his father’s death; and, most interestingly, correspondence of 1822 from an E. Field which contains a list of Mary’s and Delia’s studies. Presumably E. Field was Joshua’s daughter and was teaching the girls. It is certain, given the Smeaton and Observatory connection, that this history and its significance would not be lost on Mary. The other possible influence on Mary’s outlook was an awareness of the life and work of Sir John Field (1525–87), known as a proto-Copernican astronomer, who, amongst other things, published a ground-breaking ephemeris in 1557 based on the Copernican Heliocentric System. He was knighted in 1558 and lived at Ardsley, near Leeds, some 12 to 15 miles from Heaton. It is very likely that Mary, her father and grandfather, would have been familiar with the life of such an eminent and local figure who shared their surname. The background to Mary’s development as a person was thus her father, his expectations and hopes for her, and the circumstances of time and place. Despite the absence of a mother, Mary and Delia appear to have had a happy and purposeful childhood under the care of John and of Susan Lawson, their governess and life-long friend, ‘who is reported to have encouraged Mary’s enquiring mind and wide-ranging interests’,18 and, given the evidence of Mary’s life, however inadequately recorded, we begin to see in Mary a powerful personality with well-informed, if traditional, values which, when eventually combined with a large fortune, set the scene for a remarkable life and a happy and productive marriage. Throughout her life, Mary displayed an indomitable will coupled with strength of purpose. It might be said that she regarded strict discipline as the best basis for an orderly life in which happiness and fulfilment could be achieved.19

Mary’s inheritance On Mary’s marriage in April 1836 to William Parsons, Lord Oxmantown, eldest son of the Earl of Rosse, her marriage settlement provided her with £7,500, later increased to £20,000 with the proviso ‘that a competent portion of the said sum of £20,000 should be applied in obtaining an Assignment of the sum of £17,000, Irish currency, charged by way of a mortgage upon the estate of the said Laurence, Earl of Rosse’.20 (The 17 18

Malcomson 2008, 45. Carolyn Bloore, ODNB.

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19 20

Davidson 1989, 2. Malcomson 2008, 50.

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Irish pound was valued at £13 to £12 British. This arrangement ceased in 1826, when the Irish currency was replaced by the British, and therefore Lord Rosse’s mortgage must have been arranged before 1826.) John Wilmer Field died in London in January 1837, only eight months after Mary’s wedding. His accounts show that his personal estate provided for £8,700 to each daughter and, in addition, Mary acquired, as her part of the real estate, Heaton and Shipley, which were valued at £88,000 and provided a rent-roll of £3,671 on the 1,262 acres of land. To put these figures into a (approximate) modern context, and using the standard of living index (retail prices index), they represent a value of well over £6,000,000 on the land and in excess of £260,000 on the rental figure. If other criteria are used, as, for example, relative ‘income value’, the approximate amount is over £100,000,000 for land and £4,250,000 for rentals. The huge influx of capital and income from Mary’s inheritance transformed the life of the 3rd Earl and his family and the possibilities available to them, which resulted in a sustained period of creativity and experiment with long-term consequences, not least, of course, in astronomy. [W]ithin less than a decade from the date of his marriage, Parsons would be the possessor of a telescope that was far and away the largest in existence … It was largely her fortune that provided the funds needed for the construction of the giant telescope, which were estimated to have been £30,000.21 Given the continuous and heavy expenditure incurred by William and Mary throughout their marriage, whether on rebuilding and reshaping Birr Castle or on projects relating to the development and construction of telescopes, or on a series of three yachts, each larger than the last (see p. 67), or on the maintenance of substantial households in Birr and in London, it is surprising and interesting that the Rosse estate in Heaton remained largely intact until 1870. This was due, in part, to rising land values and, hence, rents for most of the period. After the move of the Field family to London, the Heaton estate was under the supervision of a steward, and this continued under the 3rd Earl’s ownership, until his death in 1867, when a firm of agents supervised the estate and: Acting on the advice of her agents, Messrs. Smith and Gotthart, the late Countess of Rosse, who then enjoyed the Heaton estate, was 21

Scaife 2000, 32.

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William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse induced to dispose of land for building purposes, and, at the same time, her agents prepared a most comprehensive plan for laying out and developing the estate.22

Sales of land on a small scale occurred regularly from 1870 onwards but, by the time of Mary’s death in 1885 at No. 10, Connaught Square, London, the estate had not been significantly eroded. Mary’s accounts23 show rentals from the Heaton estate to be £6,255 in the year of her death, 1884–85, and her personal estate to be upwards of £107,000. Mary’s will bequeathed ‘her diamonds and diamond ornaments to her eldest son, the Earl of Rosse; the rest of her jewellery and all her furniture, plate, horses and carriages and moveable effects to her three younger sons … £100 to each of her servants who had been three years in her service … and half a year’s wages to each of her other servants’. In the 15 years from 1895 to 1910 the estate sold some 68 acres of land for a total of £56,466, and the unsold land was estimated by her agents to be worth £236,700 (the Earl’s bank advised ‘not to sell for less than £200,000’!). Heavy death duties were incurred on the death of Laurence, the 4th Earl, in 1908. Together with accumulated debts, these resulted in the entire estate being offered for sale by auction in the Bradford Mechanics Institute in 1900. The sale realised £33,180, with 600 acres of land remaining unsold. A number of relatively minor and privately negotiated sales were conducted over the following years, with a final disposal in 1927, which realised £144,908. Heaton Hall itself was demolished in 1939 to make way for road widening and for the site of a new school. The only remaining evidence of the long association of the Field and Rosse families with Heaton and Shipley survives in a number of street names such as Rossefield Park, Wilmer Road, Birr Road, Parsons Road, and a public house called ‘The Rosse’, a reminder, at least, of the powerful and productive link between two very different families and the memorable and inventive Mary, Countess of Rosse, her husband and family.

22

Cudworth 1896, 178.

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23

Malcomson 2008, 50.

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Part 2: Family life at Birr

by Alison, Countess of Rosse

M

ary Field was only twenty-three when she married William, Lord Oxmantown in the church of Hanover Square, London in April 1836. It was said to be a ‘fashionable wedding’ and they were married by the Archbishop of Armagh, Lord John George de la Poer Beresford, Primate of Ireland. It was a time of weddings in their families: a month later, in May, William’s younger brother married Lord Norbury’s daughter Elizabeth, a family near to Birr; and then, in July, Delia, Mary’s younger sister, married the Hon. Arthur Duncombe, a son of Lord Feversham of Duncome Park, not too far from Mary’s home in Bradford. All these young marrieds were to stay close to each other through the years, visiting each other between Yorkshire and Ireland. William was 13 years older than Mary and they had not known each other for long. Presumably they had met in London, where both their families had houses. William was a good-looking and serious young man, if rather plump. His brother-in-law to be, Edward Conroy, had called him, mockingly, ‘the fat Lord’, when a year later, in a rather different family wedding, and a scandalous one, Edward eloped with William’s youngest sister, Alicia, to Gretna Green. Mary was an intellectual young woman, perhaps no great beauty, as she appears thin and soberly dressed in a watercolour painted around the time of her wedding (Figure 3.3); but her serious nature suited William admirably and she concealed huge energy behind her girlish looks. Also, she was extremely rich. William had ambitious plans, which no doubt he had shared with Mary. He was already greatly interested in astronomy and his plan was to build the biggest telescope in the world. Mary’s money would allow him to do this. Once they were married, Mary’s fortune became William’s to spend as he wanted and, though many an heiress had seen her fortune gambled away or dissipated by a spendthrift husband, this was not to happen with Mary and William. Mary was as interested as her husband in the project and, in spite of her youth, she had equally ambitious plans, and the money and energy to carry them out. The year before the marriage, Birr Castle had been devastated by a dreadful fire, which had consumed the centre of the old castle. It had started in the huge attic roof over the central block and progressed

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3.3 Watercolour portrait of Mary painted around the time of her wedding, c. 1839

downwards. The story is that apples were laid out there in the autumn to keep over the winter. An old housekeeper who had been up there either left or knocked over a candle, which fell and set fire to the roof, burning much of the central block. As the fire spread downwards, there had been time to remove and take out the seventeenth-century yew-wood staircase, of which William’s ancestors had been so proud, as well as tapestries and pictures. William’s parents must still have been reeling from the shock of this fire, as Sir Laurence had put so much into his own renovation work. Fortunately, the beautiful saloon room overlooking the river (see Figure  1.4), which Laurence had built on for his wife, Alice, was untouched, as were the flanking tower wings. Mary’s first sight of the Castle may well have been that of a fire-blackened central shell. If so, she immediately planned to rebuild, bigger and better. William had already given up his political career two years before his marriage, and there was little to keep him in London, so the young couple took over the Castle and Mary and William came to Birr.

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What can this Yorkshire girl have thought when she first came to Ireland? The ferry from Holyhead, met by her parents-in-law’s coach, brought them through small villages with bare-footed children, perhaps taking two days to get to Birr. The country was over-populated and poverty stricken, but the town of Birr was prosperous, and larger than it is now. There was no difficulty in gathering together and employing a suitable workforce for the projects which Mary and William were about to embark on, and her fortune was to be well spent. Mary’s influence on the Castle and its surroundings was dramatic, and her creative energy was such that, for the rest of her married life, until William’s death in 1867, the Castle and its environs were a continual building site. She had plans for entertaining the scientific gentlemen who would come to see her husband’s work with the telescope, so she needed a large dining room to entertain them, more bedrooms to house these guests and her staff, a new stable block, and then a proper Castle should have proper fortifications, a moat, a Gothic Keep Gate and, of course, she would have a big family to love and educate. Starting with rebuilding the central block, Mary swept away the remains of the seventeenth-century house, except for the magnificent yew staircase. She designed high ceilings in the hall and built out a massive dining room; and then continued the house – and the staircase – upwards to a third storey. The bedrooms on both floors were now accessed by a wide passage with fine plasterwork. Five years after their wedding, in 1841, Mary’s father-in-law died. Mary and William were by now in total charge of the Castle, and work on the house and telescope continued. Mary’s eldest child, Alice, was born in 1839, some three years after their marriage. The next was a boy, Laurence, born 1840, their heir, later to be the 4th Earl and, by 1848, they had three more boys: William, born 1844, John, born 1846 and Randal, born 1848. Sadly Alice, their only daughter and eldest child, died of rheumatic fever at the age of 8. A notice in the local paper condoled with the parents: ‘We are sure all classes here will sympathise with the noble Earl and his amiable Countess, in this most painful bereavement. Lady Alice was a child who endeared herself to all by her kind and affectionate manner and gentle disposition.’24 The deaths of children were a constant spectre in the lives of the Victorian households, as so many children did not survive childhood illnesses. Mary and William’s children played and slept at the top of the house on the new third floor, and here the sunny nurseries looked out 24

King’s County Chronicle, 4 August 1847.

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high up over the town. As time went on, more babies arrived to fill them. After Randal came two more boys, Clere (called after the family of his grandmother), born 1851, and eventually Charles, the youngest, who was born in 1854. But then these years were marred by sadness. In 1855 Mary’s second son, William, died aged just 11, and little more than a year later John, the third son, now too aged 11, also died. Between all these births were others, in 1842, 1843, 1845 and 1850, which, perhaps unusually, were all recorded, although the babies did not live more than a few days. Three of them were girls. These deaths too must have been heart-breaking for Mary. Altogether, of her eleven children only the four boys, Laurence, Randal, and the two youngest, Clere and Charles, lived to grow up. There are several photographs that Mary took of the handsome little boys, dressed alike in heavy tweed, the younger ones wearing skirts or kilts in the Irish fashion (Figure 3.4). Certainly in one or two of the photographs John (or is it William?) does not look well, the little face thin with sunken eyes. I suspect it was tuberculosis or ‘consumption’, which was rampant in Ireland at the time, though little understood and almost unmentionable. Many children of these large families in every stratum of society were carried away by it, even up to the 1950s. In 1845, nine years after Mary and William’s marriage, Ireland was struck by the Great Famine. There is an account in the diaries of Lady Chatterton, who visited at that time, recording that William was among the first to realise the impending catastrophe: During our visit to Lord Rosse’s on our way back to England, we saw him and several other savants investigating with a powerful microscope the fatally diseased potatoes. At that time hope was not yet extinguished … But I shall never forget how my heart sank to see the faces of Lord Rosse and other learned men, their look of horror and dread as they peered through the glass at different parts of the potatoes.25 William was appalled by the significance of the potato blight and had written already to the British government pointing out what would happen if nothing was done. Although Birr was not as badly hit as areas further west, Mary and William employed large numbers of people so that they could avoid the humiliation of the soup kitchens. William was also involved in the setting up of the new Workhouse in the town, which was already on-going before the famine struck (see Chapter 4). Work on the telescope had to come to a halt, but Mary’s building projects took on new and greater life.

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3.4 William, John, Laurence (Lord Oxmantown) and Randal with their pet rabbit, c. 1854

Mary had an uncle on her mother’s side, Major Wharton Myddelton (Figure 3.5), who had fought in the Peninsular War (and whose wife was famous for her memory of having ridden around the field of Waterloo with her father after the battle). The Wharton Myddeltons were regular visitors to Birr, and the Major worked with Mary to draw up plans for her ‘improvements’. Plans and drawings of this and other schemes are preserved in the Birr Castle Archives; there are beautifully drawn plans and maps for her grandiose schemes, parts of which, thankfully, from a modern point of view, were not carried out. Of these, the most dramatic were the fortifications around the castle, built on the plan of a star-shaped fort and probably influenced by the military career of Mary’s uncle. An army of workmen on famine relief dug the massive moat all around the Castle, and the work continued for some years. There was an original moat, and this was extended, lined with cut stone and massively deepened. The plan was to fill it with water pumped up from the river, but this seems to have been a step too far. 25

Heneage 1901, 112.

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3.5 Mary’s uncle, Richard Wharton Myddelton

On the east side of the Castle, towers and turrets were planned stretching towards the town walls. These too turned out to be more than could be achieved; however, later, a new tower and workshop room, now the Morning Room, were attached and built in this area. The walls around the town were extended and enlarged, with turrets and round towers, everything that a fairy-tale castle should have. On all of these plans uncle and niece worked together, drawing and designing. Mary made models for the new Keep Gate and the new grand Entrance Gate (Figures 3.6a and b). For these, she used her visiting cards, skilfully cutting out, shaping and sticking them together to form the tiny models, painting in their walls and crenelations, windows and doors. (The models, now in Ireland’s Historic Science Centre at Birr, have been exhibited in London by the Royal Institute of British Architects, during an exhibition on women architects.) Mary’s children looked on in delight. They also watched as she modelled in wax the decorations for new great

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3.6a Mary Rosse’s architectural model of the Castle entrance gate, constructed from her visiting cards

3.6b  The entrance gate facing Oxmantown Mall, as constructed

iron gate (Figure 3.7) – flowers and Irish harps that were to be cast in the workshops now built into the moat behind the castle. The workshops had been set up to cast the massive specula for the telescopes. The boys grew up in this hive of activity and construction, surrounded by talk of astronomy and engineering. Much of the descriptions of the boys’ childhood is taken from Reminiscences, a short memoir written by the Hon. Randal Parsons in his old age.26 The boys were educated at home as their father had been. Mary must have approved of this, as she also had had her education at home 26

Parsons, R. undated.

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3.7  The Keep Gate, designed by Mary Rosse

(see Part 1 of this chapter, pp. 49–50). Their lessons started at 7:00 am and breakfast for the children was at 8:00 am, then more lessons from 9:00 am to noon, when they had free time to run around till lunch time, which was not till 2:00 pm. Randal, who wrote his Reminiscences for his nephews and nieces, remembered being quite hungry during the long gap between breakfast and lunch. Breakfast for the grown-ups was at 9:00 am and dinner was early, at 6:30 pm. Perhaps this was to facilitate the telescope observers. At night, whenever possible, the children’s father donned his top hat and the buffalo-skin coat that he had been presented, and climbed up to the observing platform. He was accompanied by a resident astronomer – probably the boys’ tutor – and any other guests who were interested, as many were. Later, young Laurence would also join his father. Randal missed his two older brothers after their death. Earlier he had shared a governess with them in the school room while the two younger boys were still in the nursery. When they died, they left a big age gap between Randal and his eldest brother, Laurence, who soon had his own tutor. The boys’ tutors were usually the resident astronomers, or some other young man who also worked with their father. Although they were nearer in age, Randal was different to the two younger boys, who spent much of their time in the workshop with their father, young engineers in the making. After lessons, they ran wild, riding, swimming

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and shooting, and skating on the lake in the winter. Randal, however, preferred his books and loved the garden. Laurence, the eldest, was to follow his father in astronomy, becoming the second astronomer Earl, while the two youngest both became engineers, with Charles, the most brilliant, making his name by inventing the steam turbine engine.27 All the boys were good mathematicians, going straight from home schooling to honours degrees at Trinity and Cambridge. Randal, however, chose a different path and went into the Church. The successful careers of all four boys showed how good was the system that Mary had worked out for their education. The strict schooling and early lessons paid off, and the children, under Mary’s affectionate maternal eye, remained a close-knit family and their childhood memories were happy ones. Mary also had her life in London. As time went on, family life had taken on a pattern. For most of the year they lived at Birr but, in the summer, they took a house in London for the season: 13 Connaught Place. They also took a house in Brighton, where they visited William’s mother, Alice, now living there. With Mary by his side, William’s career and reputation had increased and his work with the great telescope had made him a world-famous figure. He became President of the Royal Society in 1848 and was also involved with the Prince Consort in the development of the Albert Hall and the Great Exhibitions of 1851 and 1862. Connaught Place became a centre for Mary to entertain the many celebrities; she held soirées there in a large room on the ground floor (see Figure 9.2). There are letters and invitations from many of these celebrities and foreign dignitaries in the archives at Birr, together with those from scientific gentlemen and writers such as Dickens and Macaulay.28 The children found this exciting, especially when exhibitors to the Exhibitions brought models of their inventions and objects to show for possible display. The children were allowed to look at these and handle them. Laurence had the privilege of being invited to Buckingham Palace to play with the royal children. How much he enjoyed this is uncertain, as there is a story that he defended his Irishness with vigour, causing some problems with the young Prince of Wales. William was often invited to Buckingham Palace for consultations. Mary, too, met Queen Victoria. She may have known her quite well, as there exists a charming and very personal letter from the Queen condoling with her on William’s death in 1867.29 27 28

See Scaife 2000. Birr Castle Archives J/15.

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29

Birr Castle Archives J/19/1.

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When the family were in England there would also have been visits to Yorkshire, to Mary’s sister Delia and her family at Duncombe Park, and probably visits to Mary’s old home at Heaton. In late September or October, the family would return home to Birr. The nights were getting longer and William was keen to get back to the telescope. Here the entertaining continued, and Birr was very much an open house to friends and relatives, as well as to William’s many colleagues in the scientific and astronomical worlds. William and Mary’s guests were the greatest intellectuals of the day in the fields of engineering and astronomy and also economics (see Chapter 9). Charles Babbage, mathematician, inventor and father of the computer was the first to write his name in the Observatory visitor’s book, in 1850; the eccentric astronomer Sir James South stayed for weeks on end. Randal Parsons records that South ‘was almost absolutely stone deaf and not only was it necessary to shout to the utmost to make him hear but he also found it necessary to hear himself, so that the mutual noise during conversation was remarkable’.30 The economist Nassau Senior, with his Native American wife, visited Birr several times during his study of the Irish economy. Mary took Nassau Senior on drives into the countryside, and he quotes her on several occasions, showing that she was knowledgeable about the Irish situation and certainly had her own views: I drove with Lady Rosse to Knockshegowna, a small ruin at the point of the mountain of that name, 700 feet above the sea level. The view is extensive, comprehending nine counties. ‘It would make’, I said, ‘a fine estate’. ‘I should not be sorry’, said Lady Rosse, ‘to have a funded property equal in value to such an estate, or producing dividends equal to the rents of such an estate, but I should be grieved to be the owner of all the land that we see, or even of more of it than Lord Rosse possesses. More land in Ireland means more tenants, more trouble, more vexation, more worry and less leisure. I do not wish for it.’31 Sir William Rowan Hamilton, Ireland’s great mathematician, was a frequent guest and was once so carried away by the telescope at night that he wrote a sonnet from the upper gallery. The next day he copied it out for Mary and presented it to her:32 30 31

Parsons R. 16. Senior 1868, 233–4.

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32

Graves 1885, 620–1.

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I stood expecting, in the Gallery, On which shine down the Heaven’s unnumbered eyes, Poised in mid air by art and labour wise, When with mind’s toil mechanic skill did vie, And wealth free poured, to build that structure high, Castle of Science, where a Rosse might raise (His enterprise achieved of many days) To clustering worlds aloft the Tube’s bright eye. Pursuing still its old Homeric march, Northward beneath the Pole slow wheeled the Bear; Rose over head the great Galactic Arch; Eastward the Pleiades with their tangled hair; Gleamed to the west, far seen, the Lake below; And through the trees was heard the River’s flow. ‘Parsonstown, August 29, 1848’ It was obvious from Hamilton’s letters that Mary was more than a gracious hostess and was involved in their discussions. On this visit, among others who were staying, were George Airy the Astronomer Royal and also Dublin-born Sir Edward Sabine,33 astronomer, geophysicist and ornithologist, with his wife, ‘a learned lady who has translated many foreign … papers on Science’ and, as Sir William commented patronisingly, ‘having no children to occupy her otherwise’.34 She joined the men round the warm fire that was kept burning in the little Observatory beside the telescope. Mary, who did have children to occupy her, may not have done so on that occasion, but certainly she would have been part of the party and conversation the next day. The Irish Arctic explorer, Sir Leopold McClintock, was another visitor who entranced the children with stories of his sledges drawn by dogs to the North Pole.35 Many of these gentlemen were photographed by Mary. The photograph taken of Captain A. E. Knox, husband of William’s sister, Lady Jane, in his white fur coat, is especially striking (Figure 3.8). There were frequent dinner parties and Mary’s newly built dining room came into its own. It is a magnificent room with a high ceiling, Gothic plasterwork, magnificent curtains and, round the cornice, her favourite vine-leaf pattern. The egg-and-dart moulding around the doors is on a massive scale – indeed everything that Mary did was large scale, and this room was no exception. The neighbours also were invited often, especially for the dinners of 33 34

Mollan 2007, 358–69. Graves 1885, 621.

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Parsons, R. 17.

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3.8  Captain Knox

the Magistrates at the Quarter Session, and Irish hospitality was always extended to the friends who dropped in uninvited at lunch time. The children’s great uncle, Colonel Lloyd, their grandmother’s brother, was a frequent guest from nearby Gloster House. The Kings, the children’s aunt and uncle and cousins from Ballylin, were just too far away to drop in, so came to stay, often for weeks on end. The King family were closely linked through their own intellectual interests, and Mary became great friends with William’s young cousin Mary King, later Mary Ward (1827–69).36 She was a clever young woman, interested in astronomy and in working with the microscope. Under William’s guidance, she wrote popular books on both the telescope and the microscope, illustrated by her own fine colour drawings of what was seen through these instruments, and the books ran to several editions.37 The two Marys had much in common, 36

Mollan 2007, 980–91.

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37

Ward 1858/1859.

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including a love of children and their education, and Mary Ward also used her remarkable artistic abilities in making delightful tiny drawings, particularly of insects – best seen in her charming book with the rather unwieldy title, Entomology in Sport by Two Lovers of the Science, to which is Added Entomology in Earnest, which she wrote with her sister, Lady Jane Mahon, dedicated to their late mother, Harriet King.38 Mary’s husband, the Hon. Henry Ward, son of Lord Bangor, was a jolly man who made the children laugh and lightened the scientific discussions. Other cousins visited, including Laurence, William’s younger brother, and his wife. They had been married at the same time. Their children were the same age as the boys, and became their great companions. Sadly, Laurence’s wife died early, but he then increased the links with Mary’s family by marrying her niece, Lady Jane Duncombe, daughter of her brother-in-law Lord Feversham. So visits back and forth across the Irish Sea were frequent. Mary’s sister, Delia, married to Admiral Duncombe, also visited with her family from Kilnwick Percy in Yorkshire; although they came less frequently, according to Randal, because, in spite of Duncombe being an Admiral, he was sea-sick crossing the Irish Sea! Randal, in his memoirs, remembered the many games the family played: in winter battledore and shuttlecock in the hall – where, unfortunately, the too-enthusiastic Bishop of Limerick slipped on the polished floor and broke his arm, and stayed at Birr for weeks. As the four boys grew older, Mary and William began to spend more time in Brighton when they were in England, moving away from London before the end of the season. The sea air was said to be good for William, who suffered from bronchitis, and they enjoyed the South Coast. One year, they rented a house at Ryde on the Isle of Wight, where they took a small yacht and sailed on most days. It was a great success and turned out to be the beginning of a new phase in their lives. Mary and the whole family found the they enjoyed sailing and the next year they bought their own, larger yacht, the Themia, 150 tons. They became more adventurous, making expeditions to Cherbourg and to Land’s End and eventually took the yacht to Ireland. They also sailed right round the north of Scotland, as the Caledonian Canal was closed at that time. Mary seems to have loved travelling. Perhaps, years earlier, her curious nature had helped to make the move from Yorkshire to Ireland more of an adventure. Two years after acquiring the 150-ton Themia, the Rosses bought the Titania from Sir Robert Stevenson, son of the engineer Sir George Stevenson. It was 180 tons and was iron clad – a fast sailer. It 38

Mollan 2007, 987.

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was described by geologist Nevil Storey-Maskelyne, grandson of former Astronomer Royal Nevil Maskelyne, as: ‘That fairy thing of iron, built for speed and for luxury, to skim the waters when the heavens lower and the gale is on her beam – to bask in the sunshine, or to fly like a racer over calm seas.’39 The Titania had taken a party of scientists to Tenerife the year before, for astronomical observations under the direction of Charles Piazzi Smyth. Piazzi Smyth was an interesting man, astronomer, Egyptologist and scientist, and he became a good friend of William and Mary’s.40 He was also an amateur artist and had sketched them both at their soirées in London (see Figure 9.2).41 When he visited Birr, he was greatly inspired by the telescope and painted William climbing the steep steps to the observation gallery, silhouetted against a darkening sky. The Titania also took the family to Amsterdam, Harlem and The Hague, where the yacht was drawn by horses along the wider canals. Another year they travelled south through the Bay of Biscay and visited the battlefield of Corunna. There were thirteen sailors, a captain and a cook on board.42 William’s health began to decline when he was in his sixties and the family took a house on the sea in Monkstown, County Dublin. Sadly, William died there after an operation in 1867. Mary was only 53 and the children were still young, the youngest, Charles, being only 13. After William’s death, Mary took a house in Dublin and lived with the boys when they were at Trinity. They returned to Birr during their holidays. Although they no longer kept the yacht, they continued to travel as a family for part of the summer. On one vacation they travelled to Switzerland and another time through the Austrian Tyrol. ‘We travelled light and were independent of railways, as we had hired a carriage which, with two or four horses, took us over the passes and through unfrequented lands.’43 Laurence, the eldest son, married three years after his father’s death. His wife was another wealthy Yorkshire heiress, the Hon. Cassandra Hervey-Hawke (1851–1921), only child of Lord Hawke of Womersley Park near Pontefract. The marriage was possibly engineered by Mary with her Yorkshire connections. Sadly, just before this marriage, Mary suffered another loss, the death of her friend Mary Ward in tragic circumstances at Birr (see also p. 167). Close to the church at the bottom of the Mall, Storey-Maskelyne 1858, 40. Brück 1998. 41 Copies in Birr Castle Archives. 39 40

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Parsons, R. 23; Malcomson 2008, J/25. 43 Parsons, R. 26. 42

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in Ireland’s first traffic accident, Mary Ward fell from the top of the Parsons’ new steam car and was crushed beneath its wheels. The Ward cousins were visiting Birr for William’s memorial service and, although she is not mentioned in the reports, presumably the Countess Mary was also staying in the Castle. The car was being driven by Charles’s tutor and the boys were witnesses to the scene. This sad event made a huge impression on the family and was later seldom mentioned.44 Following the same pattern as she had done when first married to William, Mary left Laurence and his young bride, Cassandra, to run the Castle soon after their marriage. Mary then bought a house in Connaught Place in London, where she had had such happy and successful times together with William. At Birr, Mary’s legacy is huge, and not only her photography. She had the money to do the great construction works with vision to the future, no expense spared. However, apart from these great schemes, and the beauty of the house that she re-created and expanded, there is little left here of her personal effects: none of her letters, no paintings or furniture that she bought – except possibly the amazing Gothic candy-striped bedroom suite that was retrieved by Anne, Countess of Rosse, from the top floor; or could even this Disneyesqe confection have been Alice’s, in keeping with her Gothic saloon? However, there is one piece of furniture that holds Mary’s closest treasures and shows what was dearest to her heart at the time. These special souvenirs were kept in a seventeenth-century cabinet that has always been in the Castle. It was opened only some 100 years after Mary’s death. In the small drawers is an eclectic mix of items, reflecting different periods of her life. Some are from her travels on the Titania, such as a piece of the Titania’s deck, a blue pennant ‘carried on the Titania’s gig’, a fishing line ‘Made by a Dutch sailor on board the Titania’, and a matchbox full of Cornish silver from her journey to Land’s End. From the excavations for the moat and new drive come a collection of Irish coins dating back to Henry VII and Mary I; then a curl of her youngest son, Charlie’s, blond hair; the dog whistle given her by Sir John Franklin and used in the Arctic to call his dogs, and a collection of Irish shells, each marked in the smallest writing with its scientific name. The shells show that Mary visited Galway Bay and the Burren on holidays in the West of Ireland, perhaps with Mary Ward and her family. There is a metal spur labelled, mysteriously, ‘stolen from Oliver Cromwell’; there 44

The King’s County Chronicle, 1 September 1869.

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are the inevitable fossils showing the usual Victorian interest in them; there is a deformed rabbit’s skull, and marbles, probably the same marbles as those used in one of her photographs. Yet another drawer contained the tiny models of the Keep Gate and Entrance Gate and, in another, were her husband’s medals and passes relating to his work with the Great Exhibition, also a Fellow’s ticket for the Royal Horticultural Society. Some of these items are on display in Ireland’s Historic Science Centre at Birr. Opening these drawers and handling the little objects brings Mary to life again, with all her many and varied interests. Mary lived on in London at Connaught Place. Three of her sons and their families were also living in England by then. She died aged 72 in 1885. Her body was brought back to Ireland, which she had come to love. She is buried at Birr in the family vault, together with other members of the family, including her husband and the children who died young. Her friend Mary Ward had also been buried there. In the definitive life of Sir Charles Parsons, the author summarises Mary’s life as experienced by her children: ‘His mother was blessed with understanding … She had a benevolently dominating personality and she settled most plans for them.’45

Part 3: Mary Rosse’s artistic work by David Davison

B

y the close of the 1850s Mary Rosse had developed a reputation within photographic circles in both Britain and Ireland as a gifted practitioner of the new art.46 Living at Birr Castle in the centre of Ireland, how did she acquire this reputation, and what might have inspired her to take up photography? The answer to the first question may be easily speculated upon, but the second, whilst seemingly obvious, is not necessarily so clear cut. Before we consider her achievements, a few details relating to the progress of photography up to the point of her initial experiments need to be explored. Debates as to the primacy of those who played a part in the evolution of photography are not appropriate to this work, suffice it to say that, during the month of January 1839, two men from distinctly 45

Appleyard 1933, 16.

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46

Sutton 1859, 228.

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different backgrounds introduced two quite different photographic processes which received worldwide publicity and, for that reason, there is popular recognition of 1839 as the year in which photography was invented. The first announcement was that presented by François Arago, President of the Académie des Sciences, at a meeting of that body in Paris on 7 January 1839, when he made public the successful experiments of Louis Daguerre. Upon reading a report of this event, William Henry Fox Talbot, of Lacock Abbey near Chippenham in Wiltshire, felt cheated, as he had already devised his own method of ‘Drawing with Light’. He promptly arranged for Michael Faraday to make an announcement of his own invention and display examples of what he was to call his ‘Photogenic Drawing Process’ at a meeting of the Royal Institution on 25 January. On the 30th of the same month Talbot presented a paper, entitled ‘Some Account of the Art of Photogenic Drawing’,47 at a meeting of the Royal Society. Neither of these inventors was prepared to give process details at this time; Daguerre’s operating instructions were not published until 19 August 1839. The motivation behind the delay was financial, both men being keen to make money from their inventions. Talbot took out a patent on his method, whilst Daguerre, despite having negotiated a pension for life from the French government in exchange for making his technique freely available to everyone, rather duplicitously took out an English patent. Patenting in London was important to both men, as patents outside Great Britain and Ireland were more or less worthless. However, both overlooked the fact that an English patent did not apply in Ireland or Scotland. Their strictly enforced patents were to hold back the progress of photography in England for more than a decade. In Scotland, the calotype process (Talbot’s upgraded process in which the latent image was chemically developed, rather than forming the image through the action of light alone), requiring much shorter exposure time, was in widespread use and, as practised by the partnership of Hill and Adamson, was used to create some of the finest portrait studies ever made. Ireland at this same time was in the grip of famine and more important matters claimed the attention of would-be calotypists. As the worst effects of the Irish famine were receding, several major advances in photographic technology were being made. Both of the original processes were of rather low sensitivity, requiring lengthy exposures and making many subjects impractical. Daguerre’s first portrait exposures were of twenty minutes’ duration in full sunshine and the photogenic drawing material required one hour under similar conditions. Within two years, 47

Talbot 1839.

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methods of enhancing the sensitivity of both processes had been devised, making photography much more practicable. Whilst both of these techniques relied upon the latent image created through the action of light, their results were completely different in character and appearance. Daguerreotypes were formed on highly polished sheets of silver plate, and the image consisted of a mercury amalgam formed on the mirrored surface. As they were in fact direct positives, each image was unique and almost impossible to replicate at that time. This became the medium of choice for portraiture, on account of the extremely fine detail and rich tonal scale. The calotype was based on the use of paper which was soaked in light-sensitive salts, which meant that something of the paper’s texture became an integral part of the negative. Many photographers judged this to represent an imperfection, and yet others regarded the broad representation of tone as the preferred medium for artistic expression. This being a negative/positive system, it was possible to produce any number of copies. By the year 1851, the textural problems had been overcome as a result of the introduction of subtly detailed wet collodion negatives on glass, albumen-coated printing paper and waxed-paper negatives, which were a direct evolution of the calotype. These three new methods were employed by Mary Rosse and there is reason to believe that she experimented with the daguerreotype. Part of a daguerreotype outfit survives at Birr Castle. William Parsons was a Fellow of the Royal Society and acquainted with Henry Talbot. He was active within the scientific community at the time of photography’s introduction and must have been conversant with the claims being made for this new art form. His curiosity was sufficiently aroused for him to order a complete daguerreotype outfit from Irish-born E. M. Clarke of 428 Strand, London.48 This was delivered in June 1842, accompanied by a list of contents and Clarke’s handwritten instructions for their use.49 No daguerreotypes of that period survive in the Birr collection, but surely Mary Rosse would have taken a great interest in her husband’s early photographic efforts, as she took a keen interest in all his experimental activity. In fact it would have been impossible for a person of her prominent position in society to avoid acquaintance with the pioneering stage of a new technology that was clearly going to have a major influence on people’s understanding of both the world and the universe. We know from her correspondence that the Countess was well acquainted with several of the photographic pioneers.50 It was at a soirée 48 49

Mollan 2007, 370–81. Malcomson 2008, 73.

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50

Birr Observatory 1850–59.

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3.9  The darkroom at Birr Castle – perhaps the oldest extant such room – now recreated in the Historic Science Centre

presided over by her husband as President of the Royal Society that T. R. Williams exhibited his ‘news photographs’ in the form of 3 × 5 inch [76 × 101mm] daguerreotypes taken during the opening ceremony of the Great Exhibition at the Crystal Palace a few hours earlier on 10 June 1851. William Parsons was quick to take up the new wet collodion process in order to photograph the moon using the 36-inch reflecting telescope; earlier materials of low sensitivity were of no practical use for this purpose. Unfortunately, he encountered further problems with collodion as, lacking an equatorial mount at the time, he had to try to compensate for the Earth’s rotation by means of a micrometer drive with graticule attached to fix a point for tracking by eye. He wrote to Talbot seeking advice on how he might overcome his problems.51 Talbot responded with understanding of the problem, but no practical solution.52 Within Birr Castle, there is a darkroom well stocked with photographic chemicals of early vintage, for some years believed to be the oldest extant (Figure 3.9). The basis for this belief is the presumption that the 51

Malcomson 2008, 80–81.

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52

Talbot 1852, LA-52-38.

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darkroom was set up in late 1853 for use by the Countess, but it is quite possible that it was created for the Parsonses’ own use when experimenting with wet collodion in June 1852. This earlier date could prove significant, as there is now, in France, a new contender for the earliest surviving functional darkroom.53 We know that in late 1853 Mary Rosse was, with considerable success, making her own attempts at photography. On 5 February 1854, Lord Rosse wrote to Talbot stating that ‘Lady Rosse has just commenced photography and I enclose a few specimens of her first attempts; presently she will do better’.54 Talbot responded by requesting of the Earl, ‘Pray give my thanks to Lady Rosse for her very interesting specimens of photography. Surely there are portions exhibiting the details of the telescopes which are all that can be desired.’55 He then requested permission to have them framed and sent for exhibition in London, at the Photographic Society’s first show. Such praise from a person of Talbot’s eminence must have given great encouragement to the Countess. Photography was arguably the crowning artistic accomplishment of the Countess, who, as a young girl whose mother had died when she was very young, was tutored by Susan Lawson, a visionary governess who encouraged the young Mary Field’s artistic talent (see pp. 49–50). This would progress, via an interest in heraldry, into architectural design. Prior to her taking up residence in the Castle Mary insisted that the couple’s bedroom furniture was built and installed to her design. Subsequently she designed other furniture, and a new wing to accommodate her increasingly large family. Sadly, this latter was not really necessary, as all but four of her eleven children died whilst young. The most important of her designs are those for the Keep Gate (see Figure 3.7), Entrance Gate (see Figure 3.6b) and, in collaboration with her uncle Richard Wharton Myddelton (see Figure 3.5), the Star Fort layout in front of the Castle entrance which incorporates the grand lawn. Many of these drawings survive.56 In order to help visualise the three-dimensionality of these proposed buildings, she made attractive scale models using her visiting cards, all finely detailed in watercolour (see Figure 3.6a). As these projects were completed, Mary Rosse, despite being in the latter stages of her final pregnancy, was no doubt contemplating her next creative project. Having followed with interest her husband’s earlier photographic ventures, she may well have concluded that, were she to Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Chalon-sur-Saône. 54 Malcomson 2008, 80–81. 53

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55 56

Talbot 1854, LA154-5. Malcomson 2008, 75 and 112.

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apply her efforts to more ordinary subjects, she could avoid the problems he had encountered with the telescope. It is possible that he had also successfully made terrestrial photographs using the collodion process, in which case a suitable camera would have been available. It is this possibility that suggests that the darkroom may be of earlier vintage. Frederick Scott Archer’s invention of the wet collodion negative coincided with the Great Exhibition of 1851, which encouraged many people to acquire the necessary equipment. For example, Lord Crofton of Mote Park, Roscommon, brought home wet collodion materials and a camera as a present for his 14-year-old daughter, Augusta. Given that these facilities definitely existed in 1852, it easy to imagine Mary Rosse developing an urge to explore this ‘New Art’. This latter term is significant. Photography was regarded as an art form and therefore an excellent medium for those, like Mary, well versed in the arts. Furthermore, the new, more practical photographic processes had led to a surge of interest amongst those with both the means and time to pursue this new medium of expression, which was proving attractive to both women and men. In his amusing book Photographic Pleasures,57 the Rev. Edward Bradley (a keen photographer), writing under the nom-de-plume Cuthbert Bede BA, wrote in chapter 8, ‘Lady Blanche Hyams (Lord Wynterley’s daughter) assures me, that she considers Photography to be “par excellence” THE scientific amusement of the higher classes. And, I fully believe what her ladyship says.’ In other chapters of the same work he suggests that photography was a suitable means whereby ladies could dabble in chemistry, which would otherwise be socially unacceptable. Not that this latter would have inhibited Mary Rosse, who possessed sufficient of her own mind and spirit to tackle any task she deemed appropriate. Whatever drew the Countess to embrace photography, she was to prove most successful, having mastered at least three different processes, of which examples survive at Birr and elsewhere. It is possible that she used Talbot’s calotype paper negative process, as three salt prints of the telescopes, in a private collection, appear to have been produced by this method. This would not be unusual, as the calotype, although on the brink of obsolescence by the mid-1850s, remained popular with many amateurs for some years. If the Countess did use calotype, she soon changed to the use of both waxed paper and wet collodion negatives to avail of their superior image quality. On some occasions she printed on salted paper, but generally her output was on albumen paper, her later examples being gold toned. Sadly, most of the 57

Bede 1855, 54.

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3.10 Mary Rosse’s stereo photograph with the disappearing dog

Countess’s output is now lost, but published records and the surviving negatives and prints are firm evidence of her expertise and artistic ability with both of the most popular processes of her day. This was no mean achievement, great skill being required in the complex sequence of manipulation during coating, sensitising and development. When photographing close to her darkroom she could coat a glass plate in relative comfort, though not without risk, as she first carefully poured her collodion (gun cotton dissolved in alcohol and ether) onto the plate under normal light, taking care to create a thin, even coating on the glass. She then, by the light of a candle-powered ruby light, dipped the plate into a sensitising bath of silver nitrate, following which it was placed into a special holder having an internal drainage system for the surplus sensitizer. Given that the exposure had to be made and the plate developed before it dried, the camera and subject had to be organised prior to the preparation of the plate. This entire procedure placed great stress on the photographer, who, whilst perhaps organising a group in a setting, had the need to dash off and prepare a plate, return, and endeavour to create an impression of spontaneity in the picture; a procedure not helped by the need to have everyone motionless for an exposure time of ten to twenty seconds. Mary Rosse was remarkably successful at accomplishing this difficult feat, as will be noted in her group photographs, some of which might appear to have been instantaneous. There was nothing instantaneous about photography at that time, as can be observed in one of the Countess’s stereo photographs of a nursemaid holding a very young Charles Parsons on the back of a pony (Figure 3.10). She made many

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3.11 Another stereo photograph, with each side taken separately

stereoscopic pictures using an early pattern of stereo camera purchased from Knight’s of London. This did not have the usual two separate lenses for the left and right images, but just one with a parallelogram device to allow the lens to move from one ocular position to the other without affecting focus (Figure 3.11). This was really an impossible subject for this camera with exposures lasting three or four seconds on this small format: the pony could not be held still, never mind the child, but this was not the chief problem, for the carefully posed dog chose to walk out of the picture between the exposures. What this picture lacks in stereoscopy is compensated for by humour. The problems of wet collodion were far greater when travelling. Then, the preparation of plates was undertaken in a portable darkroom arrangement. Parts of such apparatus were found in Mary Rosse’s darkroom, but there is little surviving evidence of its having been used. She did attempt wet collodion photography away from Birr. In the sailing diary mostly compiled by her eldest son, Laurence,58 he recounts that, on a sailing trip to Spain in the Titania during 1863, ‘as the day was calm Mamma took some photographs but they were not very successful’. The solution to difficulties of this nature lay in the waxed-paper process, invented by the Frenchman Gustave le Gray. This utilised paper that had been waxed prior to sensitisation. The procedure avoided the problem of printing from an image created within the paper texture, thus giving good 58

Malcomson 2008, 76.

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3.12  The medal presented to Mary Rosse in 1859

sharpness and tonality, but its chief value was that the material could be prepared, dried and stored for several weeks before use and developed some time later, rather in the manner of modern film. It was, however, less sensitive than collodion. Mary Rosse became an acknowledged expert with this material, in 1859 being the first recipient of the magnificent silver medal designed by William Woodhouse for the Photographic Society of Ireland 59 (Figure 3.12). It is inscribed, ‘To the Countess of Rosse for the best Paper Negative’. Remaining evidence indicates that she preferred this process for her landscape work (Figure  3.13) and the collodion for portraits and family groups. She possessed a very fine 12 × 16 inch [30.5 × 41cm] mahogany folding camera which is equipped for use with both processes but, whilst prints from this camera on waxed paper survive, the wet collodion plate holder was never used. Mary Rosse used an impressive collection of books by contemporary authorities; some of these are stained by splashes of silver nitrate, indicating that she had them to hand whilst preparing her materials. In others she has made alterations in order to produce larger quantities than those in the published formulae. During these pioneering years, photo­ graphers frequently experimented with additives intended to enhance development or sensitivity or to prevent rapid drying of the wet collodion plate – in the latter case often employing hygroscopic sticky substances such as honey or beer. The Countess appears to have tried this approach at least once, as there is in the collection an unexposed plate 59

Photographic Journal 1859, 96–7.

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3.13 Landscape view of the River Camcor with the suspension bridge

that she has labelled ‘The Coffee Process’. There is at present no way of determining whether any of her surviving collodion negatives were made using these experimental additives. The Countess was a member of the Photographic Society of Ireland and the Amateur Photographic Association, although, strangely, there is no record of her membership of the London (later Royal) Photographic Society, the leading body at that time and, arguably, to this day. Despite the Royal Photographic Society’s having no record of her membership, there is reason to presume that she was a member, as she was well acquainted with that body, since bound copies of the society’s publication The Photographic Journal are amongst her collection of photographic books. She was elected a member of the Dublin Photographic Society on 28 November 1856,60 along with the Countess of Caledon – interestingly, both women were apparently of such stature that no proposer was 60

Chandler 2001, 100.

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required. Miss M. Grubb of Dublin and a Miss Greaves of Bird’s Grove, Ashbourne, Derbyshire had been elected to membership in 1854, the year of the society’s establishment. The Countess contributed photographs to the society’s exhibitions and the Dublin International Exhibition in 1865, as reported in The Photographic News.61 On 13 March 1863, Mary Rosse joined the Amateur Photographic Association62 and, on 21 July 1864, her husband was elected to the Council of that body.63 It had been founded in 1861 to promote the exchange of photographic art amongst its members, many of whom lived some distance from London, in order to bring their work to the attention of a wider public through exhibitions and by circulation of pictures to subscribers. Most members of this society were also members of the London Photographic Society but, during a period of near dormancy of that body, the Amateur Photographic Association was thriving. An entry relating to the summer of 1863 in the diary kept by Lord Oxmantown records: 13th (Friday). We went out into the park in the morning. In the afternoon we went to take negatives to Mr. Melhuish the secretary of the Amateur Photographic Association. There were a great many photographs lying on the tables which had been exhibited last year and two large views of the Thames, Greenwich Hospital, and the Isle of Dogs taken by the secretary of which he was very proud. He almost always paints out his skies and there was a lady at work patching a print when I was there.64 This rare insight into the practices of members of the Association was obtained because Laurence accompanied his mother, who called in to deposit negatives for printing, exchange or sale to other members. There were two categories of membership – one for those contributing the stipulated number of negatives and the other for those who did not but were entitled to purchase prints as circulated at a cost of one shilling. Those contributing negatives were entitled to a specified number of prints at no charge. This has particular relevance, as Mary Rosse was able to acquire prints from her contemporaries and they from her, and there is thus reason for hope that more of her work will come to light in other collections. Mary Rosse is not known to have taken photographs following the death of her husband in 1867. She took up residence in Raglan Road, 61 62

Photographic News 1865, 474–7. Photographic News 1863, 475–6.

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63 64

Photographic News 1864, 393. Malcomson 2008, 76.

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Dublin in 1870, after the 4th Earl’s marriage to the Hon. Cassandra Harvey-Hawke. She subsequently moved to London, where she remained up the time of her death in 1885. She had a very warm relationship with her sons, but that with Cassandra was strained; so much so that she only visited the Castle three times in 15 years and on each occasion was required to sign the visitors’ book. It is possible that her interest in photography was diminishing at this time, as was the case with a number of talented photographers, many of whom felt that their high aesthetic ideals were being compromised by the growing number of photographic studios that had sprung up in all the major cities, offering ever cheaper prints of increasingly poor quality, thus debasing the entire photographic concept. This level of disillusionment was widespread but not universal, although it did lead to a notable reduction of activity within the photographic societies, with the exception of the Amateur Photographic Association.

The photographs Most of Mary Rosse’s photographs have been dispersed or lost over the years, but fortunately several boxes of her collodion negatives survived in her darkroom, which had been hardly touched for most of a century and contains many other photographic treasures of historical significance. One waxed-paper negative has been discovered and well-preserved prints have turned up within the astronomical records and elsewhere. Some examples of her work survive in other collections. Whilst Mary Rosse made many fine photographs of the telescopes, her reputation as a photographer is founded on her superb portraiture, family groups (Figures 3.14 and 3.15) and landscape pictures. In these she exhibits a mature appreciation of the art of picture making and the function of lighting and composition. Her choice of perspective and arrangement of figures is impressive, frequently employing shadows and artefacts such as hats or plants in a manner that makes them integral to the aesthetic of the whole image. In fact she developed her own distinctive style, often based on geometric concepts triangular or circular. In the latter case she was fond of introducing circular objects to echo the basic circularity of the composition. In some respects she employed a more modern concept by utilising blocks of tone and texture as a

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3.14 Photograph of Mary and her friend Blanche Whately, daughter of Richard Whately, Archbishop of Dublin, examining stereo photographs

compositional feature. She also introduced items into her pictures which inform the viewer of the person’s intellectual stature or, as in the case of one large group of family and friends, two of her children are holding saws to demonstrate the family’s practical involvement at all levels of scientific development at Birr Castle (Figure 3.16). The examples on pages 84–7 have been chosen to indicate something of her range of subjects and artistic ability.

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3.15 Blanche Whately plays Solitaire with Laurence (Lord Oxmantown) and his brother William 3.16  below A group of family and friends c. 1856. Back row: Mary Ward, Blanche Whately, Henry Ward, Mr. Tombe, Nassau Senior; Front row: Randal Parsons, Mary Rosse, Clere Parsons, Mary Charlotte Senior, John Parsons

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Selection of Mary Rosse’s photographs

Larger reproductions of these photographs are included throughout this book – see the cross-referenced page numbers. Here, David Davison provides technical details. 1. Four boys with a Rabbit – see p. 59 (Figure 3.4)

This is the earliest group photograph that can be attributed to Mary Rosse. Featured are (left to right): William, John, Laurence (Lord Oxmantown) and Randal. Judging by the ages of the boys, it dates to 1854. A group of four is difficult to arrange tastefully. The introduction of the rabbit completes a superb composition. Significantly. this early image is laterally reversed, and this and other characteristics are clues to the fact that this print is from an enlarged wet collodion copy negative from a daguerreotype original. Presumably this was to make it possible to print multiple copies for relatives and friends. 2. Birr Castle – see p. 28 (Figure 1.5) Probably the earliest photograph of Birr Castle, this view is from beyond St Brendan’s Well, across the River Camcor. Close inspection of the somewhat faded original salt print indicates that this picture was most probably made by Henry Fox Talbot’s calotype process. Circa 1854–56. 3. The 3-foot telescope – see p. 217 (Figure 7.4) This print of the 3-foot telescope with the 3rd Earl standing on the viewing platform is from a ‘whole plate’ 6.5 × 8.5 inch [16.5 × 21.5 cm] wet collodion plate. Circa 1856. 4. The 3-foot telescope – see p. 194 (Figure 6.14) This large format photograph of the 3-foot telescope in its original form was made using the 12 × 16 inch [30.5 × 41 cm] folding camera. The albumen paper print was made from a waxed-paper negative. Circa 1856–60.

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5. Stereoscopic portrait of two men – see p. 77 (Figure 3.11) This curious double portrait is another example of the Countess’s work with the daguerreotype: in this case she has bravely attempted to make a stereo pair using the Knight’s camera. The man to the right of the picture seems to have been enjoying the session a little too much and has been unable to hold his pose for the sequential exposures. In fact it is preferable to regard these as two separate treatments, even though they are mounted for viewing in a stereoscope. Parts of these pictures have been lightly tinted. Circa 1854. 6. Stereo photograph – see p. 76 (Figure 3.10) Photograph taken using the Knight’s stereo camera. Note that the dog has moved off between the exposure of the left- and right-hand pictures. Circa 1855.

7. The entrance gate – see p. 61 (Figures 3.6a and 3.6b) a. A section of Mary Rosse’s architectural model of the entrance gate to the Demesne. Painted in fine detail, this was made using her visiting cards. b. The entrance gate facing Oxmantown Mall as constructed. This image is from a 6.5 × 8.5 inch wet collodion plate. 8. The River Camcor and suspension bridge – see p. 79 (Figure 3.13) A landscape view of the River Camcor and the suspension bridge taken from a window of the saloon. From a 5 × 4 inch wet collodion plate. Circa 1855.

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9. Details of the 6-foot telescope – see p. 199 (Figure 6.19) Mary Rosse made numerous copies of her stereoscopic photographs of the 6-foot telescope. She presumably gave these informative pictures to the many prominent scientists and dignitaries who visited the Castle. Her series of pictures was sufficiently comprehensive and detailed to provide invaluable information during the restoration of The Leviathan. One of a pair of albumen prints. 10. Examining stereoscopic photographs – see p. 82 (Figure 3.14) Blanche Whately, daughter of Archbishop Richard Whately, standing to the left, is holding a Brewster Pattern Stereoscopic Viewer. This device permitted viewing of both transparent stereo pairs and normal stereoscopic prints on albumen paper. It was also an ideal way of viewing stereo daguerreotypes. Mary Rosse, seated at the table is studying a stereo transparency. Circa 1855–56. 11. Richard Wharton Myddelton – see p. 60 (Figure 3.5) Mary Rosse’s uncle, who was closely involved in the design of the improvements to the Castle and Demesne undertaken by the Countess. This, one of her most powerful portraits, is of a relative for whom Mary had a deep affection and great respect. Circa 1855–57. 12. Playing solitaire – see p. 83 (Figure 3.15) A superbly structured group in which shadow has been employed for artistic effect. Lord Oxmantown stands centre, his brother William to the left. The young lady is Blanche Whately. In this image Mary Rosse has managed to convey a sense of lively spontaneity during what must have been a ten-second exposure time. Circa 1854–55.

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13. The silver medal – see p. 78 (Figure 3.12) The silver medal designed in 1859 by William Woodhouse for the Photographic Society of Ireland and awarded to Mary Rosse that same year. Photograph by D. H. Davison. 14. The 6-foot telescope – see p. 2 (Figure I.1) This is the latest of the pictures featuring the great telescope. Over the years Mary Rosse made and exhibited numerous images of both telescopes, so much so that following the Dublin International Exhibition of 1865 it was politely suggested that she should submit no further telescope photographs. This may have been that last such photograph. From a 6.5 × 8.5 inch wet collodion negative. Circa 1865. 15. The Darkroom at Birr Castle – see p. 73 (Figure 3.9) This photograph of the Camera Room, as it was known within the family, was taken in 1983, just before systematic cataloguing of the contents began. Many items of no photographic relevance had been deposited over the years, and these were subsequently removed. The Edison light bulb no longer functioned, as the power had been disconnected for many years. The structure of the drained bench and sink suggests that this darkroom was constructed in haste, no doubt with the intention of later improvement, as so often happens. It will be noted that there is no water supply, although the sink is connected to a drain. In Mary Rosse’s time distilled water was used for all processes. The window shutter was opened once the light-sensitive operations were complete; this appears to have been the only source of light for the room, but would have been adequate, as photographic activity was only feasible when there was strong daylight. Photograph by D. H. Davison.

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References

Allison 1999: ‘The Bradford Canal – the first promoters’, by John Allison, The Bradford Antiquary, 7, pp. 3–15. Appleyard 1933: Charles Parsons, His Life and Work, by Rollo Appleyard, Constable & Co., London. Bede 1855: Photographic Pleasures, by the Rev. Edward Bradley, writing under the nom- de-plume Cuthbert Bede BA, T. Mc’Lean, London. Birr Observatory 1850–59: The Birr Observatory Visitors Book, 1850–9, not paginated, contains signatures of eminent members of society, including astronomers and photographers. Brück 1998: The Peripatetic Astronomer – The Life of Charles Piazzi Smyth, by H. A. Brück and M. T. Brück, Institute of Physics Publishing, Bristol. Chandler 2001: Photography in Ireland, The Nineteenth Century, by Edward Chandler, Edmund Burke, Dublin. Cudworth 1896: Manningham, Heaton and Allerton (Townships of Bradford), Treated Historically and Topographically, by William Cudworth, Published by Subscription, Bradford. Davison 1989: Impressions of an Irish Countess, by David Davison, Birr Scientific and Heritage Foundation. Firth 1990: Bradford and the Industrial Revolution, by Gary Firth, Ryburn Publishing, Halifax. Graves 1882/1885/1889: Life of Sir William Rowan Hamilton, in three volumes, by Robert Perceval Graves, Hodges Figgis & Co., Dublin. These were published as facsimiles in 1975 by Arno Press, New York. Heneage 1901: Memoires of Georgiana, Lady Chatterton, second edition, by Edward Heneage, Art & Book, Co., London and Leamington. King 2001: Heaton: the Best Place of All. A History of Heaton in Bradford Dale, by John Stanley King, Bradford Arts, Museums and Libraries, Bradford. Malcomson 2008: Calendar of the Rosse Papers, by Anthony Malcomson, Irish Manuscripts Commission, Dublin. Mollan 2007: It’s Part of What We Are – Some Irish Contributors to the Development of the Chemical and Physical Sciences, in two volumes, by Charles Mollan, Royal Dublin Society. ODNB: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, the revision of the Dictionary of National Biography, published in 60 volumes in 2004. Parsons R. undated (between 1914 and 1936): Reminiscences, by Randal Parsons, printed for private circulation only. Photographic Journal 1859: ‘Report on the meeting of the Photographic Society of Ireland’, The Photographic Journal, London. Photographic News 1863: ‘Proceedings of the Amateur Photographic Society’, The Photographic News, Thomas Piper, London.

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Photographic News 1864: ‘Photography at the Dublin Exhibition’, The Photographic News, Cassell Petter and Gilpin, London. Photographic News 1865: ‘Photography at the Dublin Exhibition’, The Photographic News, Cassell Petter and Gilpin, London. Scaife 2000: From Galaxies to Turbines – Science, Technology and the Parsons Family, by Garrett Scaife, Institute of Physics Publishing, Bristol. Senior 1868: Journals, Conversations and Essays Relating to Ireland, Volume 2, by Nassau William Senior, Longmans, Green & Co., London. Simpson 1981: Journal of Dr. John Simpson, City of Bradford Libraries, Bradford. Smeaton 1769: ‘Observations of a solar eclipse the 4th of June, 1769, at the Observatory at Austhorpe, near Leeds, in the County of York’, by J. Smeaton F.R.S., Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, 59, pp. 286–8. Storey-Maskelyne 1858: ‘Tenerife – a summer above the clouds’, by Nevil Storey-Maskelyne, Fraser’s Magazine, 58, 1858, pp. 35–43. Sutton 1859: Photographic Notes, by Thomas Sutton, Sampson Lowe & Co., London. Talbot 1839: ‘Some Account of the Art of Photogenic Drawing’, by William Henry Fox Talbot, Royal Society Library, Manuscript AP23.19. Summarised in Proceedings of the Royal Society, 4, No. 37, 1839, 130–1. Talbot 1852, 1854: Talbot Papers, Lacock Abbey Collection. Ward 1858: A World of Wonders Revealed by the Microscope, by The Hon. Mrs. Ward, Groombridge & Sons, London. Ward 1859: Telescope Teachings, by The Hon. Mrs. Ward, Groombridge & Sons, London.

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four

William Parsons’ influence on the town and community of Birr Margaret Hogan William Parsons’ influence on the town and community of Birr

W

illiam Parsons (1800–67), later Lord Oxmantown and 3rd Earl of Rosse, experienced life mainly in Ireland and mainly in Birr during a period of great change, between two significant dates in Irish history, the year of the Act of Union (1800) and that of the Fenian Rising (1867). He grew up in a combination of circumstances exceptional in Birr and in Ireland: aristocratic, privileged, wealthy, Protestant, heir to Birr Castle in its beautiful Demesne, to a family estate of about 25,000 acres and endowed with an outstanding intellect and with excellent facilities for its development. He was educated at home, at Trinity College Dublin and at Oxford (see Chapter 2). His majority was celebrated late into the night at a great party in Birr Castle, from which he may have been absent, but ‘in a short time after, on the return of Lord Oxmantown from Oxford ... his arrival in Parsonstown was greeted with a brilliant illumination of the town’.1

Town Birr Castle still looms over the town and, when the young William ventured outside the walls, he could view a town then named Parsonstown and described in Picture of Parsonstown (1826) by attorney Thomas Lalor Cooke as a market town boasting a fine building for the Established Church, a chapel each for the Methodist and Catholic congregations, and other chapels for smaller congregations. There were several schools, mostly small and private, a reading room and circulating library, a theatre (though uncomfortable and ruinous), two hotels where balls and clubs took place, a mendicity house for beggars and a fever hospital. A fine Cooke 1826, 113.

1

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new courthouse had an adjoining bridewell with a few cells and a newly installed treadmill. A large military barracks had been built at nearby Crinkill to house over 1,000 soldiers. Mail coaches and stage coaches travelled daily to and from Dublin and Limerick, and a letter to Dublin could result in a reply within a day or two. The bank was ‘ruinous and antiquated ... long ceased to be a place of any business ... unglazed and broken windows ... more the appearance of a forsaken and dismantled brothel’.2 The main manufactories were two distilleries, one of which would close in the 1840s. So trade was seriously declining and there was much poverty and squalor. The 1821 Census survives for the barony of Ballybrit, and the population of Birr town then was given as 5,406. A local newspaper, the King’s County Chronicle, would begin publication in September 1845, just as the Great Famine began. It was Unionist and Protestant in sympathy, but more free from bias and sectarianism than many other local newspapers at the time.

Local power The Parsons family, earls of Rosse, were immensely dominant in the King’s County, now County Offaly. ‘The machinery of justice and county administration was largely under the patronage and influence of the earls of Rosse from the 1820s until the county councils were established in 1899.’3 At one time or another they held all the powerful positions of the day, in or for the county, such as MP, Lord Lieutenant, Custos Rotulorum (keeper of the rolls), High Sheriff, and various members of the family often held more than one post at the same time. They nominated the seneschals (stewards) of the manor court in Birr and might act as magistrates at the Petty Sessions. William’s uncle, Thomas Parsons, as assistant barrister for the county, assisted the justices at the Assizes or Quarter Sessions and had other legal powers and duties. John Clere Parsons, another uncle, was elevated to the Bench, while several Parsons and Lloyd relatives received various legal appointments (William’s mother was Alice Lloyd, from an influential gentry family at Gloster near Birr – see p. 15). Membership of the Grand Jury also gave the family opportunities for patronage for their own interests and those of their associates, and William was appointed to the Poor Law Guardians on an ex officio basis. The family was at the apex of the county pyramid in social, economic, political and legal terms. Father and son both served Cooke 1826, 150.

2

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Byrne 2008, 4.

3

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in the House of Commons and both entered the House of Lords as Irish Representative Peers. William inherited all this potential and was encouraged to assume the various roles at an early age. His astronomical achievements led to international fame and invitations to lecture and to write articles. He was Lord Lieutenant of the King’s County for 36 years, from 1831 until his death in 1867.4 Cooke’s Picture of Parsonstown, published in 1826, did not deal with the simmering friction in the majority Catholic community of this landlord town, which erupted in rebellion and disorder against priests and bishops in a series of extraordinary events called the Crotty Schism. For the Parsons family, this was one of two major crises in the public life of the district, the other being the Great Famine, when William’s responsibilities as Lord Lieutenant of the King’s County and as a major landlord were critical.

Religion and ethno-religious identities William’s father, Sir Laurence Parsons, 2nd Earl of Rosse from 1807, pondered and corresponded over many years on the thorny problem of the Catholic majority in Ireland, and his letters, speeches and the development of his thinking on the subject 5 are explored further in Chapter 5. William’s disposition tended to be more pragmatic, practical and scientific, but neither father nor son could be considered sectarian in the strict sense of the term. They generally respected Catholicism as a religion, appreciated its moral influence, entertained its clergy and defended it as a religious institution during the Crotty crisis, as we shall see. But no one could ignore the ethno-religious divide in Ireland at the time, the fact that the practice of Catholicism was a signifier for most of those descended from pre-plantation Irish ancestors. As detailed in the 1835 First Report of the Commissioners of Public Instruction – Ireland (CPI), Catholics were in a majority of more than five to one, 6 forming the bulk of the impoverished, growing in dissidence and resentment of the Protestant ascendancy to which the Parsons family belonged. They were not generally in the process of conforming, in spite of efforts made to control, coerce, convert and entice them; organisations were forming – often joined, or even led, by Protestants – with a view to extending majority rights and eradicating remaining disadvantages. Fear of dispossession and persecution if Catholics ever got the upper hand was strong Byrne 2008, 189. Birr Castle Archives, C/D.

4 5

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CPI 1835, 7.

6

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amongst the Protestant landed class. But neither the ethno-religious divisions nor the political moods of the time were simple enough to allow for easy prediction then or for clear analysis now. The 2nd Earl, as Sir Laurence Parsons, had vehemently opposed the Act of Union in 1800, but by 1822 he viewed the connection with England in a different light: It may be problematical whether the connection would be more secure if all the people here were Protestants; but it seems evident that it would not be secure if they were Catholics, for notions of aboriginal possession, which are very strong, as well as religion, would be and are always working in the minds of the Catholics against the connection.7 Rebellious groups, mainly rural, often called Ribbonmen or Rockites, sent threatening notes, made night raids for arms and organised against the payment of tithes to the Established Church. Towns were generally safer. Early surveys point to a proportion of Protestants in Birr that, at about 18 per cent,8 was higher than in most neighbouring towns, whether because of the presence of military in the barracks at Crinkill or to a preference for Protestants in leases and employment in earlier generations, or both. But neither father nor son appears to have encouraged the Protestant proselytising crusades which caused much tension in Irish communities – and even within Protestantism itself – during the early nineteenth century and which were inspired by fear of the majority as well as by worthier motives. A brief episode of Protestant panic in Birr in 1819–20 preceded the long drawn-out Crotty Schism. It was inspired by an upsurge of millenarianism among rural Catholics which was based on the prophecies of Pastorini, which predicted the downfall of Protestantism and the triumph of the Catholic Church.9 This was embarrassing to Catholic authorities and to open-minded Catholics, just as sectarian proselytism was to broad-minded Protestants. In this context, alarm spread among Protestants in Birr. The sources are slightly confusing, but the main events are not in dispute between them.10 The 2nd Earl called a meeting of magistrates and principal inhabitants, and a Parsonstown Loyal Association was formed to assist the magistrates by patrolling at night on horseback in rural areas and on foot in town. Birr Castle Archives, D/20/3; Malcomson 2008, 398. 8 CPI 1835, 218c. 7

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Donnelly 1983, 102–39. Birr Castle Archives, E/11; Cooke 1875, 107–13; KCD 1890, 190–4.

9 10

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A Mrs Legge, wife of a printer, her face covered for safety, brought letters to Birr Castle that purported to be written by a penitent Ribbonman. ‘I am informed your Castle and Town will positively be attacked … Your life and Lord Oxmantown and the life of every man who has any power is particularly aimed at.’11 Later, ‘Tell John Drought he has the greatest Rebel in town for a servant except for what you have yourself. There was no less than Five hundred Armed Men within a mile of your town last night and were it not that I gave a false alarm there would have been some mischief done.’12 Help was requested. The 44th Regiment of Foot proceeded by forced march from Templemore and found ‘consternation on every face. Most of the people had some kind of arms or other, and in the square were two pieces of artillery ready primed, and with lighted matches.’13 One shot fired in error could have provoked sectarian catastrophe. On being pressed, however, Mrs Legge made a false accusation against an unlikely person, account books were scrutinised and her own handwriting was identified on the threatening letters. A meeting was held in the bedroom of attorney Cooke, who was indisposed, a legal expert advised against prosecution ‘in consequence of a point of law’ and the panic subsided.14 So it was the dissident Irish – mainly Catholics – who caused headaches in Birr Castle, rather than theology, dogma or liturgy. But the legal and political responsibilities of the Parsons family inevitably clashed with tenancy disputes, illicit distilling, secret societies, faction fights, Ribbonmen and Rockite combinations. The Church of Ireland community in Birr was the first to transfer from the old medieval church to an attractive Gothic building in 1816; the Methodists followed to a large, hall-style building in 1820, and the Catholics from a thatched chapel to a fine Gothic building later. A new road was planned to take traffic southwards out of the town, and the new bridge over the River Camcor was named Oxmantown Bridge in 1817 in honour of the courtesy title William received in 1807 when his father acquired the title Earl of Rosse. On the town side of the new road adjoining the old thatched Catholic chapel was a large plot of land which William’s father, now Earl of Rosse, offered to the Catholic authorities for a new church and for other buildings they might decide on – the Convent of Mercy was built there later on. Fundraising began, Lord Rosse donated £100 and, as Cooke wrote, ‘liberal subscriptions were also received from some of the 11 12

Cooke 1875, 109–10 Cooke 1875, 109–10.

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13 14

KCD 1890,194. Cooke 1875, 112-13.

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wealthier and more respectable Protestants’.15 To the 17-year-old William, Lord Oxmantown was delegated the task of laying the foundation stone of St Brendan’s Roman Catholic Chapel, in 1817.

Crotty schism In 1821, before the chapel was finished, Michael Crotty, a young curate, took up duty in Birr, initiating a generation or more of complex sectarian strife, but this time, interestingly, within the Catholic community itself. He had been expelled from Maynooth as unsuitable for the priesthood but ordained in Paris in the wake of revolutionary turmoil and conflicting ideologies. A bitter, angry young man and a persuasive orator, he presented himself as a champion of the poor, encouraging a rumour that the fundraising for the new Catholic chapel was being misappropriated. He was supported by attorney and local historian Thomas Lalor Cooke, who was Catholic, though married into a local Protestant gentry family.16 Lord Rosse wrote that independent assessors, including Protestant accountants, found the books carelessly kept but not fraudulent.17 However, Crotty’s charismatic and demagogic powers convinced the majority for the present, leaving the parish priest with a small group at Mass in the town shambles, while Crotty took possession of the old thatched chapel, and subsequently the new chapel, to which he now claimed he was entitled by majority right. Since Crotty disobeyed all ecclesiastical commands, matters came to a head in 1826.18 Lord Rosse, now 68 years old, a deeply religious man who published a book on Christian Revelation,19 recorded his version of events. In hindsight he wrote: Thus was their Bishop, who had always before been received with the greatest reverence … hooted and opposed with clamour when he was addressing them in their place of worship ... It is this very extraordinary irreverence towards their priests and Bishop, like nothing that has ever occurred except in revolutionary France, in the days of her greatest wickedness, that has induced me to write the account of these proceedings.20 On Sunday morning, 13 August 1826, the old chapel was surrounded by Crotty 1850, 26. Hogan 1990, iii. 17 Birr Castle Archives, F/21. 18 Murphy 1992, 100–33. 15

19

16

20

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Parsons L., 1834. Birr Castle Archives, F/21, quoted by Murphy 1992, 105.

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200 soldiers, and Lord Rosse entered with Bishop MacMahon and the parish priest. William, as a magistrate, was probably also present, as he certainly was on other such occasions. The bishop, having been challenged by Thomas Lalor Cooke and several of the congregation, excommunicated Crotty and was later greeted with hostility in the streets. Crotty, Cooke and others were prosecuted but acquitted. At this stage, Cooke did a U-turn in support of the bishop and priests, but Crotty found himself before the courts again, and this time he received the first of several jail sentences. He was joined in 1832 by his first cousin, William Crotty, also ordained in Paris; further efforts were made to get possession of the Catholic chapel, and letters critical of Catholicism were posted to newspapers prepared to print them. That followers were drifting away was evidenced by a government report in 1835, which gave estimated figures for attendance at public worship in the Catholic chapel in Birr as 3,750, ‘increasing considerably’, while 1,550 still supported the Crottys.21 The Crottys began fundraising for a building of their own, which still survives in Castle Street. Michael favoured a link with the Church of Ireland, though he was unlikely to get a favourable reference from Birr Castle. William, on the other hand, was reported as lecturing in Limerick: We were told that the Established Church and Popery were but different parts of one whole – that Rome was the mother of Harlots, of which the Established Church is the daughter … like two foxes tied together by the tails, they were hurrying on together to damnation!!! We were also edified by an attack on tithes, which were described as the curse of Ireland … Let Established Church Christians pause and inquire before they open their purses, and enlist their energies in a cause, which, to say the least of it is doubtful.22 Church of Ireland authorities were hardly impressed. William Crotty applied for a connection with the Presbyterian Church in Belfast, and James Carlile, a minister at Mary’s Abbey in Dublin, took up the challenge. A capable man, he had held the post of first Resident Commissioner to the National Education Board from 1831 to 1836 and had been effectively in charge of setting up the new system of national education in Ireland. He had a strong sense of mission to evangelise Roman Catholics and spread the Presbyterian message from this town so centrally located. 21 22

CPI 1835, 219c. Murphy 1992, 128, quoting Clare Journal, 16 March 1837.

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William Crotty was in conflict with his cousin Michael, with other clergy and with members of his declining congregation. In the interests of all, the Presbyterian authorities transferred William Crotty in 1843 to Roundstone in Connemara, while Carlile remained active in Birr.23 Michael Crotty, writing from Euston Hotel, London, applied in 1843 to meet William, now 3rd Earl of Rosse, declaring that he had seen the ‘errors and corruption of the Church of Rome’ and wanted to ‘embrace the truth of the Protestant religion’. His request for support from a curates’ fund fell on deaf ears, as Rosse declined to meet him or interfere in such church matters.24 Michael Crotty served in a Church of England parish at Kirkheaton in Yorkshire, where he wrote Narrative of the Reformation at Birr,25 his own account of what had transpired in Birr. He wrote an apology in 1856 to the Catholic bishop of Killaloe, asking for reconciliation.26 He died in the care of nuns in a refuge for the mentally ill at Kortryk in Belgium.27 In his book, Crotty gave versions, often biased and vindictive, of the ‘Birr Reformation’, revealing his dislike and distrust of William, Lord Oxmantown. He claimed that he was: imprisoned eight days in the common bridewell of Birr, because I would not give fresh bail to be tried for an alleged assault before an inquisitorial tribunal at Philipstown, where Lord Oxmantown would be both judge and jury!! … Protestants of Birr were too well acquainted … would never sacrifice the integrity of their consciences … to the frowns or smiles of any noble lord … but in Philipstown his lordship and his protégé Administrator Kennedy, were sure to find a packed jury, who would not scruple to violate all law and justice.28 The 2nd Earl of Rosse had maintained links with the elderly Bishop Shaughnessy and his coadjutor, Bishop MacMahon, suggesting solutions, including a modest compromise. In The Diocese of Killaloe 1800–1850, Fr Ignatius Murphy concedes that, though Crotty was an obdurate, intractable man, the diocesan authorities might at times have been wiser and more flexible in their decisions.29 The 3rd Earl’s own account of the Crotty Schism was reported to Nassau Senior on his visit to Birr Castle in 1852. ‘Father R’ is Rogers 1974, 2. Birr Castle Archives, J/7/3. 25 Crotty 1847 and 1850. 26 Murphy 1992, 132.

Murphy 1992, 133. Crotty 1850, 137. 29 Murphy 1992, 100–33.

23

27

24

28

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a pseudonym for Michael Crotty and William Crotty is mistakenly described as a nephew to Michael, instead of a first cousin. ‘Father R.,’ said Lord Rosse, ‘is a vulgar pushing man, who was a curate to Kennedy, the Roman Catholic priest of Birr. He obtained great influence among the lower orders here, by preaching violent sedition. This tempted him to try to supplant his superior. He denounced Kennedy as a friend of the Saxons, and got together with a party, for the purpose of seizing by force the Roman Catholic chapel. He justified the seizure, on the ground that the chapel belonged to the congregation, and that a large majority of the congregation preferred him to Kennedy. Kennedy consulted the law-officers of the Crown, and they were of the opinion, that the chapel, having been erected for the purpose of the Roman Catholic Communion, was subject to the discipline of that Church, and consequently, that the priest appointed by the Roman Catholic bishop had, legally, the exclusive right to perform service therein – an opinion not quite consistent with the declaration, that “the Bishop of Rome hath no jurisdiction in the Queen’s dominions”.30 ‘Armed with this opinion, Kennedy required the aid of the civil power, and – what in Ireland is the necessary consequence – of the military force. For many months he never went out, never went to his chapel, or visited a parishioner, without the protection of a corporal’s guard. One of the magistrates always accompanied him to the chapel; a strong body of troops was posted in one of the transepts, and a stronger body in the chapel-yard. I myself, in my magisterial capacity, have spent many hours by the side of the altar, mounting guard over the celebration of the Mass. ‘R. [Crotty], unable to get possession of the chapel, opened a conventicle of his own, was supported by a considerable subscription, and beat the regular performer hollow in the number of his hearers. The Bishop interdicted him, and he repelled war by war. He began by preaching against the discipline of the Church of Rome, maintained the right of each congregation to elect its own pastor, and disclaimed all Episcopal authority. As he warmed in the contents, he attacked the doctrines of his enemies, preached against Purgatory, and Transubstantiation, and the Invocation of Saints, and at last got rid of nearly all the peculiarities of Romanism. His success was such that there seemed to be a danger of his creating a schism. The heads 30

Church of Ireland, Articles of Religion, 37.

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of the Church were seriously alarmed. Archbishop Murray, Bishop Doyle, and another bishop (whose name I forget), came to Birr for the purpose of solemnly excommunicating him. They fixed the time for doing so at eight o’clock in the morning and, relying on their ecclesiastical dignity, dispensed with the attendance of the troops. Father R.’s [Crotty’s] mob broke into the chapel, destroyed all the windows, extinguished the tapers, and would have injured (perhaps killed) the archbishop and bishops, if they had not taken refuge in the sacristy, barred the door, and defended themselves there until news was sent to the barracks, and a detachment came and relieved them. At last, however, poor R. ventured a step too far. As long as he preached against the doctrines of the Church of Rome, he was applauded. But he began to attack its ceremonies. This they could not stand. “It was awful,” some of those who had been his adherents said to me, “to see him extinguish the candles on the altar, and then say Mass without them!” The subscriptions ceased, his conventicle was deserted, and he now thought that the best thing he could do was openly to turn Protestant. He conformed to the Anglican Church, and left Ireland.’* ‘What became,’ I asked, ‘of Kennedy?’ ‘Kennedy,’ said Lord Rosse, ‘was made the Roman Catholic bishop of Killaloe. He died a year ago.’ *His [Crotty’s] nephew, also a contumacious priest, who had officiated for him for about a year, became a Presbyterian – the transition to Presbyterianism being easier than to Anglicanism, owing to the strong feeling, arising out of the Tithe question, then prevailing among the peasantry against the Established Church. The nephew secured for himself, as Presbyterians, a small part of his uncle’s congregation. About a year after, he was transferred by the Synod to Galway. The congregation was handed over to Dr. Carlisle, who is still our Presbyterian minister. ROSSE31 The underlying causes of this episode of dysfunctional group dynamics are unclear: perhaps lack of affinity with the parish priest and middleclass Catholic fundraisers, class conflict, persistent appeals for money, distant bishops, poverty, lack of education and rabble-rousing curates. The intersection was delicate and risky, but seemingly cordial, between minority Protestant landlord and legal authority on the one hand, and the authority of the bishops and priests of a majority Catholic Church 31

Senior 1868, 27–30.

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still incompletely emancipated in the 1820s. The 1851 Census for the town, not counting the workhouse, recorded a total illiteracy rate of about 40 per cent, which must have been mostly Catholic. It is remarkable that, on several occasions, though now nearly 70 years old, the 2nd Earl confronted the fierce antagonism of crowds of his own tenants in the old thatched chapel, entering at the head of police and military in defence of the authority of Catholic priests and bishops. Historian Cooke, usually factual, wrote a highly stylised account of an event in which he and Lord Oxmantown were personally involved in September 1828 and which he titled ‘Shinrone and the Green Boys’32 (see also p. 130). Interestingly, Cooke was by now reconciled with Fr Kennedy after having been prosecuted in the Crotty cause only two years previously. The Crotty Schism, of course, occurred in the lead-up to the Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829 and Cooke described how, in 1828, ‘a countless multitude’ of Tipperary people ‘decorated with ribbons and other insignia, and trappings of green … congregated at, and marched in military procession through the towns of Thurles, Cashel and Templemore’ on their way towards Shinrone, ‘a perfect hot-bed of rampant Orangeism … A large official despatch came from Dublin Castle to Lord Oxmantown … to take with him to Shinrone a competent force of military and police … and to resist by force, and without any parley this procession of countless thousands.’ Cooke and Fr Kennedy of Birr, both Tipperary men, having ridden together in diverse directions through the night to meet detachments of the Green Boys, succeeded in turning them back, thus saving the day. But: an Orange flag bearing insulting party inscriptions was hoisted in the town, and Lord Oxmantown, under the cool and excellent advice of his worthy uncle, the late Colonel Lloyd, who always kept the Shinrone Orangemen down, insisted on its being struck, declaring that if it was not immediately lowered he would withdraw the troops and leave the inhabitants to whatever fate awaited them. At a crucial stage, ‘Lord Oxmantown was there proudly powerful amid the panoply of war, at the head of a large body of police, horse and foot, and two full regiments of infantry of the line’. It appears that the day ended without bloodshed and that the Duke of Wellington stated that the successful result was ‘an eminently accelerating cause for conceding the Act of Emancipation which followed soon after’. It was certainly 32

Cooke 1875, 191–208.

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a heady experience for the 28-year-old Lord Oxmantown, with little or no military experience, presumably acting in his role as magistrate with officers in charge of the forces and thankful that they missed a ­confrontation with the ‘Green Boys’.

Social and political William, Lord Oxmantown, was elected MP for the first time in a by-election in 1821 and subsequently in the general elections of 1826, 1830, 1831 and 1832.33 His votes in 1832 came in second to those of Repeal candidate Nicholas Fitzsimon (see p. 136), who was connected by marriage with Daniel O’Connell, and he did not contest elections to the House of Commons again. He married Mary Field, a wealthy heiress from Heaton near Bradford, in April 1836 and the couple returned to take charge in Birr (see p. 56). Lord Rosse, now in his late seventies, having been deeply distressed by the death of his son John in 1828, and no doubt exasperated by the continuing strife in Birr, left Lord and Lady Oxmantown in charge and departed for Brighton, where he remained until his death in 1841. William now became 3rd Earl of Rosse. He was actively involved in Birr before the Famine. He supported the Parsonstown and King’s County Farming Society with a generous grant every year. In his annual speeches, he stated his opinions and policies on agricultural topics. In the early 1840s, voicing concern about the alarming increase in population and subdivision in Ireland, he warned that “a year of scarcity would at length come and, with it, a visitation of the most awful famine, such as the history of the world affords very many examples of, a famine followed by pestilence, when the utmost exertion of the landlords of Ireland, of the government, and of the legislature, aided by the unbounded generosity of the people of England, called forth to an extent ten times, nay, a hundred times greater than in 1822 ... would be totally inadequate to avert the most fearful calamities”34 (see also p. 143). At harvest time, in October 1845, the Farming Society celebrated its fifth annual exhibition. There were visits to five large farms, which were critically examined and discussed, but it appears that general participation was disappointing. At a ball in Dooly’s Hotel the same evening, Rosse presided, reflecting on relations between landlord and tenant. The King’s County Chronicle reported his speech: 33

Meehan 1972, 114, 125–6.

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34

Birr Castle Archives, J/3.

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William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse old prejudices have subsided … regrets two thirds of landlords render no assistance … to make tenant happy … Some think there is too much prejudice and that it is a hopeless task to labour to remove it … It never was suggested to him by any one of his tenants the reason why they were unwilling to join in the race for Agricultural Improvements. He was not aware if it arose from any doubt of the fixity of tenure or anxiety to have a lease. They may have abstained from mentioning these things to him from motives of delicacy … there were many causes with other persons but with him there was one only … when leases were made, it was impossible to prevent the subdivision of land. It was easy to flippantly say, include covenants in the lease, but these were mostly found to be nugatory … He had directed counsel to ascertain the best and most effectual means for giving the tenants security, the same as if under a lease.35

Over the years, Rosse frequently repeated his conviction, common at the time, that leases led to subdivision of holdings and therefore in time to poverty. He chaired a meeting in March 1845 which resolved to contest the route of the railway line from Dublin to Galway as it passed through Tullamore and Athlone. These towns, it was stated, already had means of carriage by water, and the implication was that the line should pass through or near Birr.36 The first issue of the King’s County Chronicle in September was a landmark event in the town and for Rosse himself, whose speeches and activities would now be reported locally. No member of the Parsons family was noted amongst the large attendance at a Grand Masonic Dinner held in ‘Brother Dooly’s Assembly Rooms’ in November 1845.37 Rosse’s liberality was praised at a meeting of the Mechanics Institute, which he supported with an annual grant of £100. Sixty-eight pupils had attended, but it was a disappointing number, and 460 books were lent during the year.38

Workhouse Under the Poor Law (Ireland) Act (1838), a large area consisting of part of the King’s County and part of North Tipperary was designated Parsonstown Poor Law Union. The union area extended from the Slieve King’s County Chronicle, 15 October 1845. Nenagh Guardian, 18 March 1845. 37 King’s County Chronicle, 12 November 35 36

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38

1845. King’s County Chronicle, 5 November 1845.

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Bloom to the Shannon, from Clonmacnoise to near Borrisokane and centred on Birr Workhouse, which building still survives, opened in April 1842 as Parsonstown Union Workhouse. The Poor Law Guardians consisted at first of nine ex officio members and twenty-nine members elected in the first partially democratic elections in Ireland. Rateable property in the union had to be valued and a workhouse built.39 Membership gave opportunity for patronage, and there was competition for places both on party political and on ethno-religious grounds. Indeed it was unusual to find all the members in attendance at any of the weekly meetings on Saturdays, except when appointments were being made. There was no member of the Parsons family on the first Board of Guardians.40 Later acts decreased the number of electors and increased the number of ex officio guardians, and we find the 3rd Earl on the Board of Guardians during the years of the Great Famine. The workhouse, built for 800 inmates, housed an average of about 200 at any one time before the famine. It survives largely intact, a handsome building, and, when new, scrubbed clean, whitewashed and with fires lit inside, must have been more comfortable than the homes of the poor at the time; but in later years sleeping in large, crowded, insanitary dormitories would have been abhorrent, especially during periods of disease and contagion.

Famine Writing about the Great Irish Famine from the point of view of an immensely privileged person, like the 3rd Earl at the time, is problematic because most writers understandably focus on the misery, pain and horror which faced the millions of victims. Then we consider how our generation in Ireland enjoys facilities undreamt of by the most sophisticated nineteenth-century aristocrat or plutocrat, while we face the challenge of what to do about the distressed fellow humans we see when on our travels or on our television screens. It has been enlightening to research, to try to identify with and to assess the privileged, whether good, bad or indifferent, of four, five or more generations ago as they went about the famine aid of their time, though it is possible that my attempt at objectivity and, indeed, empathy with a nineteenth-century Irish aristocrat may be coloured by a background deep in Tipperary, mostly rural, poor or reasonably secure, mostly nationalist, Gaelic, Catholic, and with one Poor Law Guardian as well as faction fighting and eviction in family narratives. 39

Murphy 2003, 100.

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40

KCD 1890, 265.

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In 1845, Lord Rosse was resident on his estate, whereas other major landlords in the county north of Birr, such as Digby of Geashill and Ponsonby of Philipstown (Daingean), were absentees, while Lord Charleville of Tullamore fled to Berlin in 1844 to escape from his creditors.41 Fact-finding was one of several phases in the government’s response to the famine. In his role as Lord Lieutenant of the county, Rosse received instructions42 from the temporary Relief Commission in November 1845 to ascertain the fullest opinion of the judiciary and the well-informed about the impending scarcity of food. Without modern communication facilities, almost all correspondence was handwritten, while horses, canals and some trains were the available means of transport. The replies to Rosse’s queries were quite alarming. As we saw, a few years previously he had foreseen a ‘visitation of the most awful famine’, but now his response to Dublin was strangely calm and optimistic: I do not think there is any reason to apprehend a scarcity of food in this neighbourhood … panic has subsided ... not taken any steps to set up local committees, considering it premature … collecting suggestions from practical men so as to be enabled to give effect in the most prompt manner to your instructions in the event of a necessity arising.43 However, two weeks later, a report to the Office of Public Works stated that the agent of the Earl of Rosse had bought damaged potatoes from his tenants, was having potato flour made with hand mills and using the pulp to feed cattle, while working the mills gave employment at the usual price of labour. Millers were commanding such high prices for oatmeal that few, if any, could afford to buy it.44 In the next phase, beginning in early 1846, the Relief Commission in Dublin directed Rosse, as Lord Lieutenant of the county, to organize voluntary local Relief Committees that would communicate with the Commission, facilitate the purchase and distribution of Indian corn and oversee the provision of public works and the raising of voluntary funds. On 7 April, Rosse wrote to the Commissioners, ‘I lost no time in the appointment of Relief Committees. I sent … the names of four gentlemen who would take charge of the respective districts’.45 His original division of the county into four met with objections from areas which wanted their Byrne 1998, 583. NAI, RLFC2/Z18076. 43 NAI, RLFC2/Z18076. 41

44

42

45

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NAI, RLFC3/1/114. NAI, RLFC/3/1/1266.

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own separate committees and, after attending several meetings around the county, he agreed to the setting up of sub-committees which would communicate through the original four Relief Committees.46 A carefully tabulated list of eighteen divisions of King’s County and part of north Tipperary, which included the population of each parish, was submitted for approval to Dublin Castle in 1846. It was based on the 1841 Census.47 In late April, Rosse attended a meeting in Birr of the Relief Committee for the baronies of Ballybrit and Clonlisk. The chairman read out the long list of instructions issued by the Commissioners: In strict accordance with the views and instructions of the Government ... the land-holders and other rate-payers are the parties both legally and morally answerable for affording due relief to the destitute poor ... best able to furnish such relief without waste or misdirection of the means employed. In desperate cases, the government would transmit to the Local Committee at cost price a quantity of food corresponding to the amount of subscriptions paid in for that purpose. A task of work should be required for aid.48 At a relief meeting in Cloghan, a local landlord, Mr Burdett, said that he would not subscribe to any relief fund, and he ‘was proceeding to descant at much length and in strong language’ when he was interrupted by the Earl of Rosse, who ‘smilingly remarked’ that it was neither in their province nor power to alter matters.49 Fundraising began, and the Parsonstown Relief Fund contributions were printed and published. Rosse and his mother headed that list, subscribing £100 each, and the Hon. Laurence Parsons £50. The Grand Juries, precursors of the county councils, were made responsible for public works. At a meeting in Birr in March 1846, it was agreed to apply for public money for a programme of works for Ballybrit barony, costing £1,200. Labourers would be paid 10d per day.50 The public works scheme posed many problems. It was reported that up to sixty Birr men turned up for work in Eglish, but then Eglish men arrived, and so there was no work for Birr men. Some who turned up for public works were thought to be undeserving; a close watch was kept on the selection and any hint of preference on regional or sectarian grounds could be hazardous. The minority community had many men in powerful positions, but the majority not so many. Fr John Spain, parish priest of King’s County Chronicle, 29 April 1846. NAI, RLFC3/2/15/1. 48 King’s County Chronicle, 29 April 1846. 46

49

47

50

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King’s County Chronicle, 13 May 1846. Pey 2003, 112.

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Birr, ‘pastor of the poor’, disputed the choice of men made by Captain Cox for works on lowering Gallows Hill; he further claimed that Cox had no right to be both secretary of the Relief Committee and engaged in the selection of men for the works. It was clear that Spain deeply resented Cox for some reason and, when this quarrel intensified, both men appealed to Rosse, who wrote to the Commissariat, more or less in favour of Cox. The correspondence was printed in the King’s County Chronicle and Cox remained as secretary.51 In addition to public works, some landowners gave employment on their own estates. At the end of May 1846, Rosse was said to have: given directions to his steward that employment was to be given to every man that needed it ... employed the men on drainage works ... farmers in the area were having difficulty getting labourers to sow potatoes ... so he was obliged to reduce the number ... paid the employees on a daily basis if they wanted ... had 130 men employed, 70 of them working on the Rosse estate farm at Killeen. Only two of the 130 were his direct tenants, the rest were tenants of middlemen.52 In June 1846, at a meeting of the Relief Committee in Birr, Rosse was reported as saying: many people were employed at the public works, who were not in want of employment; according to the instructions issued by the Relief Commissioners no person should get work but those recommended by the Committee. There were many infirm persons who could not be employed at the public works; he was of the opinion that the Committee ought to provide labour for such persons, by paying them for breaking stones on the roads, &c., which could hereafter be sold to the road contractors. He expected that the public works would have afforded employment for at least five weeks, by that time he hoped to have been in a position to give a considerable quantity of labour at Woodville which had lately come into his possession, by drainage, &c.53 By August, the Parsonstown Relief Committee still had £57 in hand and 600 tons of broken stones to sell, had spent £95 on streets and lanes in the town and had sold 70 tons of Indian meal to 900 families.54 King’s County Chronicle, 13 and 20 January 1847. 52 Pey 2003, 112. 51

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53 54

King’s County Chronicle, 10 June 1846. King’s County Chronicle, 19 August 1846.

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Rosse reported to Dublin that local officials were ‘guarding against any possible omission’ and that they were using the 1841 Census and the new Ordnance Survey index map as a guide.55 The government did not approve of providing free food to the starving, because this would interfere with market prices, contrary to the then fashionable theories of political economists and to the laissezfaire policy of the time. Rosse and officials of the Parsonstown Relief Committee applied to the Commission to justify the sale of Indian meal at 20  per  cent below cost price.56 Rosse was again out of line when he wrote to the Relief Commission in November 1846 recommending the provision of cooked food gratis, as ‘probably you will not see the same practical evils as in giving away meal or even selling it under first cost. The fair dealer is not interfered with. There is that proper pride among the poorer classes that they will not take cooked food unless they are in absolute want.’ The draft official reply was not favourable: food should be sold at prices sufficient to replace the Relief Fund.57 So Parsonstown Relief Committee could provide Indian meal at a low cost price, as it was specially imported, had not previously been sold by local merchants and so would not affect their trade. Depots were established at Banagher on the Shannon, nine miles away, and at Tullamore on the Grand Canal so that the meal could be transported by water. Instructions were circulated on how to prepare and cook the meal. Many could not read, so Rosse restated the Commission’s advice that it would be best served already cooked, since it was dangerous if not cooked properly and some would sell raw food for drink or tobacco. People who were better off could subsist or buy food when their potatoes ran out, but this meant drawing on savings, earning money, receiving rents or, in the case of farmers, selling crops or stock. Cereals grown by farmers as cash crops had to be brought to the many local mills, and from thence to Shannon Harbour for transport by canal to Dublin and subsequent distribution. By November, local millers were applying for military escorts to transport tons of flour to Shannon Harbour, and there were several reports of carts having been waylaid, drivers having been threatened with guns and sacks of flour having been stolen and scattered. Sheep and some cattle were stolen from farms, also. Rosse was in correspondence with Dublin Castle about this problem.58 A common complaint of his was that the new police force, not being local, was at a O’Neill 1998, 689, quoting NAI, RLFC2/Z441/41, 2 November 1846. 56 NAI, RLFC/3/2/15/08. 55

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57 58

NAI, RLFC3/2/15. NAI, RLFC3/2/15/08.

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disadvantage in procuring information, though it was possible to swear in trusted local men as special constables. The government changed its policy on relief in early 1847, and soup kitchens were introduced. Rosse suggested the addition of Egyptian beans to the soup, on the grounds that chemists claimed they were twice as nutritious as wheat, and cheaper as well, and so an order was placed for 20 tons of the beans.59 The capacity of Birr Workhouse, at 800, was adequate during 1846, but the health and immunity of the poor, weakened from prolonged hunger, deteriorated during 1847 and numbers entering the workhouse escalated. The unfortunate dispute between Captain Cox, secretary of the Relief Committee, and the Catholic parish priest, Fr Spain, continued, and dominated the proceedings during the end of 1846 and the beginning of 1847. The roots of the problem may have been sectarian and may have gone back to the early days of the workhouse. Whereas the Board of Guardians of Tullamore Workhouse gave the parish priest of Tullamore ‘permission to order chalice, books, vestments, etc. at the board’s expense’ in 1843, and the Board had already allowed the Sisters of Mercy to visit the sick there,60 the application of the parish priest of Birr, Fr John Spain, for an altar, vestments and chalice was turned down, and the Sisters of Mercy were refused permission to instruct the Catholic children in the Birr Workhouse in March 1844.61 Rosse was not on the Board of Guardians at the time, but Spain’s support for the Repeal movement would hardly have recommended him to many in power in Birr at that time. A letter he wrote to Daniel O’Connell, forwarding funds for the movement, was printed in the local paper.62 Spain, who visited the workhouse regularly, alleged irregularities there, and the Poor Law Commissioners initiated an inquiry. An inspector reported that nine inmates had in fact died ‘without receiving medical attendance or advice in the period preceding their death’. Blame was attached to the doctors and recommendations were made, but Spain was also censured because he had known about these events for too long before reporting them. Spain’s role in a still divided Catholic parish in Birr was a very difficult one, really more than he could handle with ease. It was he who invited the Sisters of Mercy to Birr, and the convent built to a design by Pugin gave employment during the Famine and was already inhabited by the time he died, in May 1848, from fever caught in the workhouse.63 King’s County Chronicle, 13 January 1847. 60 Murphy 2003, 109. 59

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Murphy 2003, 105. King’s County Chronicle, 26 August 1846. 63 O’Brien 1994, 35. 61 62

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Rosse earned frequent praise in the locality and from government officials for his work and concern during the early years of the Famine. In a letter to Charles Trevelyan (Treasury) in January 1847, Sir Randolph Routh (Relief Commission) reported Rosse as being convinced that there was ‘not more than six weeks provision in the county’. Routh continued: ‘He is an excellent man, and his judgment and character, will do much for the county to which he belongs.’64 A few weeks later, a Mr Fitzgerald, writing from Ferbane to W. T. Mulvany at the Board of Works, declared: I do not know any landlord, with the exception of Lord Ross [sic] and another small proprietor, who have taken any measures to enable their poor tenants to sow their lands. There are other proprietors who act like to besiegers of a town in ‘starving them out;’ cant their cows today, and get the tenants on the relief list tomorrow. I heard that three landlords acted in that way, and I mentioned it before some of them.65 But Rosse’s outlook changed in late 1847. He had been in London during the summer and, as an Irish representative peer, must have consulted on government policy and public opinion in England, where attitudes to the Famine had changed perceptibly. There was no end in sight to the ‘Irish problem’, there was a brief but disturbing financial crisis in the United Kingdom and what we now refer to as ‘famine fatigue’ had set in. There was a grave determination to absolve England of responsibility and to force Irish property, landlords and ratepayers to pay for Irish poverty at a time when many smallholders no longer could, or would, pay rates, placing an extra burden on those who did. Attitudes in Ireland were changing also; disillusionment with the landlord system and with English rule escalated, and the Repeal movement made gains at the general election in August. Sadly, the Rosses’ eldest child and only daughter, Alice, died in London in August from rheumatic fever, aged 8 years (p. 57).66 Whatever the reasons, Rosse’s genial, resourceful and helpful attitude changed progressively to a sterner, stricter and more entrenched one after he returned to Birr. The workhouse was deeply in debt by now, and over £1,000 was due to the bread contractor.67 Rosse repeatedly challenged the rate collectors to get the money in, even if it involved providing them with police protection to counter the threats that some received. Famine Ireland 5, 878. Famine Ireland 7, 187–8. 66 King’s County Chronicle, 4 August 1847. 64

65

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67

King’s County Chronicle, 6 October 1847.

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Parsonstown Union was among a minority of unions that refused to be involved in the scheme of Outdoor Relief in late 1847, after the soup kitchens were closed down. Those needing relief in Birr were then left with the workhouse as their only option. Both the scheme and the refusal to implement it were controversial, but the Birr decision appeared to be rigid, and favoured ratepayers over the poor. On Rosse’s death, 20 years later, an obituary in the King’s County Chronicle supported his decision, reporting that ‘against outdoor relief he persistently and resolutely set his face, and to his efforts we owe the circumstance that we, in Parsonstown, in the worst times, have not had recourse to that mode of relief ’. 68 The notorious Gregory clause, refusing access to the workhouse to any family holding more than a quarter of an acre of land, was devastating for the poor and caused problems for relieving officers and workhouse management, but the Earl’s statement as reported at a Board of Guardians meeting was peremptory and insensitive: In the House of Commons this clause was discussed and debated and carried by a very great majority … The policy of this clause appeared sound in principle, and most just in its operations, it drew a line between the pauper and the landholder; for the moment a landholder ceased to be able to support himself and his family out of the produce of his holding of land, he should surrender it and become a labourer. To be sure it is painful; the law provides; they have the workhouse.69 In December 1846, Rosse had written to Dublin Castle about the difficulties of smaller local landlords and agents, who lived in fear, as several had been assaulted or murdered, though for himself, he declared: ‘I have walked … many times … by roads, being fond of shooting, and generally alone, and have never experienced anything but the utmost civility’.70 But in December 1847, a year later, in a gloomier, entrenched frame of mind, he reported: The disposition of the people is now very much worse than it ever was in my recollection. I am told that they drink and gamble in the low public houses more than ever and there plan their murders. People of some degree of education and apparent respectability now contribute to familiarize the minds of the people with murder; such men for instance as surveyors, schoolmasters and even shopkeepers. 68

King’s County Chronicle, 6 November 1867.

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69 70

King’s County Chronicle, 5 July 1848. NAI, Outrage Reports 1846, 15/34773.

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The kind of language they are in the habit of using is that assassins are a necessary evil, that they are useful persons, that the landlord who enforces his rights in any way or that the mother who discharges a bad servant, that the man who lent money without interest to buy seed and endeavours to enforce repayment by legal means, that they are all tyrants and deserve to be murdered; that they will soon get rid of the landlords.71

Land In February 1847, Rosse published ‘Rules for the Management of Lord Rosse’s Estate’ in the local paper72 and in pamphlet form. The eight rules may be summarised as follows: 1 Rosse would contribute a certain sum to improvements made by tenants with permission. 2 To encourage such improvements, he would enter into an agreement affording a security similar to a lease of reasonable duration. 3 He would give full compensation for improvements to every tenant ejected from his farm for any reason. 4 No tenant was permitted to subdivide or to erect any building without permission in writing. 5 Permission must be sought for paring and burning. 6 Land-jobbing was prohibited. 7 The agent would facilitate emigration as far as was reasonable. 8 The tenant could have the best agricultural advice.

The highly emotive subject of eviction during the famine years is difficult to evaluate (see p. 144). The first eviction figures considered accurate by historians are those compiled by the police in 1849.73 But many records for King’s County were destroyed when the county courthouse in Tullamore was burned down during the Civil War in 1922.74 Landlords might initiate ejectment proceedings in court for disciplinary reasons, in order to shock reluctant tenants (and at times combinations of tenants) into paying up. They ejected or threatened to eject tenants for non-payment of rent, for holding on over the terms of leases or for subdividing without permission. They ejected tenants and 71 72

NAI, Outrage Reports 1847, 15/637. King’s County Chronicle, 3 February 1847.

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73 74

O’Neill 1998, 707. Byrne 2008, 51.

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restored them after negotiations. Some ejected because they were facing financial ruin themselves and had to pay the rates for tenants who had failed to do so. The more hard-hearted and materialistic ejected tenants so as to clear their land for more profitable use, or even to enhance the appearance of their mansions and demesnes. Whatever the motive, the outcome was terrible for those affected. Both primary sources and local folklore attribute a good reputation to Rosse as a landlord during the Famine, but, given the size of his estate and the number of his tenants, he did, on occasion, for one reason or another, resort to eviction or the threat of eviction. He wrote, referring to assaults on smaller landlords in 1847, that ‘there is another cause also which will contribute to render outrages more frequent; that in many cases the immediate lessee having paid poor rates for small tenants who have paid no rent, he will eject; and he will do so with less compunction’.75 A statement in the Atlas of the Great Irish Famine 76 that ‘over 500 people were cleared from the Rosse estate’ is not referenced, and awaits further clarification. An anonymous correspondent to the Freeman’s Journal in September 1849 gave his address as Moystown near Ferbane and forwarded a list of smallholders in his area who were ejected on Monday and Tuesday last by the Earl of Rosse … built themselves temporary sheds in the dykes … None of them wish to go into the poorhouse as each says he would be sure to die there … they get something to earn … as the harvest is gathering in and public works are going on, but when winter comes, they must all go to the poorhouse as they have no resource – no means to fall back on.77 Whatever was the eventual outcome of this or other such reports is difficult to determine at present.

Violence In 1839, William, Lord Oxmantown, was deeply affected by the murder of Lord Norbury at his demesne in Durrow near Tullamore (see p. 144). Three years previously, William’s brother Laurence had married Elizabeth Toler, Norbury’s daughter. As Lord Lieutenant of the county, William called a meeting of magistrates and was reported as uttering generalities about the Catholic clergy and the Irish peasantry who, he said, combined 75 76

NAI, Outrage Reports 1847, 15/558. Reilly 2012, 351.

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77

Freeman’s Journal, 22 September 1849.

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‘to effect that by assassination which they dare not attempt by open rebellion – virtually to wrest the property from the proprietors’. He had supported the Catholic Emancipation Act in 1829 but now saw it as the root cause of the ‘demoralisation of the peasantry’ because ‘little clubs of the lowest description of agitators were formed in different parishes; the landlords were calumniated and vilified … moreover most unfortunately the parish priest was a member of this club’.78 A protest meeting was called in Tullamore to ‘take into consideration the statements made by Lord Oxmantown … honest indignation was uttered by some village patriots at the foul and calumnious attack that had been made on them, and on those whom they prized still more dearly than themselves – their revered and beloved clergy’.79 The controversy, partly fuelled by political party rivalry, received much publicity and was taken up by Daniel O’Connell, who considered calling for the removal of Lord Oxmantown from office. The murder was discussed at length in the House of Commons, together with the persistent problem of crime in Ireland, and an impassioned speech from O’Connell ensued. 80 ‘Turbulent’ Tipperary, immediately to the south, was one of the most disturbed districts in the United Kingdom for part of the nineteenth century, its problems tending to spill over into the King’s County as we saw in the ‘Green Boys’ incident in Shinrone. The Parsons family had property in Tipperary, and part of north-west Tipperary came within the area of the Poor Law Union of Parsonstown. Faction fighting amongst labourers and small farmers was rife in some areas, as was the murder of landlords and their agents, especially in the wake of distraints and evictions. Even when crimes were perpetrated in public view and in broad daylight, evidence was almost impossible to find, as the very word ‘informer’ conferred such a stigma on individuals and their families that the authorities sometimes provided them with money to move away from their home areas for safety. The Nenagh Guardian reported on 22 May 1844: CRIME IN IRELAND Returns from the Clerks of the Crown and Clerks of the Peace of the several Counties, &c., in Ireland, of the number of persons committed to different gaols thereof for trial in the year 1843, have 78

Freeman’s Journal, 12 January 1839; Byrne 1994, 86–7.

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79 80

Freeman’s Journal, 24 January 1839. Annual Register 1839, 38–51.

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William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse been just presented to parliament. We find, if our calculations of the returns in question are correct, that the gross total number of commitments in the various counties of Ireland during the past year was as follows:– viz., Antrim, 841; Armagh, 475; Carlow, 353; Cavan, 668; Clare, 755; Cork, 2,010; Donegal, 388; Downshire, 606; town of Drogheda, 110; Dublin, 1,606; Fermangh, 343; Galway, 925; Kerry, 741; Kildare, 242; Kilkenny, 511; King’s County, 540; Leitrim, 454; Limerick, 1,019; Londonderry, 341; Longford, 304; Louth, 207; Mayo, 973; Meath, 392; Monaghan, 516; Queen’s County, 655; Roscommon, 713; Sligo, 477; Tipperary, 2,790; Tyrone, 495; Waterford, 553; Westmeath, 404; Wexford, 316; Wicklow, 305; making a grand total of committals amounting to about 21,028.

The Town Commission In 1852, over thirty Birr householders signed a memorial to the Lord Lieutenant asking to have the Lighting of Towns Act, 1828, applied to the town. Lord Rosse chaired the preliminary meeting, at which some objections were voiced to the additional tax of one shilling in the pound, but a majority prevailed and the first Parsonstown Town Commissioners were elected on an early nineteenth-century restricted franchise. They looked after the sanitary condition of the town and the provision of gas lighting. Lord Rosse, ineligible for membership, offered the Mechanics Institute (now John’s Hall) free of charge for future meetings.81 In 1857, the British Association for the Advancement of Science, of which Rosse was an honoured member, held its annual meeting in Dublin, and a trip by train to Birr to view the famous telescope was arranged (see also p. 315). The distinguished visitors would be collected by their local hosts at Brosna, as the line to Birr was still incomplete. Thomas Lalor Cooke was chairman of the Town Commission that year82 but is not listed as one of the hosts; he wrote an article in the local paper inviting guests to visit his own telescope and impressive museum in Cumberland Street, now Emmet Street.83 The cannon now on display in the grounds of John’s Hall was captured in 1855 at the battle of Sebastopol, during the Crimean War. It became the subject of a vicious squabble in 1858–59 provoked by attorney Cooke.84 He claimed that the gun had been presented to the town 81 82

Murphy 2003, 62–3. KCD 1890, 233.

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83 84

Hogan 1990, xxv–xxvi. Cooke 1875, 125.

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but that Rosse’s agent had arranged, in Cooke’s absence, for the Town Commissioners to pass a motion arranging for the gun to be placed in Rosse’s demesne ‘at his mansion’ and ‘encircled by many high walls and ramparts’. Cooke had a long letter printed for distribution to the Town Commissioners and the public in the style of a solicitor’s letter with many a ‘whereas’, ‘aforesaid’ and ‘hereby’: And I Hereby also Warn and Caution you, the said Earl of Rosse, against taking or permitting or causing to be taken or brought away or placed on your private premises under any pretence whatsoever or howsoever plausible or specious out of the public and open Town of Parsonstown the said Gun or Trophy so given for national public Exhibition to the Inhabitants of Parsonstown aforesaid … such Proceedings at Law or Equity as may be advised will be adopted to compel the Restoration of said Gun for display as a Trophy in some open and accessible part of said Town, according to the tenor of the Gift thereof; and this Notice will be made use of in the course of such Proceedings to fix you, the said Town Commissioners, and you, the said Earl … collectively or individually with the Costs of such Proceedings.85 The implication was that the Demesne was no longer freely open to the public, though Asenath Nicholson, whose main concern was for the poor, had found in 1844 that ‘the grounds are free to all ... The earl is mentioned as a man of great philanthropy, and much beloved by the gentry and poor’.86 Cooke had effusively dedicated his 1826 book, Picture of Parsonstown, to the Parsons family and composed a poem for the party celebrating the majority of William, Lord Oxmantown in 1821, but over the years grew hostile, for some reason. However, Birr and the surrounding midland areas are deeply indebted to Cooke for his vigorous research, his collection of historical information and his books and other writings.

Unionism and nationalism The political mood in Ireland was drifting fast, though the direction of the current was still unclear. Rosse, in defence of the connection with England and of his own propertied class, which he viewed as politically, legally and socially indispensable, published his thoughts on the topic of Repeal agitation in the local paper in June 1848. He wished to point 85

Birr Castle Archives, J/7.

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86

Nicholson 1847, 165.

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out to local readers that the ‘old Irish Constitution’ could not be revived: ‘The old proprietary boroughs are extinct; property no longer returns the Irish county members; Catholic emancipation has been conceded; and the influences all friendly to England in the old Irish House of Commons would not be found in the new one’. He itemised the dangers to Ireland and the United Kingdom of Repeal of the Union. As he saw it, capital would be frightened off, civil war inevitable, England would be forced to interfere, Irish propertied people with all the advantages of education and the appliances of modern civilisation would be pitted against a majority Irish peasantry without even gunpowder, since the ports would be blockaded87 (see also p. 126). John Mitchel had been sentenced in May to 14 years’ transportation for treason-felony, and an advertisement in June to the men of Birr to form a Confederate Club pleaded: ‘Come forward then Men of Birr, and shew yourselves determined to elevate your prostrate condition, and be no longer governed by an Alien Parliament, and AVENGE John Mitchel.’88 About 100 turned up for the meeting, according to a police report.89 In the latter years of Rosse’s life there were only a few incidents in the Birr area involving suspected Fenians.

Later years We can catch some glimpses of the life led by Rosse apart from his local responsibilities. Possibly twice yearly he travelled to England to attend the House of Lords, to visit friends and relatives, and his parents while they lived in Brighton, and see to the management of his wife’s property near Bradford in Yorkshire. At home, his wife lost four infants soon after birth, their only daughter died at the age of 8 and two of their sons at age 11 (see pp. 57–8). As a world-famous scientist, Rosse was in demand for lectures and, as a distinguished member of such organisations as the Royal Society and the British Association for the Advancement of Science, he entertained many visitors who came to see the telescope, though not all were satisfied, because of Ireland’s damp and cloudy climate. Rosse was appointed visitor to Maynooth College in 1845.90 Rev. Charles Russell, Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Maynooth, when he came to preach at a profession ceremony at the Convent of Mercy in Birr in November 1846, availed himself of an invitation to stay at 87 88

King’s County Chronicle, 28 June 1848. NAI, Outrage Reports 1848, 15/291.

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89 90

NAI, Outrage Reports 1848, 15/291. Birr Castle Archives, J/9.

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4.1 Fireworks at Parsonstown, the Seat of the Earl of Rosse (Illustrated London News, 15 February 1851)

Birr Castle91 (see also p. 151). Rosse’s opinion of the Ecclesiastical Titles Act 1851 (which made it an offence for Catholics to use episcopal titles) was, ‘Let it remain a dead letter – a monument of our folly, but not an active cause of dissension.’92 The Nation reported in 1858 that Cardinal Wiseman, on a tour of Ireland, was received by thousands when he came to Birr to see the ‘monster telescope’, whereas the Lord Lieutenant, the Earl of Eglinton, declined to attend a banquet in the Mansion House in Dublin because Wiseman would be in attendance.93 The Rosses were extremely wealthy and, on occasion, purchased expensive works of art, craft and household goods, clothing and means of transportation. They employed many servants and were reported as touring the Mediterranean with their family in their yacht in 186394 (see p. 68). Both William and Mary Rosse gained considerable expertise in physics and chemistry, and contemporary reports of a magnificent home-made fireworks display in February 1851 (Figure 4.1) state that ‘The fireworks were manufactured and altogether managed at the Castle, and it is said 91 92

Murphy 1992, 167–8. Senior 1868, 34.

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93 94

Nation, 4 September 1858. Nenagh Guardian, 22 August 1863.

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that fairer fingers than his Lordship’s were busied about the greater part of them … The fireworks would, it is said, have cost, if purchased prepared, £400.’95 A large collection of chemicals used by Mary Rosse to develop photographs still survives in Birr Castle (see Chapter 3), making her the likely candidate for the ‘fairer fingers’, and, considering Rosse’s preoccupation with security, the explosives needed to make the devices were doubtless available already in the Castle, together with some of the simpler chemicals used for colour and other effects. The report mentions an attendance of over 20,000 persons, that people came from far and near, hotels were all filled and guests were entertained at Birr Castle. The event might be viewed as insensitive, while there was still so much misery all around, as a scientific experiment, or as a ray of hope in the darkness of the times.

Conclusion William, 3rd Earl of Rosse, emerges as an intelligent, informed, tolerant and well-meaning man making his way through the contemporary minefields of Irish life and English politics, and experiencing disillusionment as he grew older. He was hardly prophetic in political terms, because loyalty to his class and to union with England led him to overlook or misinterpret important signs of the times both in England and in Ireland. His contribution to social welfare during one of the worst crises in Irish history was considerable and awaits further research. As a Famine landlord he was not in the rank of those few who mortgaged or sold all they had to support the poor. Neither was he amongst those who lived abroad in luxury, leaving their agents to ruthlessly exact rack-rents from tenants. He lived the life of a rich, influential family man and, though he had the option of living in England, he continued to live in Birr, was clearly concerned and made an impressive commitment in terms of time, advice, money and the provision of employment during most of his life. Local papers reported an accident to Rosse in February 1864, when a tree collapsed on him while he was amusing his sons by felling three trees at the one time. He ‘remained insensible for 10 or 15 minutes’96 and suffered serious injuries which may have contributed to the knee problem which caused his death in Dublin in October 1867. His funeral received major publicity. After a service in Trinity College, of which he had been Chancellor, his remains proceeded by train to Birr for a magnificent and 95

King’s County Chronicle, 3 February 1851; Illustrated London News,

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96

15 February 1851. Nenagh Guardian, 24 February 1864.

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well-attended funeral, followed by many laudatory obituaries. He was commemorated in Birr by a superb bronze statue commissioned from leading sculptor John Henry Foley (see Figure 10.1). The legacy of Rosse’s life in the Birr area has to include his astronomical and engineering achievements, as well as the encouragement he gave to his sons: to Laurence, who continued with astronomical research in Birr, and to Charles Algernon, who developed the steam turbine. Very progressive at the time was the support he gave to his wife Mary and his cousin Mary Ward, as women, to acquire such impressive expertise in photography and microscopy, respectively. He made many improvements to the centuries-old Demesne, but probably his greatest legacy to Birr is the giant telescope, which has brought fame to the town. It attracts visitors from all over the world, especially since it was restored and augmented by the Historic Science Centre, where his own achievements and those of his wife, his sons and cousin Mary Ward, as well as other Irish scientists, are celebrated.

References Annual Register 1839: Annual Register or a View of the History and Politics of the Year 1839, Rivington, London. Byrne 1994: Durrow in History: a Celebration of What Has Gone Before, edited by Michael Byrne, Esker Press, Tullamore. Byrne 1998: ‘Tullamore: the growth process 1785–1841’, by Michael Byrne, in Offaly History and Society. Interdisciplinary Essays on the History of an Irish County, edited by William Nolan and Timothy P. O’Neill, Geography Publications, Dublin. Byrne 2008: Legal Offaly: the County Courthouse at Tullamore and the Legal Profession in County Offaly from the 1820s to the Present Day, by Michael Byrne, Esker Press for Offaly Historical and Archaeological Society, Tullamore. Church of Ireland: a province of the Anglican Communion: Articles of Religion, 37. Cooke 1826: The Picture of Parsonstown in the King’s County, Containing the History of that Town from the Earliest Period to the Year 1798, Together with its Description at the Present Day, by Thomas Lalor Cooke, W. de Veaux, Dublin. Cooke 1875/1990: The Early History of the Town of Birr, or Parsonstown, with the Particulars of Remarkable Events There in More Recent Times also with the Towns of Nenagh, Roscrea, Banagher, Tullamore, Philipstown, Frankford, Shinrone, Kinnetty and Ballyboy, and the Ancient Septs, Princes, and Celebrated Places of the Surrounding Country, by Thomas Lalor Cooke, Robertson &

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Co., Dublin. Reprinted 1990, with Introduction by Margaret Hogan, at Esker Press, Tullamore, Co. Offaly. CPI 1835: First Report of the Commissioners of Public Instruction. Ireland 1835, Presented to both Houses of Parliament by Command of His Majesty, London. Crotty 1847/1850: A Narrative of the Reformation at Birr in the King’s County, Ireland, of which the Author was the Honoured Instrument, by the Rev. Michael Crotty, Hatchard, London; first edition 1847, second edition 1850. See: http://archive.org/stream/anarrativerefor00crotgoog#page/n6/ mode/2up. Crowley 2012: Atlas of the Great Irish Famine, edited by John Crowley, William J. Smyth and Mike Murphy, Cork University Press. Donnelly 1983: ‘Pastorini and Captain Rock: Millenarianism and Sectarianism in the Rockite Movement of 1821–4’, by James S. Donnelly, Jr, in Irish Peasants: Violence and Unrest 1780–1914, edited by Samuel Clark and James S. Donnelly, Jr, Manchester University Press, pp. 102–39. Famine Ireland 5/7: Reports. Correspondence Relating to the Measures Adopted for the Relief of Distress Arising from the Failure of the Potato Crop in Ireland with Similar Correspondence – Commissariat Series, Irish University Press Series of British Parliamentary Papers, Shannon Ireland, 1970. Hogan 1990: ‘Introduction’ by Margaret Hogan to the reprint of Cooke’s History of Birr, Esker Press, Tullamore, Co. Offaly, pp. i–xxxi. KCD 1890: King’s County Directory, published by The King’s County Chronicle, Parsonstown. Meehan 1972: The Members of Parliament for Laois and Offaly (Queen’s and King’s Counties) 1801–1918, by Patrick F. Meehan, Leinster Express Limited, Portlaoise. Murphy 1992: The Diocese of Killaloe, 1800–1850, by Ignatius Murphy, Four Courts Press, Dublin. Murphy 2003: Grand Jury Rooms to Áras an Chontae: Local Government in Offaly, by Michael Murphy, Anne Coughlan and Gráinne Doran, Offaly County Council. The Nation: Nationalist Weekly Newspaper, Dublin, published from 1842. NAI: National Archives of Ireland, Outrage Reports and Relief Commission Papers. Nicholson 1847: Ireland’s Welcome to the Stranger or an Excursion through Ireland in 1844 and 1845 for the Purpose of Personally Investigating the Condition of the Poor, by A[senath] Nicholson, Baker & Scribner, New York. O’Brien 1994: The Sisters of Mercy of Birr and Nenagh, by Sister Pius O’Brien, Sisters of Mercy, Ennis. O’Neill 1998: ‘The famine in Offaly’, by Tim P. O’Neill, in Offaly History and Society, Interdisciplinary Essays on the History of an Irish County, edited by William Nolan and Timothy P. O’Neill, Geography Publications, Dublin, pp. 681–731.

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Parsons L. 1834: An Argument to Prove the Truth of the Christian Revelation, by Laurence Parsons, 2nd Earl of Rosse, John Murray, London. Pey 2003: Eglish and Drumcullen, A Parish in Firceall, edited by Brian Pey, Firceall Heritage Group, Eglish, Co. Offaly. Reilly 2012: ‘King’s County during the great famine’, by Ciarán Reilly, in Atlas of the Great Irish Famine, edited by John Crowley, William J. Smyth and Mike Murphy, Cork University Press, pp. 349–53. Rogers 1974: ‘Reformation in Birr (Part II)’, by Robert J. Rodgers, The Bulletin of the Presbyterian Historical Society of Ireland, No. 4, April 1974, pp. 2–6. Senior 1868: Journals, Conversations and Essays relating to Ireland, Vol. II, by Nassau William Senior, Longmans, Green & Co., London.

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five

Negotiating ‘a difficult sectarian terrain’: the public life and political opinions of the 3rd Earl of Rosse Andrew Shields The public life and political opinions of the 3rd Earl of Rosse

T

his chapter will examine the political career and public life of William Parsons, the 3rd Earl of Rosse, in the years between his first election as an MP for King’s County (present-day Offaly) in 1821 and his death in October 1867. Like his father, Laurence Parsons, the 2nd Earl of Rosse, the 3rd Earl could, with considerable justice, be described as a ‘reluctant politician’.1 As the rest of this book demonstrates, he had an extremely wide range of interests and, among these, politics played only a relatively minor part. This was true even during the period when he sat as one of the two MPs for King’s County in the House of Commons. Rosse’s keen intellectual curiosity meant, however, that when he did become interested in particular issues, such as the currency question in the mid- to late-1820s or the Irish education and land questions in which he took a keen interest throughout his life, he studied them extremely closely and endeavoured to keep up with the best authorities (as they were perceived at the time) in those fields. His position, first as the heir to one of the largest estates in the county and, later, as a substantial landowner in his own right, also meant that he was drawn, however reluctantly, into playing an important role in the public life of King’s County itself. Rosse also occupied a complex position as a prominent member of the largely Church of Ireland ruling elite, living in a county where a substantial majority of the population and, indeed, of his own tenantry, were Roman Catholic. Rosse’s early years in parliament also coincided with one of the most volatile periods in Irish political life, that is, the period leading up to the Scaife 2000, 14.

1

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introduction of Catholic Emancipation in 1829. Those years saw a rising Catholic militancy in the country, a militancy which was, perhaps, best exemplified by the formation of the Catholic Association in 1823. These years also saw a significant rise in the level of agrarian crime in King’s County itself. Indeed, their response as local magistrates to a number of those ‘outrages’ was to involve both the 3rd Earl (then known by the courtesy title of Lord Oxmantown) and his father, the 2nd Earl of Rosse, in a number of very public controversies. Cumulatively, such controversies had a detrimental effect on the former’s political prospects, and they may explain why he did not seek re-election for the county in 1835. We will explore those controversies and their consequences in more detail later in the chapter. Throughout his life, Rosse was to be a strong defender of the rights of property and of the privileges of the landed class to which he belonged. Indeed, he frequently repeated his conviction that the solution to the Irish land question did not lie in any radical transformation of the existing relationships between landlord and tenant but, rather, rested on the large-scale emigration of the poorer farmers and agricultural labourers from the country.2 Later in his life, however, Rosse’s reputation as a moderate Conservative was to mean that he was seen as a valuable ally by a number of leading Conservatives, who shared his broadly tolerant attitude towards Roman Catholicism. This group included individuals like Lord Naas, who was three times Irish Chief Secretary between 1852 and 1868, and Lord Donoughmore, the leading figure in the Conservative Party in the South of Ireland in the 1850s and 1860s.3 The first section of this chapter will focus on Rosse’s family background and on the influence this had on his later political opinions. The second section examines Rosse’s period as an MP between 1821 and 1834. The two final sections of the chapter will explore Rosse’s attitudes toward the land and education questions in Ireland, respectively. The first question was, of course, one that touched him very directly in his position as a landlord. The second was one in which he took a keen interest in the years after he left the House of Commons. Rosse’s support for the National Education system, first established in 1831, also clearly distinguished him from the large number of his colleagues within the Conservative Party in Ireland who strongly disapproved of it on religious grounds. See Parsons W. 1847, 20–22 and Parsons W. 1867, 6–11. 3 See, for example, National Library 2

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of Ireland, 11,036 (11), and Trinity College Dublin Archives Department, H/19/1/1355.

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Family background and early political influences In terms of his family background, it should be noted here that Rosse was heir to a rather ambivalent political tradition. Through his father, he had a direct connection to the ‘Patriot’ group, which had played a critical role within the Irish House Commons in the late eighteenth century. Influenced by the ideas of thinkers such as Jonathan Swift and William Molyneux, the ‘Patriot’ group had argued that the character of British rule in Ireland up to that time had resulted in the neglect of Irish interests and the treatment of Ireland as a ‘subject’ rather than as a ‘sister’ kingdom to Britain. In order to back up this claim, these thinkers had argued that Ireland was a Nation, and not a colony. As a ‘Nation’, it was equal in status to England and its ‘national’ interests deserved to be given the same weight as was accorded to the national interests of England. This claim to ‘Nationhood’ rested on a number of rather tortuous historical arguments, centring on the incomplete nature of the British conquest of Ireland, the long tradition of Irish independence before British rule and the fact that Ireland continued to have its own independent institutions like the Irish parliament and the Irish law courts. It should be noted here, however, that these thinkers were arguing for the interests of what they described as the ‘Protestant Nation’ of Ireland. The ‘Nation’ to which many of them referred was the ‘Political Nation’, from which Roman Catholics were almost entirely excluded at that time. These Protestant Nationalists, as they have been described, did not wish to see an end to the connection with Britain, and many of them, including Henry Flood, Laurence Parsons’ principal political mentor, were, initially at least, ambivalent about the extension of political rights to Irish Catholics.4 By contrast, early in his career, Parsons had supported a limited extension of the right to vote to Catholics, as long as this step did not threaten the maintenance of the privileges of the existing, largely Protestant, ruling elite in the country.5 In line with his espousal of ‘Patriot’ opinions, Laurence Parsons strongly opposed the Act of Union of 1800, which put an end to the separate Irish parliament in Dublin.6 From 1801 onwards, Irish MPs would sit in the British parliament at Westminster, rather than in the Irish one at College Green in Dublin. There, they would be in a perpetual minority. At the time that the Act was passed, Irish MPs made Kelly 1998, 304–6. Scaife 2000, 12

4 5

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See Malcomson 1998, 448; Scaife 2000, 15.

6

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up just 100 of the 650 or so MPs sitting in the House of Commons. In consequence, the indirect British control over Ireland that had previously existed was to be replaced by direct British control over the country. On the other hand, the Union would also make it easier for the British government to grant concessions to Irish Roman Catholics, who would then, to quote Roy Foster’s words, ‘constitute a safely diluted minority within the United Kingdom’.7 It was the fear that the British government might go too far in its attempts to conciliate Irish Roman Catholic opinion which was one of the main reasons why many Ascendancy politicians opposed the Union. Eventually, however, they came to accept it as the best security for the maintenance of their predominant position in Ireland. This gradual movement towards support of the Union on the part of leading members of the Anglo-Irish Ascendancy was largely prompted by the growth in the political strength of the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland over the course of the nineteenth century. This shift in opinion was also driven by the emergence of a middle-class Catholic political leadership there, a group represented most notably by Daniel O’Connell. This group’s advocacy of greater rights for Irish Catholics was combined with a commitment to securing a greater degree of Irish independence from Britain, albeit still within the framework of the British Empire. After securing Emancipation in 1829, O’Connell had almost immediately launched another similar mass movement, this time directed towards securing the repeal of the Act of Union. It is important to note here that what O’Connell now sought was not the complete separation of Ireland from Britain; rather, what he was seeking was the restitution of an Irish parliament to deal with specifically Irish affairs. In a letter in 1833, he claimed that what he proposed was ‘the restoration [of] the Irish parliament with the full assent of [Irish] Protestants and Presbyterians as well as Catholics’. According to O’Connell, he desired ‘no social revolution, no social change … In short, salutary restoration without revolution, an Irish Parliament, British connection, one King, two legislatures.’8 However, the 3rd Earl was unconvinced by such arguments. For Rosse, such a restoration of the ‘old Irish constitution’ was ‘impossible’ as ‘the materials’ for it were no longer in existence. In his view, the concession of Catholic Emancipation by the British parliament in 1829, and the changes brought about in Ireland by the 1832 Reform Act, meant that the old ‘influences all friendly to Britain which [had] ruled the old Irish House of Commons’ were no longer in place. Foster 1989, 291.

7

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O’Tuathaigh 1972, 162.

8

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Like many other Irish Conservatives, Rosse believed that, while the loyalty of Irish Protestants to the connection with Britain had been indisputable, this was simply not the case with regard to their Catholic countrymen. Ultimately, then, he believed that Repeal, if granted in response to the O’Connellite campaign, would eventually be followed by ‘an immediate clashing’ between the new, Catholic-dominated Irish parliament and its British counterpart. According to Rosse, the inevitable outcome of such tensions would be ‘a complete separation’ between the two countries, followed by a civil war within Ireland itself. This civil war would inevitably result, he claimed, in a victory for those favourable to the restoration of Ireland’s links with Britain. On that side, he suggested, would be found the owners of ‘property, the great majority of the people of education’ and a large section of the population ‘with all the appliances of modern warfare’, while on the other side there would be ‘perhaps a numerical majority of the population’ but they would be ‘without supplies [and] without even gunpowder’ (see p. 116). The eventual result of such a conflict could not be doubted and, given this belief, Rosse viewed the entire agitation for Repeal as being futile and self-defeating. Indeed, its only real effect, he believed, would be to retard ‘the progress of the country’ and to prevent capitalists from other countries (particularly from other parts of Britain) from investing there.9 By this point, then, Rosse, had moved, albeit reluctantly, towards support for the maintenance of the Union settlement. This shift in position on his part perhaps reflected his awareness that the Union represented the best available security for the maintenance of the predominant position of the largely Church of Ireland landed elite in Ireland, to which he belonged.

Early years as MP for King’s County The 3rd Earl’s first major involvement in Irish political life came at a relatively young age. In July 1821, at the age of only 21, he was returned as an MP for King’s County, succeeding to the seat on the appointment of his uncle, John Clere Parsons, as Chief Commissioner of the Insolvent Court in Ireland. Despite initial rumours to the contrary, Oxmantown’s return at that election was unopposed.10 It should be noted here that, throughout his parliamentary career, Oxmantown (as he was then known), was hardly a professional politician in the modern sense. Indeed, in several respects he resembled the typical English county member as described by H. J. Hanham: ‘[he] was a solid county gentleman or the Birr Castle Archives, J/11a.

9

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10

Salmon 2009.

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son of one of the lesser peers … He was not a politician in the ordinary sense, rarely spoke in the House [of Commons] and spent a great deal of the [parliamentary] session in the country.’11 For such MPs, representing their counties in parliament was, to a large extent, seen as a necessary function of their position as landowners. It was also seen as an extension of the other responsibilities of their station, which included taking a leading role in local government and the administration of justice in those areas in which they held their land. In line with Hanham’s portrayal of the typical landed MP, Oxmantown spent little time in the House of Commons during his early years as an MP. Although his attendance there increased over time, he was never to become a regular speaker in the House, and the interventions that he did make tended to be short ones.12 Despite Oxmantown’s apparent lack of political ambitions, he did, however, have a number of important advantages in entering parliament, which many other new MPs there lacked. Through his father’s political connections, for example, he had ready access to veteran Irish MPs like Denis Browne, the MP for Kilkenny City, who had sat for the Mayo County constituency in the Irish House of Commons from 1782 to 1800. After the Union, Browne had continued to represent the county until 1818, when he was returned for Kilkenny. During his time in London, Oxmantown also befriended John Wilson Croker, later a prominent figure within the Conservative Party, who, at that time, was already developing a reputation both as a highly combative political journalist and as an able parliamentary debater.13 As we saw earlier in the chapter, Oxmantown’s early years in parliament also coincided with one of the most critical periods in nineteenth-century Irish history. It was in those years that the Daniel O’Connell-led Catholic Association was to develop into the most potent challenge to the Anglo-Irish dominance in Ireland since the outbreak of the rebellion there in 1798. This increased Catholic militancy, combined with the concurrent Evangelical Protestant campaign for the conversion of the Catholic peasantry, and the agricultural distress which was caused by the ending of the Napoleonic wars in 1815, meant that sectarian rivalry between the two major denominations in Ireland grew increasingly intense. Even for relatively liberal landowners like the Rosse family, these heightened sectarian tensions had significant repercussions. An indication of this was the death threat which, it was rumoured, was made in March 1820 against both Lord Oxmantown and his father. 11 12

Hanham 1978, 4. Salmon 2009.

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13

See Birr Castle Archives, D/22/1, D/22/14.

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5.1  Birr Castle, 1895

Although the report ultimately proved to be without foundation, it nonetheless resulted in the despatch of a large military force from the barracks at Templemore to defend Birr Castle (Figure 5.1) (see p. 94). This incident, which later became known as the ‘siege of Birr’ indicated clearly the ‘difficult sectarian terrain’,14 as Garrett Scaife has described it, which the Rosse family had to negotiate at the time and which Lord Rosse had to contend with for the remainder of his life. This difficult terrain was rendered even more complex by the growing political potency of the O’Connell-led campaign for Catholic Emancipation. In these circumstances, despite their own increasingly ambivalent feelings about the political character of Irish Catholicism,15 the Rosse family had to thread a careful path though the political challenge which the campaign for Emancipation posed for them. It should be noted here also that the family had long maintained a very good relationship with the local Catholic clergymen on their estates. Indeed, Oxmantown himself, along with his father, had taken part in the launch ceremony for the new Catholic church in Parsonstown (now Birr) in 1817 (see p. 95). At that ceremony, Oxmantown had turned the first stone on a building for which his father had provided the site, the building materials and a grant of £100 towards its construction.16 Despite their tolerant attitude towards Catholicism at a local level, 14 15

Scaife 2000, 13–18. Malcomson 1998, 461–62; Bew 2011,

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16

573. Scaife 2000, 13.

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5.2 Oxmantown Mall, Parsonstown

the ambivalence which the Rosse family felt towards the O’Connellite agitation was further demonstrated in February 1825, when Oxmantown voted in favour of the suppression of the Catholic Association by the Lord Wellington-led government. Although he did not state his reasons for doing so at that time, they were probably similar to those put forward by his father on the dissolution of the Catholic Committee in 1811. At that time, while defending the right of Catholics to campaign for an extension of their political rights, the 2nd Earl of Rosse had also argued that the ‘representative’ character of the Committee meant that it posed a threat both to the public order and to the existing constitution in Britain and Ireland.17 While Oxmantown had supported the suppression of the Association, he nonetheless continued to support the extension of greater political rights to Irish Catholics in the House of Commons. On a number of occasions in 1825–26, for example, he voted in favour of measures for Catholic Relief. He also declared his support for Emancipation when standing for re-election for King’s County in 1826. His support for Emancipation also played an important part in ensuring that he was returned without a contest on that occasion. In February 1829, he also 17

Malcomson 1998, 459.

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voted with the majority in favour of the Catholic Relief Bill introduced by the Wellington-led government.18 The complexity of Oxmantown’s political position at this time was further demonstrated by the fact that, just before the introduction of Emancipation, he had been prominently involved in the suppression of a Catholic demonstration intended to be held at Shinrone in County Offaly (see p. 100). From the perspective of many Irish Protestants, the timing of the holding of the meeting was seen as provocative, as the Irish government had just issued a proclamation against the holding of any such demonstrations in Ireland. While the meeting did not have the official backing of the Catholic Association, its organisers did include a number of prominent members of that ­organisation in King’s County itself. However, the national leadership of the Association was wary about the proposed march through Shinrone, as at that time the town was a stronghold of the Orange Order in King’s County. In consequence, the proposed march, which, it was rumoured, might attract up to 50,000 participants, clearly had the potential to end in an outbreak of sectarian violence there.19 Under these circumstances, on 25 September 1828 Oxmantown had warned Sir William Gregory, then the Irish undersecretary, of the possibility that a ‘conflict of the most serious nature’ might break out in the town if the proposed demonstration were allowed to take place.20 After receiving this letter, the Chief Secretary of Ireland, Sir Francis Leveson-Gower, authorised the sending of a large military force to Shinrone. At the same time, the leaders of the Catholic Association at the national level, together with local Catholic clergymen, made strenuous efforts to dissuade people from taking part in it. They also put pressure on the organisers of the meeting to cancel it. Ultimately, this combination of military force and moral persuasion proved successful in preventing the type of violent confrontation which Oxmantown had initially feared. His actions in relation to the march were subsequently praised by Leveson-Gower, who believed that these had ‘broken the neck’ of the proposed demonstration and had achieved this result without the necessity for more extensive government intervention.21 It was clear, however, that the suppression of the meeting was a further demonstration of the complicated nature of the sectarian terrain which the Rosse family would have to negotiate once Catholic Emancipation had been introduced. 18 19

Salmon 2009. Owens 1997, 532–33.

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20 21

Salmon 2009. Peel 1856, 237.

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The currency question A striking indication of Lord Oxmantown’s tendency, even at this early stage of his political career, to concentrate on those issues in which he took a personal interest, is the relative place taken in his correspondence from the mid-1820s onwards by the issues of Catholic Emancipation and currency reform. The first issue, despite its central place in Irish political history, occupies very little space in it. By contrast, the currency question and its relationship to the economic distress then prevalent across Britain and Ireland was a central concern of his for much of this period. The interest in the subject displayed by both Oxmantown and by his younger brother, John, also owed a good deal to their studies in the then relatively new subject of political economy. The interest of both men in the currency question may also have been a result of their father’s influence, as the 2nd Earl of Rosse had published a pamphlet on the issue in 1811.22 As in their father’s day, the central issue with which the two brothers attempted to grapple was to develop an explanation for the recent run on the British and Irish banks. This run had resulted in a severe drain on the country’s bullion and paper currency reserves. It was the product of a sudden crash, which had followed a period of large-scale commercial speculation, much of it centred on shipbuilding companies, but which had also involved the building of docks and railways and investing in foreign mining companies (particularly Latin American ones). The collapse of this short-term boom had led to a ‘bout of liquidations’ and bank failures, both in the United States and in Britain.23 It also brought renewed attention to the question of what type of currency system would best prevent a recurrence of the same type of crisis. Among the rival systems proposed at the time were a completely metallic-based one, a combined paper money and metallic system and a completely paper model. From an early stage in the crisis, Oxmantown took a keen interest in it. Indeed, in his correspondence with his father on the subject he displayed a striking degree of self-confidence in his own judgements in relation to it. There is also a marked air of precociousness about these letters, given that he was only in his mid-twenties. In an early letter on the topic to his father, for example, Oxmantown airily observed to the latter that he was ‘probably aware’ that there were ‘two causes which render[ed] a metallic currency’ particularly liable to fluctuation: ‘the one natural, owing from the increasing or diminishing rate of internal intercourse’, and the other 22

Parsons L. 1811.

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23

Checkland 1964, 14.

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arising ‘from [a commercial] panic’ which induced ‘individuals to hoard up the circulating medium’. The letters are also often highly critical of the writings of contemporary thinkers; for example, a highly influential pamphlet on the topic by Thomas Tooke is described as being based on ‘generally false’ reasoning which led the author into flawed conclusions.24 On several occasions in this correspondence, Oxmantown also referred to his intention to prepare a pamphlet on the currency question. He also described the background reading that he had undertaken for that purpose. In the event, however, this pamphlet does not seem to have been completed. On a number of occasions he also referred to his intention to speak on the subject in the House of Commons, but, by his own account, he never quite found the opportune moment to do so. In February 1826, for example, he reported to Lord Rosse that he had attended parliament the previous night ‘intending to speak on this question, but owing to the numbers who got up at any opportunity near the Speaker’, he had not ‘even with D[enis]. Browne’s assistance succeed[ed] in catching his eye while it was sufficiently early’.25 His concern to give a rationale for his failure to speak on that occasion may, perhaps, indicate that Oxmantown was concerned that his father did not entirely approve of his reluctance to take a prominent part in the House of Commons. Oxmantown’s own preferred solution to the economic crisis then facing Britain was that the Bank of England should be given the exclusive power to issue paper notes. He proposed this because both he and his brother believed that the over-issue of paper money by the smaller banks in the run-up to the crisis had helped to drive down the price of gold. This reduction in its price had then, in their view, made it easier for gold to leave the country. In addition, in their view, the over-issuing of notes by the regional banks had led to a depreciation of the currency in those areas where this had occurred.26 According to Oxmantown, this depreciation had helped to fuel the run on the Bank of England, which had further exacerbated the crisis. However, if, in future, the power to issue notes were restricted to the Bank of England, Oxmantown believed that this would prevent the ‘fluctuations in the currency’ that had led to the immediate crisis in 1826. In his view, the Bank of England also had a far more intimate knowledge of the workings of the financial markets than did its regional counterparts.27 Whatever were the merits of his arguments in relation to these highly technical questions, Oxmantown’s correspondence on the subject shows 24 25

Birr Castle Archives, D/22/3 . Birr Castle Archives, D/22/4.

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26 27

Birr Castle Archives, D/22/8. Birr Castle Archives, D/22/3.

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that he took an extremely keen interest in it. He also undertook a wide range of reading on the subject. He also displayed a keen ability to absorb highly complex arguments and to develop a coherent case of his own on the basis of his reading. His close engagement with this topic also, perhaps, indicates that the portrayal of him as being a ‘reluctant politician’ may be slightly exaggerated. However, it was also the case that, during his political career, it was only a small number of political issues like the currency question which really engaged Oxmantown’s attention.

Political difficulties, 1829–35 Oxmantown’s nascent political career was, however, threatened by the fact that the passing of Catholic Emancipation had rendered the Parsons family’s hold over the King’s County seat more tenuous. Throughout the country, the political mobilisation of the Catholic peasantry, first by the Catholic Association and subsequently by its successor organisation, the Repeal Association, had rendered it more difficult for landlords to exert the same level of electoral influence as they had done in the past. This was particularly the case in those constituencies like King’s County where Catholics were in a sizeable majority. One indication of this shift in the political thinking of Catholic voters in the county was the formation of an Independent Club there in September 1828. A key objective of the new body was, it was claimed, to prevent the representation of the county becoming ‘debased in the mire of servitude’ to the Rosse and Bernard families, who had dominated the parliamentary representation there since the Act of Union.28 Although, in the short term, the foundation of the club had little impact, in the long term it proved to be a portent of further challenges to the electoral dominance of the sitting MPs there, which had been largely unchallenged since the passing of the Act of Union. As we have seen, Oxmantown was also strongly opposed to the O’Connell-led agitation for the repeal of the Union, and this rendered it more difficult for him to attract the support of those Catholics who favoured it. Indeed, it may well have been pressure from his constituents that led Oxmantown to support the Lord Grey-led Whig government’s Reform Act of 1832. He did so despite having stated in parliament in 1830 that he had always been opposed to such a measure. At that time, he had defended his stance on the grounds that parliamentary reform was 28

Dublin Evening Post, 25 September 1828 .

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unnecessary because the United Kingdom was already well governed. He also praised the existing constitution as maintaining a balance between arbitrary power and ‘the continual oscillation of public opinion’.29 Despite this stance, Oxmantown stood at the 1831 general election as a ‘decided and uncompromising supporter of reform’. His support for parliamentary reform had significant electoral advantages for Oxmantown on this occasion, as he finished top of the poll. At this point in his career, Oxmantown was also, somewhat misleadingly, often identified in the press as either a ‘Whig’ or a ‘Liberal’.30 Broadly speaking, however, he could more fittingly be seen as a moderate conservative who was willing to accept reforms like Catholic Emancipation and parliamentary reform as long as they did not threaten to too great a degree the interests of the landed class to which he belonged. Later in his life, indeed, he identified himself primarily with the Conservative Party,31 although he was never to be a ‘party’ politician in the modern sense. It was this perceived political moderation on Oxmantown’s part which spurred the concerted efforts that the Independent Club made to secure alternative, more radical Liberal candidates to stand against the two sitting candidates. In 1831, for example, it ran John Craven Westentra, a younger son of Lord Rossmore, against them, although he eventually retired from the contest when it became apparent that he could not win it. During the election campaign, Lord Rossmore, a moderate Liberal with some political connections to O’Connell, described Oxmantown and the other MP for the County, Thomas Bernard, as being only ‘hollow friends’ of reform.32 This agitation for a change in the character of the political representation of the county was continued in November 1832, when a large meeting was held in Tullamore with the expressed intention of securing the ‘political independence’ of the constituency. The Freeman’s Journal also took the opportunity, when reporting the holding of the meeting, to criticise the ‘political thraldom’ into which King’s County had fallen. For the Freeman, the fact that there had not been an electoral contest in the county for over 30 years served as ample proof of the lack of any real independence among the voters there.33 The cumulative effect of these ‘Independent’ campaigns was clearly demonstrated in a letter which the 2nd Earl of Rosse sent to his close friend, Lady Charleville, in January 1833. In it, Rosse complained that Mirror of Parliament III, 1980. Salmon 2009. 31 See, for example, Dixon Hardy 1853, 156–8. 29 30

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The Times, 24 December 1831; Macintyre 1965, 59. 33 Freeman’s Journal, 30 November 1832. 32

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the Catholic tenants on his estate had told him that they would ‘rather abandon their farms and go to America than vote for a Conservative candidate’. Their reluctance to support a Conservative was, perhaps, one of the main reasons why Oxmantown had gone under the designation of ‘Liberal’ at that election. According to Rosse, Oxmantown had started the contest with ‘the promise of a large majority’ in the county but, as a result of what his father described as ‘the system of intimidation’ exercised by the ‘popular’ party (as he described it) there, it had rapidly become a ‘terrible struggle’ for him even to retain his seat. Rosse also claimed that the system of intimidation which took place during the election was something ‘heretofore unknown in our county’. Immediately before the election, Rosse claimed, ‘bands of armed men’ had visited the homes of Catholic voters, ‘robbing them of their arms which they said they would return after the election’. They also compelled the householders to swear that they would vote for the ‘popular candidate’, that is, the O’Connellite candidate, Nicholas Fitzsimon (Figure 5.3). Against these intimidatory tactics, Oxmantown had had little choice, his father argued, but to depend on the ‘gentlemen’ of the County, who had overwhelmingly supported his return.34 Although Oxmantown was elected on that occasion, he was returned by a very close margin, and this did not bode well for his electoral prospects in the county in the future. Over the next three years, there was to be clear evidence of a deterioration in the relationships between the largely Church of Ireland landowners in the county and their Catholic tenantry. One of the principal indications of this deterioration was the rise in the level of agrarian crime. Although some contemporaries claimed that this rise represented a significant shift in the character of the relationship between landlords and tenants, which previously had been good, such claims were not entirely true. Even in the 1820s, for example, there had been a relatively high level of agrarian crime in the county. However, it was, nonetheless, an undisputed fact that one of the effects of the repeal agitation had been to heighten sectarian tensions.35 One indication of this heightening of tensions was the rise in the number of the attacks on both landowners themselves and their agents in the county from 1832 onwards. In a debate in the House of Lords in March 1839, Lord Charleville, a leading local landowner, claimed that in the two years between 1832 and 1834, outrages there had risen 34

University of Nottingham Manuscripts and Special Collections Department,

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35

MY371. Reilly 2012, 18.

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5.3 Election poster by Rosse’s opponent in the 1832 election, Nicolas Fitzsimon

from 271 to 505.36 There were also a number of high-profile attacks on landlords in the county in the years between 1832 and 1839, the most notorious of these being the murder of Lord Norbury in January 1839 (see p. 112). In Oxmantown’s opinion, this rise in crime in King’s County was attributable to the operation of a number of agrarian secret societies. According to one recent account, among the societies in operation at this time were the Rockites and the Terryalts.37 In Oxmantown’s view, 36

Mirror of Parliament 11, 1455.

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37

Reilly 2012, 16–20.

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the strength of these societies rested on the fact that, while they were ‘directly opposed to the law’, ultimately they were stronger than it was because they ‘punished the violations of … [their] mandates with more severity and infinitely more certainty’ than did the law.38 Several years later, Oxmantown told Nassau Senior, the well-known British economist, that one of the main problems facing Ireland was that it was governed by ‘two different and repugnant systems of laws’. The first of these, he claimed, was ‘enacted by Parliament and enforced by the courts’, while the second was ‘concocted in the whiskey shop and executed by the assassin’.39 Whatever the merits of Oxmantown’s arguments on this point, his involvement as a senior magistrate (he had become Lord Lieutenant of the county in 1831) in the suppression of such agrarian disturbances also did little to advance his electoral popularity there. Given this unpromising electoral situation, it was, perhaps, unsurprising that Oxmantown decided not to re-contest the King’s County seat at the general election held in January–February 1835. In a circular which he prepared, but in the event did not send to his supporters, Oxmantown defended his decision not to stand again for the constituency on the grounds that the registration of what he described as ‘unqualified voters’ by the ‘Repeal faction’ had made it impossible for him to win the seat. According to him, the valuations on which many of them had been registered were inaccurate, and this had led to the qualified electors in the constituency being swamped by a ‘host of paupers’. By swamping the electorate in this way, Oxmantown argued, the Repeal Association had also ‘destroy[ed] the legitimate and constitutional influence of property’.40 In a conversation with Nassau Senior several years later, Rosse (who had succeeded to that title on the death of his father in 1841) reiterated his opposition to the existing franchise in Ireland. For Rosse, the £10 freehold franchise, first established in 1829, had given the vote to far too many individuals who were close to being ‘paupers’. His recommendation was that the electoral franchise in Ireland should be made more exclusive. In his view, the system should have been weighted, through a system of plural voting, in the favour of the ‘large[r] tenants and landlords’, as against those with smaller holdings. He was also strongly opposed to the introduction of the secret ballot for Irish elections, as he believed that this would leave the Catholic priests’ influence ‘untouched’ but would ‘destroy’ that of the landlord.41 From the nature of his conversations with Nassau Senior, it is clear 38 39

HC1834 (459) xlvii, 435. Senior 1868, 32.

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40 41

Birr Castle Archives, E/29, J11b. Senior 1868a, 22.

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that his experiences in King’s County in the early 1830s had led to a shift to the right in Rosse’s political thinking. His attitudes towards the Catholic clergy also became more ambivalent at this time, as he began to believe that a significant element within them formed a part of the broader conspiracy, as he saw it, against British rule in Ireland. Like some of his Conservative contemporaries, Rosse believed, as did Lord Claud Hamilton, a leading member of the Irish wing of the Conservative Party, that ‘the franchise bestowed upon the Roman Catholic voters’ did not belong to them, but to their ‘spiritual pastors’.42 Indeed, from Rosse’s perspective, the electoral changes introduced in Ireland in the late 1820s and early 1830s had ‘by giving the franchise to the petty occupiers … put the [parliamentary] representation into the hands of the priests’.43 The result of these changes in the franchise had been, Rosse claimed, to allow the election of sub-standard candidates to parliament, like those who had been returned for King’s County from the mid-1830s onwards. These included, Rosse claimed, one who was himself ‘a whiskey seller’, while his uncle, ‘the head of the family’, still lived ‘in a cabin’.44 It was, perhaps, the expression of such sentiments that led Lord Clarendon, a leading Liberal politician who was then the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, to describe Rosse in 1849 as being an ‘odd … man, rather crotchety and tory’.45 Rosse’s retirement from the representation of King’s County helped to usher in a long period of Liberal Party electoral dominance there, a dominance which persisted until the late 1850s and owed a good deal to the influence of the Catholic clergy. It should be noted here that Rosse’s withdrawal from the representation of King’s County in 1834 did not mean the end of his public career. He remained an extremely significant figure in local government in King’s County, playing a crucial role in the relief efforts made there during the Great Famine of 1845 to 1851 (see Chapter 4). From February 1845 onwards, he was also an Irish representative peer, that is, one of the twenty-eight Irish peers elected by their fellows to represent them in the House of Lords. His prominence as an astronomer and as a leading member of the Royal Society (of which he was President from 1848 to 1854), and his close connections within the British political and social elite, also ensured that he remained an important figure in Irish public life right up until his death in 1867. He also continued to take a keen interest in a number of the central questions in Irish politics during this period. 42 43

Dublin Evening Mail, 2 August 1852. Senior 1868a, 22.

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44

Senior 1868a, 22.

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The land question Of these questions, it was the land question in which Lord Rosse had the most direct personal interest. As a resident landlord who took a very keen interest in the running of his estate, he stood out in a county where many of his fellow landowners were absentees46 (see p. 104). Given his scientific interests, he was also a keen student of contemporary efforts to introduce more effective agricultural techniques amongst both the British and the Irish tenantry. Indeed, in his belief that landowners had a duty to ‘improve’ their lands and to ensure that they were farmed in the most efficient way possible, Rosse owed a good deal to the influence of the ‘Enlightened’ landowners in both Britain and Ireland of the eighteenth century.47 As a humane man, however, he also proved willing to temper the pursuit of more efficient methods among his own tenants with a consideration for the ‘peculiarities’ of the relationship between landlords and tenants in Ireland. Rosse had grown up at a time when increased attention was being paid to the problem, as it was then perceived, of the backward character of Irish agriculture, especially when compared with its counterpart in England. The origins of this backwardness were disputed, but there was a broad consensus that some solutions to the unbalanced character of Irish rural society would have to be found. From the mid-eighteenth century onwards, the Irish population had expanded rapidly. It has been estimated that between 1750 and 1845 the population increased more than three-fold, from 2.6 million in 1750 to 8.5 million in 1845.48 The reasons for this population growth have been disputed, but a number of broad trends can be discerned. First, a declining death rate was complemented by an increasing birth rate. There also seems to have been a general trend towards earlier marriages and larger families. The adoption of the potato as the main food source for many Irish people meant that families could now survive on smaller holdings than had previously been the case. This, in turn, accounted for the increased subdivision of Irish farm holdings in this period. The potato also had the advantage of providing a high level of nutrition and, combined with milk and fish, the other main elements in the diet of many of the Irish rural poor, provided a relatively well-balanced diet. However, this increase in the Irish population from the late eighteenth century to the mid-nineteenth century had led to a worrying shift in 45 46

Murphy 2001, 50. Breen 1998, 658; O’Neill 1998, 681.

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47 48

Barnard 1996, 271–96. Donnelly 2001, 4.

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the structure of the agricultural population there. Indeed, the 1841 Irish Census had shown that cottiers and labourers, that is, those at the bottom of the social ladder in Ireland, now made up the bulk of the country’s population. It has been estimated that, between them, cottiers, tenants and agricultural labourers made up over 75 per cent of the Irish rural population.49 In consequence, the majority of the Irish population at this time continued to face chronic problems of poverty and underemployment. These problems were compounded by the rise in population, which, as we have seen, had resulted in a disproportionate growth in the number of smallholders and labourers, as compared to tenant farmers. The increase in population also led to more competition for land, which resulted in higher rents and helped to spark the growth in agrarian crime, which we discussed earlier. As economic conditions in Ireland worsened, British economists and parliamentarians began to take an increasing interest in looking for solutions to Ireland’s economic problems. Among those most interested in Ireland were such notable figures as Nassau Senior and Robert Torrens, both prominent British economists. Such thinkers believed that the central problem of Irish agriculture was its failure to conform to the British model. They also believed that the over-population of the country made it extremely difficult to manage Irish land efficiently. Furthermore, they believed that the system of smallholdings meant that it was impossible for Irish tenants to accumulate enough capital to invest in improvements to their holdings and that this, in turn, held back the much-needed modernisation of Irish agriculture. Faced with the success of the British ‘agricultural revolution’ of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, these thinkers believed that it was only by replicating the conditions which had formed the basis for this ‘Revolution’ that Irish agriculture could be successfully modernised. From the 1830s onwards, however, a number of Irish thinkers began to question the assumptions on which the British political economists’ recommendations for Irish land reform were based. Unlike their British counterparts, these men were not professional economists, but instead were practically involved in the Irish land question themselves as farmers, land agents and even as landowners. The ideas of these thinkers were to have a considerable influence on the programme put forward by the Tenant League in the 1850s. Among the most notable of them were William Conner and William Blacker. Both men believed that Irish circumstances were essentially different to those existing in England. 49

Clark 1982, 14–15.

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Consequently, they believed that models derived from the English experience did not necessarily provide the best solutions for Irish agricultural problems. As these thinkers pointed out, while England had gone through an ‘Industrial Revolution’ in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, by contrast, most of Ireland, with the partial exception of Ulster, had experienced a process of de-industrialisation during the same period. The result of this was that, while England was gradually moving away from being a predominantly agricultural country, the Irish population was becoming more, rather than less, dependent on agriculture. Therefore, while many landlords in England were able to increase their incomes through involvement in new industrial enterprises, this was not an option available to most Irish landowners; and it meant that there were few alternative sources of employment, apart from agriculture, for Irish cottiers and smallholders. Unlike their British counterparts, both Conner and Blacker believed that the peculiarities of Irish agriculture meant that the rights of tenants had to be taken into account in any proposed reforms of the system of landholding. Rather than allowing rents to be set by the laws of supply and demand, Conner believed, they should be set on the basis of an independent valuation of the worth of a tenant’s holding. He proposed this as a solution to the problem of exorbitant rents in Ireland, which he believed were a product of the rapid rise in the population in the late eighteenth century. Once rents had been fixed in this manner, Conner believed, tenants should be secure in the possession of their holdings, so long as the rent was paid. Conner’s proposals for a ‘valuation and a perpetuity’, as they came to be known, obviously implied a restriction on landlords’ rights over their property. Although the ideas developed during the Famine by the radical Irish land reformer, James Fintan Lalor, tended in this direction, very few other thinkers at the time were suggesting the outright transfer of land from the landlord to the tenant. In general, there was little popular support at this time for the creation of a ‘peasant proprietary’, as it later came to be known.50 In this debate between the ‘political economists’, as they could be described, and those advocating greater rights for Irish tenants, Rosse generally favoured the arguments put forward by the first group. Indeed, he was concerned that if the balance were shifted too far towards the interests of the tenants, they would become ‘the real proprietor[s] and the 50

Gray 1999, 1–40.

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landlord[s] the owner[s] of a mere ground rent’.51 Rosse’s most considered verdicts on the state of the Irish land question were put forward in two pamphlets which he published on the question, one at the height of the Famine crisis in 1847, and the other not long before his death in 1867. Although there are some important differences in emphasis in the two works, in both his broad interpretation of the subject remained the same. Rosse’s extensive correspondence during the famine years also contains frequent references to his views on the land question and serves to supplement the account he gives of his opinions on the subject in his published works. In Rosse’s view, the central problem which confronted Irish agriculturalists was the over-population of the country. In more specific terms, he was particularly concerned by what he saw as the disproportionate ratio between the supply of labour and the supply of capital. Indeed, for Rosse, it had been only the Irish tenants’ willingness to live upon extremely ‘slender means’ which had allowed the country to ‘support a population so disproportionate to its capital’. However, in his view, in the long term there could be no ‘permanent amendment in the condition of the Irish people’ until these two factors were brought into their ‘due proportion’ there.52 Despite the decline in the Irish population as a result of the Famine, in his 1867 pamphlet on the land question Rosse continued to argue that ‘if there was anything certain in social Science it was the fact that Ireland was over-peopled’. In his view, it remained ‘over-peopled as an agricultural country in the proportion of the cultivators to the area under cultivation … [and] over-peopled in a more extended sense in the relation of population to capital’.53 In his 1847 pamphlet, Rosse had ascribed this over-population of the country, as he saw it, primarily to the practice of subdivision. This, in his view, was much more important in creating the conditions for the rise in the population than was the potato. He pointed to the evidence of the far slower growth in the English population, where subdivision was much less common, to support this proposition. This slower growth had meant that the ratio of capital to labour in England had been kept at a more proportionate level than it had been in Ireland.54 Even before the Famine, Rosse had pointed out the dangers which, in his view, this over-population posed to the future welfare of the country. His concern with the problem must also be understood in the context of the rapid increase which occurred in the population of King’s County 51 52

Senior 1868, 202. Parsons W. 1847, 4–5.

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53 54

Parsons W. 1867, 2. Parsons W. 1847, 5–6.

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itself in the years between 1821 and 1841. While in 1821 the population of the county had stood at 131,000, by 1841 it had reached 147,000.55 In a speech to the Parsonstown Agricultural Society in 1843, for example, Rosse had argued that, if this rate of increase in the country’s population as a whole continued, ‘a year of scarcity would at length come, and with it, a visitation of the most awful famine, such as the history of the world affords very many examples of, a famine followed by pestilence’. If such a famine did come, Rosse claimed, even ‘the utmost exertion of the landlords of Ireland, of the government, and of the legislature, aided by the unbounded generosity of the people of England … would be totally inadequate to avert the most fearful calamities’ (see also p. 101).56 In Rosse’s view, this excessive subdivision of land in Ireland had had a number of causes, the first being the incentive given to landowners there to grant long-term leases to forty-shilling freeholders in order to maintain their political influence. He also ascribed it to the unwillingness of Irish landlords to turn tenants off their estates, which he viewed as being a by-product of the high levels of agrarian crime. According to Rosse, the political agitation led by Daniel O’Connell had also had an extremely adverse effect on Irish agriculture. As a direct result of it, he claimed, emigration had been ‘discountenanced’, while the enlistment of Irish Catholics in the British army, which had also reduced the pressure on the Irish population, had been discouraged. Taken together, these factors had combined to create the over-population of the country, which Rosse saw as the ultimate cause of the social and economic problems which confronted it. As we saw earlier, he believed that the remedy for these problems was ‘emigration … on a great scale’ combined with ‘very stringent regulations to prevent … the subdivision of land, the multiplication of cottages and the future increase of pauperism’.57 In Rosse’s view, another adverse effect of subdivision had been that the multiplication of smallholdings had reduced the landlords’ capacity to run their estates along rational and profitable lines. Indeed, in the rules for the management of his estate which were circulated to his tenants in 1847 he included stringent provisions against the subdivisions of holdings.58 Rosse believed that emigration, by removing the excess population from Ireland, would permit landlords to regain the capacity to run their estates more efficiently. In his 1867 pamphlet Rosse also argued that emigration had significant benefits for both landlords and tenants. For small farmers or agricultural 55 56

Reilly 2012, 13. Parsons W. 1843, 6.

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57 58

Parsons W. 1847, 20. Birr Castle Archives, J/11.

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labourers, emigration to America provided an opportunity to ‘acquire an independence’, particularly if they made their way to districts where land could be had at ‘a nominal price’. For those tenants who remained behind, the removal of the smaller tenants would also provide an opportunity to consolidate their landholdings. This, in turn, would make the economic position of those tenants remaining on the land far more secure. It would also mean that the landowners could be more confident, when investing in their estates, that they would receive a return on their capital. Furthermore, Rosse argued, once agricultural labourers had become less readily available, then their rates of pay would increase. In the same way, ‘as tenants became [more] scarce’, their bargaining power with their landlords would become considerably greater. In his belief, this development would facilitate the emergence of a substantial tenant farmer class in Ireland, similar to that which existed in England.59 His hope was that eventually such tenants would become a stabilising force in Irish society generally and, perhaps, serve a bulwark against radical agrarianism. Given the fact that he held these opinions, Rosse’s willingness to clear some of the poorer tenants from his estates in the late 1840s and 1850s becomes more understandable60 (see p. 111). Indeed, in the years after the Famine, Rosse continued to be critical of the British government’s unwillingness to sponsor a large-scale, state-subsidised emigration programme in the crisis years between 1845 and 1851.61 Ultimately, Rosse argued, those tenants whose holdings were no longer economically viable should not be allowed to act ‘the part of the dog in the manger … keep[ing] out those who … [were] able and willing to cultivate’ the land as it ought to be cultivated.62 Rosse also believed that, in the long term, this reduction in the Irish population would greatly reduce the incidence of agrarian crime.63 As we saw earlier, the shift to the right which occurred in Rosse’s political thinking later in his life owed a good deal to the series of shootings and attempted and actual assassinations that took place in King’s County from the early 1830s onwards. The most significant of these in terms of its effects on Rosse’s own later attitudes was, perhaps, the murder of his fellow landlord Lord Norbury, on 3 January 1839. The attack on Norbury took place in broad daylight, just outside the walls of his home at Durrow Abbey near Tullamore (see p. 112). Parsons W. 1867, 8. Reilly 2012, 28. 61 Birr Castle Archives, J/23/1. 59

62

60

63

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Birr Castle Archives, J/23/1. Parsons W. 1867, 8–9.

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Shortly after the shooting, Lord Oxmantown (as he was then was) chaired a meeting to condemn the murder held in that town. Given the highly charged atmosphere in the county at that time, it was, perhaps, understandable that his speech on that occasion should prove to be the most controversial one of his entire public life. He began it by praising Norbury as an ‘excellent … kind and indulgent’ landlord who through ‘a large expenditure and repeated acts of profuse generosity’ had ‘raised the condition of his tenants to ‘a state of considerable independence’. Given Norbury’s excellence as a landlord, Oxmantown concluded that this murder could only be understood as being the product of an ‘extensive conspiracy or combination’ which aimed to effect ‘by assassination what it did not dare to do by open rebellion’ (see also p. 113). This aim was, Oxmantown claimed, ‘virtually to wrest the property from the proprietors by abolishing rent’ and to achieve this end by ‘assassinating’ those landlords ‘who … venture[d] to assert … [their] right[s]’ over their property ‘by ejectment’, and those tenants who attempted to take over an ejected tenant’s holding. Oxmantown also attributed the murder to the breakdown in the traditionally deferential relationship between the landlords and their tenants. He attributed this breakdown to the effects of the campaign for the repeal of the Union, which he condemned as a movement dominated by the ‘lowest description of agitators’. The consequence of this change in the character of Nationalist political agitation had, Oxmantown argued, become quickly apparent among the Catholic tenantry. Its consequences had, he claimed, been manifested in ‘a diminishing respect for the upper classes – an increasing disregard for oaths – a slighting way of speaking of the crime of murder, and symptoms of more deliberate wickedness in the details of the different outrages’ that took place. He also criticised the Irish Roman Catholic Church for not taking sufficient steps to suppress agrarian crime in the country. From his perspective, through its vilification of the landlord class, the Repeal Association had neutralised the unifying effects which should have been brought about in Ireland by Catholic Emancipation.64 In many ways, this speech represented a significant departure from the usually moderate character of Oxmantown’s public utterances. Its pointed character also meant that it inspired a good deal of anger among both Liberal and Nationalist politicians in Ireland. It was also condemned by some commentators in Ireland for having prejudged the motives for Norbury’s murder, before the investigation into it had really begun. In one of the strongest attacks on Oxmantown’s speech, Daniel 64

Freeman’s Journal, 12 January 1839.

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O’Connell suggested that the meeting at Tullamore had not taken place for its expressed purpose of ‘discovering the assassin’, but instead had been used by Oxmantown and other landowners to express ‘the vilest and most atrocious calumnies that were ever uttered against his [that is, Lord Oxmantown’s] county’. According to O’Connell, Oxmantown’s speech had branded ‘the whole Irish nation as a nation of assassins’ and the Irish Roman Catholic clergy ‘as a body of men fomenting assassinations’.65 While the criticism of the speech by the Irish administration itself was more measured, Thomas Drummond, then the under-secretary at Dublin Castle, did describe some of the proceedings at the Tullamore meeting as being ‘ill-calculated to promote … [its] professed objects … or to lessen those social evils, the existence of which … [its conveners] deplore[d]’.66 In the long term, this controversy over the proceedings at the Tullamore meeting could be seen as marking a major shift in Oxmantown’s attitudes towards the Whig–Liberal administration then in office at Westminster. It also served to bring him closer to the Conservative Party in Ireland, the party with which he was to be identified for the remainder of his life.

The land question after the famine While, as we have seen, Rosse viewed large-scale, state-sponsored emigration as the long-term solution to the social and economic problems facing Ireland, during the famine years he had also argued that it was incumbent on the British state to make up the shortfall that existed between the country’s economic resources and its population. Indeed, he argued that it had been the government’s inattention to Irish issues which had helped to create the crisis then facing the country.67 During the famine years, Rosse played a key role in organising and supervising the work of the various Relief Committees established in the county. His connections at the highest levels of the British social and political elite also made him an important advocate for the interests of the landed class in King’s County during the Famine. With the rest of his family, he was one of the main contributors, in financial terms, to the relief effort there68 (see Chapter 4). In the years after the Famine, Rosse was to be critical of the agitation for greater compensation for improvements made by Irish tenants, launched by the National Tenant League in August 1850. Indeed, he Mirror of Parliament I, 906. Freeman’s Journal, 22 January 1839. 67 Parsons W. 1847, 25–6. 65 66

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68

Hogan 1998, 4–5; O’Neill 1998, 689–93.

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dismissed their principal arguments as being essentially unfounded. Outside the north of Ireland, he claimed, Irish tenants generally did not have enough capital to undertake such improvements. For Rosse, it was far more important that they should cultivate ‘their farms properly’, rather than invest the little capital they had in undertaking improvements which usually would result in little or no profit to themselves. Indeed, in 1866 he told William Neilson Hancock that, while he had introduced a scheme on his estate which would have granted compensation to tenants for those improvements that added to the letting value of their holdings, this had ‘never that … [he] was aware of been taken up’. There was also little incentive, in Rosse’s view, for Irish landlords to undertake improvements on their estates themselves because, if this involved consolidating holdings and, perhaps, turning off some tenants from their estates, it would, most likely, result in increased bad feeling between them and their tenants. For Rosse, indeed, the ultimate aim of the agitation for compensation for improvements was a political rather than an agrarian one. It was designed, he reasoned, to suggest to the ‘small tenants that fixity of tenure … [was] in the distance; and after that [the] confiscation’ of the property of the landlord.69 In the long term, it could be argued that this contention was something of a prophetic one, although Rosse himself died before the introduction of Gladstone’s Irish Land Act of 1870. This Act represented one of the first tentative steps in the long process by which, as Rosse had feared, the ownership of the Irish land was eventually transferred from the Irish landlords to their tenantry.

Rosse and the national education system The other major Irish political issue in which Rosse was to maintain a sustained interest in the years after his retirement as an MP in 1831 was the education question. The issue of education was an important one to him, for a variety of reasons. Through his scientific interests and his work with the Royal Society, he took an interest in it on a practical level as a breeding ground for the future scientists and astronomers who might carry on his work. As a landlord, many of whose tenants were Catholic, he also saw it as an instrument for lessening sectarian tensions in Ireland. His own experience of being home tutored until the age of 18 also meant that he had a very different perspective on what constituted a good education than did many of his contemporaries. Unlike them, he had not attended private schools, and his scientific interests clearly 69

Birr Castle Archives, J/23/1.

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distinguished him from those of his peers whose university education had almost exclusively centred on the classics and on instruction in rhetoric70 (see also p. 162). The keen interest that Rosse took in educational matters also led to his taking up a number of high-profile positions in the area in the years after his retirement from the House of Commons. In 1845 he was appointed to the Board of Visitors to the controversial Catholic seminary, Maynooth College, in County Kildare. In 1862 he was elected to the prestigious position of Chancellor of Trinity College Dublin, an office that he held until his death in 1867. Shortly before his death, he had also been appointed chairman of the Royal Commission to enquire into the state of primary education in Ireland. In asking Rosse to take on the chairmanship of that body, Lord Naas, the Irish Chief Secretary, had told him that his acceptance of the role ‘would give a weight and authority to the decisions and recommendations of the Commissioners which we should look for in vain from any other quarter’.71 On Rosse’s death, the chairmanship was given to Lord Powis, who, along with the other commissioners, went on to produce what has been described as ‘an important landmark in the history of national education’ in Ireland.72 The choice of Rosse to chair the Commission was probably related to his position as one of the leading supporters of the Irish National Education system within the Conservative Party. Rosse’s support for the National system placed him firmly within the ‘moderate’ camp within that party. In this respect, his views on Irish education in general resembled those of other ‘moderate’ Conservative landowners, such as Lord Naas and Lord Donoughmore. All three were landowners who had an overwhelming majority of Catholic tenants on their estates. Perhaps as a consequence of this, as a group, they tended to be more tolerant towards Roman Catholicism as a religion than was the Evangelical wing of the party.73 The National Board system of primary education established in 1831 was deeply unpopular with many of the members of the Evangelical wing of the Irish Conservative Party. Their opposition to the system rested principally on the restrictions placed on religious instruction, in particular on the use of the Bible, in the Board’s schools. As introduced by the Whig government in 1831, the system had been designed to meet Roman Catholic concerns about the existing provision of elementary education in Ireland. As a result, it was designed to be a mixed one, providing combined non-denominational classes in most subjects with separate 70 71

Scaife 2000, 15. Birr Castle Archives, J/9.

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Hyland 1987, 121. Shields 2007, 212–13.

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religious education for Catholic and Protestant children. However, while Catholics and Presbyterians put these schools to use for their own advantage, many members of the Church of Ireland remained opposed to the system in principle, as its rules did not for allow unrestricted access to the Bible during normal school hours. The extent of the opposition to the National system within the Church of Ireland led to the foundation of the Church Education Society in 1839. The rules of the Society admitted the use of the Bible and instruction in the Church of Ireland catechism on a regular basis in its schools. Its schools were designed to provide an alternative to the National schools and were reliant on voluntary subscriptions rather than on state support. In contrast to the National Board, the Church Education Society was dependent on voluntary contributions. In the early 1850s, these were running at a surprisingly high level, with the Society spending some £50,000 to £60,000 annually on its primary schools. The Society operated some 1,868 schools catering for 112,000 pupils in 1849. It was organised across the country, with ‘the real power base of the system’ lying in the local societies organised on a diocesan basis.74 A number of prominent Conservative landowners, like Lord Clancarty in Galway and the Earl of Roden in Down, were closely associated with the Society. It also had the support of a number of the leading members of the Evangelical wing of the Conservative Party, including such prominent figures as George Alexander Hamilton, Joseph Napier and James Whiteside. It was also supported by the bulk of the Church of Ireland bishops and clergy.75 Unlike the majority of his fellow Conservatives, however, Rosse strongly supported the National system. Indeed his support for the system was such that, in 1860, he took a leading role in the establishment of a model National school at Birr.76 In a report by the school’s inspectors, published shortly after his death, his ‘constant and generous’ interest in its progress was singled out for special mention.77 As we saw earlier, Rosse had long maintained good relationships with the Catholic clergy in his own locality. However, while he was extremely supportive of the Catholic Church at the local level, he was deeply concerned by its political influence at the national level in Ireland. In consequence, his support for the system of ‘mixed’ education in which Roman Catholic and Protestant children were educated together was largely based on his belief that it provided an important instrument for reducing the influence of the Ultramontane wing of the Irish Roman 74 75

Akenson 1971, 202–4. Shields 2007, 110–13.

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Birr Castle Archives, J/23/1. HC 1869 (4193)106.

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Catholic hierarchy. In Rosse’s view, when Roman Catholic lay-people were ‘educated with Protestants’ they were more likely to be exposed to new ideas which they would not have encountered in purely Catholic schools. In consequence, Rosse argued, the National system rendered it more difficult for the hierarchy to keep the Catholic laity ‘under the thumb’. Due to his support for ‘mixed’ education, Rosse was reluctant to support the campaign of the Catholic critic of the system, John Pope Hennessy, when he stood as a Conservative candidate for King’s County at the general election of 1859. As he told Lord Naas, the de facto leader of the Conservative Party in Ireland in May 1859, Rosse was concerned that any such moves towards weakening the National system, like those being proposed by Hennessy, would play into the hands of the ‘Ultramontane party’ in Ireland, headed by Cardinal Cullen. According to Rosse, the criticisms made of the National system by the Roman Catholic hierarchy were essentially designed to achieve political rather than educational ends. In his view, they were part of a wider ‘push for political power’ on their part. To achieve this, Rosse argued, their aim was to secure ‘the education of the rising generation of Roman Catholics high and low entirely into their [own] hands’. As a result, he was strongly opposed to any tampering with the National system, which he saw as a bulwark against the extension of the influence of the Ultramontane wing of the Catholic Church.78 Like many of his Conservative contemporaries, Rosse believed that the submission to Papal supremacy by the ‘Ultramontane party’ meant that its primary allegiance was to a foreign authority rather than to the British state. Indeed, this contention that Irish Catholics were dominated by foreign influences was a mainstay of Irish Conservative opinion in the mid-nineteenth century.79 However, given his belief that the National system actually provided a counterbalance against the extension of Ultramontane influences in Ireland, he was also strongly critical of the attacks being made on it by the Church Education Society. In the long term, he viewed these as playing directly into the hands of its Ultramontane critics in Ireland.

Maynooth and university education Rosse’s acceptance of the position as one of the Visitors to Maynooth College in 1846 also clearly demonstrated that he did not share the negative attitudes towards that institution that were felt by many other 78 79

National Library of Ireland 11, 036(11). Spence 1990, 10.

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Irish Conservatives. The College was a Catholic seminary in County Kildare which had been established in 1795. Its foundation was a result of the closure of the great Continental seminaries, where most Irish Catholic priests had previously been trained, in the wake of the French revolution. The disturbed state of the European continent between 1795 and 1815 had made it impossible, in any case, for Irish clerical students to make the journey to the Continental centres, like St Omer and Louvain, which they had previously undertaken. In 1795, the Pitt government had allocated an annual grant of £8,000 to the College. The grant was designed to ensure the Catholic Church’s loyalty to the British connection at a time of heightened tensions both across Europe and, indeed, within the United Kingdom itself. In 1845, Sir Robert Peel, the Conservative Prime Minister, proposed that the grant should be increased five-fold to £40,000 a year and that it should be made permanent. Peel’s belief was that the increase in the grant would conciliate moderate Roman Catholic opinion in Ireland and, in consequence, would undermine radical agitation there.80 However, the proposal created major divisions within the Conservative Party itself, and it proved especially unpopular with the Irish members of the party. Their essential objection to the Maynooth grant rested, in the words of the prominent Irish Conservative MP George Alexander Hamilton, on their conviction that ‘it was the duty of every state’ to acknowledge ‘some intelligible system or principle of religious truth’. In Britain, this system was the Protestant religion, and it was, Hamilton believed, ‘most inconsistent, and a great dereliction of the homage that was due to [the] truth in religion, for the state to countenance and support any two systems of religion ­diametrically opposed to one another; and still more so, to pay for the promulgation of doctrines held by the state to be erroneous’.81 However, Rosse’s religious views were far less dogmatic than these. Indeed, in later years he cultivated friendships with Charles William Russell, the President of the College from 1857 to 1880, and with Nicholas Callan, the Professor of Natural Philosophy there, in whose experiments in electricity Rosse was keenly interested.82 Indeed, it was Russell who (anonymously, as was the custom for the journal) provided a very laudatory account of Rosse’s astronomical initiatives in the Dublin Review in 1845,83 unsurprisingly stressing their higher implications: There are few who may not shrink at the wild and dreamy speculations which this startling subject suggests. How elevating, 80 81

Kerr 1982. Hansard, LXXIX, 702.

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Casey 1982. McLaughlin 1952, 185.

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William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse yet how humbling, the conceptions it forces upon the mind! How it overpowers us with the consciousness of the limitlessness of the works of the Great Creator!84

Rosse’s lack of animus towards the College was further demonstrated in 1867, when he argued that it would be better to grant Maynooth the power to confer degrees, rather than to establish an ‘entirely new’ Catholic University in Ireland, as some contemporary politicians and clergymen had suggested. For Rosse, such a move would provide those Catholics whose religious views made them unwilling to attend either Trinity College or the Queen’s Colleges with the opportunity to acquire a university degree. He also proposed that it should be made possible for students attending the Catholic University in Dublin to secure their degrees by sitting the Maynooth examinations.85 In line with his support for mixed education, Rosse was also strongly supportive of the ‘godless’ Queen’s Colleges established by Sir Robert Peel’s Conservative government in 1845. However, as he explained to George Stoney in November 1861, while he was anxious that ‘the Queen’s University should prosper’, he did not wish for it to do so at the expense of Trinity College. He made this observation in response to the proposal put forward by the then Irish Chief Secretary, Sir Robert Peel, to establish a Queen’s College in Dublin on the basis of the Museum of Irish Industry, which had been established at Stephen’s Green in 1854. Rosse was concerned that the establishment of such college might draw Protestant Dissenters away from Trinity.86 As this statement demonstrated, Rosse’s loyalty to Trinity College, which he had attended briefly as an undergraduate, was a very strong one. Writing to Humphrey Lloyd, the Provost of Trinity, in 1864, he regretted the fact that so many Irish country gentlemen sent their sons to be educated in England rather than sending them there. Perhaps unsurprisingly, given his own education, Rosse believed that part of the reason why Irish landlords did not send their children to Trinity was the over-emphasis, as he saw it, on regular attendance at lectures there. In consequence, he claimed, ‘the attainment of the highest honours’ at Trinity was ‘made practically dependent on constant attendance in the lecture room’. From Rosse’s perspective, however, home tuition, provided the tutor was of a high calibre, had considerable advantages as a system. Significantly, he argued that, as practised in England, it gave an advantage to ‘the affluent members of the University’ 84 85

Russell 1845. National Library of Ireland, 43,877/3.

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86

Birr Castle Archives, J/23/1.

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5.4 Report of the meeting of the Parsonstown Agricultural Society on 13 November 1847

who could ‘pay for the best tutors’. In this respect, he suggested, it contributed ‘in some degree to enable them to make up the lee way arising from the occasional interruptions to study’ to which ‘the higher classes … [were] subjected … and from which the poorer members of the University … [were] exempt’.87 In this respect, Rosse’s educational views were clearly influenced by his status as a landowner, a group whose children were more likely to be able to afford high-quality tutors than were the children of poorer families. 87

Birr Castle Archives, J/23/1.

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Conclusion As this chapter has demonstrated, while Lord Rosse could, in many respects, be seen as a ‘reluctant politician’, he nonetheless played an important role in Irish public life for over four decades. As a resident Irish landowner who took a keen interest in the running of his estate, and as a practical man whose instincts were to attempt to find solutions to those problems which he confronted, he was repeatedly drawn into taking public stances on some of the most controversial political issues of his day (Figure 5.4). He was also, as we have seen, a strong defender of the privileges of the Irish landed class and, over time, this stance was to lead him to identify himself more and more with the Conservative Party in Ireland. There was also a marked rightward shift in his political opinions in general from the early 1830s onwards and this, perhaps, reflected his growing sense that the repeal agitation and the later agitation for ‘Tenant Right’ in Ireland were creating an increasingly irreparable breach between landlords and their tenants. This may, perhaps, account for the increasingly trenchant manner in which he expressed his political opinions from the 1840s onwards. As we saw earlier, it was, indeed, such trenchant statements that led to his being described by Lord Clarendon in 1849 as ‘rather crotchety and Tory’. However, Rosse’s moderation on the education question and his tolerant attitude towards the Roman Catholic Church on his own estate marked him out as a far more conciliatory figure than were many of his fellow Conservative landowners. His writings on Irish issues also continue to have their own intrinsic interest. Although they were coloured by the prejudices of the Anglo-Irish landed class to which he belonged, they also display the practical and acute intelligence which Rosse also showed in his scientific work. The complexities involved in Rosse’s political career and in his public life generally also reflected the difficult sectarian terrain which he had had to chart. Indeed, this terrain had become progressively more complex for him to negotiate from the late 1820s onwards.

References Akenson 1971: The Church of Ireland: Ecclesiastical Reform and Revolution, 1800–85, by Donald H. Akenson, Yale University Press. Ball 1895: Great Astronomers, by Sir Robert S. Ball, Isbister & Co., London. Barnard 1996: ‘The worlds of a Galway squire: Robert French of Monivea, 1716–79’, by Toby Barnard, in Galway: History and Society: Interdisciplinary

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Essays on the History of an Irish County, edited by Gerard Moran and Raymond Gillespie, Geography Publications, Dublin, pp. 271–96. Bew 2011: Castlereagh: Enlightenment, War and Tyranny, by John Bew, Quercus, London. Birr Castle Archives D/22/1: Oxmantown to Lord Rosse, 7 February 1826. Birr Castle Archives D/22/3: Oxmantown to Lord Rosse, 18 February 1826. Birr Castle Archives D/22/4: Oxmantown to Lord Rosse, 21 February 1826. Birr Castle Archives, D/22/8: John Parsons to Lord Rosse, no date [but probably March 1826]. Birr Castle Archives, D/22/14: Oxmantown to Lord Rosse, 6 March 1826. Birr Castle Archives, E/29: Unsent Circular ‘To the Gentlemen, Clergy & Freeholders of King’s County’, by Lord Oxmantown, 8 January 1835. Birr Castle Archives J/11: ‘Rules for the Management of the Rosse Estate’, Parsonstown, 1847. Birr Castle Archives J/11: The 3rd Earl of Rosse to George Heenan, 7 June 1848. This letter recommends that his tenants sign a declaration then being circulated by a number of landlords against the repeal agitation. Birr Castle Archives, J/23/1: The 3rd Earl of Rosse to Lord Glengall, 29 December 1849. Copy letter-books of the 3rd Earl of Rosse. Birr Castle Archives, J/23/1: The 3rd Earl of Rosse to Dr. Thomas Woods, 8 November 1860. Copy letter-books of the 3rd Earl of Rosse. Birr Castle Archives, J/23/1: The 3rd Earl of Rosse to an unidentified correspondent, April 1861. Copy letter-books of the 3rd Earl of Rosse. Birr Castle Archives, J/23/1: The 3rd Earl of Rosse to George Stoney, 7 November 1861. Copy letter-books of the 3rd Earl of Rosse. Birr Castle Archives, J/23/1: The 3rd Earl of Rosse to Humphrey Lloyd, 11 January 1864, Copy letter-books of the 3rd Earl of Rosse. Birr Castle Archives, J/23/1: The 3rd Earl of Rosse to William Neilson Hancock, 9 February 1866. Copy letter-books of the 3rd Earl of Rosse. Breen 1998: ‘Landlordism in King’s County in the mid-nineteenth-century’, by Gráinne C. Breen, in Offaly: History and Society: Interdisciplinary Essays on the History of an Irish County, edited by William Nolan and Timothy P. O’Neill, Geography Publications, Dublin, pp. 627–80. Casey 1982: ‘Nicholas Callan – priest, professor and scientist’, by Michael Casey, Physical Education, 17, pp. 224–34. www.eeng.nuim.ie/callan/IV_ Casey_pev17i5p224.pdf. Checkland 1964: The Rise of Industrial Society in Britain, 1815–1885, by Sydney G. Checkland, Longmans, London. Clark 1982: ‘The importance of agrarian classes: agrarian class structure and collective action in 19th century Ireland’, in Ireland: Land, People and Politics, edited by Patrick J. Drudy, Cambridge University Press, pp. 11–36. Dixon Hardy 1853: The Maynooth Grant Considered Religiously, Morally, and Politically, by Philip Dixon Hardy, Philip Dixon Hardy and Sons, Dublin.

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Donnelly 2001: The Great Irish Potato Famine, by James Donnelly, Sutton Publishing, Stroud. Dublin Evening Post Foster 1989: Modern Ireland 1600–1972, by Roy Foster, Allen Lane, Penguin Press, London. Freeman’s Journal Gray 1999: Famine, Land and Politics: British Government and Irish Society, 1843–50, by Peter Gray, Irish Academic Press, Dublin. Hanham 1978: Elections and Party Management Politics in the Time of Disraeli and Gladstone, by Harold J. Hanham, Harvester Press, Hassocks, 1978 edition with new introduction. Hansard: Third series HC (House of Commons) 1834 (459) xlvii, 435: Papers Relating to the State of Ireland. HC (House of Commons) 1869 (4193), 106: Appendix to Thirty-Fifth Report of the Commissioners of National Education in Ireland Hogan 1998: The Great Famine, Birr and District, by Margaret Hogan, Birr Historical Society. Hyland 1987: Irish Educational Documents: Volume 1: A Selection of Extracts from Documents Relating to the History of Education from the Earliest Times to 1922, edited by Áine Hyland and Kenneth Milne, Church of Ireland College of Education, Dublin. Kelly 1998: Henry Flood: Patriots and Politics in Eighteenth-Century Ireland, by James Kelly, Four Courts Press, Dublin. Kerr 1982: Peel, Priests, and Politics: Sir Robert Peel’s Administration and the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland, 1841–1846, by Donal Kerr, Oxford University Press, Oxford. King’s County Chronicle Macintyre 1965: The Liberator: Daniel O’Connell and the Irish Party 1830–1847, by Angus Macintyre, The Macmillan Company, New York. Malcomson 1998: ‘A variety of perspectives on Laurence Parsons, 2nd Earl of Rosse’, by Anthony Malcomson, in Offaly: History and Society: Interdisciplinary Essays on the History of an Irish County, edited by William Nolan and Timothy P. O’Neill, Geography Publications, Dublin, pp. 439–84. Malcomson 2008: Calendar of the Rosse Papers, by Anthony Malcomson, Irish Manuscripts Commission, Dublin. McLaughlin 1952: ‘Dr. Russell and the “Dublin Review”’, by P. J. McLaughlin, Studies, 41, June 1952, pp. 175–86. Mirror of Parliament Murphy 2001: Abject Loyalty: Nationalism and Monarchy in Ireland during the Reign of Queen Victoria, by James H. Murphy, Cork University Press. National Library of Ireland 11,036 (11): The 3rd Earl of Rosse to Lord Mayo, 6 May 1859, Mayo Papers.

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National Library of Ireland, 43,877/3: The 3rd Earl of Rosse to Lord Mayo, 11 July 1867, Mayo papers. O’Neill 1998: ‘The famine in Offaly’, by Timothy P. O’Neill, in Offaly: History and Society: Interdisciplinary Essays on the History of an Irish County, edited by William Nolan and Timothy P. O’Neill, Geography Publications, Dublin, pp. 681–738. O’Tuathaigh 1972: Ireland before the Famine 1798–1848, by Gearóid O’Tuathaigh, Gill and Macmillan, Dublin. Owens 1997: ‘“A moral insurrection”: faction fighters, public demonstrations and the O’Connellite Campaign, 1828’, by Gary Owens, in Irish Historical Studies, 30 (120), pp. 513–41. Parsons L. 1811: Observations on the Present State of the Currency of England, by Laurence Parsons (2nd Earl of Rosse), J. J. Stockdale, London. Parsons W. 1843: The Substance of a Speech of the 3rd Earl of Rosse on Saturday the 14th of October at the Dinner of the Parsonstown Union Farming Society, by William Parsons (3rd Earl of Rosse), Sheilds and Son, Parsonstown. Copy in Birr Castle Archives, J/7/10. Parsons W. 1847: Letters on the State of Ireland by a Landed Proprietor, by William Parsons (3rd Earl of Rosse), Bradbury & Evans, London. Parsons W. 1867: A Few Words on the Relations of Landlord and Tenant in Ireland and in Other Parts of the United Kingdom, by William Parsons (3rd Earl of Rosse), John Murray, London. Peel 1856: Memoirs by the Right Honourable Sir Robert Peel: Part One: The Roman Catholic Question, 1828–29, edited by the Earl of Stanhope and Edward Cardwell, John Murray, London. Reilly 2012: John Plunket Joly and the Great Famine in King’s County, by Ciarán Reilly, Four Courts Press, Dublin. Russell 1845: ‘The Earl of Rosse’s telescopes’, anonymous but by Dr Charles Russell, Dublin Review, 18, March and June 1845, pp. 1–43. This article was republished, though without acknowledging the author, in the book The Monster Telescopes Erected by the Earl of Rosse, Parsonstown, which contained text attributed to, but not actually written by, William Parsons, Cambridge University Press, 2010. Salmon 2009: ‘Parsons, William, Lord Oxmantown (1800–1867)’, by Philip Salmon, in History of Parliament, edited by D. R. Fisher, w w w.histor yofparliamentonline.org/volume/1820-1832/member/ parsons-william-1800-1867. Scaife 2000: From Galaxies to Turbines – Science, Technology and the Parsons Family, by Garrett Scaife, Institute of Physics Publishing, Bristol. Senior 1868: Journals, Conversations and Essays Relating to Ireland: Volume I, by Nassau Senior, Longman, Green and Co., London. Senior 1868a: Journals, Conversations and Essays Relating to Ireland: Volume II, by Nassau Senior, Longman, Green and Co., London.

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Shields 2007: The Irish Conservative Party, 1852–68: Land, Politics and Religion, by Andrew Shields, Irish Academic Press, Dublin. Spence 1990: ‘The philosophy of Irish Toryism 1833–52: a study of reactions to liberal reformism in Ireland in the generation between the First Reform Act and the Famine, with especial reference to expressions of national feeling among the Protestant Ascendancy’, by Joseph Spence, unpublished PhD thesis, Birkbeck College, University of London. The Times Trinity College Dublin Archives Department, H/19/1/1355: The 3rd Earl of Rosse to Lord Donoughmore, [no date, 1859], Donoughmore papers. University of Nottingham Manuscripts and Special Collections Department MY371: The 2nd Earl of Rosse to the Countess of Charleville, 15 January 1833, Marlay papers.

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si x

A consummate engineer Charles Mollan A consummate engineer

O

n 30 January 1734, the minutes of the Dublin Society (later the Royal Dublin Society), which had been founded in 1731, record that it had received from Sir William Parsons a plan and account of his ‘biangular harrow’. On 22 May 1735, the minutes state: ‘Mr Prior acquainted the Board that he had recd from Sir Wm Parsons from Birr, a Terrior or Instrument to pull up small trees by the Roots for the use of the Society and the scoop spade wd be soon sent.’ This duly arrived, and the minutes of 5 June report: Mr Prior acquainted the Board that Sir Wm Parsons had sent the scoop spade to Town wch was presented to the Society ye use of which is to throw up strong roots of wild parsnips & other weeds wth great ease and expedition. Mr Prior presented to the Board a recr or way of making a dru foot or bloodhound, wch Sr Willm Parsons sent him – wch was Ordered to be enter’d in the Register book. It is not clear what a ‘dru foot’ or ‘bloodhound’ were in this context, but the Society’s 1915 History records: Thus we see that nearly two centuries ago, the noble house of Rosse had already given evidence of the inventive genius which has made the name of Parsons famous, and also had exhibited that anxiety for the success of Irish methods of husbandry and agriculture which has been evinced in a marked degree by successive generations.1 To save you the trouble of referring back to the succession of the Earls of Rosse (p. 14), I’ll summarise: the Sir William Parsons referred Berry 1915, 32.

1

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to above, who died in 1740, did not hold the title Earl of Rosse, but his great-grandson, Laurence (1749–1807), did, having been created Baron Oxmantown in 1792, Viscount Oxmantown in 1795 and Earl of Rosse (a new creation of an expired title) in 1806 (see p. 15). When this Laurence died without issue in 1807, the title passed to another Laurence (1758–1841), the eldest son of his half-brother, another Sir William Parsons (1731–91). ‘Our’ Sir William Parsons (1800–67), 3rd Earl of Rosse, was Laurence’s eldest son. Full marks if you have followed all that. I’ll have to leave it to our genetics experts to tell us if an inventive gene can travel through such a tortuous route, but it, or a new creation, was evident in the codes of the 2nd, 3rd (and 4th) Earls and, indeed, of some of their children. There is a close connection between architecture and engineering. Indeed, today the University College Dublin’s departments of Architecture and the various branches of Engineering bear the composite title of The UCD College of Engineering and Architecture. In this context, and referring to Laurence, the 2nd Earl of Rosse, Michael Tubridy writes: Prior to the 2nd Earl’s regime, the Castle faced to the south-east, and was approached from Castle Street. He, however, rearranged the alignment of the Castle, so that it faced to the north-west (as it still does), overlooking a great open and carefully wooded park, and with a new entrance, in keeping with the newly developed layout of the town. He also continued the enclosure of the demesne with a high stone wall, and created an enlarged lake along the course of the river Camcor where it runs through the demesne. All of these were major engineering works and were doubtless witnessed by his young son, the future ‘telescope earl’.2 The famous astronomer, author and populariser of science Sir Robert Stawell Ball (1840–1913), who was an astronomical assistant to the 3rd Earl and tutor of his children, in his usual engaging style, tells us more about the artificial lake: At various points illustrations of the engineering skill of the great Earl will be observed. The beauty of the park has been greatly enhanced by the construction of an ample lake, designed with the consummate art by which art is concealed … The water is led into the lake by a tube which passes under one of two rivers … while the overflow from the lake turns a water-wheel [Figure 6.1], which Tubridy 1998, 3.

2

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6.1 Mary Rosse’s photograph of the Water wheel at Birr, c. 1856 – Clere Parsons in the centre

works a pair of elevators ingeniously constructed for draining the low-lying parts of the estate.3 This ‘ingeniously constructed … lake … [was] the perennial home of innumerable wild duck’.4 Another comment, this time by the anonymous author of a descriptive article in The Illustrated London News of 9 September 1843, amplifies this: Lord Rosse’s pleasure grounds are most elegantly and tastefully laid out. A large lake has been lately added to the other beauties of the place, and has given his lordship an opportunity of trying his skill as an engineer … As the bed of the river was low near where the lake was intended to be, an aqueduct was cut communicating with the river higher up its source, and when it was brought to the required situation, a tunnel was sunk under the original bed of the river, and thus one stream runs over the other, both supplied by the same source.5 The river – the Camcor – ‘rushes from one spectacular fall, round rapids under the castle walls, and on to further falls and rapids at the Ball R. 1895, 278. Ball V. 1915, 63.

3 4

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Quoted in Scaife 2000, 59.

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head of the lake’.6 Its course was moved to its present path in the late eighteenth century and, in another engineering initiative, the 2nd Earl designed and built an iron suspension bridge over it, the first such bridge to be built in Ireland, which is still there today (Figure 6.2). In the middle of the nineteenth century, water power from the Camcor was utilised for the generation of electricity, using an ‘overshot’ water-wheel, in which the water was directed into buckets at the top of the wheel to turn it clockwise. (In 1949 a 20 kW radial flow turbine was installed by Robert Craig of Belfast, which fed electricity to a battery house beside the Castle. A further Birr initiative was the ‘Leaf Arrester’ alongside the turbine, a patented device to prevent leaves clogging up the system.) As Trevor Weekes informs us in Chapter 2 (pp. 30–43), the children of the 2nd Earl were educated at home, and were thus exposed to the various innovative developments on the Demesne. Garrett Scaife emphasises the importance of this formative experience, contrasting it with the much more common practice of the aristocratic Anglo-Irish (and British) of sending their sons to English public schools: The childhood experiences of the Parsons children were quite unusual. The fact that none of them attended a public school had one great advantage: they avoided contamination with the all pervasive contempt for active involvement in industry that ­ characterised 7 wealthy members of the establishment in Britain. At the time, involvement in ‘trade’ or manual work was a social taboo. Robert Ball indicates the outcome: Lord Rosse was endowed by nature with a special taste for mechanical pursuits. Not only had he the qualifications of a scientific engineer, but he had the manual dexterity which qualified him personally to carry out many practical arts. Lord Rosse was, in fact, a skilful mechanic, an experienced founder, and an ingenious optician. His acquaintances were largely among those who were interested in mechanical pursuits, and it was his delight to visit the works or engineering establishments where refined processes in the arts were being carried on. It has often been stated – and as I have been told by members of his family, truly stated – that on one occasion, after he had been shown over some large works in the north of England, the proprietor bluntly said that he was greatly in want of a foreman, Parsons, B. 1982, 20.

6

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Scaife 2000, 91.

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6.2  The suspension bridge over the River Camcor – the first to be erected in Ireland

and would indeed be pleased if his visitor, who had evinced such extraordinary capacity for mechanical operations, would accept the post. Lord Rosse produced his card, and gently explained that he was not exactly the right man, but he appreciated the compliment.8 Ball might well be considered a biased commentator, but the Scotsman Samuel Smiles, the author of Self Help, ‘the great Victorian gospel of individualism and achievement’,9 and more likely to be objective, had a similar opinion: Nor have the wealthier classes been undistinguished in the more peaceful pursuits of philosophy and science. Take, for instance, the great names of Bacon, the father of modern philosophy, and of Ball R. 1895, 273–4. Simon Schaffer, personal communication.

8 9

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William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse Worcester, Boyle, Cavendish, Talbot, and Rosse, in science. The last named may be regarded as the great mechanic of the peerage, a man who, if he had not been born a peer, would probably have taken the highest rank as an inventor … The great Rosse telescope, of his own fabrication, is certainly the most extraordinary instrument of the kind that has yet been produced.10

As Simon Schaffer has described (p. 305), William Parsons was President of the entire meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science (BAAS) when it met in Cork in 1843. But it is relevant in this context that when the BAAS met in Dublin thirteen years later, in 1857 (that is, in Parsons’ 57th year), he chose to agree to be President of just a section of the BAAS – the Mechanical Science Section – despite the astronomic reputation he had built up in the meantime. He had graduated with distinction in Mathematics in 1822 and, while clearly a remarkable practical and pragmatic engineer, he retained his belief in sums, commenting as late as 1865, ‘I have great faith in the power of calculation’, and in the value of ‘purely theoretical considerations’.11 When Parsons delivered his address as President of the Royal Society in November 1854,12 he noted that the highest university honours at Oxford (his alma mater) could be achieved ‘without any knowledge whatever of the physical sciences’: A man therefore after having very creditably passed a public school, and having taken his degree with a first class in literis [sic] humanioribus, may find that he knows no more than was known 1800 years ago. He may be ignorant of physics in its most elementary form, and may therefore be incapable of comprehending the first principles of machinery and manufactures, or of forming a just and enlarged conception of the resources of this great country. He did, though, acknowledge that Oxford had appointed a commission ‘for effecting certain improvements’ and hoped that the ‘cultivation of the physical sciences will receive a new impulse’. On another occasion, he noted that ‘pure mathematics … cannot be of much interest except to mathematicians … [while] in applied mathematics there is much more of general interest’.13 Indeed, he agreed to become President of the Mathematics and Physics Section of the BAAS when 10 11

Smiles 1859, 17. Parsons, W. 1865 (Parsons C. 1926, 218–19).

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12 13

Reproduced in Parsons C. 1926, 72–9. Parsons W. 1860, 1 (Parsons C. 1926, 64).

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it met in Aberdeen in 1859. His appreciation of the importance of the applications of mathematics was a key element in his success: Beginning perhaps 3000 years ago almost from nothing, one simple relation of magnitude suggesting another; the relations becoming gradually more complicated, more interesting, more important, till in our day it expands into a science which enables us to weigh the planets; more wonderful still, to calculate long beforehand the course they will take acted upon by forces continually varying in direction and magnitude. When we ask ourselves such questions as these considerations suggest, and thoughtfully work out the answers as far as possible in their full depth of detail, we become in some degree conscious of the immense moral benefits which the human race has derived, and is deriving, from the gradual progress of knowledge. The discoveries, however, in physical science are often immediately applicable to practice, giving man new powers, enabling him better to supply his many wants. We therefore, who are all, in some degree at least, utilitarians, on that account very naturally regard them with deep interest … The mere utilitarian, however, has been often reminded that discoveries the most important, the most fruitful in practical results have frequently in the beginning been apparently the most barren, and therefore that the discoveries in abstract science are not without interest even for him.14 In his 1857 Presidential address in Dublin, he regretted the low esteem accorded to engineering: Will not public men, seeing that the interests of the State, both in peace and war, are bound up with the full development of the resources of engineering, make it their business to acquire such a general knowledge of the subject as will enable them to ascertain when and where to apply for aid in time of difficulty? The reverse unfortunately is the case … How often do we see the ingenious mechanic working on false principles, vainly perhaps attempting to accomplish something which a little elementary knowledge would have shown to be impossible! … During the late great war … our ships were inferior to those of France and Spain in speed, stability, and readiness in manoeuvring 14

Parsons W. 1860, 2 (Parsons C. 1926, 65).

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William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse … If, when war was imminent, civil engineers had been consulted in conjunction with military engineers and naval men, means perhaps would have been found by which the gigantic engineering resources of this country [United Kingdom] would have been rendered available … Of this, however, there could have been no doubt, that a certain thickness of wrought iron would have resisted the heaviest ordnance then in use; that the sea could have carried the weight; and that no stone walls could have long resisted the close fire of large guns.15

He had been engaged in correspondence with Sir John Burgoyne (1782–1871) and others about iron-clads in 1854, going into detail about the thickness of the cladding necessary to withstand artillery.16 Burgoyne remained unconvinced. This was some years before the launch of the world’s first iron-clad warship, the Gloire, by the French on 24 November 1859, and we now know who was right. Charles Parsons commented that this correspondence ‘adds testimony to his [father’s] inventive genius’.17 Burgoyne was one of four love-children of Lieutenant-General John Burgoyne and the singer Susan Caulfield. John Junior had an even more successful career in the British army than did his father, being appointed (in 1854) as Colonel-Commander of the Royal Engineers, and becoming Field Marshall (the army’s highest rank) in 1868. His career included a spell in Ireland as Chairman of the Board of Works (1831–45), during which he wrote a pamphlet, Ireland in 1831: Letters on the State of Ireland, which forecast problems over the excessive power of landlords.18 Presumably he and Parsons had met at this time. Did they discuss this excessive power? If so, it seems likely that they would have had different views; but they seem to have remained friends. In 1854, Parsons had also mentioned a related interest: Four or five years ago, requiring a few iron guns for experiments, they were cast in my laboratory: we cast them hollow, and they might have been at once grooved; but, as I wished the bore to be quite smooth, a cutter was passed through. The surface of the bore was free from specks, and the iron as sound as if the guns had been cast solid: the largest was but an 18-lb [8 kg] Howitzer gun, but there was nothing to prevent their being cast of any size. The cylinders of the largest steam engines are every day cast in the Parsons W. 1858, 176–7 (Parsons C. 1926, 61–3). 16 Correspondence reprinted in Parsons 15

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C. 1926, 207–15. Parsons C. 1926, Introduction. 18 John Sweetman, ODNB. 17

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foundries of England and Scotland perfectly sound and free from specks. Instead of the core being round, it might have had the oval twist of Lancaster; or, what I would have thought much better, it might have been formed so that the gun should have had two rectangular grooves to receive long rectangular prominences on the sides of the elongated projectile. There would be no difficulty in making a very accurate metallic core-box to produce a gun rifled on any system, little more would be required than the slide lathe and plaining machine.19 The Howitzers made by the 3rd Earl were still in the 4th Earl’s laboratory in 1907.20 Another initiative of the 3rd Earl’s (though possibly his son’s) was the building of a steam-powered road vehicle. This venture, though, was to have dreadful consequences when a married woman of 42, with a large family, ‘became the first person to fall victim to an accident involving a self-propelled vehicle on Irish roads’.21 (This actually occurred two years after the death of the 3rd Earl.) The Midland Tribune of 1 September 1869 tells the story: APPALLING ACCIDENT On yesterday the people of Parsonstown were much excited and grieved at a sad accident which occurred in the town. In the afternoon of yesterday the Hon Captain Ward, his wife, the Hon Mrs Ward, The Hons Clare [sic] and Charles Parsons, and Mr Biggs, the tutor to the young gentlemen, were on a steam carriage which had been built by Lord Rosse. The vehicle had steam up, and was going at an easy pace, when on turning the sharp corner at the church, unfortunately the Hon Mrs Ward was thrown from her seat and fearfully injured, causing her almost immediate death. The unfortunate lady was taken into the house of Dr Woods which is situate nearly opposite the scene of the unhappy occurrence, and as that gentleman was on the spot everything that could be done was done, but it was impossible to save her life. Mrs Ward died of a broken neck, and her death certificate recorded the cause as: ‘Accidental fall from steam engine. Sudden.’22 Mary Ward (née King, 1827–69), a cousin of the 3rd Earl, enjoys a lasting reputation as Parsons W. 1854 (Parsons C. 1926, 214). 20 Parsons L, 1907 (Parsons C. 1926, 19

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207). Montgomery 2004. 22 Quoted in Pain 2005, 49. 21

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the author of several editions of books providing valuable instruction to amateur owners of microscopes and telescopes.23 The motor historian Bob Montgomery has made the interesting observation that no photograph of the steam vehicle has been found, in spite of the fact that the 3rd Earl’s wife, Mary, Countess of Rosse (1813–85), was a medal-winning, pioneering photographer who took pictures of nearly everything and everybody at Birr Castle (see Chapter 3). He resurrected the word ‘deodand’, defined as ‘a thing that has caused a person’s death and was forfeited to the Crown for a charitable purpose’.24 It is understandable that all pictures of the steam locomotive, which must surely have been taken, would have been subsequently ‘deodised’ (I have invented a suitable verb) so as to remove all trace of the cause of this dreadful tragedy, and that the actual locomotive would have been buried. Montgomery comments: ‘Should such a photograph ever come to life, it would be the equivalent of finding the “holy grail” of Irish motoring history.’25 Mary Ward was 27 years younger than her cousin William Parsons, but was just 14 years younger than his wife, Countess Mary, and the two women became great friends. As is recorded in Chapter 3, William Parsons and the 23-year-old Mary, elder daughter and co-heiress of John Wilmer Field of Heaton Hall, Yorkshire and his wife, Anne, were married on 14 April 1836. (This was the year after his sister, Lady Jane, married Arthur Knox, and the year before his sister, Lady Alicia, eloped to Gretna Green with Edward Conroy26 – later Sir Edward Conroy, 2nd baronet.) John Field was a wealthy landowner whose ancestors had been lords of the manor for centuries. The Field family took a house in London during the ‘season’, and it was presumably in London that William Parsons and Mary had met.27 This successful marriage had a profound effect on subsequent events, for Mary brought to Birr a combination of artistic ability, wide interests, and money, which were not only to influence greatly the astronomical and engineering achievements of her husband, but also to inspire the considerable abilities of their children. Before his marriage, William Parsons had already shown an interest in astronomy, joining the Astronomical Society in 1824. (It had been established in 1820 and became the Royal Astronomical Society in 1831.) He started to experiment with reflecting telescopes. Indeed he received Mollan 2007, 980–91. Collins 1986, 414. 25 Montgomery 2004. 23

26

24

27

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Malcomson 2008, 77. Davison 1989, 1.

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scientific recognition by being elected Fellow of the Royal Society, under his then title, Lord Oxmantown, on 8 December 1831. I will now give some background to the relevant contemporary astronomical scene. Before Parsons, the most eminent figure in the use of reflecting telescopes was William Herschel (1738–1822). Born in the city of Hanover in Lower Saxony (now Germany), he started his professional life as an oboe player in the band of the Hanoverian footguards. In 1757 he moved to England, where he studied musical theory, mathematics and, finally, astronomy. He built reflecting telescopes, with which he discovered the planet Uranus in 1781, the first planet to be discovered since ancient times. Following this success, he was appointed private astronomer to King George III. In 1786 he moved to Slough, where he spent the rest of his life.28 Ben Gascoigne writes: The transformation of the reflecting telescope from the simple table-top model of Isaac Newton to a full-scale research instrument was due to one man, William Herschel. Herschel was unique in his ability to function equally well as a highly innovative craftsman, and indefatigable observer and a profoundly original scientist. Working much of the time single-handed, he poured the first large speculum blanks, worked the blanks into mirrors, and built the mirrors into telescopes. His telescopes may have been crude, but they were an order of magnitude bigger and more powerful than any that had come before, and above all they worked. With them he extended the boundaries of astronomy enormously, and while doing so he gave mankind its first intimation of the limitless universe that lies beyond the solar system.29 Parsons’ youngest son, the Hon. Sir Charles Parsons, KCB, FRS, collected and republished The Scientific Papers of William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse in 1926, a most useful exercise then and ever since (I have added the relevant page(s) from this publication in the footnotes of this chapter). The first three papers in the collection, originally published between 1828 and 1830 in the Edinburgh Journal of Science, provide details of William Parsons’ early researches in the making of speculum mirrors and their grinding and polishing. These writings provide a foretaste of his subsequent initiatives. William Parsons wrote: Since Sir W. Herschel’s time, no improvement that I am aware 28

Daintith 1994, 407.

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29

Gascoigne 1996, 102.

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William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse of has been made in any part of the process of making specula of telescopes; none of the difficulties which he stated as existing have since been surmounted; and none of the defects which his skill had not removed, have since yielded to the dexterity and perseverance of others.30

If Herschel could achieve such success with defective instruments, what discoveries must await the builder of superior instruments? As Parsons put it himself: The examination of the heavens commenced with the late Sir William Herschel, and, prosecuted by him with such success, still continues. New facts are recorded; and there can be little doubt but that discoveries will multiply in proportion as the telescope may be improved. It is perhaps not too much to expect, that the time is not far distant when data will be collected sufficient to afford us some insight into the construction of the material universe.31 In contrast to Herschel, Parsons was determined to make his results available to others. As he commented in his 1830 paper, he wanted to simplify the process necessary for the manufacture of good reflecting telescopes of ordinary dimensions, so that the art might be no longer a mystery, known to but a few individuals, and not to be acquired, but after many years of laborious apprenticeship … I shall [give] a particular account of the different processes and manipulations which I have employed, so that any person of ordinary mechanical skill who may think it worth while to erect the necessary machinery, will be enabled to obtain with certainty the same results.32 He noted that, in the execution of his experiments: ‘All my workmen were trained in my own laboratory without the assistance of any professional person, and none of them had previously seen any process in the mechanical arts.’33 Among these workmen was the ‘capable smith’ (a rather underwhelming description) William Coghlan,34 who appears to have been what we might describe as the works foreman. Others included Parsons W. 1830, 138 (Parsons C. 1926, 9). 31 Parsons W. 1830, 144 (Parsons C. 1926, 13). 32 Parsons W. 1830, 136 (Parsons C. 30

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1926, 8). Parsons W. 1830, 143 (Parsons C. 1926, 12). 34 Ball V. 1915, 64. 33

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6.3  The Reverend Thomas Romney Robinson

the ‘engineer’ Tommy Birmingham, and the ‘carpenter’ George Walsh.35 Randal Parsons, in his delightful booklet Reminiscences, records that: ‘Two smiths, Coghlan and Birmingham, were taught and educated for the work and lived with us till they died.’36 Patrick Moore mentions that he actually conversed with another, later employee, William Eades, ‘who had helped the 4th Earl to grind specula’.37 The 3rd Earl also employed ‘numerous assistants’. As will become apparent, a key supporter of Parsons’ endeavours was the Rev. Dr Thomas Romney Robinson (1793–1882),38 who, as the Director of Armagh Observatory since 1823, was an experienced and knowledgeable observer (Figure 6.3) (see also Chapter 10). He admired Parsons’ ‘rare combination of optical science, chemical knowledge, and practical mechanics’ (see also p. 302).39 Patrick Moore notes that Tubridy 1998, 8. Parsons R. undated, 27. 37 Moore 1971, 32. 35

38

36

39

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See Mollan 2007, 424–44. Robinson 1840, 3.

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Robinson became the Armagh Director ‘following the untimely death of his predecessor, the Reverend Dr Davenport, who committed suicide in the director’s study, allegedly because his wife was “an absolute fiend”’.40 Thus, one man’s tragedy provided another’s opportunity. It was Robinson who wrote of Parsons much later, in 1845: It was not the mean desire of possessing what no other possessed, or seeing what no other had seen, that induced him to bestow so many precious years on this pursuit: had such been his motives, he would have kept to himself his methods, instead of opening his workshops without reserve to all who had the slightest desire of following his steps, and communicating in the most liberal manner the fruits of long and painful experience. His sole object is to extend the domain of astronomical knowledge: and the more common such instruments become, the more perfectly will it be fulfilled.41 Parsons, in 1843, gave an indication of the motivation for his work: The love of truth; the pleasure which the mind feels in overcoming difficulties; the satisfaction in contributing to the general store of knowledge; the engrossing nature of a pursuit so exalted as that of diving into the wonders of creation; all these are very powerful incentives to exertion … Each successive discovery, as it brings us nearer to first principles, opens out to our view a new and more splendid prospect, and the mind, led away by its charms, is carried beyond and far above the petty and ephemeral contests of life.42 He also noted: ‘It is important that science should stand before the world in an aspect which is not forbidding.’ On another occasion, in 1859, he remarked: ‘To the human mind nothing is so fascinating as progress.’43 The three key processes involved in his telescopic adventures were, first, the casting of metal mirrors of the best mix to give superior reflecting quality while not being so totally brittle as to fall to pieces in the process; second, the devising of mechanical means for grinding and polishing the mirrors; and, third, mounting the telescopes. What is particularly striking to me in reading his collected papers is the staggering practical effort involved: as Parsons expressed it, the Moore 1971, 16. Robinson 1845, 133 (Parsons C. 1926, 31). 42 Parsons W. 1844, xxxi and xxxiii 40

41

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43

(Parsons C. 1926, 47 and 49). Parsons W. 1860, 1 (Parsons C. 1926, 64).

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‘numerous and accurate experiments, such as the patient consideration of the difficulties to be surmounted must necessarily suggest’,44 and these were ‘perseveringly carried on’.45 In his entry in the Dictionary of National Biography, written by Irishwoman, Agnes Mary Clerke, she refers elegantly to his ‘exercise of inexhaustible patience and ingenuity’. He was continually investigating and improving all his procedures. Anyone who has carried out and published scientific research will be aware of the tendency to highlight successes – with the published results glossing over much of the effort, especially the failures. However, when one considers the scale of things at Birr, the mind boggles, and Parsons does give pretty full details and does record his failures as well as his successes. (The same rugged determination was evident in the doggedness of his son Charles Parsons as he kept improving his steam turbine engine, refusing to be beaten by seemingly insuperable problems.46) I will not provide much detailed information about Parsons’ early experiments, since his later ones for his larger telescopes were essentially simply improvements (albeit substantial) on his earlier ones, and so I will focus on the later ones. Over the years, Parsons did make smaller telescopes than those with 36-inch [91.5 cm] and 72-inch [183 cm] diameter mirrors (which are featured here), among the most useful being one with an 18-inch [46 cm] mirror (see below and p. 232). Of course, before devising and improving his telescopes, Parsons had to decide on some basic parameters: – on what ‘kind’ of telescope should he focus his attention? To throw some light on his decision, I will give some background here. First of all, why did he choose metal mirrors, rather than glass lenses, for his telescopes – both types of telescope, reflecting or refracting, respectively, being well known at the time? His own answer was: I believe that large pieces of glass, of a tolerably homogeneous nature, are procured with great difficulty; and there seems to be but little prospect of our being able, with the present state of our knowledge, to construct efficient refractors, at least with glass lenses of apertures at all approaching the late Sir William Herschel’s reflectors.47 Irregularities and impurities in poor-quality lenses would give rise to distorted images. Parsons W. 1830, 137 (Parsons C. 1926, 8). 45 Parsons W. 1845, 80 (Parsons C. 1926, 50). 44

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46 47

Mollan 2007, 1255–87. Parsons W. 1828, 25 (Parsons C. 1926, 1).

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Then there was the problem of chromatic aberration. Everyone is familiar with the rainbow, formed when raindrops break up light into its spectral colours. Similarly, a simple convex glass lens will bend the light, refracting the violet light more than the red. The result is a series of coloured images increasing in size from violet to red. The thicker the lens, the greater the problem. There is yet another problem, known as ‘spherical aberration’. A single lens with spherical surfaces will not focus light from a point object to a point image. Rays nearer the edge focus the light at a point closer to the lens than do those which go through the centre, with the result that the image in such a large, uncorrected biconvex lens is both fuzzy and coloured. While compound lenses of up to 14-inch [36 cm] diameter had been produced, and had given exceptional images,48 Parsons, as noted above, did not consider it possible to overcome these problems for a very much larger lens, and so he had little choice but to choose a mirror instead. While chromatic aberration is not a problem in mirrors (no refraction is involved), the problem of spherical aberration is. If the mirror is ground to a spherical surface, then it will not focus light from a point object to a point image. To overcome this problem, the mirror must be ground to a parabolic shape, which is more difficult than producing a spherical figure. The problem is eased, but not overcome, if the mirror has a long focal length (i.e. less curvature) in proportion to its diameter, but there is obviously a practical limit to the length of a telescope tube.49 Nothing daunted, Parsons commented that ‘The reflecting telescope would be almost a perfect instrument, could we devise means of freeing it from spherical aberration,’50 and he embarked on his studies. Other instrument makers, like James Short of Edinburgh and London, had perfected techniques of grinding and polishing smaller mirrors to the correct shape, but their methods were trade secrets on which they based their prosperity. William Herschel had made larger mirrors, starting off with hand figuring and polishing, and then using polishing machinery – though even that was driven by hand. Indeed, for his largest, 40-foot [12.2 m] telescope (with a 48-inch [122 cm] diameter speculum), he employed twelve men. This in itself caused problems, and he admitted that ‘the number of men performing the work did not allow of those delicate attentions which are required in polishing mirrors’.51 Jim Bennett writes: Wolfgang Steinicke, personal communication. 49 Parsons W. 1828, 26 (Parsons C. 1926, 2). 48

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Parsons W. 1828, 25 (Parsons C. 1926, 1). 51 King 1979, 129. 50

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Herschel also made instruments for sale (a surprisingly large number) and, while he was prepared to publish in detail the mechanical operation of his great forty-foot telescope, for example, the details of the most critical process of all (casting, grinding and polishing the specula) remained untold. In any case, Herschel’s expertise had been hard won through years of manual experience, and it is not clear that he could have explained fully his methods in a written paper, even if he wanted to.52

Parsons could, though, have chosen to make a glass mirror with a reflecting coat of silver, which has better reflective power than speculum metal. Indeed, he later succeeded in plating a secondary metal mirror with silver to take advantage of its superior reflectivity.53 He had had experience of the process of painting on glass54 and, by 1854, he had devised a practical means of coating a glass plate with silver by using a layer of shellac between the silver and the glass, and tried this also for a secondary mirror.55 But the technology to produce large, silvered glass primary telescope mirrors had not been developed at the time, and awaited the pioneering work of Frenchman Léon Foucault (1819–68) in 1857 and the following years.56 Indeed, by 1860, John Herschel, son of William, could write: The advantages offered by this construction [a glass as opposed to a metal mirror] are immense. In the first place, glass, weight for weight, is incomparably stiffer than metal; so that a glass speculum, to be equally strong to resist change of figure by flexure, need weigh only one-fourth of a metallic one. Secondly, a glass disc of six or eight feet in diameter may be cast, annealed, and wrought with infinitely less labour, hazard, and cost than one of speculum metal. Thirdly, supposing a slight tarnish to arise from sulphuration, the reproduction of the polish is the work of a few minutes, and is performed without any chance of injuring the figure. Even if irretrievably spoilt, the silver coating may be instantly removed, and a fresh one laid on at a comparatively trifling cost, the parabolic figure once given to the glass being indestructible. Fourthly and lastly, the reflective power of pure silver … is to that of the best speculum alloy, as 91 to 67.57 Bennett 1988, 106. Parsons W. 1852, 12 (Parsons C. 1926, 53). 54 Parsons W. 1830, 139 (Parsons C. 1926, 10). 52 53

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Parsons W. 1854a, 199–200 (Parsons C. 1926, 68). 56 DSB. 57 Encyclopaedia Britannica, eighth edition, quoted in Gascoigne 1996, 109. 55

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In hindsight, a ‘what if ’ occurs. What if Parsons had put his immense abilities to work on silvered glass mirrors? It transpired that glass would prove much superior to speculum metal for future reflecting telescopes. But we cannot reinvent history. Parsons decided on metal mirrors as his only realistic option, and he would have been supported in his decision by trusted colleagues, such as Thomas Romney Robinson and Thomas Grubb.58 Like Parsons, Herschel had used metal mirrors, his largest being 48 inches [1.22 m] in diameter. (Parsons59 refers to one of 56-inch [1.42 m] diameter – this is a misprint, confusing 4 feet 8 inches with 48 inches.) For some of Herschel’s observations, he tilted the large primary mirror at the bottom of the telescope tube and viewed the image from the open side of the tube. He opted for this method because it meant that there was no impediment in the tube to reduce the light grasp of the telescope, and no second reflection to cause further deterioration (at the time it was not possible to produce a perfect plane surface). But the arrangement could give rise to other problems. The heat generated by the body and breath of the observer at the end of the tube could disturb the air and thus distort the image. Further, even if the primary mirror was truly parabolic, a consequence of placing the mirror obliquely would be that it would not give a sharp focus, but a diffused one, and it was not possible to figure the mirror to remove this problem.60 While he did experiment with the front-view method, Parsons chose to use optics which had been introduced much earlier by Sir Isaac Newton (1642–1727) (Figure 6.4). In this case, the primary mirror was not tilted, but a small plane (flat) secondary mirror was placed towards the top of the tube and angled to project the image out to the side of the telescope, where it could be viewed using a suitable eyepiece. Both of these optical arrangements had the problem that the viewer had to be at the top end of the telescope and, when the viewing position was 40 feet [12 m] away from the mirror (as it was in Herschel’s case) or 50 feet [15 m] in the case of Parsons’ Leviathan, it could be not only cold on a clear winter’s night, but also somewhat precarious, being so high above terra firma. When copper is melted and thoroughly mixed with a lesser amount of molten tin, and then cooled, the resulting alloy is bronze, typically eighteen parts of copper to one of tin. (Another well-known alloy of copper is brass, but in this case the copper is mixed with a lesser amount 58 59

Gascoigne 1996, 108. Parsons W. 1830, 138 (Parsons C. 1926, 9).

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60

Parsons W. 1852, 12 (Parsons C. 1926, 53).

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6.4 Newtonian telescope optics

of zinc.) By increasing the proportion of tin to bronze a whiter alloy is produced, which is more reflective on polishing. This type of bronze is called speculum metal, because it was used to make specula, or mirrors. The essential parts of the great telescopes of Birr were the mirrors, which collected light from the heavens. The larger and more perfect the mirrors, the better the telescopes. However, it was no simple matter to make good mirrors. One problem is that speculum metal, although brighter, is more brittle than normal bronze, and there were great technical problems involved in obtaining the right alloy, casting it and letting it cool without fracturing. After that, it had to be ground and polished to the correct curvature, and then placed in a telescope apparatus to be used. What all these challenges had in common was the need for engineering innovation and expertise, which was Parsons’ forté. Parsons carried out detailed studies of speculum metal of different alloy proportions. He found that the best alloy, in terms of whiteness, brilliancy and resistance to tarnish, was composed of four equivalents of copper to one of tin or, by weight, 32 parts to 14.7. But there was a problem with this best alloy. It was ‘brittle almost beyond belief ’. A slight blow would break it up, and it had a great tendency to crystallise. 61 The 61

Robinson 1840, 4 (Parsons C. 1926, 15).

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solution previously employed for making large mirrors, for example by William Herschel, was to use more copper. Herschel was reported to have used the proportions 32 copper to 12.4 tin for the speculum of his 18.7-inch [48 cm] aperture, 20-foot [6 m] focal length mirror of 1782, and even more copper for his 48-inch [1.22 m], 40-foot [12 m] focal length instrument of 1789.62 But the greater the increase in the copper, the poorer the mirror. In the end, Parsons decided that the preferred proportion by weight should be 126.4 to 58.9 (or 32 to 14.9, that is, slightly more tin than in his previous 32 to 14.7 ratio).63 Because of the brittleness of the alloy, he could not at first make a large, solid mirror, for they always fractured on cooling. He thus tried making mirrors in parts. For example, he made a 6-inch [15 cm] mirror with a 2-foot [61 cm] focal length from a central disk surrounded by a 1.5-inch [3.8 cm] ring, both cemented to a brass base. Having devised ‘An apparatus for grinding and polishing the specula of reflecting telescopes’,64 involving a 2-horse-power steam engine, a large power lathe and a sophisticated arrangement of wheels and spindles, he applied this to his mirror to give it a spherical shape. Then, the central disc could be moved slightly, relative to the ring, to make the combination nearer to a parabolic shape, thus improving on the problem of spherical aberration (Figure 6.5). Parsons later made an 18-inch [46 cm] diameter mirror with three adjustable parts.65 To make larger mirrors, he constructed a shallow brass cylinder with a lattice of brass struts, looking like a cake cut into eight slices, with each slice being divided into three parts. The brass alloy was specially chosen to have the same coefficient of expansion as the speculum metal to be used, the proportions being 1 of zinc to 2.74 of copper.66 He then soldered onto this plates of speculum metal ‘of such size as we were able to cast sound’ (Figure 6.6). The resulting mirrors had the advantage of being very much lighter than solid mirrors of the same diameter, but there were problems, in soldering the plates to the base, with joining the edges of the plates to one another, and they were ‘affected by diffraction at the joinings of the plates’. The major problem in casting such mirrors arose during the cooling of the molten metal. The edges became solid first, and this caused stresses as solidification progressed towards the centre. These stresses Robinson 1840, 4 (Parsons C. 1926, 15). Parsons W. 1845, 80 (Parsons C. 1926, 50). 64 Parsons W. 1828a, 213–17 (Parsons C. 1926, 5–7). 62 63

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Parsons W. 1840, 522 (Parsons C. 1926, 99). 66 Parsons W. 1845, 80 (Parsons C. 1926, 50). 65

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6.5  The concentric speculum, whose central disc could be moved up or down 6.6  below Mirrors made up of segments on a brass base (from Parsons W. 1861)

were sufficient to shatter the brittle speculum metal. Parsons therefore set out to construct a mould which would cool the metal from the base while keeping a uniform temperature across the mould. He first used a solid iron mould. This was suitably curved, as the bottom of the mould would give an initial shape to what would become the reflecting surface of the mirror, and it was cooled from below by a jet of water or cold air. Unfortunately, the mould regularly cracked before the speculum metal solidified, thus ruining the casting. Parsons then replaced the iron rim with sand to improve the heat flow, and he obtained sound castings. 67 67

Parsons W. 1840, 503–27 (Parsons C. 1926, 87).

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But he still did not have good enough results. The casts had air bubbles trapped on the bottom, which resulted in pock-marking of the surface, and the resulting cavities were difficult to grind out. 68 Parsons reported: But the remedy immediately suggested itself; by making the iron surface porous, so as to suffer the air to escape, in fact by forming it of plates of iron placed vertically side by side, the defect was altogether removed.69 Thus, the solid iron base was replaced by strips of hoop-iron, set on edge. The gaps were sufficient to let out the gases, but close enough to retain the metal. The experiments required the utilisation of prodigious quantities of peat for heating, but this was in plentiful supply locally, and could produce temperatures of around 1100°C, just sufficient to melt copper (1083°C). (Tin melts at 232°C, and the speculum alloy at around 750°C.) Great care had to be taken. The molten metal had to be at the right temperature, which was tested by stirring it with a wooden pole. When the carbon in the wood reduced the oxide on the surface of the metal, rendering it brilliant, it was ready to be poured into the mould, and this had to be done very quickly. As soon as it became solid, the cast was quickly removed from the mould and transferred to an oven heated to a little below redness, then cooled very slowly.70 This method was so successful that, of sixteen plates prepared to be made into a 3-foot speculum on its segmented brass base, not one was defective. Parsons managed to perfect the means of attaching these to the base, and of joining the plates together. But better was to come. This same method could be used to cast solid mirrors, and he had soon done just that with, first, a 20-inch [50 cm] mirror, and then a 36-inch [91.5 cm] one, of 27-foot [8.2 m] focal length. The latter was 3.75 inches [9.5 cm] thick, and weighed 13 hundredweight [660 kg].71 We can imagine the jubilation of Parsons and his workers at this dramatic success, after so many difficulties. It was William Rowan Hamilton (1805–65) who was the first to observe with the (segmented) 36-inch mirror. He had been ‘persuaded to remain for a few days’ at Birr Castle, ‘that I may see the polishing, and perhaps the erection, of the great three-foot mirror (three feet across) Parsons W. 1840, 503–27 (Parsons C. 1926, 87). 69 Parsons W. 1845, 80 (Parsons C. 1926, 50). 68

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Parsons W. 1840, 511 (Parsons C. 1926, 88). 71 Parsons W. 1840, 512 (Parsons C. 1926, 89). 70

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which will be a finer instrument than any now in use’, and, in a letter to his wife dated 22 February 1835, he wrote: The great three-foot was at length inserted yesterday; and when we went to the telescope in the evening, it turned out that in thus putting it up for the first time the focal length had not been exactly adapted to the tube, but was about a foot too short … We could therefore only use our naked eye to look with, down the tube … I am very glad that I have seen at least the mirror; and it happened that I was the first to point it at a celestial object, which will be something to remember (if I live) in after-years.72 And he reported that: ‘the perfect whiteness of Jupiter and Sirius was very striking to me, who have been accustomed only to refractors, which always tinge bright objects more or less with colour’. Dr Thomas Romney Robinson, who had been joined at Birr by Sir James South (1785–1867), ‘one of the most celebrated of British astronomers’, reported in 1840 on the performance of the two 36-inch mirrors, the segmented and the solid, and was favourably impressed with both, although the viewing conditions were not of the best.73 When they were, Robinson waxed ecstatic: It is scarcely possible to preserve the necessary sobriety of language, in speaking of the moon’s appearance with this instrument, which discovers a multitude of new objects at every point of its surface. Among these may be named a mountainous tract near Ptolemy, every ridge of which is dotted with extremely minute craters, and two black parallel stripes in the bottom of Aristarchus.74 The successful casting of a solid mirror made this the method of choice, as it avoided so many complications of construction. Parsons’ future successful mirrors were solid castings. He did not stop at the 36-inch speculum. Having successfully overcome the problems of casting this, he determined to go further than anyone else had gone. Using the same methods, with necessary changes of detail because of the gigantic scale of the work, he successfully cast a 72-inch [1.83 m] speculum on 13 April 1842.75 A contemporary commentator wrote: At that time it was considered by some as little short of a chimera to attempt the construction of such a monstrous instrument; but the Reproduced in Graves 1885, 120. Robinson 1840, 8 (Parsons C. 1926, 17). 74 Robinson 1840, 8 (Parsons C. 1926, 18). 72

73

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75

Robinson 1845, 114 (Parsons C. 1926, 20).

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6.7 Set-up for the casting of the mirror: 1 – Chimney; 2 – Furnaces for the crucibles; 3 – Crane; 4 – Iron baskets for the heated crucibles; 5 – Speculum mould; 6 – Annealing oven into which the hot, but solid, speculum is dragged

idea no sooner occurred to this ingenious and persevering nobleman than he determined to put it to the test, and the result has been attended with complete success.76 A foundry was specially constructed in the moat of the Castle, with a chimney 18 feet [5.5 m] high and with three furnaces, each one 8 foot [2.4 m] deep and 5.5 foot [1.7 m] square, with circular openings of 4 foot [1.2 m] diameter. In these were placed the crucibles of cast iron in which were melted the speculum metal, an alloy of 32 parts copper to 14.91 parts tin. The crucibles had themselves been cast (by Messrs Dewer of London)77 the right way up, a change from the usual practice of casting them cast upside down. The reason for this was that air bubbles rising in the casting made the bottom porous to the metal when they were cast with their bottoms up. It took 10 hours to preheat the crucibles, using turf, and a further 12 to melt the alloy ingots. The production of the mirror required about 2,200 cubic feet [62 cubic m] of turf.78 Close by was a crane with tackle for lifting and carrying the crucibles to the side of the mould, and levers allowed the metal to be quickly added to the mould (Figure 6.7). The bottom of the mould was suitably shaped, and was made, as noted earlier, from edge-on layers of hoop iron 5.5 inches [14 cm] thick. Before the metal was added, a wooden blank was placed in 76 77

Dick 1845, 423. Parsons W. 1861, 682 (Parsons C. 1926, 126).

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78

Robinson 1845, 115 (Parsons C. 1926, 20).

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the mould and this was surrounded by sand. The blank was then removed and the ‘operation of pouring was accomplished in about three seconds … In about twenty minutes the metal was solid throughout.’ Thomas Romney Robinson outlined the progress of initial cooling: The fluid metal which comes in contact with the hoops is chilled at once into a dense sheet about half an inch thick; the air which might be entangled with it in pouring, escaping through their interstices. The circumference sets much more slowly in consequence of the inferior conducting power of the sand; and the upper surface, which is only in contact with air, remains so long fluid, that the greatest part of the shrinkage occurs there; its tendency to crack the cast is prevented, and the coarse structure which it produces is confined to a place where it is unimportant.79 And he went on to describe the dramatic scene: On this occasion, besides the engrossing importance of the operation, its singular and sublime beauty can never be forgotten by those who were so fortunate as to be present. Above, the sky, crowded with stars and illuminated by a most brilliant moon, seemed to look down auspiciously on their work. Below, the furnaces poured out huge columns of nearly monochromatic yellow flame, and the ignited crucibles during their passage through the air were fountains of red light, producing on the towers of the castle and the foliage of the trees, such accidents of colour and shade as might almost transport fancy to the planets of a contrasted double star. Nor was the perfect order and arrangement of every thing less striking: each possible contingency had been foreseen, each detail carefully rehearsed; and the workmen executed their orders with a silent and unerring obedience worthy of the calm and provident self-possession in which they were given. The annealing oven was a low, square structure lined with fire bricks and covered by an arch with a flue. Its floor had the same curvature as the speculum, and it was heated from beneath. It had been kept full of burning turf for some weeks before use, so that the whole interior was red hot. The speculum had been cast with a groove around the middle of the rim. An iron ring was secured around this groove after the speculum had become solid but was still red hot, and it was dragged, along strong beams covered with iron, into the centre of the annealing oven by means 79

Robinson 1845, 116 (Parsons C. 1926, 21).

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of a capstan.80 At this stage it was not at all brittle. The ring was then removed and the chamber was filled with charcoal above the speculum and with turf in the heating chambers below. As mentioned, the mirrors were cast with the curved reflecting side down. After cooling, great care had to be taken to turn them around. A 4-foot [1.2 m] deep pit was dug, and the speculum was slid on planks to the edge of the pit, then lowered gently into it, resting on its edge on the soft earth. It was then encased and lifted by a crane onto a specially engineered carriage (see Figure 6.9). As the solid metal mirrors were of such great weight, it was necessary to take steps to support them in such a way that they did not flex under their own weight. If such flexure was excessive, the notoriously brittle metal would fracture. Indeed, when the mirror was in use, even mild flexure, like the slight pressure of a hand, would alter the curvature of its surface. To deal with this problem, Parsons employed a variation of a support system which had been introduced by ‘a clever Dublin artist, Mr. Grubb’.81 This was the Dublin telescope maker, Thomas Grubb (1800–78).82 By a strange co-incidence Grubb had been born in the same year as Parsons – making it something of an annus mirabilis for Irish astronomy (it must have been in the stars!). Grubb had used a levered support for the mirror of the reflecting telescope that he had made for Robinson at Armagh Observatory in 1833–34. It employed a series of levers so that the mirror was supported at eighteen separate points. For his 72-inch speculum, Parsons, after experimenting with different arrangements, used such a lever system with no fewer than 81 support points in three tiers (Figure 6.8). These three triangles, which we call primary, carry at their angles, by ball-and-socket joints, nine secondary triangles, supported at their respective centres of gravity: and they, in a similar way, carry twenty seven tertiary triangles, each carrying three gun-metal balls of 1½ inch [4 cm] diameter, – in all eighty-one balls … Between the balls and the speculum twenty-seven thin brass plates are interposed … to make a smooth surface for the balls to roll upon without grinding the back of the speculum.83 When the tube was vertical, this system gave even pressure under the Robinson 1845, 118 (Parsons C. 1926, 22). 81 Parsons W. 1850, 500 (Parsons C. 1926, 110). 80

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82 83

Mollan 2007, 511–37. Parsons W. 1861, 690 (Parsons C. 1926, 134).

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6.8  System of levers for the speculum support: A – Bottom; B – Next layer; C – Top layer; total 81 support points

speculum. When the tube was inclined, the lateral strain was relieved by means of a system of levers connected to the ball-and-socket joints of the secondary triangles. The speculum was hoisted onto its levered support on the carriage, 84 and it remained on it while it was ‘slowly dragged by twenty-five or thirty men’, on a rail track, to the grinding and polishing machinery in the courtyard of the Castle and then, as required, to the telescope, about a quarter of a mile [0.4 km] away (Figures 6.9 and 6.10). The first speculum to be cast was allowed to cool for six weeks85 but, unfortunately, after more than a month on the grinding machine, it was accidentally broken before polishing could begin. A second was quickly made, the 13 April 1842 casting noted above, using a little more copper in the alloy, as Parsons was naturally anxious to have a working speculum with the least delay. This time it was allowed to cool for 16 weeks.86 Its surface was not perfect but, after two months of grinding and polishing, a satisfactory mirror weighing 4 tons [4,060 kg] was produced. The third attempt produced a mirror with a crack through the middle. The fourth fractured into little pieces in the annealing oven. Finally, the fifth attempt gave a perfect casting, though its weight, at 3.5 tons [3,560 kg], was less than ideal.87 But at last there were now two serviceable specula, so that one could be used while the other was being polished. George Johnstone Stoney, quoted in Parsons L. 1880a, Appendix iii. 85 Parsons W. 1861, 683 (Parsons C. 1926, 127). 84

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Robinson 1845, 116 (Parsons C. 1926, 22). 87 Parsons W. 1861, 684–6 (Parsons C. 1926, 128–30). 86

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6.9 Mary Rosse’s photograph of the trolley with the speculum on its levered supports, and with a protective cover; the cylinders on top contained lime to protect the speculum from moisture

These two, however, were not as perfect as Parsons would have wished, and did not behave as well as the relatively heavier, and therefore stiffer, 36-inch mirrors. The 4-ton speculum contained too much copper, and this reduced its brightness and resistance to tarnish. The lighter one was too thin, and gave trouble, due to flexure. Nevertheless, their successful casting, grinding and polishing were remarkable feats. Parsons did comment in 1861: I think there would still be sufficient gain to make it worth while to cast a third speculum considerably heavier than either of the others.... Upon the whole, I am inclined to think there is a better prospect of improving the definition of very large specula by increasing the original stiffness, than by endeavouring still further to eliminate slight disturbing forces.88 In fact, he never made another 72-inch speculum. 88

Parsons W. 1861, 686 and 691 (1926, 130 and 135).

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6.10  Watercolour painting by Henrietta M. Crompton of the 3rd Earl directing the transport of the speculum to the north side of the 72-inch telescope; between it and the Castle is the 36-inch telescope on its mounting, and the small, domed observatory is also shown

There were probably at least two reasons for this. The use of the Leviathan had not satisfactorily answered the question which it was originally designed to address – that is, whether or not all nebulae could be resolved into discrete stars (see Chapter 7), but had only removed the problem further out into space. As Parsons put it himself: ‘as yet, I think, we have no fair ground even for plausible conjecture; and as observations have accumulated the subject has become, to my mind at least, more mysterious and more inapproachable’.89 It was likely that a better mirror (or indeed a bigger one) would still fail to find the answer. As well, his team of mechanics was not sufficiently kept in practice, as there were increasingly long delays between preparing one speculum and the next: If the vivid polish of a speculum employed in the open air was as enduring as that of glass, the difficulty of the process and its uncertainty without continual practice would have been no great objection to it; but when, on the contrary, it is necessary to repeat 89

Parsons W. 1850, 503 (Parsons C. 1926, 113).

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William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse the process at intervals perhaps so long that minute details are not fresh in the memory, the task becomes the labour of SISYPHUS.90

(Sisyphus was the character of Greek myth who was compelled to push a boulder uphill, only to see it roll down to the bottom as he neared the top, thus being thus obliged to start all over again, and again.) It is not surprising that no one tried to reproduce, or enlarge on, the scale of the work of the 3rd Earl, in spite of the fact that he took such pains to give very full details of his manufacturing process to all who were interested, and in spite of repeated claims that the processes could be carried out by ‘common workmen’.91 Even he and his talented team had trouble repeating his results. He had effectively, indeed magnificently, reached the pinnacle in the construction of large, solid metal mirror telescopes with his Leviathan. It remains one of the wonders of science and engineering. Of course, the casting of the massive mirrors was only one, albeit among the most difficult and demanding, of the engineering requirements involved. The mirrors had to be ground to the required surface, polished and mounted. The basic principle in the grinding and polishing is the rubbing of two disks together, one the mirror, the other the tool. Parsons’ key to this was the employment of mechanical means and, after a great deal of experimentation, he devised a stream-driven engine (itself a remarkable achievement at this time92), which powered a lathe which gave reproducible results (Figure 6.11). Robert Ball notes: In no part of his undertaking was Lord Rosse’s mechanical ingenuity more taxed that in the devising of the mechanism for carrying out the delicate operations of grinding and polishing the mirrors.93 Parsons himself writes: It was very obvious that the published processes for grinding and polishing specula, being in great measure dependent on manual dexterity, were uncertain and not well suited to large specula; accordingly, at an early period of these experiments, in 1827, a machine was contrived for the purpose which has subsequently been improved, and by means of it a close approximation to the parabolic Parsons W. 1861, 695 (Parsons C. 1926, 139). 91 Parsons W. 1861, 696 (Parsons C. 90

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1926, 140). Scaife 2000, 27. 93 Ball R. 1895, 278. 92

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6.11  The grinding and polishing machine

figure can be obtained with certainty … the speculum is made to revolve very slowly, while the polishing tool is drawn backwards and forwards by one excentric [sic] or crank, and from side to side slowly by another … An immense number of experiments, where the results were carefully registered, eventually established an empirical formula, which affords at present very good practical results.94 The different motions could be separately adjusted, and were all under ‘complete control’,95 including a counterweight arrangement to adjust the pressure of the grinding and polishing tools on the speculum as required. Parsons found that the stroke of the first eccentric should be one third the diameter of the speculum, and the second 0.27 the diameter. The velocity and direction of motions could be adjusted to give the necessary friction. To avoid temperature differences in the specula, while being ground and polished they were partially submerged in a water bath maintained at 55°F [12.8°C]. In early 1845, Parsons replaced his steam 94

Parsons W. 1845, 80–1 (Parsons C. 1926, 51).

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95

Parsons W. 1840, 515 (Parsons C. 1926, 92).

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engine for driving the polishing machine with a more powerful one from Manchester.96 The speculum had been cast to its approximate shape by the mould, and was then ground more accurately to the required figure using sand and emery. The polishing process had to be much more sophisticated. Two different thin layers (each about 1/40th of an inch – less than 1 mm – thick) were used between the tool and the speculum. The first was made up of pitch, to which was added spirits of turpentine or rosin to obtain the necessary consistency. The lower layer, harder than the first, and holding the polishing powder (rouge or peroxide of iron), was made of rosin, spirits of turpentine and wheat flour.97 Towards the end of the polishing process, a combination of brown soap and ammonia was added.98 As can be appreciated, it took a great deal of experimenting to come up with such a solution. This can be further illustrated by a reminiscence of Robert Stawell Ball (as recorded by the latter’s son Valentine): To illustrate the thoroughness of his methods, let me recall one detail which I heard from his own lips. In the final polishing of the mirror, rouge was the material employed. When he commenced operations he found that the rouge of commerce was not satisfactory. He therefore investigated the subject, and eventually discovered the way to make good rouge. His method was afterwards adopted in the manufacture of the rouge which is used by the great silversmiths in London.99 Both the Earl and his wife were good practical chemists, in addition to their other accomplishments. To obtain satisfactory results, the surface of the tool for grinding and polishing was divided into small squares, to prevent the build-up of debris, and had both circular and radial channels. As Parsons recorded in 1840: If the resinous surface is so hard that the particles of polishing powder no longer sink into it deep enough to be held fast, then the polish is destroyed, the polishing process passing into that of grinding; long, however, before that limit of hardness has been attained, the resinous surface has lost its essential quality of expanding laterally, and therefore preserving its exact coincidence of figure with the speculum. I have found that the two properties 96 97

Jim Bennett, ODNB. Parsons W. 1845, 82 (Parsons C. 1926, 52).

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Parsons W. 1861, 694 (Parsons C. 1926, 138). 99 Ball V. 1915, 64. 98

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6.12a  above The back and front of the grinding and polishing tool (from Parsons W. 1861) 6.12b  left Mary Rosse’s photograph of the grinding and polishing tool

apparently inconsistent with each other, can be imparted to the polisher at the same time simply by using the resinous composition of two different degrees of hardness, so as to form two very thin strata, the outer being the harder. The resinous surface in contact with the speculum can thus be made as hard as necessary, while the thin subjacent layer of softer resin expands laterally, so as to preserve the figure of the polisher.100 By 1852, Parsons had refined his polishing process, notably by increasing the speed of the second eccentric, to the extent that one of his workmen, a smith, ‘without any superintendence … produced a speculum, not perhaps absolutely perfect, but capable of doing excellent work’.101 100

Parsons W. 1840, 518 (Parsons C. 1926, 95).

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101

Parsons W. 1853, 23 (Parsons C. 1926, 58) (emphasis in original).

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6.13  Watercolour painting of the Birr Castle workshop by Henrietta M. Crompton – showing the mast to which a watch dial was attached

The problem of quality control was of major importance, since it was necessary to be sure that the mirror had been figured correctly before it was transported to the telescope for use. Parsons had an ingenious solution. The grinding and polishing machine was located on the ground floor of outbuildings at the Castle, and on the floors above were trap doors, with a tall mast on the roof (Figure 6.13). He tested the 36-inch speculum by observing a watch dial located on top of this mast, about 90 feet [27 m] above the mirror,102 and commented: A watch-dial is, upon the whole, as good a test for very large specula as can be desired, as there is so much light that the magnifying power can always be increased till indistinctness is perceptible; and although eventually the performance of the instrument on heavenly bodies, the development of new details, or the discovery of new objects, which other instruments have not reached, are the proofs that an accession of instrumental power has been obtained, still as a test to have recourse to during the progress of experiments, a 102

Parsons W. 1840, 516 (Parsons C. 1926, 93).

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watch-dial, which is always at hand, and so near that atmospheric changes do not very materially affect the result is a far better object.103 This method, though, could not be used for the 72-inch speculum, as its focal length (53 feet [15 m]) was too long, but the grinding machine was used first to figure a 36-inch mirror, which could be tested on the machine, and this was subsequently replaced by the 72-inch, which, it was assumed, would also be similarly properly figured, as the machine settings had been checked. Obviously, the mirrors had to be suitably mounted so that they could be used for astronomical observations, and, over the years, different arrangements were made for the telescopes using the 36-inch specula. Indeed it was found that these smaller and lighter telescopes were much more convenient to use than the mighty Leviathan. The first design for the 36-inch telescope used a wooden structure on a circular track, following the example of Herschel, so that the telescope could be pointed to any direction of the compass (Figures 6.14 and 6.15). Two ladders ran up the front of the structure, with a viewing platform between them. As the optics used were Newtonian, the viewing point was at the side near the top of the tube. With such a mounting, virtually the whole of the sky could be observed. The telescope could rotate through 360° on its circular track, and from almost horizontal to nearly vertical in altitude. Later, the solid tube was replaced with a lattice (usually called a truss tube). This reduced the weight and increased the manoeuvrability. In addition, it was designed to avoid the problem that the speculum would cool more slowly than night-time temperature, and this could lead to hot air rising from the speculum on the upper side of the tube, with cold air descending on the bottom side, with ‘eddies of the two caus[ing] strange wings and twirlings of the image. This goes on increasing as the night becomes colder, till sometimes all definition is lost’.104 A totally different mounting for the 36-inch reflector was set up by the 4th Earl between 1874 and 1876.105 A particularly significant improvement was its equatorial mount (Figures 6.16 and 6.17). (Such a mount had been constructed earlier for an 18-inch telescope, and the 4th Earl had also introduced an ingenious water-powered drive for that instrument.106) What the equatorial mount meant was that the telescope was secured in such a way that it could revolve around an axis pointing 103

104

Parsons W. 1840, 523 (Parsons C. 1926, 100). Robinson 1867, xl.

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Parsons L. 1880a, 153–60. Parsons W. 1866 (Parsons C. 1926, 69–71).

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6.14 Mary Rosse’s photograph of the 36-inch reflector with its original Herschelian mounting, photographed c. 1857

to the celestial North Pole, that is, parallel with the Earth’s axis. Due to the rotation of the Earth, the stars appear to move across the sky, and a long exposure photograph would suggest that they are circling around the Pole Star. Of course, it is not the stars which are circling, but the Earth. With this mounting, the instrument could stay fixed on an object in the sky with only one axis of adjustment, which could be supplied by a clock drive. The new mounting incorporated other refinements. One of these was an observing chair, introducing a modicum of comfort. This remounted 36-inch telescope worked so well, compared to its ‘ageing companion’, the Leviathan, that the latter fell into gradual disuse107 (see also Chapter 10). For the 72-inch reflector, the mounting had to be very different, 107

King 1979, 216.

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6.15 Herschelian mounting for the 36-inch reflector, with truss tube replacing the solid tube, photographed in 1864

and was described by Robinson as ‘the perfection of mechanical engineering’.108 The speculum, on its levered back support, was held in a box above a mighty, cast-iron universal joint, secured to a solid stone foundation.109 Beyond the speculum box was the 57-feet [17.4 m] long tube, 8 feet [2.4 m] in diameter at the middle, and slightly tapering from the centre to the ends. It was made of oak strips, bound with iron rings, and looked like a giant, elongated whiskey barrel. When it was officially opened, the Church of Ireland Dean Peacock ‘walked throughout the length of the tube wearing his top-hat and carrying a raised umbrella over his head, to demonstrate its immense size’.110 It was enclosed within mighty masonry walls on either side, 70 feet [21 m] long, 56 feet [17 m] high and 24 feet [7.3 m] apart pointing north/south on either side. As 108

109

Robinson 1845, 119 (Parsons C. 1926, 23). Parsons W. 1861, 707 (Parsons C.

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110

1926, 151). Moore 1971, 27.

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6.16 Equatorial mounting for the 36-inch reflector, 1878

6.17 The complex engineering for the equatorial 36-inch reflector

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well as giving solid support for the telescope, these shielded it from the wind, which could otherwise have caused the tube to shake, leading to wobbly images. (The famous devastation of the ‘Night of the Big Wind’, 6 January 1839,111 would still have been fairly fresh in Parsons’ memory.) As Parsons himself put it: ‘The tube is slung entirely by chains, and is perfectly steady even in a gale of wind.’112 It could move from horizontal to vertical and beyond between these walls and, though only to a limited extent, from side to side, as it was constrained in sideways movement by the walls. This fact that it could not move much on either side of the north/south line, technically known as the ‘meridian’, limited the use of the telescope, restricting observations of an object to an hour or less, before the rotation of the Earth moved it beyond view. And, of course, viewing could not start until the object came into view. Murphy’s Law had a habit of operating, with perfect viewing conditions when the relevant heavenly body could not be viewed, only to be replaced by clouds when it would otherwise have been possible to observe it. But there was not really any choice. The mighty size of the instrument made massive supports essential, and Parsons had the engineering sense to know that a telescope made to be more flexible in its movements would not have had the needed rigidity. In the event, the support structure was extremely successful, within its limits. A system of counterweights, chains, winches, and guiding bars was used to move the barrel (Figures 6.18 and 6.19): The eastern pier bears what may be called the meridian of the instrument: it is a strong semi-circle of cast iron, about eighty-five feet [26 m] diameter … The telescope is compelled to move in the meridian, being connected with this circle by a strong bar provided with friction rollers, that it may traverse it easily … a handle near the eyepiece enables the observer to move it either side of the meridian … The movement is surprisingly easy.113 Three viewing galleries were needed in order to look into the Newtonian focus at different elevations of the tube, one in front, between two angled ladders (Figure 6.18(5)), which could sink into a hollow in the ground in front of the telescope, the others cantilevered high up on the wall. The lowest one could be used for the elevation of the telescope up to 42˚, and held a little railway: ‘on which the observing gallery moves about 111 112

Doherty 1990, 121. Parsons W. 1850, 109 (Parsons C. 1926, 109).

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113

Robinson 1845, 121 (Parsons C. 1926, 24).

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6.18 Leviathan details (from Parsons W. 1861): 1 and 2 – The speculum on its trolley; 3 and 4 – The back and front of the polishing tool; 5 to 9 – Details of the telescope’s mounting and mechanism; 10 – The levered support for the speculum; 11 – The universal joint

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6.19 Mary Rosse’s photograph showing details of the mounting of the Leviathan, as drawn in 6.18(9). The ‘P’ shaped device, or ‘crane’, with a corresponding one on the other wall, is part of the elevating mechanism, and connects a chain attached to the tube with counterweights below

twenty four feet [7.3 m] east and west, two of its wheels being turned by a winch near the observer’.114 The upper galleries, accessed by steps on the outside of the west wall, could allow viewing with the telescope up to vertical and a little beyond (Figure 6.20). They could accommodate twelve people, and Robinson comments: ‘though it is rather startling to a person who finds himself suspended over a chasm sixty feet [18 m] deep, without more than a speculative acquaintance with the properties of trussed beams, all is perfectly safe’. Too much accommodation could also be a problem: ‘Only one view of the moon was obtained … and it was shared … by several visitors, who, when once in possession of the telescope, were by no means disposed to make way for astronomers. The fascination of the sight is, indeed, such, that one can scarcely withdraw the eye.’ Robinson later noted that the view of the moon in the Leviathan was ‘the most magnificent spectacle he ever saw’.115 Parsons did, in 1854, construct a ‘smooth motion-clock’ so that long-exposure photographs might be taken of the moon, and reported that: ‘by such means a pretty picture of the moon can be 114

Robinson 1845, 122 (Parsons C. 1926, 25).

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Robinson 1848, 122 (Parsons C. 1926, 34).

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obtained, but at present I believe that there is no known photographic process which is sufficiently sensitive to give details in the least degree approaching to the way in which they are brought out by the eye.’116 Photography with the Leviathan never really worked. The instrument (Figure 6.21) was cumbersome, and required a team of assistants to move it, although fine movements could be carried out by the observer: Four men had to be summoned to assist the observer. One stood at the winch to raise or lower, another at the lower end of the instrument to give it an eastward or westward motion, as directed by the astronomer, while the third had to be ready to move the gallery in and out, in order to keep the observer conveniently placed with regard to the eye-piece. It was the duty of the fourth to look after the lamps and attend to minor matters.117 One wonders how many of these faithful retainers actually enjoyed having to abandon their cosy beds to attend to their master’s needs in the cold of the night, especially on occasions when observation continued from dusk to dawn,118 or being kept up, as they put it themselves, ‘terrible late’119 (see also p. 260). Different eyepieces were used at the Newtonian focus, for example, one of low power (x216) with a wide field of view (26 minutes of arc – equivalent to the moon’s diameter), and another with a higher magnification and smaller field of view (there were several of these with different magnifications). The object to be viewed was located with the low-power eyepiece, and then a higher one, held on the same sliding bar, was moved into place.120 Michael Tubridy, who oversaw the restoration of the telescope, and who therefore really knows what he is talking about, provides a clearer view of the mechanism in his elevation of the east wall (Figure 6.22),121 and he gives a useful brief outline of its workings: The telescope was raised by a windlass (winch) winding up a chain attached to the mouth of the tube and passing over a pulley wheel at a very high level. The effort required to lift the telescope was reduced by the use of counterpoises (counterweights). There was a circular iron arc fixed to the east wall, with the primary axis of the 116

117 118

Parsons W. 1854a, 199 (Parsons C. 1926, 67). Ball 1915, 64. Ball V. 1915, 68.

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1 21

Ball V. 1915, 78. Parsons W. 1861, 700 (Parsons C. 1926, 144). Tubridy 1998, 20–1.

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6.20  View of the Leviathan in 1875 showing the ladders giving access to the viewing galleries; in this case, the observing cage above the top gallery is shown, which allowed the observer to view down the tube from the top (Herschelian) as distinct from the side, via an angled mirror (Newtonian)

6.21  Picture postcard of the Leviathan

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6.22 Michael Tubridy’s drawing of the restored Leviathan mechanism

Universal Joint [UJ] as its centre, and radius about 42 feet [12.8 m]. At this distance from the UJ, a horizontal beam was attached to the underside of the tube (the azimuth beam), the other end of which could roll along the arc. At the tube end of the beam there was a rack and pinion mechanism which could be used to move the tube over and back along the beam. By use of the windlass and the azimuth beam the telescope could be raised to any desired elevation and then moved from east to west to follow an object in the sky.122 Wolfgang Steinicke tells us in Chapter 7 what was observed with Parson’s impressive instrument. But I will mention once again the point that Parsons’ real passion was for engineering – the topic of this chapter; and while he received massive acclaim for his remarkable achievement – Robinson typically referring to ‘the wondrous revelations of his matchless telescope’123 – Robert Ball commented: Those who knew Lord Rosse well, will agree that it was more the mechanical processes incidental to the making of the telescope which engaged his interest than the actual observations with the telescope when it was completed. Indeed one who was well acquainted with 1 22 1 23

Tubridy 1998, 14. Robinson 1853, 22 (Parsons C. 1926, 56).

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6.23  The old tube being removed

6.24  The restored Leviathan

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William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse him believed Lord Rosse’s special interest in the great telescope ceased when the last nail had been driven into it.124

Not everyone was impressed. Parsons’ friend Professor Otto Struve (1819–1905) of the Pulkova [now Pulkovo] Observatory, near St Petersburg, in a letter to Laurence Parsons, dated 14 April 1880, commented ‘certainly with regard to definition … there are other instruments superior to it’125 (see also p. 334). The contemporary populariser of astronomy, Richard Proctor, wrote in 1869: The fault of the Rosse reflector, as of all very large reflectors hitherto constructed, is that it does not present objects in a perfectly distinct manner … The very weight of a large mirror tends to change the figure of its surface; and though the change may seem insignificant, yet the defining power of the telescope is seriously affected … It is on this account that we hear so little of any discoveries within the range of our own system by means of the great Parsonstown reflector. Far better views of the planets have been obtained by much smaller telescopes … the views of [Mars] obtained by means of the Rosse telescope are perfectly wretched.126 Indeed, Léon Foucault (1819–68) has been quoted as commenting in 1857, ‘Le télescope de Lord Rosse est un blague’127 (Lord Rosse’s telescope is a joke). But then he was French, and a rival. Laurence Parsons explained that, since the performance of the specula varied, depending on their condition after repolishing and on the observing conditions in the damp Irish climate, ‘it is not, therefore, surprising that conflicting impressions as to the performance of the six-foot reflector should have been formed by persons who had, on one occasion only, an opportunity of looking through the instrument’.128 One person who had spent many long nights observing, and thus could really judge its quality, George Johnstone Stoney, gave his view to Laurence in 1878: The test usually applied was the performance of the mirror on a star of the 8th, 8½ or 9th magnitude, under a power of 750. Such stars are bright in the great telescope. They are usually seen as balls of light, like small peas, violently boiling in consequence of 1 24 1 25 1 26

Ball R. 1895, 287. Parsons L. 1880, Appendix v. Reprinted in Proctor 1894, 66.

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1 27 1 28

Quoted in Gascoigne 1996, 108. Parsons L. 1880, 5.

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atmospheric disturbance. If the night is good there will be moments now and then when the atmospheric disturbance will abruptly seem to cease for a fraction of a second, and the star is seen for an instant as the telescope really presents it. It is by the appearance of such moments that the performance of the telescope must be judged. With the best of your father’s mirrors that I saw, the appearance at such opportunities was like that of the light shining through a minute needle-hole in a card placed in front of a flame. I think any practical astronomer will agree with me in the opinion that mirrors of six feet in diameter that bore the test bordered very closely indeed on theoretical perfection.129 And the aforementioned Proctor did acknowledge that the tiny cloudlets which shine from beyond the great depths of space are changed under the eye of the giant reflector of Parsonstown into glorious galaxies of stars, blazing with a splendour which cannot be conceived by those who have not themselves looked upon the magic scene. In indulging his passion for engineering, Parsons had spent an enormous amount of money, variously estimated from £12,000,130 to £20,000,131 to £30,000,132 ‘principally met from the income of Lady Rosse’s Yorkshire estates’. As Steinicke tells us in Chapter 7, his telescope did give important results, and it remained the largest in the world until 1917, when the 100-inch [2.54 m] Mount Wilson telescope in California came into use.

References Ball R. 1895: Great Astronomers, by Sir Robert S. Ball, Isbister & Co., Ltd, London. Ball V. 1915: Reminiscences and Letters of Sir Robert Ball, edited by his son, W. Valentine Ball, Cassell & Co., London. Bennett 1988: ‘Lord Rosse and the giant reflector’, by Jim Bennett, in Science in Ireland 1800–1930: Tradition and Reform, edited by J. R. Nudds, N. D. McMillan, D. L. Weaire and S. M. P. McKenna-Lawlor, Trinity College, Dublin, pp. 105–13. Berry 1915: A History of the Royal Dublin Society, by Henry F. Berry, Longmans, Green & Co., London. 1 29 130

Parsons L. 1880, Appendix iv. Jim Bennett, ODNB.

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131 132

Agnes Mary Clerke, DNB. Quoted in Scaife 2000, 85.

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Collins 1986: Collins Dictionary of the English Language, second edition, edited by Patrick Hanks, Collins, London. Daintith 1994: Biographical Encyclopedia of Scientists, in two volumes, second edition, edited by John Daintith, Sarah Mitchell, Elizabeth Tootill and Derek Gjertsen, Institute of Physics Publishing, Bristol. Davison 1989: Impressions of an Irish Countess, by David Davison, Birr Scientific Heritage Foundation. Dick 1845: The Practical Astronomer (including ‘A particular account of the Earl of Rosse’s large telescopes’), by Thomas Dick, Seeley, Burnside, & Seeley, London. DNB: Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Oxford, multiple volumes 1921–22 (Supplements 1901–11 [1920], 1931–40 [1949]). Doherty 1990: A Chronology of Irish History Since 1500, by Jim Doherty and Denis Hickey, Barnes & Noble Books, Savage, Maryland. DSB: Dictionary of Scientific Biography, Scribners, New York, 1981 Gascoigne 1996: ‘The great Melbourne telescope and other 19th century reflectors’, by Ben Gascoigne, Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society, 37, pp. 101–28. Graves 1882/1885/1889: Life of Sir William Rowan Hamilton, by Robert Perceval Graves, in three volumes, Hodges Figgis & Co., Dublin. These were published in facsimile in 1975 by Arno Press, New York. King 1955/1979: The History of the Telescope, by Henry C. King, Dover Publications, New York. This is an ‘unabridged and unaltered republication’ of the original 1955 book, published by Charles Griffin & Co., High Wycombe. Malcomson 2008: Calendar of the Rosse Papers, by Anthony Malcomson, Irish Manuscripts Commission, Dublin. Mollan 2007: It’s Part of What We Are – Some Irish Contributors to the Development of the Chemical and Physical Sciences, in two volumes, by Charles Mollan, Royal Dublin Society. Montgomery 2004: ‘The “Holy Grail” of Irish motoring history’, by Bob Montgomery, The Irish Times, 24 November 2004. Moore 1971/1981: The Astronomy of Birr Castle, by Patrick Moore, The Telescope Trust, Birr and The Tribune Publishing Group, Birr, 1971; reprinted 1981. Nudds 1988: Science in Ireland 1800–1930: Tradition and Reform, Proceedings of an International Symposium held at Trinity College Dublin, March 1986, edited by John. R. Nudds, Norman D. McMillan, Denis L. Weaire and Susan M. P. McKenna Lawlor, Trinity College, Dublin. ODNB: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, the revision of the DNB, published in 60 volumes in 2004. Pain 2005: ‘Mary through the looking glass’, by Stephanie Pain, New Scientist, 28 May 2005, pp. 48–9. Parsons, B. 1982: Birr Castle, by Brendan Parsons, 7th Earl of Rosse, Irish Heritage Series No. 37, Eason & Son, Dublin.

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Parsons, C. 1926: The Scientific Papers of William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse 1800–1867, collected and republished by The Hon. Sir Charles Parsons, KCB, FRS, London. This reference also contains papers by Thomas Romney Robinson describing the Birr telescopes. It was reprinted by Cambridge University Press in 2011. Parsons L. 1866: ‘Description of an equatoreal clock’, by Lord Oxmantown (Laurence Parsons), Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 26, pp. 265–6. Parsons, L. 1880: ‘Observations of nebulae and clusters of stars made with the six-foot and three-foot reflectors at Birr Castle, from the year 1848 up to about the year 1878’, by the Right Hon. The Earl of Rosse, DCL, FRS, Parts 1 and 2, August 1879, Part 3, June 1880, Scientific Transactions of the Royal Dublin Society, 2, pp. 1–136; 137–78; Appendix i–v. This paper was largely prepared for the press by J. L. E. Dreyer, who was employed at Birr from August 1874. Parsons, L. 1880a: ‘On some recent improvements made in the mountings of the telescopes at Birr Castle’, by the Earl of Rosse, FRS, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, 171, pp. 153–60. Parsons, L. 1907: A Contribution to the History of Ironclads – Introductory Note by the Right Hon. The Earl of Rosse. Reprinted in Parsons, C. 1926, p. 207 Parsons R. undated (between 1914 and 1936): Reminiscences, by Randal Parsons, printed for private circulation only. Parsons, W. 1828: ‘Account of a new reflecting telescope’, by The Rt. Hon. Lord Oxmantown, MP, &c., Edinburgh Journal of Science, 9, No. 17, pp. 25–30. Reprinted in Parsons, C. 1926, pp. 1–4. Parsons, W. 1828a: ‘Account of an apparatus for grinding and polishing the specula of reflecting telescopes’, by The Rt. Hon. Lord Oxmantown, MP, &c., Edinburgh Journal of Science, 9, No. 18, pp. 213–17. Reprinted in Parsons, C. 1926, pp. 5–7. Parsons, W. 1830: ‘Account of a series of experiments on the construction of large reflecting telescopes’, by The Rt. Hon. Lord Oxmantown, MP, &c., Edinburgh Journal of Science, new series 2, pp. 136–44. Reprinted in Parsons, C. 1926, pp. 8–13. Parsons, W. 1840: ‘An account of experiments on the reflecting telescope’, by The Rt. Hon. Lord Oxmantown, FRS, &c., Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, 130, pp. 503–27. Reprinted in Parsons, C. 1926, pp. 80–104. Parsons, W. 1844: ‘Address by the President, the Earl of Rosse’, in Report of the Thirteenth Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, Held at Cork in August 1843, John Murray, London, pp. xxix–xxxiii. Reprinted in Parsons, C. 1926, pp. 44–9. Parsons, W. 1845: ‘On the construction of large reflecting telescopes’, by the Earl of Rosse, in Report of the Fourteenth Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, Held at York in September 1844, John Murray, London, pp. 79–82. Reprinted in Parsons, C. 1926, pp. 49–52.

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Parsons, W. 1850: ‘Observations of the nebulae’, by the Earl of Rosse, President of the RS, &c., &c., Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, 140, pp. 499–514. Reprinted in Parsons, C. 1926, pp. 109–24. Parsons, W. 1850a: ‘Observations on the nebulae’, by The Earl of Rosse, President of the RS, &c., &c., Proceedings of the Royal Society, 5, pp. 962–6. Parsons, W. 1852: ‘Plain specula of silver for reflecting telescopes’, by the Earl of Rosse, in Report of the Twenty-First Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, Held at Ipswich in July 1851, John Murray, London, pp. 12–4. Reprinted in Parsons, C. 1926, pp. 53–5. Parsons W. 1853: ‘Drawings to illustrate recent observations of nebulae’, by the Earl of Rosse, with remarks by Rev. Dr. Robinson, Report of the Twentysecond Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, Held at Belfast in September 1852, John Murray, London, pp. 22–4. Reprinted in Parsons C. 1926, pp. 56–8. Parsons, W. 1854: Letter from the Earl of Rosse to Sir Baldwin Walker, December 16, 1854. Reprinted in Parsons, C. 1926, p. 214. Parsons, W. 1854a: ‘Notes on experiments relative to lunar photography and the construction of reflecting specula’, by the Earl of Rosse, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 14, pp. 199–200. Reprinted in Parsons, C. 1926, p. 67–9. Parsons, W. 1858: ‘Mechanical science – Address by Lord Rosse, the President of the Section’, in Report of the Twenty-Seventh Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, Held at Dublin in August and September 1857, John Murray, London, pp. 175–8. Reprinted in Parsons, C. 1926, pp. 60–3. Parsons, W. 1860: ‘Mathematics and physics – Address by Lord Rosse, the President of the Section’, in Report of the Twenty-Ninth Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, Held at Aberdeen in September 1859, John Murray, London, pp. 1–3. Reprinted in Parsons, C. 1926, pp. 64–6. Parsons, W. 1861: ‘On the construction of specula of six-feet aperture; and a selection from the observations of nebulae made with them’, by the Earl of Rosse, KP, FRS, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, 151, pp. 681–745 Reprinted in Parsons, C. 1926, pp. 125–89. Parsons, W. 1865: Letter from the Earl of Rosse to Sir John Burgoyne, September 15, 1865. Reprinted in Parsons, C. 1926, pp. 218–9. Proctor 1894: The Orbs Around Us: A Series of Familiar Essays on the Moon and Planets, Meteors and Comets, the Sun and Coloured Pairs of Stars, by Richard A. Proctor, new edition, Longmans, Green, & Co., London. The essay quoted: ‘The Rosse telescope set to new work’, was first published in Frazer’s Magazine for December 1869. Robinson 1840: ‘An account of a large reflecting telescope lately constructed by Lord Oxmantown’, by the Rev. Dr Thomas Romney Robinson, Proceedings

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of the Royal Irish Academy, 2, pp. 2–12. Reprinted in Parsons C. 1926, pp. 14–19. Robinson 1845: ‘On Lord Rosse’s telescope’, by the Rev. Dr Thomas Romney Robinson, Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, 3, pp. 114–33. Reprinted in Parsons 1926, pp. 20–31. Robinson 1848: ‘An account of the present condition of the Earl of Rosse’s great telescope’, by the Rev. Dr Thomas Romney Robinson, Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, 4, pp. 119–128. Reprinted in Parsons C. 1926, pp. 32–7. Robinson 1853: ‘Drawings to illustrate recent observations on nebulae’, by the Rev. Dr Thomas Romney Robinson, Reports of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, 22, pp. 22–3. Reprinted in Parsons C. 1926, pp. 56–8. Robinson 1867: ‘Obituary of William Parsons’, by the Rev. Dr Thomas Romney Robinson, Proceedings of the Royal Society, 16, pp. xxxvi–xlii. Scaife 1995: The Making of the Rosse Telescope, by Garrett Scaife, Institution of Engineers of Ireland Heritage Society Meeting, 27 November 1995, pp. 19. Scaife 2000: From Galaxies to Turbines – Science, Technology and the Parsons Family, by Garrett Scaife, Institute of Physics Publishing, Bristol. Smiles 1859: Self Help, by Samuel Smiles, John Murray, London. Tubridy 1998: Reconstruction of the Rosse Six Foot Telescope, by Michael Tubridy, edited by Brigid Roden, Birr Castle.

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Birr Castle observations of non-stellar objects and the development of nebular theories Wolfgang Steinicke Non-stellar objects and the development of nebular theories

An independent centre of nebular research In the nineteenth century, Birr Castle was among the most important centres for visual observations of non-stellar astronomical objects – nebulae and star clusters (Figure 7.1).1 Its large reflectors of 36 inches [91.5cm] and 72 inches [183cm] aperture were used for systematic research from 1839 to 1878. William Parsons, their creator, was multitalented, like William Herschel (1738–1822). As an engineer of great skill, he naturally was inspired by Herschel’s large reflectors. Because this eminent ethnic German astronomer had not published details about their construction, Parsons had to re-invent most of the complicated processes: from casting the metal mirror (‘speculum’), to the telescope’s optical and mechanical design. In 1826, he built a 6-inch [15cm] reflector, soon followed by instruments of 15, 18 and 24 inches [38, 46 and 61cm] aperture on Herschel-style wooden mounts. Unfortunately, no observational records are left from this early period. In September 1839, the 36-inch reflector (‘3-foot’) was erected, having almost twice the aperture of Herschel’s standard instrument. Then – by another doubling – engineering was pushed to the limit in the shape of the famous ‘Leviathan of Parsonstown’ (see Chapter 6). The 72-inch reflector (‘6-foot’) began regular use in the spring of 1845. It was the world’s largest telescope for many decades (a larger one was not operational until 1917). Visually, the optical power is comparable to a modern 25-inch [63.5 cm] reflector, equipped with an aluminised glass mirror. Like Herschel’s observatory in Slough, Birr Castle was a private institution. Its wealthy owner was free to use the giant instruments. Steinicke 2010.

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7.1 Non-stellar objects. Top row: globular cluster M 13 in Hercules; open cluster NGC 2506 in Monoceros. Bottom row: gaseous nebula M 42 (Orion Nebula); planetary nebula NGC 2392 (Eskimo Nebula) in Gemini (Data for all objects mentioned are available on the author’s website, Steinicke 2013.)

For such independent researchers, the term ‘Grand Amateur’ has been created 2 (see Chapter 8). In most cases, their field of activity was not classical astronomy (measuring positions of comets, planets or stars, routinely done by professional observatories), but some kind of ‘astrophysics’. The pioneers of the study of nebulae and star clusters were William and John Herschel (1792–1871). Based on visual observation, these objects were analysed, classified and catalogued – a kind of ‘natural history’ of the heavens. There is no doubt that this work greatly inspired William Parsons, especially John Herschel’s famous catalogue of 1833.3 It contains the data Chapman 1998.

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Herschel J. 1833.

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for nearly 2,300 non-stellar objects, bearing h-numbers. We know today that the majority are galaxies; the rest are gaseous/planetary nebulae and open/globular clusters. At Slough, Herschel had observed them with an 18¼-inch [46.5 cm] reflector; about ninety were sketched. Parsons was fascinated and wished to view (and draw) the figured objects with the largest possible aperture. His dream became true, and resulted in a comprehensive, high-resolution study of the deep sky. Over almost forty years, more than 1,800 nebulae and star clusters were observed by William Parsons, his son Laurence (1840–1908) and their scientific assistants. As a by-product, hundreds of new objects were discovered. Parsons interpreted the results with scientific strength – again following his idol, William Herschel. In the first years, two friends and experienced astronomers often visited Birr Castle to use the large reflectors: the Reverend Thomas Romney Robinson (1792–1882), Director of Armagh Observatory, and James South (1785–1867), a celebrated double-star expert and owner of a private observatory in Kensington. From 1848 until his death in 1867, William Parsons employed scientific assistants4 (Figures 7.2 and 7.3) – a response to the pressure caused by his various official and scientific duties (see Chapters 5 and 9). They made a large number of visual observations, carefully documented by textual descriptions and sketches. The first was William Hautenville Rambaut (1822–93). He began in January 1848, and left Birr Castle in June to become Robinson’s assistant in Armagh. Then George Johnstone Stoney (1826–1911) was appointed. He not only used the 72-inch, but also taught Parsons’ eldest son, Laurence. Stoney worked from July 1848 to June 1850; afterwards he often stayed at Birr Castle (August to December 1852, and in August 1854, April 1855 and March 1856). Then his younger brother, Bindon Blood Stoney (1829–1909), took over, staying from July 1850 until September 1852. In December 1853, R. J. Mitchell was engaged to work as observer and tutor of the Parsons’ sons. (Only Mitchell’s initials are known, though he may be the Robert J. Mitchell who graduated from The Queen’s University of Ireland, with a BA in 1854, and an MA in 1860.5) When Mitchell left Birr Castle in May 1858, after more than four years, no successor was found until February 1860. Then Samuel Hunter was appointed (there are no life dates for Mitchell and Hunter). He had the same duties, and stayed until May 1864. When eventually Parsons placed the observatory in the hands of his son Laurence, Robert Stawell Ball (1840–1913) Steinicke 2010, Sect. 6.4, 8.18. Charles Mollan, personal communication.

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The first three scientific assistants: 7.2a  left William Rambaut 7.2b  below left George Johnstone Stoney 7.2c  below Bindon Blood Stoney

7.3  Timeline of William Parsons’ scientific assistants, covering a period of 20 years (1848–68) R = Rambaut, JS/BS = Johnstone/Bindon Stoney, M = Mitchell, H = Hunter, B = Ball

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became the scientific assistant, from November 1865. He left Birr Castle in August 1867, shortly before William Parsons’ death on 31 October. Fortunately, this was not the end of Birr Castle astronomy. Laurence Parsons followed in the footsteps of his father, and his assistants, Charles Edward Burton (1840–82), Ralph Copeland (1837–1905), John Louis Emil Dreyer (1852–1926) and Otto Boeddicker (1853–1937), made important observations. William Parsons wrote four reports which appeared in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of 1840, 1844, 1850 and 1861 (in 1880 a review of all Birr Castle observations was published by his son Laurence). They describe the construction of the telescopes and the observations made with them. Fortunately, Romney Robinson published three further, independent reports, published in 1840, 1845 and 1848 in the Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. The Armagh astronomer was an eloquent opponent of the popular nebular hypothesis, which postulated that, due to gravity, all nebulae would eventually evolve into stars and star clusters. Robinson’s credo was that all nebulae are resolvable; they consist of stars, and no ‘true’ nebulosity exists. A milestone (and turning point) was Parsons’ discovery of the spiral structure of M 51 (h 1622) in April 1845. This affected the nebular hypothesis, which had been undergoing ups and downs over the years, and it led to a shift of interest in Birr Castle from resolvability to individual structure. However, the known subjectivity of visual observing and drawing naturally caused controversial discussions among contemporary astronomers. It became more and more clear that the physical nature and evolution of nebulae could not be determined by traditional methods alone. The breakthrough was due to the new field of astrophysics, especially spectroscopy, later assisted by photography and photometry.

Observations with the 36-inch: resolvability of nebulae and the nebular hypothesis The scientific motivation of William Parsons to build large reflectors was simple: are all nebulae resolvable? The issue goes back to William Herschel, who had changed his opinion on the matter several times.6 First, he believed that some objects are actually star clusters, while others, like the Orion Nebula (M 42 in the famous Messier catalogue), might be true nebulae. He thought he had seen changes in this object, which he explained as a deformable ‘self-luminous fluid’. Then, having partly Hoskin 2012; see also: Steinicke 2010, Sect. 2.6.2.

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‘resolved’ two popular objects with his 18.7-inch [47.5 cm] reflector, the Omega Nebula (M 17) in Sagittarius and the Dumbbell Nebula (M 27) in Vulpecula, he was convinced that, with sufficient telescopic power, all nebulae would eventually turn out to be star clusters. Herschel’s final swing came in 1790 with the discovery of his crucial ‘star with an atmosphere’, NGC 1514 in Taurus (the designation refers to the New General Catalogue). Here a star is embedded in a diffuse round envelope. Herschel concluded that it must have formed by gravitational condensation out of the nebulous matter. In his evolutionary scenario, true nebulae define the starting point of a cosmic process which terminates in single stars or clusters. If the resulting agglomerations are near enough, they appear resolved in the telescope, otherwise they are unresolved. This idea goes back to Pierre-Simone de Laplace (1729–1827), whose particular interest was the solar system. The latter should have formed out of spinning nebulous matter, which became oblate and eventually condensed into the sun and planets. Saturn, showing a central body surrounded by a ring, was seen as a proof – an object in the making. A deep-sky version of this idea – treating nebulae, stars, clusters and even the Milky Way – was popularised as the nebular hypothesis in 1833 by two scientists: the Cambridge lecturer William Whewell (1794–1866) and John Pringle Nichol (1804–59), from 1836 Director of Glasgow Observatory. Based on Herschel’s observations and Newton’s laws, the nebular hypothesis outlined an evolutionary scenario: rotating nebulosity loses speed, due to friction, and must gradually contract by gravitational attraction to eventually form a central star. When there is enough matter, a star cluster results. To popularise this idea, Nichol published two books, which appeared in several editions: The Architecture of the Heavens and Thoughts on Some Important Points Relating to the System of the World.7 However, not all astronomers were happy with the nebular hypothesis. Among the sceptics was a scientific authority, John Herschel. Though his father was involved, he could not accept all aspects of it, particularly because observational evidence for the proposed condensation phase was still lacking. Herschel was probably cautious, for the hypothesis touched on a fundamental conflict between religion and science – a dangerous matter. The theological doctrine still declared a static system of the world, in which God created the stars in eternal spheres. In this picture, there was no room for ‘materialistic’ ideas involving nebulous matter and cosmic evolution. The major opponents were Robinson and Nichol. The Nichol 1837, 1846.

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former, a polemic Ulster Episcopalian and representative of the Church of Ireland, permanently fought against the ‘atheistic’ Scot, John Nichol.8 For instance, he brushed off the Architecture of the Heavens as a ‘catchpenny book designed for mass consumption’.9 Robinson was convinced that all arguments for a ‘self-luminous fluid’ could be destroyed by observation. Thus he was eager to get the desired result: the resolution of nebulae. Alas, his chronic aversion for the nebular hypothesis sometimes led him to wishful thinking – against empirical evidence. William Parsons, being in close contact with both protagonists, often had to serve as a mediator. Though the Protestant nobleman was a member of the Church of Ireland, he always acted as an independent, free-thinking scientist. His goal was to prove whether a large reflector could reveal a starry nature for such intractable targets as the Orion Nebula. If this failed, he would not hesitate to accept true nebulosity. The 36-inch Newtonian reflector, equipped with a segmented metal mirror, was operational in September 1839. It had a closed tube, mounted on a Herschel-type wooden framework (see Figure 7.4). It could revolve in a complete circle horizontally (azimuth), and from nearly horizontal to the zenith (elevation), and could thus observe the whole sky. Parsons immediately pointed it to bright Messier and Herschel objects. In June 1840, he published a first report in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society.10 In this, he wrote about the prospects for his work: ‘the present instrument will add something to the very little that is known respecting these wonderful bodies’. Robinson was less poetic, and urged for quick results in order to attack Nichol – and obviously got them. Parsons reported: 27 Messier [Dumbell Nebula M 27], the annular nebula in Lyra [Ring Nebula M 57] and, what is perhaps more curious, the edge of the great nebula in Andromeda [M 31], have shown evident symptoms of resolvability. No such appearance, however, was observed till the power reached six hundred, and sometimes it was more decisive with powers of eight hundred and one thousand.11 Curiously, William Herschel had already ‘seen’ M 57 in his 6.2-inch [16 cm] reflector as a ‘perforated nebula or ring of stars’, finding this ‘extremely curious’.12 However, for Parsons, the central part of M 31 showed ‘no appearance of resolvability’; and similarly the Orion Nebula, Bennett 1990. Schaffer 1998. 10 Parsons W. 1840. 8

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9

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Parsons W. 1840, 525. Steinicke 2010, Sect. 2.6.1.

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7.4 Mary Rosse’s photograph of the 36-inch telescope with William Parsons standing on the viewing platform

‘not the least suspicion of resolvability’. Generally he was cautious about the matter: In describing the appearance of these bodies, I am anxious to guard myself from being supposed to consider it certain that they are actually resolvable, in the absence of that complete resolution which leaves no room for error; nothing but the concurring opinion of several observers could in any degree impart to an inference the character of an astronomical fact.13 Robinson and South visited Birr Castle from 29 October to 8 November 1840 to test the new reflector. For Robinson, Parsons was the ideal partner: a man who could build great telescopes, which would deliver the ammunition to attack the nebular hypothesis. Though Robinson considered the 36-inch instrument to be superior to William Herschel’s famous 40-foot reflector of 1789 (aperture 48 inches), he always tried to make it even better. For instance, the segmented mirror, 13

Parsons W. 1840, 525 (footnote).

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causing stray light, due to diffraction, was changed on his request to a solid one on 5 November. On 7 November, when the moon had become too bright, Robinson wrote a report which he presented two days later at the Royal Irish Academy. In his one-hour talk, he celebrated what he considered the key result: the resolution of nebulae. Robinson partly confirmed Parsons’ results about M 57 in Lyra, the Orion Nebula, and the Andromeda Nebula (M 31): ‘[M 57] was resolved at its minor axis … the great nebula in Orion and that of Andromeda showed no appearance of resolution, but the small nebula near the latter is clearly resolvable’14 (the ‘small nebula’ is NGC 205). Referring to the observation of M 1 in Taurus on 31 October 1840, he remarked: ‘It is still more decidedly resolvable [than M 57], indeed I think it is resolved towards the centre.’ Robinson, was ‘confident that either a finer night or a few more inches aperture would actually resolve it beyond dispute’.15 What about South? Like Parsons, he always tried to curb the enthusiasm of Robinson, who criticised the deviating perceptions of his English friend. Unimpressed, South was sceptical about resolvability, at least as a general principle. This was due to his experience as a double-star observer, using high-quality refractors which offer sharp images of stars and clusters. He simply was not convinced about the resolving power of large mirror optics. Indeed, the cast and polished metal could have a variety of defects, producing false images. Beside M 57, another ‘ring nebula’ was observed with the 36-inch: M 51 in Canes Venatici, discovered by Charles Messier (1730–1817) on 13 October 1773, and later studied by William and John Herschel. On 26 April 1830, the latter made the first drawing, published as Figure 25 in his Slough catalogue (Figure 7.5).16 It shows a bright core, surrounded by a divided ring. Clearly referring to the nebular hypothesis, Herschel wrote: ‘Were it not for the subdivision of the ring, the most obvious analogy would be that of the system of Saturn, and the ideas of Laplace respecting the formation of that system would be powerfully recalled for that object.’17 The first documented Birr Castle observation of M 51 (h 1622) dates from 18 September 1843. William Parsons – now Lord Rosse (following the death of his father in 1841) – used the 36-inch with an eyepiece of 25 mm focal length (power 320). He wrote: ‘a great number of stars clearly visible in it, still Herschel’s ring not apparent, at least no such uniformity [division] as he represents in his drawing’.18 Robinson 1840, 10. Hoskin 1990, 334. 16 Herschel J. 1833. 14

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15

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Herschel J. 1833, 497. Parsons W. 1850, 510.

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7.5  John Herschel’s drawing of the galaxy M 51 in Canes Venatici shows a ‘ring nebula’ with a central condensation (note that all M 51 images in this chapter are oriented equally)

And on 11 April 1844, he noted: ‘two friends assisting, both saw centre clearly resolved’. These friends – Robinson and South – would play a major role during the first observations of M 51 with the 72-inch reflector in spring 1845. Four years after his first report, Lord Rosse published a second one, titled ‘Observations of some nebulae’.19 It contains results for ‘two-thirds of the figured nebulae, and a few others in the general catalogue’. Here the figured nebulae in the Slough (‘general’) catalogue are meant. He remarked that ‘all we have seen strongly confirms the accuracy of Sir John Herschel’s judgement in selecting the nebulae which he places in the class designated as resolvable’.20 Herschel had divided the non-stellar objects into five classes: discrete, resolvable, granulate, mottled and milky. This obviously defines a sequence from star clusters to true nebulae. Lord Rosse warns the reader that: still it would be very unsafe to conclude that such [resolution] will be always the case, and thence to draw the obvious inference that all nebulosity is but the glare of stars too remote to be separated … It is important from its bearing on future researchers; for where the power of our instruments is insufficient to do more than to bring to light distinctly the peculiar characteristics of resolvability, these once observed with due caution and their reality ascertained beyond doubt, we shall conclude with little danger of error, that the object is really a cluster. Thus he concedes the possibility of the existence of nebulae which are unresolvable in any telescope, and therefore cannot be star clusters. For the first time, Lord Rosse presents drawings to demonstrate the 19

Parsons W. 1844.

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Parsons W. 1844, 323.

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7.6 Lord Rosse’s sketch of the Ring Nebula M 57 in Lyra (a planetary nebula), made with the 36-inch in 1843; note that the faint central star is missing (the Birr Castle drawings reproduce the originals, rather than later engravings)

power of his 36-inch reflector (‘I believe they will be found tolerably correct’). Shown are five objects (sketched in 1843): M 1 in Taurus, the globular cluster M 15 in Pegasus, and the three planetary nebulae M 27 in Vulpecula, M 57 in Lyra and NGC 6905 in Delphinus. The term ‘planetary nebula’ is due to William Herschel, denoting objects which appear like the disk of a planet at higher magnification.21 It is still used today and describes excited gas masses, which were ejected from a sunlike star at the end of its long life. It is interesting that Lord Rosse’s drawing of the Ring Nebula M 57 does not show the famous central star, discovered about 1795 with a 12-inch [30.5 cm] reflector by Friedrich von Hahn (1742–1805) (Figure 7.6). Moreover, the drawing, based on observations made with Robinson in October 1840, shows ‘filaments proceeding from the edge [which] become more conspicuous under increasing magnifying power’.22 Robinson wrote: ‘the general outline, besides being irregular and fringed with appendages, has a deep bifurcation to the south’.23 For Lord Rosse, the phenomenon was ‘strikingly characteristic of a cluster; still I don’t feel confident that it [M  57] is resolvable’. Interesting is his 21 22

Steinicke 2010, Sect. 2.6. Parsons W. 1844, 322.

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Robinson 1840, 10.

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Lord Rosse’s two drawings of the Crab Nebula (M 1) in Taurus; 7.7a  was made in 1843 at the 36-inch; 7.7b  was made in 1855 at the 72-inch; obviously, the object has mutated from a ‘crab’ to a ‘bee’

admission that the nebula ‘was never examined when the instrument was in good order’. The fact that the 36-inch shows such unreal ‘filaments’ and ‘appendages’ and, moreover, was unable to image the central star, indicates that the optics (especially the primary mirror) were of inferior quality. It obviously produced false images, probably due to diffraction. In comparison, the images with the 72-inch look much smoother. The result is supported by another curiosity, shown in the figure of M 1 (the famous remnant of the supernova in 1054 in Taurus): the nebula looks like a crab (Figure 7.7). Lord Rosse noted: ‘a cluster … we see resolvable filaments singularly disposed, springing from its southern extremity, and not, as is usual in clusters, irregularly in all directions ... it is studded with stars, mixed however with nebulosity probably consisting of stars too minute to be recognized’. The illustration is often mentioned as the origin of the popular name ‘Crab Nebula’. However, when Robinson observed M 1 on 31 October 1840 he noted: ‘it is ragged, bifurcated at the top, and has streamers running out like claws in every direction’.24 Some weeks later he even urged Parsons to observe more ‘nice round nebulae’, because he was ‘anxious to know whether they all have tails and claws’. 24

Hoskin 1990, 334.

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Later Dreyer wrote about the strange ‘crab’: ‘The only published drawing which is a complete failure, is that of M. 1, the “Crab Nebula”, which has unfortunately been reproduced in many popular books. It was made with the 3-foot, and the long “feelers” were never again seen with the 3-foot nor with the 6-foot.’25 Obviously, Lord Rosse doubted his own drawing, for, on 15 January 1855, a new one was made (using the 72-inch), which shows M 1 very differently and much closer to reality.26

First observations of nebulae with the 72-inch reflector Soon after the 36-inch went into operation, Lord Rosse thought about a Newtonian reflector of double the size. He was not satisfied by the results he had obtained while investigating the resolvability of nebulae. In particular, his favourite target, the Orion Nebula, resisted all attempts. A final try was made with the 36-inch in the winter 1844–45. Of course, Robinson pushed the matter too. Details of the casting and mounting of the mighty specula are given in Chapter 6. Inevitably it had to be a ‘transit’ telescope rather than an equatorially mounted instrument. Its final shape was already apparent in August 1843, when it was shown to participants of the 13th annual meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, held in Cork. One visitor was William Lassell (1799–1880), a lifelong admirer of Lord Rosse’s achievements and an eminent constructor of large reflectors too. The first night-time test was made on 11 September 1844. Though not present on that crucial night, South reported the event to The Times: The leviathan telescope on which the Earl of Rosse has been toiling upwards of two years, although not absolutely finished, was on Wednesday directed to the Sidereal Heavens. The letter which I have this morning received from its noble maker, in his usual unassuming style, merely states, that the metal only just polished, was of a pretty good figure, and that with a power of 500, the nebula known as No. 2 of Messier’s catalogue, was even more magnificent than the nebula, No. 13 of Messier, when seen with his Lordship’s telescope of 3 feet diameter, and 27 feet focus. Cloudy weather prevented him from turning the leviathan on any other nebulous object. The two objects are the bright globular clusters M 2 in Aquarius and M 13 in Hercules. It should be mentioned that South speaks of a ‘leviathan’. 25

Dreyer 1914.

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Parsons L. 1880, Plate II, Fig. 2.

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This name for the 72-inch became very popular; later expanded to ‘Leviathan of Parsonstown’.27 The giant reflector immediately inspired the public, stimulated by various articles. For instance, Thomas Woods (1815–1905) wrote a ‘travel guide’ to the Monster Telescopes Erected by the Earl of Rosse, printed in Parsonstown.28 Birr Castle soon became a site of pilgrimage. The official ‘first light’ came on 11 February 1845, witnessed by Robinson and South. According to Robinson’s report, written on 23 March (kept in the Birr Castle Archive), the night was hazy and the trio could observe only Sirius and ‘some nameless clusters’. Unfortunately, due to the cloudy weather, the Orion Nebula was missed. Two days later, Lord Rosse and his guests saw the moon and the star cluster M 67 in Cancer. The main issue was the optical quality of the mirror, defining the brightness and sharpness of the image. All who feared to see an inflexible monster – influenced by the term ‘transit telescope’ – were positively surprised. The new instrument was a masterpiece of engineering, ready to deliver great results (Figure  7.8).29 The barrel-shaped tube with the mirror of 54 feet focal length at the bottom is arranged between two massive flanking walls and held by various chains and balance-weights. The elevation (angle above the horizon) of the reflector starts at about 13° and can vertically reach 90° (zenith); even a point 12° beyond is possible (i.e. only a region of 25° around the celestial pole cannot be observed). Horizontally, the reflector can be moved 15° around the south direction (meridian), which allows tracking of objects for about an hour. By turning a handle near the eyepiece (Newton-focus on the west side), the tube moves along a cross-bar with cogwheel. An illuminated scale shows its position. The horizontal (azimuthal) range – and thereby the maximum observing time for an object – depends on its elevation when crossing the meridian (culmination). Objects at the celestial equator (elevation 37°, due to Birr Castle’s latitude of 53°) are observable for 45 minutes from the front platform. This time increases to 70 minutes for those culminating at 85°, now viewed from the highest gallery, which, of course, must follow the tube. Robinson wrote that this location ‘is rather startling to a person who finds himself suspended over a chasm sixty feet deep, without more than a speculative acquaintance with the properties of trussed beams’30 (see p. 199). According to South, it took no more than 8 minutes to bring an object 27 28

Dick 1845. Woods 1844.

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Hoskin 2002. Robinson 1845, 122.

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7.8  The 72-inch, sketched from behind; the tube points nearly to the zenith and is tilted to the western wall (the eyepiece being accessible from the top gallery)

into the eyepiece.31 After raising the tube to the desired elevation, it was shifted in azimuth to the eastern wall to catch the target as early as possible (if wanted). For easy finding, a wide-field eyepiece was used. As in the case of the 36-inch, there was no ‘finder’ (i.e. a small refractor mounted at the tube). The finding-eyepiece had a focal length of 46 mm (power 360, field 13.7′). Later, one of 76 mm was available; it had a diameter of 6 inches [15 cm], yielding a magnification of 216 and a field of 26′. Robinson wrote that ‘a nebula is easily found in this wide field; and bringing it into the centre, the eye-slide is shifted, and it is viewed with higher powers’.32 The slide could carry three eyepieces to allow a quick change (one for finding was always plugged in). For the actual observation, the standard eyepiece of 29 mm focal length was used (power 560, field 8′). Additionally, a variety of high-magnification 31

South 1845.

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Robinson 1848, 4.

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eyepieces was available (for example, a 13 mm with power 1280 and 3′ field of view). Was Birr Castle a good place for such a large instrument? If we follow Robinson, the answer is no: ‘A more unfavourable location could hardly be found than the vicinity of the Bog of Allen.’33 Indeed, statistically, the number of clear nights is small. Ball wrote: ‘the skies were frequently overhung with clouds, to the distraction of the astronomer’.34 And Hunter mentions that he had only five ‘really good’ nights and twelve ‘fair nights’ for his drawings, in four years (1860–64). But what about the conditions, when the night was clear? According to Lord Rosse, they depended on season and time: Here in winter the finest definition we have, and the blackest sky, is usually before eleven o’clock, after which the sky becomes luminous, and the fainter details of nebulae disappear. In spring and autumn the change is neither so early nor so decided; but the nights are shorter.35 Looking at the Birr Castle publication of 1880, spring was the dominant observing season. If the sky is clear, two atmospheric factors are essential: seeing and transparency (darkness). Seeing measures the air turbulence, which determines the image sharpness (perception of details). It is caused by vertical (convective) and horizontal (advective) air flows. De facto, a large aperture is more influenced than a small one: the former sees a larger portion of the disturbed wave-front. Thus, seeing was a critical factor for the 72-inch. Bad images were often reported, when objects look blurred. Transparency measures air clearness, which determines the limiting magnitude (perception of faint, extended structures). It depends mainly on air pollution: a dusty or hazy atmosphere absorbs the light from cosmic sources. At Birr Castle the pollution is strongest in winter, due to domestic heating with peat (Birr still smells of it). Fatal is the ‘cooperation’ with light pollution; this can dramatically reduce the sky-darkness. Of course, nearby sources were not a problem: it was quite dark in the Birr Castle Demesne, with its trees and surrounding walls. Distant sources like towns had more influence. (Of course, the strongest ‘light pollution’ comes from the moon.) Due to stray light, the (polluted) sky looks bright, and thus faint, diffuse objects disappear – a good measure is the visibility of the Milky Way. However, after rain – a frequent phenomenon in 33 34

Robinson 1867. Ball V. 1915, 66.

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Parsons W. 1861, 125.

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Ireland – the air is cleaned and the sky looks very clear. A recurring problem was that the Birr Castle astronomers often could not set up the instruments quickly enough. So many good views were lost. Bad weather was the reason why observing was impossible after 13 February 1845. Nevertheless, Lord Rosse, Robinson and South tried to catch the Orion Nebula until the 22nd. But all waiting was in vain, and so the mirror was removed; it was polished on 3 March. Exposed to the open air, the metal surface soon tarnished, leading to a reduction of reflectivity. Fortunately, the weather improved in early March. The period from the 4th to the 13th was very clear and stable but, at less than –8°C, the nights were unusually cold for Ireland. As the New Moon was on the 8th, the nights could be used intensively for deep-sky observations. Unfortunately the Orion Nebula was now too far west for the reflector – but its time would come. We have two independent reports from Robinson and South about these early observations – though none from Lord Rosse. Robinson’s was written on 23 March and presented to the Royal Irish Academy on 14 April. Therein he explained that ‘most of the lucid interval from the 4th to the 13th of March was devoted to nebulae’.36 Moreover, in his manuscript (kept in the Birr Castle Archive), he enthusiastically noted: ‘of the 43 nebulae which have been examined All have been resolved’. South’s report, printed in the Times of 16 April, emphasised an exceptional event: the night of the 5th [to the 6th] of March was, I think, one of the finest I ever saw in Ireland. Many nebulae were observed by Lord Rosse, Dr Robinson and myself. Most of them were, for the first time since their creation, seen by us as groups or clusters of stars; whilst some, at least to my eyes, showed no such resolution.37 Relating to resolvability, South sounds more moderate than Robinson. Robinson’s report is pretty detailed. Based on the observational results, the objects (selected by him from the Slough catalogue) are divided into three classes. The first contains nebulae which appeared ‘round and of nearly uniform brightness’ (e.g. M 65 in Leo). Robinson states that all could be easily ‘resolved’, even in the finding-eyepiece. The second class of objects are ‘round, but appear to have one or more nuclei’ (the most important example is M 51 in Canes Venatici). The third class contains objects which are ‘extended in one direction, sometimes so much as to become long stripes or rays’ (e.g. NGC 3628 in Leo or NGC 4565 in Coma Berenices). Robinson wrote: ‘They proved much more difficult for 36

Robinson 1845, 125.

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37

South 1845.

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resolution, probably from greater optical condensation, and yielded most easily towards their minor axis.’ They are correctly interpreted as objects of the second class, seen almost from the side (now called ‘edge-on’ galaxies). He proudly concluded that ‘no REAL nebula seemed to exist among so many of these objects chosen without bias; all appeared to be clusters of stars, and every additional one which shall be resolved will be an additional argument against the existence of such’.38 The Birr Castle observations were also a theme at the 15th annual meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, held in June 1845 in Cambridge. In the ‘Address of the President’, John Herschel praised Lord Rosse’s new reflector as ‘an achievement of such magnitude … that I want words to express my admiration of it’.39 For him, a new period of astronomy had begun, especially as it related to the question of the resolvability of nebulae. He was anxious to learn if M 42 could be resolved at Birr Castle too; if so, such objects would be ‘only optically not physically nebulous’. The Orion Nebula – sadly missed in spring – was eventually seen in December. At Christmas, Lord Rosse hosted a distinguished astronomer, John Nichol. Undoubtedly, the Glasgow astronomer was afraid of the observational result. The great nebula looked impressive in the 72-inch, though unresolved: ‘not yet the veriest trace of a star’.40 The nebular hypothesis seemed to have been rescued – for the moment. On 10 and 20 February 1846, Lord Rosse and Robinson looked at M 42 again, with a different result, at least for Robinson. He enthusiastically wrote: The great Nebula in Orion was completely resolved in those places which presented the mottled appearance. On February 20 a power of 470 showed the stars quite distinct there on a resolvable ground; and this clearly separated into smaller stars with 830, which the instrument bore with complete distinctness.41 This view is problematic. To understand the reason, we must concentrate on what was seen in the centre of M 42. There we have a conspicuous constellation of four stars: the ‘Trapezium’ (Theta Orionis).42 In the immediate vicinity of the quartet, two much fainter stars had been found by Wilhelm Struve (1793–1864) and John Herschel, in 1826 and 1830, respectively. Though both are difficult to perceive in the glaring mix of nebulosity and the four bright ones, they were confirmed by Lord Robinson 1845, 17. Herschel J. 1845. 40 Hoskin 1982a, 145. 38

41

39

42

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Robinson 1848, 6. Steinicke 2010, Sect. 9.6.10.

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7.9 Bindon Stoney’s sketch of the inner region of the Orion Nebula (M 42) with the famous Trapezium at its centre and the two known faint stars nearby

Rosse and Robinson. The constellation can be seen in Bindon Stoney’s famous drawing of 1851–52 (Figure 7.9). Robinson reports that ‘on the same evening [20 February] an eighth star was found in the trapezium, a seventh being discovered on the 10th’. Later, both ‘stars’ turned out to be illusions. The real no. 7 was discovered in 1857 by the Italian optician Ignazio Porro (1801–75), using a self-built 20-inch refractor. Ambivalent Rosse was dazzled by the mix of stars and nebulosity. In a letter to the Cambridge astronomer James Challis (1803–82), he wrote: ‘We are still in doubt as to the resolvability of the Nebula in Orion. The great instrument has shown us an immense number of stars in it, dense groups in the immediate vicinity of the Trapezium, but further evidence is I think wanting.’43 But another observing session in March eventually convinced him, and he wrote to Nichol on the 19th: ‘we could plainly see that all about the trapezium is a mass of stars; the rest of the nebula also abounding with stars and exhibiting the characteristics of resolvability strongly marked’.44 The Scot was both fascinated and shocked: ‘Every shred of that evidence which induced us to accept as a reality, accumulations in the heavens of matter not stellar, is for ever and hopelessly destroyed.’ Was this the end of the nebular hypothesis? 43

Hoskin 1990, 341.

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44

Nichol 1846, 55.

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Clearly not, because there were eminent pro-arguments. One is based on the phenomenon of ‘nebulous stars’; the prototype had been found by William Herschel: NGC 1514 in Taurus. Lord Rosse was highly interested in these objects (Robinson, of course, was not). His favourite target was the ‘nebulous star’ NGC 2392 (now called ‘Eskimo Nebula’) in Gemini (see Figure 7.1), according to Herschel a ‘very remarkable phenomenon’. Lord Rosse confessed: ‘we have not seen the slightest indication of resolvability’. He further wrote: ‘The annular form of this object was detected by Mr. Johnstone Stoney, my assistant, when observing alone.’ Another case is NGC 1980, a mix of open cluster and emission nebula around the bright star Iota Orionis. Here Lord Rosse correctly suggested a relation between cluster and nebula, which ‘is in some way connected with these bright stars’.45 The extreme case were nebulous ‘halos’, appearing around bright stars (some were documented by John Herschel). For instance, the star 55 Andromedae was much discussed. Lord Rosse wrote: ‘Looked for 8 times. Dec. 18, 1848. Found star 7th or 8th mag. in place but saw no nebulous atmosphere’; (here ‘mag’ denotes the ‘magnitude’, i.e. the usual brightness unit – higher values denote fainter objects); the object later appeared in his ‘List of nebulae not found’.46 It later turned out that all these halos were illusions, caused by optical effects in the telescope.

M 51 and the curious discovery of spiral structure The exceptional night of 5 to 6 March 1845 also brought the first observation of Herschel’s ‘ring nebula’ M 51 (h 1622) with the new reflector. Could the resolution of the core – seen with the 36-inch – be confirmed, and would the ring appear now? Robinson’s record sounds positive: ‘the central nebula is a globe of large stars; as indeed had been previously discovered with the three-foot telescope: but it is also seen with 560 that the exterior stars, instead of being uniformly distributed as in the preceding instances, are condensed into a ring, also many are also spread over its interior’.47 This also would ‘confirm’ William Herschel’s perception of a ‘ring of stars’ in M 57. South agreed: The most popularly known nebulae observed this night were the ring nebulae in the Canes Venatici, or the 51th of Messier’s catalogue, which was resolved into stars with a magnifying power of 548; and the 94th of Messier, which is in the same constellation, and which 45 46

Parsons W. 1850, 508. Parsons W. 1861.

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William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse was resolved into a large globular cluster of stars, not much unlike the well-known cluster in Hercules, called also 13th Messier.48

It is interesting that M 94 (located 10° south-west of M 51) was perceived as a ‘ring nebula’ too. Actually, the prominent inner spiral arm of the galaxy is closed. Robinson described it as ‘a vast circular cluster of stars, with ragged filaments, in which, and apparently central, is a globular group of much larger stars’. The essential point in relation to M 51 is that both observers mention only known features: ring and centre, both resolved – but there is absolutely no word about spiral structure. The actual discovery was made a month later – by Lord Rosse alone. Unfortunately, the exact date is not recorded. In 1850, he wrote: ‘The spiral arrangement of Messier 51 was detected in the spring 1845.’49 Dreyer is barely more precise: ‘1845, April … but no record is left of these early observations.’50 Based on the culmination time of M 51 and the moon phase, a date between 1 and 12 April is most likely. On the 1st the nebula crossed the meridian at 1:19 am; the moon rose at 3:28 am (one day after Last Quarter). On the 12th it culminated at 0:35 am, coinciding with moonset (two days before First Quarter). Thus the most probable date is 6 April (New Moon) when M 51 crossed the meridian at 0:58 am, 85° above the horizon. The crucial question is this: why was the spiral structure not discovered in March? Three Armagh astronomers have investigated the case, but their answer is not really helpful: ‘It seems likely that Rosse, Robinson and South could have seen the spiral arrangement … though there is no evidence that they noticed it … With their attention focused on the resolvability of the nebula, it is conceivable that none of the three would have found the spiral arrangement worthy to note.’51 The case has also been treated by Trevor Weekes, a contributor to this book.52 A recent comprehensive study analyses all the relevant factors: instrument, method, environment, psychosomatics and ideology.53 First, ‘external’ factors (weather, mirror, eyepieces) could be ruled out. It seems unlikely that the sky was better in early April than during the ‘lucid interval’ in March. For the instrument, the most critical element is the mirror. On 3 March, the metal surface had been polished and, according to Lord Rosse, it was still in good shape in April: ‘In the early observations [1845] with the 6-foot telescope we had the advantage of a very fine speculum … there were also at that time several very good South 1845. Parsons W. 1850, 505. 50 Parsons L. 1880, 127.

Bailey 2005. Weekes 2010. 53 Steinicke 2012.

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51

49

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nights and many nebulae were resolved. Very soon after, the spiral arrangement was detected.’54 Finally, there is no doubt that the same eyepieces were used in both months. Thus the most likely solution is based on ‘internal’ factors: ideology, stress and weak concentration. This relates particularly to the key person, Romney Robinson, who wanted to destroy the nebular hypothesis with the aid of the ‘Leviathan’. In the first clear nights he must have been under great pressure. With earlier experiences of the bad Irish weather, the unusually perfect sky made him hurry up. Fully programmed for success, he wanted to get the desired results as soon as possible. Thus a maximum number of nebulae had to be ‘resolved’. On the crucial March night (three days before New Moon) near-zenith objects were on the agenda. For these, the top-gallery had to be used. Following Robinson’s and South’s previous experience (it was their second night at the 72-inch), this was a rather frightening task. As discussed below, Lord Rosse probably was absent in the second half of the night. Having already observed nebulae in Ursa Major and Canes Venatici (e.g. M 94), the two astronomers pointed the tube to their last target: M 51, culminating about 2:54 am at 85°. Exposed to the darkness and severe cold for many hours, they were certainly tired from exertion and their concentration would have faded. When Robinson (always the primary observer) saw M 51 in the finding-eyepiece there is no doubt that he instantly perceived the spiral structure – so great was the power of the 72-inch with its excellent speculum, used on such an exceptional night. Lord Rosse later wrote: ‘A 6 feet aperture so strikingly brings out the characteristic features of 51 Messier.’55 Surely shocked, Robinson attributed the strange impression to his poor concentration. Moreover, his ideological conditioning forced him to repress the unwanted structure from his mind: as a sign of spinning nebulosity it would confirm the nebular hypothesis. True to the motto ‘it can’t be what shouldn’t be’, Robinson promptly concentrated on his mission: resolution. He shifted the slide to the standard eyepiece (power 560), ignored any spiral pattern and exclusively perceived Herschel’s ring. Now his biased mind forced the eye to see flashing starlets all around. When eventually he applyied the highest power, the core appeared like a ‘globular cluster’ (as required). Due to the advanced time, the eyepiece was most likely kept when South was called. In the small field he saw the ‘resolved’ centre, meeting his expectation. Lord Rosse later brought the matter to the point: ‘When certain phenomena can only be seen with 54

Parsons W. 1861, 703.

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Parsons W. 1850, 504.

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great difficulty, the eye may imperceptibly be in some degree influenced by the mind.’56 The sky cleared up again in April. The guests had left Birr Castle and Lord Rosse could act without any ideological constraints. M 51 was probably observed on the 6th, when it culminated about 0:58 am at 85° elevation. Stress free and open for new experiences, Lord Rosse’s very first look into the finding-eyepiece showed the spiral structure clearly. His unbiased scientific mind did not allow him to repress the perceived structure. He now could follow the target for about 70 minutes, using various powers. Dreyer later wrote about the event: ‘M. 51 was for the first time examined with the 6-foot and its spiral character immediately noticed.’57 The phrase ‘for the first time’ clearly points to Lord Rosse: he had never observed the object before. Robinson and South must have been alone when they saw M 51 in March. Moreover, due to the circumstances discussed above, there is no doubt that Robinson must have ‘immediately noticed’ the spiral character too. The important discovery was kept in a drawing, made on the nights between 6 and 12 April 1845 (Figure 7.10). Lord Rosse planned to present it on 19 June at the 15th annual meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science in Cambridge. In his address, President John Herschel said: I have not myself been so fortunate as to have witnessed its [72-inch] performance, but from what its noble constructor has himself informed me of its effects on one particular nebula [M  51], with whose appearance in powerful telescopes I am familiar, I am prepared for any statement which may be made of its optical capacity.58 Obviously, at that time he was aware of the discovery of spiral structure, but had not seen the M 51 drawing. In Cambridge, Lord Rosse gave a talk ‘On the nebula 25 Herschel, or 61 of Messier’s catalogue’.59 Here ‘25 Herschel’ refers to Figure 25 in the Slough catalogue (‘61’ is a typographical error). The brief report mentions a ‘working plan of this nebula’. One reads that he ‘first laid down, by an accurate scale, the great features of the nebula as seen in his smallest telescope, which, being mounted equatorially, enabled him to take accurate measurements’. Here an 18-inch reflector is meant. Afterwards, Lord Rosse ‘filled in the other parts, which could not be distinguished in that telescope, by the aid of the great telescope’. However, sketching 56 57

Parsons W. 1850, 503. Parsons L. 1880, 127.

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Herschel J. 1845. Parsons W. 1846.

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7.10  The first drawing of a spiral nebula: M 51 (h 1622) in Canes Venatici, made by Lord Rosse in April 1845

was not an easy task on the top-gallery of the ‘Leviathan’. To track M 51, the tube had to be moved simultaneously with a handle. Moreover, the recording needed frequent illumination. Thus the eye was unable to adapt properly. Lord Rosse noted that he ‘could not lay these smaller portions down with rigorous accuracy’. But, ‘as he had repeatedly gone over them, and verified them with much care, though by estimation, he did not think the drawing would be found to need much future correction’. The text on Lord Rosse’s drawing reads: ‘Fig 25 Herschell [sic] 51 Messier, sketched April 1845, carefully compared with original on different nights, but no micrometer employed. Handed round the section at the Cambridge meeting.’ A micrometer had been used with the 18-inch, but not with the 72-inch. Ironically, it was Robinson’s nemesis, Nichol, who was the first to publish Lord Rosse’s drawing, in his book Thoughts on Some Important Points Relating to the System of the World (here the nebula appears white on black background).60 In 1982, the original was located in the Birr Castle Archive.61 Later, many guests benefited from the drawing: ‘this nebula 60

Nichol 1846, Plate VI.

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61

Hoskin 1982.

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has been seen by a great many visitors, and its general resemblance to the sketch at once recognised even by unpractised eyes’.62 Moreover, Lord Rosse encouraged other astronomers: ‘I think considerably less power would suffice, on a very fine night, to bring out the principal convolutions.’ Indeed, the spiral pattern of M 51 was later confirmed with much smaller apertures (today even a good 10-inch reflector shows it in a clear, dark night). In March 1848, two further drawings were made (Figure 7.11). The earlier is due to Rambaut, Lord Rosse’s first scientific assistant. The drawing of M 51 made on 31 March by Lord Rosse (his second) later became the classic image of a spiral nebula.63 Altogether, there are five large Birr Castle drawings of M 51, complemented by numerous small sketches in the observing journals (many are due to Rambaut and Johnstone Stoney) (Figure 7.12).

In pursuit of spiral nebulae After the successful first phase of 72-inch observations in 1845, the disastrous Irish potato famine (1846–48) reduced astronomical activity to a minimum (see Chapter 4). As Lord Lieutenant of King’s County, William Parsons had little time for the new reflector. He was able to use it for a few observations in the spring of 1846 (those of M 42 have already been mentioned). On 3 March the nebula h 604 (NGC 2903) in Leo was looked up – with a surprising result: it showed ‘a tendency to an annular or spiral arrangement’. M 99 in Coma Berenices followed in April: ‘also spiral but of a different character ... easily seen’.64 After the disastrous Famine, Robinson, the grey eminence of Birr Castle, was the driving force in resuming the observations. Fearing an idleness of ‘his’ reflector, he urged Lord Rosse to engage a scientific assistant. The Armagh astronomer recommended William Rambaut. Starting on 4 January 1848, Rambaut took part in a period of intensive observing (he left Birr Castle in June and was replaced by Johnstone Stoney). On 16 March, Robinson wrote a third report, again presented at the Royal Irish Academy. It starts with the key message: ‘Above fifty nebulae selected from Sir John Herschel’s catalogue, without any limitation of choice but their brightness, were all resolved without exception.’65 The objects (mainly galaxies) ‘consist of a central cluster, mostly globular, of comparatively large stars, surrounded by an exterior mass of much smaller and fainter stars, whose arrangement is often 62 63

Parsons W. 1850, 504. Parsons W. 1850, Fig.1.

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64 65

Parsons W. 1850, 505. Robinson 1848.

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Two further drawings of the galaxy M 51 in Canes Venatici. 7.11a  by Rambaut, using chalk on black cardboard; 7.11b  by Lord Rosse (his second of M 51; later the classic image of a spiral nebula)

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7.12  Two of Johnstone Stoney’s notes and sketches of M 51 in the observing journal, dated 24 and 25 April 1849 (Birr Castle Archives)

circular and thin like a disk’. Robinson provokingly asks if ‘nebulous matter has real existence?’ In his eyes, the nebular hypothesis was disproved. Lord Rosse was more critical about the matter, or better, ambivalent, as the observation of the Orion Nebula shows. What is surprising is that Robinson’s report contains his confirmation of the spiral structure. Now with three known cases – all detected by

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Lord Rosse – the evidence was too strong. On 11 March 1848 Robinson had pointed the 72-inch at M 51. It was the first observation of this nebula since Lord Rosse’s of April 1845. The result was clear – he saw spiral arms. He then viewed NGC 2903 (h 604) and M 99. Robinson wrote: ‘h 604 is also spiral, but without any other peculiarity … the centre [of M 99] is a globular cluster, surrounded by spirals, in the brighter parts of which stars are seen with 470; these have the same direction as in Messier 51, namely from east to west, in receding from the centre’. It is interesting (and suspicious?) that NGC 2903 was among the targets observed by Robinson and South in March 1845. At that time no spiral pattern was recorded – a second M 51 case? What about the nebular hypothesis, in view of the reality of spiral nebulae? Robinson tried to rescue his ideology by a clever ­re-interpretation of the observational results. Denying the existence of nebulous matter, he simply postulated a rotating ensemble of stars: ‘Their resemblance to bodies floating on a whirlpool is, of course, likely to set imagination at work, though the conditions of such a state are impossible there. A still more tempting hypothesis might rise from considering orbit motion in a resisting medium; but all such guesses are but blind.’66 The word ‘whirlpool’ is interesting here, because of the popular name ‘Whirlpool Nebula’ for M 51. However, Robinson is not its creator. The term ‘whirlpool’ had already appeared in 1833 – curiously, in connection with the nebular hypothesis.67 It was none other than Nichol who wrote: ‘supposing the condensations of one of these portions of nebulous matter to commence ... motion like that of a whirlpool results’. However, the term was used to characterise only a phenomenon, and not a real object. The first to assign it to M 51 was the American astronomer Ormsby Mitchel. Two years after the Birr Castle discovery, he published a paper titled ‘Lord Rosse’s Whirlpool Nebula’.68 It includes a copy of the Birr Castle drawing, in the version published by Nichol in 1846. For Nichol, still the strongest advocate of the nebular hypothesis, a spiralling mass like in M 51 fits surprisingly well to the Laplacian idea of a spinning primordial nebula from which the solar system has formed. Thus Lord Rosse’s spiral nebulae were even better evidence for true nebulosity than was the Orion Nebula against it – evolution matters more than resolution.69 In the end, both Nichol and Robinson could live with the new situation. Diplomatic Rosse did not speculate about the nature of the spiralling mass, but stated that the observed pattern ‘indicates 66 67

Robinson 1848, 10. Tobin 2008.

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Mitchel 1847. Schaffer 1989.

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the presence of dynamical laws’.70 He further wrote: ‘that such a system should exist, without internal movement, seems to be in the highest degree improbable’. From the modern point of view, we must confess that there are elements of truth in both ideas. The spiral arms host stars as well as ‘nebulous matter’ (gas, dust). But, according to the current density-wave theory, the arms themselves are not truly rotating (they are like a ‘Mexican wave’). Furthermore, the matter does not wind up in the centre, as in a whirlpool, and no stars are born in the hub (their cradle is in the spiral arms). The discovery of spiral nebulae changed the research at Birr Castle, and the focus was no longer on the nebular hypothesis: ‘[after] the spiral form of arrangement was detected … our attention was then directed to the form of the nebulae, the question of resolvability being a secondary object’.71 This turn initiated an ambitious observing programme to reveal the structure and ‘dynamics’ of nebulae. But there was still another reason: the quality of the available 72-inch mirrors decreased over the years, never again reaching that of 1845: ‘In the meantime the speculum, which had been frequently dewed and occasionally cleaned, had lost its fine edge [and it] has lost much of its power.’ The ‘resolution’ of nebulae needed the best optics, whereas broader structures (like spiral arms) can be seen under less good conditions. Anyway, Lord Rosse did not lose sight of the matter: ‘The question of resolvability, therefore, I think, must remain to be taken separately, when the finest instrumental means are available.’ True nebulosity, resolvability and the nebular hypothesis were controversial themes not only at Birr Castle, but also in the astronomical community. Otto Struve (1819–1905) critically wrote in 1853: ‘the alleged miracles of resolution are nothing but illusions’.72 The Astronomer Royal, George Airy (1801–92), also denied the inference that all nebulae could be resolved into stars. Later, Laurence Parsons remarked of his observations of the Orion Nebula: ‘when we consider this object carefully we shall see that this [resolution] is far from being the case’.73 Later he summed up: ‘The observations made before 1860 are of very little interest.’74 The reason was simple: by visual spectroscopy, William Huggins (1824–1910) revealed that M 42 is a gaseous nebula.75 It shows the typical line spectrum characteristic of a heated gas. The prominent amateur astronomer William Denning (1848–1931) later remarked: ‘It Parsons W. 1850, 503. Parsons W. 1861, 703. 72 Hoskin 1982a, 150.

Parsons L. 1868, 72. Parsons L. 1880, 48. 75 Huggins 1864.

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73

71

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7.13 Lord Rosse’s drawing of the spiral nebula M 99 in Coma Berenices

was supposed that its great penetrating power [of the 72-inch] had resolved the nebulae, properly so called, but the spectroscope of Huggins showed this to be a misconception.’76 Preliminary results of the Birr Castle programme were documented in Lord Rosse’s third report, submitted to the Royal Society in June 1850.77 Though the twenty-page publication, titled ‘Observations of Nebulae’, starts with instrumental details, it mainly covers observations (in contrast to the 1840 and 1844 papers). Two elements are remarkable: seventeen figures, showing various objects, and a list of fourteen spiral nebulae. The drawings present a selection of interesting types: spirals, planetary/ annular nebulae and very elongated objects. Lord Rosse contributed thirteen, made between 5 March 1848 and 16 January 1850. The remaining four drawings are due to Johnstone Stoney, made between 16 December 1848 and 16 September 1849 (M 27 was sketched twice). Outstanding are the figures of two spiral nebulae. The first shows M 99, drawn on 11 March 1848 by Lord Rosse (see Figure 7.13), who guessed 76

Denning 1914.

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Parsons W. 1850.

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7.14  Johnstone Stoney’s micrometrical measurements of M 51 in Canes Venatici

that ‘probably a smaller instrument, under favourable circumstances, would show everything in the sketch’.78 The other is Lord Rosse’s second (and most popular) drawing of M 51, dated 31 March 184879 (see Figure 7.11b). Describing the sketching process, Lord Rosse wrote: ‘we necessarily employ the smallest amount of light possible, very feeble lamp-light, especially where the objects or their details are of the least degree of faintness’.80 In the case of a faint structure, ‘it is often necessary to mark it too strongly’. Due to the lack of measurements, only the principal features are shown: ‘the sketches are sufficient to convey a pretty accurate idea of the peculiarities of structure ... many micrometrical measures are still wanting, and there are many matters of detail to be worked in before they will be entitled to rank as astronomical records’.81 78 79

Parsons W. 1850, 505 and Fig. 2. Parsons W. 1850, Fig. 1.

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80 81

Parsons W. 1850, 509. Parsons W. 1850, 503.

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7.15 Another spiral nebula: M 33 in Triangulum, drawn by Lord Rosse

A bar-micrometer was eventually used in the spring of 1849 and 1850 by Johnstone Stoney. He determined the relative positions of fifteen (foreground) stars in M 51 (Figure 7.14); for M 99 four stars were measured. As Robinson reported, the wires were not illuminated: ‘any illumination of the wires extinguishes many of the faint nebulae [therefore] Lord Rosse used a very ingenious substitute, a screw whose threads were rubbed with phosphorus’.82 However, the micrometer was not often applied. Lord Rosse wrote that ‘much fewer objects have been examined than would otherwise have been practicable … without accurate micrometrical measurements any sketch can be of comparatively little value as an astronomical record’.83 At the end of the publication, Lord Rosse lists fourteen objects with ‘spiral or curvilinear’ structures. All except one are actually spiral galaxies (the exception is the elliptical galaxy NGC 5557 in Bootes). However, some objects are missing in the list, though credited as spirals in the text. The most striking are M 51 and M 99. Added is M 33 in Triangulum, observed on 16 September 1849 (‘new spiral, south branch the brightest’); here Lord Rosse’s drawing clearly shows four spiral arms (Figure 7.15).84 And there is NGC 5195, the small companion of M 51 (‘saw also spiral arrangement in the smaller nucleus’). This was later ‘confirmed’ by 82 83

Robinson 1848, 4. Parsons W. 1844, 321.

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84

Parsons W. 1850, Fig. 5.

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Hunter: his drawing of M 51 shows NGC 5195 as a spiral (actually it is an irregular galaxy).85 Curiously, Lord Rosse presents the globular clusters M 5, M 10, M 13, and the open cluster NGC 2506, showing ‘a tendency to an arrangement in curved branches, which cannot well be unreal, or accidental’.86 Already John Herschel had reported ‘hairylooking curvilinear branches’ in M 13.87 For Lord Rosse, the relation of globular clusters with spiral nebulae was convincing: the former appeared resolved (a true result) and most of the latter were ‘resolvable’. An interesting, but rare, class are the annular nebulae (actually planetary nebulae in the modern sense). Lord Rosse mentions two known northern cases. The first is M 57 in Lyra, with its visually difficult central star. Being unsuccessful in 1844 with the 36-inch, Lord Rosse saw the star ‘pretty bright’ on 5 August 1848 (at a power of 1280, the Ring Nebula just filled the field of view). The second annular nebula, observed on 1 August 1848, is not identified. According to John Herschel’s textbook Outlines of Astronomy of 1849 (listing four annular nebulae), the second object must be NGC 6894 in Cygnus.88 Lord Rosse describes new cases too: ‘we have found that five of the planetary nebulae are really annular’. Three of them were sketched: M 97 in Ursa Major (known as the Owl Nebula), NGC 2438 in Puppis (located in the open cluster M 46), and NGC 7662 in Andromeda. Lord Rosse claimed a connection between annular and spiral nebulae. (We know today that there is none.) Of M 97 he wrote: ‘a double perforation appears to partake of the structure both of the annular and spiral nebulae’. This view is supported by a chalk drawing made by Rambaut in spring 1848. Robinson agreed. In his talk, ‘Drawings to illustrate recent observations on nebulae’, at the 22nd meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, held 1852 in Belfast, he said that ‘the class of planetary nebulae might now be fairly assumed to have no existence, as all of them which have been examined prove to be either annular or of a spiral character’.89 M 97 should show ‘a most intricate group of spiral arms’. In 1848, Robinson had written: 97 Messier is a strange object. With the finding-eyepiece it looks like the figure of 8 with a star at the intersection [the central star], but with 470 it is spiral with two centres. The principal one looks like a star, but with 830 gives the suspicion that it is a small cluster. The spirals related to this have the same direction as the former; but Parsons L. 1880, Plate IV, Fig. 1. Parsons W. 1850, 506. 87 Herschel J. 1833. 85 86

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Herschel J. 1849, 565 (no. 4 in footnote). 89 Parsons W. 1853. 88

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7.16 Drawings of the Owl Nebula (M 97), a planetary nebula in Ursa Major, made by Lord Rosse (above) and Rambaut (below)

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William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse the other centre, which also looks like a minute star, has a smaller set in the opposite direction.90

In Lord Rosse’ drawing, M 97 appears like the head of an owl (Figure 7.16).91 William Darby (1809–79) later wrote that the object was ‘familiarly known in the Parsonstown Observatory as “the owl nebula” from its resemblance of an owl’.92 Curiously, Robinson has described the planetary nebula as ‘looking like the visage of a monkey’ (but it also doesn’t look like a monkey). Of the stars in the owl’s ‘eyes’, appearing in both drawings, only the left one is real (the right one was twice ‘seen’ by Lord Rosse, Rambaut and Robinson). Yet another popular name was created at Birr Castle: the ‘Saturn Nebula’, assigned to the planetary nebula NGC 7009 (h 2098) in Aquarius. It was discovered by William Herschel on 7 September 1782 with his 6.2-inch [16 cm] reflector. Lord Rosse and Robinson observed the strange object on 23 October 1848. The former made a sketch and noted that it shows ‘ansae [protruding structures], which probably indicate a surrounding ring seen edgewise’93 (Figure 7.17) On 30 November 1848, Robinson gave a brief report about NGC 7009 to the Royal Irish Academy, titled ‘Observations of the Nebula, Herschel 44’.94 Here ‘Herschel 44’ refers to Figure 44 of the Slough catalogue. He mentions ‘the central cluster, the narrow ray, and the surrounding globe’ – obviously his own impression. It is interesting that Robinson avoided the word ‘Saturn’, though the object looks very much like a nebulous version of the planet. A possible reason is that the planet was the celebrated example of Laplace’s evolution theory, forming the basis of the nebular hypothesis, and Robinson did not want to create any evidence. But, shortly after, the relation was made by Lord Rosse. When observing the object alone on 16 September 1849, he noted: ‘“Saturn nebula”. Position of ring 81°’.95 (81° measures the nearly edge-on orientation of the ‘ring’). Though Lord Rosse could ‘resolve’ annular nebulae, he detected (in some cases) stars inside and outside the ring, or even on it. His elegant interpretation was: ‘That a faint nebula should be more easily resolvable than a bright one is not unusual, neither is it contrary to probability.’96 He further wrote: ‘in a faint nebula they [these stars] might be seen separate Robinson 1848, 9. Parsons W. 1850, Fig. 11. 92 Darby 1864. 93 Parsons W. 1850, 507 and Fig. 14.

Robinson 1848a. Parsons L. 1880, 159. 96 Parsons W. 1850, 506.

90

94

91

95

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7.17 Lord Rosse’s sketch of the Saturn Nebula (NGC 7009), a planetary nebula in Aquarius

7.18 Lord Rosse’s drawing of the galaxy NGC 7479 in Pegasus (right: a modern image)

with an instrument of great aperture, while in the brighter and more closely packed nebula [like M 27] they were blended together, owing to imperfect definition, arising out of the state of the air, or instrument’. For Lord Rosse, NGC 7479 in Pegasus, sketched on 10 September 1849, was a limiting case: ‘spiral, but query whether this is not more properly an annular than a spiral nebula’97 (Figure 7.18). At the turn of the century, this galaxy was selected by the American astronomer James Keeler (1857–1900) as an example of the subjectivity of drawings, in contrast to photographs. He wrote: ‘A comparison of the best drawings and photographs of nebulae reveals at once the existence of considerable discrepancies between the forms depicted by methods so widely different.’98 And further: ‘The actual nebulae, as photographed, have almost no resemblance to the figures. They are, in fact, spirals, sometimes of very beautiful and complex structure … There is also a natural 97 98

Parsons W. 1850, 511 and Fig. 4. Keeler 1895; see also Steinicke 2010, Sect. 11.2.4.

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7.19  The edge-on galaxy M 102 in Draco, sketched by Lord Rosse like a ‘ray with split’

tendency in drawing to emphasize the details caught by the eye, while others, which are missed, may be nearly or quite as prominent. Thus the drawing and the photograph differ.’ Lord Rosse also mentions ‘long elliptic or lenticular nebulae’, like M 65 in Leo or M 102 (NGC 5866) in Draco (Figure 7.19).99 For the former, he supposed an ‘elliptic annular system seen very obliquely’. The ‘dark chink … might indicate either a real opening, the system being an elliptical ring, or merely a line of comparative darkness’. We know today that this feature is due to an absorption band of a galaxy, when seen edge-on. Lord Rosse also lists thirteen nebulae ‘with dark spaces’, eight ‘knotted nebulae’ and three showing a ‘ray with split’; he further 99

Parsons W. 1850, 508 and Fig. 8.

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mentions the discovery of ‘several groups of nebulae’. Though stating that ‘new objects have not been as yet sought for’, some seventy nebulae were accidentally discovered up to June 1850 by Lord Rosse and Johnstone Stoney. They are not listed, but appear in his comprehensive publication of 1861, discussed below.

Lord Rosse’s final publication of 1861 Lord Rosse’s last and most important report is titled: ‘On the construction of specula of six feet aperture; and a selection from the observations of nebulae made with them’, and appeared in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society.100 When the manuscript was received by the Society on 5 June 1861, Lord Rosse was almost 61 years old. As it contains observations up to May 1858, one might ask: what caused a delay of three years? The month coincides with the departure of R. J. Mitchell. The talented scientific assistant had worked as observer and tutor for more than four years. He left Birr Castle when the education of the eldest son, Laurence, needed a more profound knowledge of mathematics. De facto, this marked the end of the great Birr Castle programme of nebular observations. Lord Rosse – now sitting on a bulk of data – had a severe problem: he could not find a qualified successor for the evaluation (or further observations). Quickly, he decided to do the job alone. It made no sense for him to protract the results any longer: ‘the progress made is necessarily so very slow, that I think it would be inexpedient longer to keep back this paper in the distant hope of making it in some respects more complete’.101 It was an immense task to compile and arrange the data from the observing journals and to write the text. When, in February 1860, Samuel Hunter was appointed, much of the work was already done. Due to his lack of experience in data handling and writing, the new assistant was not a real help (Figure 7.20). Hunter’s strength was in drawing, which he demonstrated impressively during the next four years. The first twenty of the seventy-three pages are allocated for a technical description of the 72-inch, illustrated by eleven figures (see p. 198). Though repeating information given in 1850, some things are presented in more detail. So it is interesting to learn that occasionally a ‘silvered speculum ... for special purposes’ was deployed.102 The metal secondary mirror was covered by a thin silver layer to enhance its reflectivity. The device was used, for instance, on 15 November 1857, when Mitchell 100 101

Parsons W. 1861. Parsons W. 1861, 682.

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102

Parsons W. 1861, 744.

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7.20 A page of Hunter’s observing book, containing his entry for the Saturn Nebula (h 2098) of 23 October 1862

observed the double nebula NGC 274/75 in Cetus. He noted: ‘the silvered mirror shows the object brighter than before, but no new details’. Later, Laurence Parsons experimented with a ‘silver glass 2nd’. Here the metal secondary, which had become fragile, was replaced by one of silvered glass. As for the primary, it was speculated that, if the copper-tin alloy looked ‘red’ like bronze, it would make objects appear coloured. Actually, the surface was nearly as bright as silver (though it had not its high degree of reflectivity). Otherwise it is difficult to explain why some nebulae appeared blue (a real phenomenon). An example is M  77 in Cetus, seen by Lord Rosse on 22 December 1848 as a ‘blue spiral’ (this

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so-called ‘Seyfert galaxy’ emits strongly in the ultraviolet). Another case is the planetary nebula NGC 6210 in Hercules, which showed an ‘intense blue centre’ when Johnstone Stoney observed it on 5 May 1850 (this is due to strong spectral lines of oxygen). The technical part of the report is followed by a large table (twentyseven pages). It contains observational data for 989 objects, selected from Herschel’s Slough catalogue and sorted by their h-number (among them sixty Messier objects). In modern terms, 89 per cent are galaxies; the rest are planetary/gaseous nebulae and open/globular clusters. The observations cover a period of more than 10 years, starting on 5 March 1848, when Lord Rosse and Rambaut saw h 731 (NGC 3310), and ending on 12 May 1858 with Mitchell’s observation of h 1885 (NGC 5775); these are galaxies in Virgo and Ursa Major, respectively. Lord Rosse wrote: ‘we have examined all the brighter known nebulae except a few in the neighbourhood of the pole, and a great portion of the fainter nebulae’.103 The mean visual brightness was 11.2 mag. As already mentioned, the pole region could not be reached by the 72-inch. The most northern object was NGC 7354, a planetary nebula in Cepheus. When seen on 20 September 1851, it culminated 8° beyond the zenith (the limit was 12°). On the other hand, the lowest observed object was NGC 6369, a planetary nebula in Ophiuchus. When it passed the meridian on 31 May 1851, it was only 13° above the horizon. Both observations were made by Bindon Stoney. Ball later explained how the observations were prepared and performed, especially mentioning a ‘working list’. The ‘working list’, as it is called, contains a list of all the nebulae which we want to observe. A glance at the book and the chronometer shows which of these is coming into the best position at the time. The necessary instructions are immediately given to the attendants. The observer, standing at the eyepiece, awaits the appointed moment, and the object comes before him. He carefully scrutinises it to see whether the great telescope can reveal anything which was not discovered by instruments of inferior capacity. A hasty sketch is made in order to record the distinctive features as accurately as possible. One beautiful object having been observed, the telescope is moved back to the meridian to be ready for the next vision of delight.104 Referring to the observational data, recorded at the telescope, Lord Rosse wrote: ‘from time to time they were copied into a folio in the 103

Parsons W. 1861, 681.

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104

Ball V. 1915, 67.

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order of right ascension; and of the folio a copy was made for ordinary use in the Observatory’.105 All the documents are kept in the Birr Castle Archive.106 Normally, an object was looked up several times; the record holders are M 42 (Orion Nebula) with forty-three observations and M 97 (Owl Nebula) with forty-two. However, only a selection of them are presented: ‘a few good observations embodying the whole information we had been able to obtain’.107 Among them was the first observation, and those for which new results had emerged. Alas, the name of the observer is not mentioned (except in a few cases), and sometimes even a date is missing. The information given indicates that Lord Rosse and his assistants were mainly interested in peculiarities, like ‘the convolution of a spiral, dark lines, or dark spaces’ – features already introduced in the publication of 1850. A new type were the so called ‘core-nebulae’. Here ‘a star may have been mistaken for a condensed nucleus, or the reverse; and it is impossible to say which of the two suppositions is the more probable’.108 The highlights were the spiral nebulae. The fourteen cases presented in 1850 had now grown to seventy-one.109 Unfortunately, the objects are not listed in a separate table. They must be painstakingly extracted from the textual descriptions, searching for terms like ‘spiral’, ‘branch’, ‘twist’, ‘arm’ (for some objects spirality was only ‘suspected’), or looking at the rough sketches, presented in some cases. An interesting question is: how many objects are actually spiral galaxies? A modern analysis yields a number of sixty-five – an astonishingly large fraction and a fine proof of the quality of the Birr Castle observations. Strangely, among these true spirals are ten which already had been observed by Robinson and South in March 1845 (e.g. M 51 and NGC 2903). The six non-spiral objects belong to four (modern) types: two galaxies (elliptical/lenticular), four planetary nebulae, one globular cluster (M 12) and even one reflection nebula (M 78). To give some examples: NGC 6905 in Delphinus: ‘this planetary nebula is a beautiful little spiral’; NGC 205, a small elliptical galaxy near the Andromeda Nebula: ‘spirality suspected’; M 78 in Orion: ‘spiral arrangement sufficiently seen’. The planetary nebula NGC 1514 in Taurus – Herschel’s ‘star with an atmosphere’ – was described by Bindon Stoney on 13 January 1852 as a ‘new spiral of an annular form round the star, which is central; spirality is very faint’110 (Figure 7.21). 105 106 107 108

Parsons W. 1861, 705. Bennett 1981. Parsons W. 1861, 702. Parsons W. 1861, 703.

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109 110

Steinicke 2010, Sect. 7.3.1. Parsons W. 1861, 714, Plate XXV, Fig. 7.

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7.21  The planetary nebula NGC 1514 in Taurus. Left: William Herschel’s ‘star with an atmosphere’; Middle: modern image; Right: Bindon Stoney’s ‘spiral of an annular form’

A good question is this: how many spiral galaxies were observed, without detecting any spiral pattern? I investigated this by looking back over a long period of observing with modern reflectors up to 20 inches aperture at dark sites. Among the targets were all Birr Castle objects, identified as galaxies. However, to get a fair statistic, only those objects were counted which visually show spiral structure. The optimal case is a bright galaxy with open arms, seen ‘face-on’ (this appearance is often called ‘grand design’; examples are M 51 and M 99). The investigation yielded 169 cases, of which 65 (39 per cent) where actually seen at Birr Castle as spiral nebulae – a pretty good fraction. Not all astronomers were happy to accept the spiral nebulae. The leading critic was Wilhelm Tempel (1821–89), astronomer at Arcetri Observatory (Florence). He suggested that the Birr Castle observers showed a certain ‘spiral addiction’.111 On the other hand, the virus had infected other astronomers, like George Bond (1825–65), Director of the Harvard College Observatory. In 1860, he published an article with the curious title ‘On the spiral structure of the Great Orion Nebula’.112 He had intensively studied M 42 with the excellent 15-inch Merz refractor: It may, in fact, be properly classed among the ‘spiral nebulae’ under the definition given by their first discoverer, Lord Rosse; including in the term all objects in which curvilinear arrangement, not consisting of regular re-entering curves, may be detected … the change from the previous notion of its configuration is not more considerable than that which took place with reference to the celebrated nebula 51 Messier. 111

Steinicke 2010, Sect. 11.3.4.

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112

Bond 1860.

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Alarmed by these results, Tempel judged the spiral pattern to be an illusion: ‘one cannot fend off the thought that these forms and shapes are only figments of the imagination, even that their description and drawing can be recognised as an endeavour to assign this form to all nebulae’.113 The Arcetri astronomer was not completely wrong, as some Birr Castle observations (and that of Bond) are indeed illusions. However, it is unclear whether or not he had actually seen the spiral structure in his 11-inch Amici refractor (though it was not too small for the task) or if he did not want to see it (as in the case of Robinson). He even claimed that the 36- and 72-inch reflectors did not show more stars than did his telescope. In a provocative tone, Tempel suggested that the issue should be clarified by star counts: ‘I cannot understand the happy owners of these giant telescopes why they do not prompt their astronomers to carry out such studies.’ His harsh words about Birr Castle and spiral nebulae caused a public conflict with Dreyer in 1878, which Tempel eventually lost. Only 10 years later, the English amateur astronomer Isaac Roberts (1829–1904) photographed the first spiral nebulae with his 20-inch reflector: the Andromeda Nebula (29 December 1888) and, exactly four months later, none other than M 51 in Canes Venatici. The ‘whirlpool’ was confirmed beyond doubt (Figure 7.22). Another treasure of Lord Rosse’s final publication is the forty-three drawings, made between 1849 and 1861. One third were produced in the month of March, which demonstrates the comparatively good weather conditions in springtime. More than half of them (24) are due to R. J. Mitchell, followed by Bindon Stoney (14), Samuel Hunter (3) and Johnstone Stoney (2) – there are none by Lord Rosse (his active phase ended in early 1850 and is mirrored in the report of that year). As well as single nebulae and pairs, an ensemble of seven objects is shown (the galaxy group around NGC 70 in Andromeda).114 Lord Rosse remarked that the drawings ‘usually represent the objects a little stronger than they appear on an ordinary night, but not stronger than on a fine night, when the air is clear and the sky black … most of them have been repeatedly compared with the objects by different persons, and some have been several times sketched independently; so that I trust they are upon the whole accurate’.115 He was not fully satisfied with the reproductions (‘many of the principal stars are too large’). Three drawings were not made until April and May 1861, by Hunter (just before the manuscript was submitted to the Royal Society). Lord 113 114

Tempel 1877. Parsons W. 1861, Plate XXV, Fig. 1.

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Parsons W. 1861, 704.

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7.22  The first photograph of the spiral nebula M 51, made by Isaac Roberts on 29 April 1889

Rosse was very happy about his assistant: ‘We preferred Mr. Hunter’s sketches, thinking they were upon the whole the most accurate, containing some additional details.’116 A graduate of the Dublin School of Design, Hunter had been specially engaged in February 1860 for a detailed drawing of the Orion Nebula which should enlarge that of the inner part, made in 1851–52 by Bindon Stoney (see Figure 7.9). For the new drawing, the 72-inch was partly used in a configuration called ‘frontview’ or ‘Herschelian’. Regularly used by William Herschel, this optical design brought more light. To save one reflection, the secondary mirror was removed. The eyepiece, placed at the top of the tube, then looked directly onto a titled mirror. Hunter’s drawing was finished on 6 May 1864, shortly before he left Birr Castle. It was published four years later by Laurence Parsons.117 Hunter’s other observations, made in 1860–61, did not appear until 1880.118 For some drawings, a micrometer was used: ‘the more remarkable objects were selected for examination on favourable nights, when the details were carefully filled in, sometimes with the aid of the micrometer’.119 Mostly (foreground) stars or compact structures (‘knots’) were measured. Lord Rosse reported: ‘The powers used were low, the ordinary working-eyepiece: 116 117

Parsons W. 1861, 705. Parsons L. 1868.

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Parsons L. 1880. Parsons W. 1861, 681.

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with high powers the faint details vanish.’120 He also compared Bindon Stoney’s measurements of M 51 (made in 1850–51) with Otto Struve’s at the Pulkovo 15-inch refractor. Due to the lack of precise tracking (compared to an equatorially mounted instrument), Lord Rosse conceded: ‘Our measures of stars cannot therefore in accuracy compete with Struve’s.’121 However, because of the much larger aperture, ‘we may the better see the faint details of the outlying portions of the nebulae’. Lord Rosse first doubted that proposed changes in nebulae could be detected with the micrometer: There are no micrometer observations by Mr. Mitchell: I now regret it, as several cases of suspected change have recently been brought to light in arranging the materials of this paper. The fault, however, was mine. It appeared to me so highly improbable that any change would be detected, that I requested Mr. Mitchell to press on and not spend time on the micrometer.122 In all, thirty-five Herschel nebulae were searched in vain (some up to nine times). They are listed in the publication. Lord Rosse wrote: ‘This is not to be considered as a list of missing nebulae, but merely of objects which were not found in the ordinary course of observing, and to which therefore it is desirable that attention should be directed.’123 An example is NGC 2264 (h 401), located around the star 15 Monocerotis. Due to John Herschel’s description (‘nebulous haze’), Bindon Stoney, and later Mitchell, expected a nebula instead of a cluster. The latter noted on 20 January 1855: ‘No nebulosity found, and only a few stars arranged in pairs; no cluster. Has there been a change here?’124 NGC 2264 is a coarse cluster, too large even for the lowest-power eyepiece, giving a field of 26′, and this represents a general problem. Nebulae cannot be perceived when they are larger than the field of view. The only way around this is to sweep around to detect any ‘edge’ (in contrast to the background). Unfortunately, most nebulae (e.g. galaxies) vanish smoothly; only planetary nebulae have a clear border (thus the name). The problem gets worse if a star or group is near. In a note to NGC 2264 Dreyer later states: ‘As is generally known, it is always difficult to see faint nebulosity around bright stars in a large reflector (the Merope nebula was never perceived with Lord Rosse’s telescopes).’125 This refers to a faint, extended object near the bright star Merope in the Pleiades, 1 20 1 21 1 22

Parsons W. 1861, 705. Parsons W. 1861, 743. Parsons W. 1861, 704.

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Parsons W. 1861, 745. Parsons W. 1861, 717. Dreyer 1876.

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discovered by Tempel in 1859 with a 4-inch refractor.126 Laurence Parsons had tried to find it with the 72-inch no fewer than five times (1871–75), and attributed his failure to the metal mirror: ‘dust and other opaque substances will interfere more with the action of a speculum than an object-glass in searching for faint nebulosity near a bright star’.127 He concluded: It may therefore still be possible that under peculiarly favourable atmospheric conditions, and with a speculum just repolished, we may still be able to detect the nebulosity, but it appears far more probable that we must look for an explanation of the difficulty of seeing the nebulosity to the comparative smallness of field of so large an instrument. Laurence Parsons simply misjudged the problem. It could be solved on a dark night with the aid of a ‘comet seeker’. Such a small refractor with low power and wide field easily shows the Merope Nebula. What about new nebulae? It is a fact that there was no systematic search at Birr Castle. Because the time was simply too valuable at a site with such unsteady weather, the study of known (bright) objects had absolute priority. Nonetheless, ‘very many [nebulae] have been found accidentally in the immediate neighbourhood of known nebulae, but for the most part they were faint objects presenting no features of interest … their places have been usually entered roughly in the observing book, and a slight diagram made in the margin, so as to ensure their being easily found again’.128 A total of 295 objects, assigned by the term ‘nova’, are mentioned in the publication. Again, there is no separate list and one must extract them from the textual descriptions in the large table – a laborious task. Moreover, there are no coordinates (absolute positions). Even reliable relative positions to known objects (determined with the micrometer) are missing for many ‘novae’. Thus a later identification was difficult and, of course, led to several errors. By a modern analysis, most of these objects could be identified. It shows, however, that not all were new.129 Some ‘novae’ had actually been found earlier by other observers (among them both Herschels). But there was a misconception even for the true Birr Castle discoveries, and this is due to Dreyer. In his famous New General Catalogue (NGC) of 1888, all are marked ‘Ld. R.’.130 This has misled many users to assume that 1 26 1 27 1 28

Steinicke 2010, Sect.11.6. Parsons L. 1877. Parsons W. 1861, 681, 702.

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1 29 130

Steinicke 2010, Sect. 7.1, 8.18. Dreyer 1953.

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the objects were found by Lord Rosse (though this was not intended by him). Actually, only three can be credited to him. Of course, those who have read Dreyer’s introduction to the NGC carefully already know: ‘The new nebulae found before 1861 (chiefly by G. J. Stoney, B. Stoney, and R. J. Mitchell) have been marked Ld. R.’ (a discovery statistic is given on p. 265). What was the response to Lord Rosse’s publication? Besides John Herschel, who was happy to use the data of nebulae and star clusters for his upcoming General Catalogue (see below), the echo was amazingly small. There is an interesting comment by Thomas Backhouse (1842–1920). It is titled ‘Lord Rosse on the nebulae’ and aimed at amateur astronomers.131 In it, the author complains that the publication ‘has hardly received its attention as it deserves, and probably may have escaped some of our amateur friends altogether’. But even professional astronomers overlooked Lord Rosse’s last report, in spite of the wide availability of the Royal Society’s Philosophical Transactions. One of these was Heinrich Ludwig d’Arrest (1822–75), Director of Copenhagen Observatory. He wrote that he did not become aware of the publication until October 1864, when it was first cited in William Huggins’ important paper, ‘On the spectra of some of the nebulae’.132 D’Arrest, later Dreyer’s teacher at Copenhagen University, qualified it as ‘undoubtedly the most important work on nebulae since 1833 [Herschel’s Slough catalogue]’.133 Perhaps this ignorance is due to a certain tension between professional (mostly university) observatories, like Copenhagen, Cambridge, Greenwich or Pulkovo, and private ones, like those of Lord Rosse or Lassell. The professional astronomers praised their high-precision instruments – equatorially mounted refractors. Protected from wind and weather by domes, the optical and mechanical masterpieces delivered sharp images and accurate positions of comets, planets and stars – the field of ‘classic astronomy’ (astrometry). On the other hand, the large reflectors (often constructed by their wealthy owners – see Chapter 8) were characterised by sheer aperture. Their rough structure was not designed for precise measurements, and the larger exemplars were permanently exposed to the open air. First mounted azimuthally, the reflectors were later equipped with cumbersome equatorial fork mountings (e.g. Lassell’s 48-inch, used in Malta). Their major task was the visual observation of nebulae and clusters. The obvious conflict was between precision and light collection. 131 132

Backhouse 1863. Huggins 1864.

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133

D’Arrest 1865.

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As long as object classes and fields of activity differed, the matter was not critical. But the coexistence was disturbed when professional astronomers, like d’Arrest, turned their refractors to non-stellar objects too. The goal was the determination of exact positions – a challenging task for extended objects (questions of structure, nature and evolution were but secondary). A good example was the dense ensemble of nebulae (galaxy cluster) in Coma Berenices. Lord Rosse had observed the field on 9 March 1850, only mentioning ‘numerous nebulae around’. Here d’Arrest’s 11-inch Merz refractor could show its technological superiority: ‘The observation and cataloguing of individual nebulae with the telescopes of Lord Rosse or Lassell will be, for known reasons, very difficult. In the dense crowd of objects, reliable data can only be obtained through precise measurements.’134 In April 1865, d’Arrest measured thirty-four cluster members (most of them found by him) and got, for the first time, a clear picture of the galaxy cluster: ‘Sometimes, in the best moments, I had the certain impression that those nebulae with diameters of only a few arcseconds, when mixed in a crowd of larger, elongated, stellar or cometary ones, looked much like oysters of different sizes packed in a barrel.’ There is no doubt that a good refractor could be valuable for nebular astronomy. Of course, the reverse appeared too: there were amateurs with large refractors, dedicated to astrometry. An outstanding example is Edward Joshua Cooper (1798–1863) at Markree Castle, County Sligo. He collected accurate data for a monumental star catalogue, using a massive 13.3-inch refractor (from 1831–39 it was the world’s largest).135 Cooper’s observatory was later praised as ‘undoubtedly the most richly furnished private observatory known’.136 He was a good friend of Lord Rosse, Robinson and South – an example of the many connections, especially between Irish astronomers (see Chapter 8). What about Lord Rosse’s observing ambitions? They varied over the years. In 1845–46, he occasionally had used the 72-inch himself. However, when guests were present, he showed them the reflector. Two visitors, however, had permission to use it alone: Robinson and South. When both tested the new instrument in spring 1845, Lord Rosse was partly absent, especially during the second half of the night. Therefore, he most likely missed the first observation of M 51 on 5 March (see above, p. 231). Interestingly, his most active phase began with the employment of his first scientific assistant, William Rambaut, in January 1848. In March, 134 135

D’Arrest 1865. Steinicke 2011.

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Airy 1851.

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Robinson joined them for some important observations. When Johnstone Stoney replaced Rambaut in June, Lord Rosse and the new assistant continued the intensive use of the 72-inch. When he began to summarise the interesting results in early 1850, to present them in his third report, his active phase at the telescope ended. From that time on, Lord Rosse left the major part of the observations to his scientific assistants. This explains why there were only a few observations in December 1853 (by Mitchell) and absolutely none in 1859: he simply had no assistant. Only occasionally are there hints of team-work. For instance, on 17 April 1855 Lord Rosse noted: ‘Mr. Stoney was with me’ (both viewed the edge-on galaxy NGC 4565 in Coma Berenices). And, relating to the observation of the planetary nebula NGC 7662 in Andromeda on 2 October 1856, one reads: ‘All details of Mr. B. Stoney’s drawing very well seen by Lord Rosse and myself.’ Here Mitchell is meant. What was the reason for Lord Rosse’s supposed lack of interest in observing? First, he was heavily engaged in official and scientific duties (for example his Royal Society presidency 1848–54) and thus was often absent. But, when staying at Birr Castle, Lord Rosse needed his sleep and, as he aged, he simply became too old for the arduous nightly task. One must also consider his passion for engineering (see Chapter 6). Ball later wrote: ‘it was more the mechanical processes incidental to the making of the telescope which engaged his interest than the actual observations with the telescope when it was completed … [Lord Rosse’s] special interest in the great telescope ceased when the last nail had been driven into it’.137 Nevertheless, Lord Rosse supervised the scientific work and, of course, placed great value on precise observing and exact documentation – and the able assistants matched his expectation: I refer with as much confidence to the observations of the two Mr. Stoneys and Mr. Mitchell as if I had on every occasion been present myself, because I know that they had thoroughly mastered the instrument and the methods of observing before they recorded a single independent observation; they were, besides, eminently cautious and painstaking … Though so many of the observations were made in my absence, they are not the less to be relied on: nothing was done by an unpractised hand, and no pains were spared to ensure accuracy.138 When Lord Rosse’s major work appeared in 1861, John Herschel immediately evaluated it. He was compiling his monumental General 137

Ball R. 1895, 287.

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Parsons W. 1861, 704.

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Catalogue (GC) to contain all known nebulae of the whole sky.139 It was a difficult task to extract the Birr Castle discoveries from the large table. The issue led to a lively correspondence with Lord Rosse. Unfortunately, as most observations had been made by his assistants (who were no longer there), he could not answer all questions. Though letters to Johnstone Stoney and Hunter were written, some problems remained. Thus, Herschel’s GC is not fully accurate in relation to the Birr Castle objects. Thanks to Dreyer, a great number of errors were later corrected. The ethnic Dane had the advantage of a four-year stay at Birr Castle (1874–78), with access to all original notes.

The Birr Castle era after Lord Rosse When Samuel Hunter left Birr Castle in mid-1864 (due to ill-health), the responsibility for the observatory passed from Lord Rosse, now 63 years old, to his eldest son, Laurence. Once again, the question arose, of who should get the job as scientific assistant and tutor of the three younger sons. Lord Rosse, from 1862 until his death Chancellor of the University of Dublin, asked Robert Ball (who had graduated from there in 1861) if he wanted to teach the children. But, with the ‘Leviathan’ lying idle, Ball briskly responded: ‘I would accept the post, provided that I was allowed to use the great telescope.’140 Lord Rosse was happy with this proposal, and appointed him in November 1865, thus giving him free run of the observatory. Ball later wrote: ‘When I went to Parsonstown in 1865, Lord Rosse was advanced in years. He no longer took an active part in the work of observation, but he evinced a lively interest in all that went on, and was always glad to think that the telescope was being used.’ Laurence Parsons had graduated from Trinity College in 1864. Like his father, his first interest was not in observing but in engineering. He soon found an interesting object: the equatorially mounted 18-inch [46 cm] reflector of 12 feet [3.7 m] focal length which had been used by Rambaut in early 1848. In autumn 1865, Laurence Parsons equipped the telescope (installed in a dome near the eastern wall of the 72-inch) with an ingenious mechanical feature: a water-power drive. ‘Soon afterwards he began to take part in the observations with the 6-foot and 3-foot telescopes’, just commandeered by Ball.141 But there was very little to do: all bright Herschel nebulae had been observed and drawn. Fortunately, Ball and Laurence Parsons soon found tools which promised valuable 139 140

Herschel J. 1864. Ball V. 1915, 62.

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Dreyer 1909.

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results: the neglected micrometer and a heavy Browning spectroscope. Both knew that visual spectroscopy had just been successfully applied to nebulae by Huggins. Their first object of study was, of course, the Orion Nebula. To get the right basis, all former observations were collected. These included Lord Rosse’s ‘front-view’ observations with the 36-inch (winter 1844–45), the early 72-inch results by Lord Rosse and Robinson (spring 1846), Bindon Stoney’s sketch of the central region (1851–52) and Hunter’s excellent drawing of the whole nebula (spring 1864). The new task was a mix of pure observing, micrometric measurement and spectroscopy, using both large reflectors. The output was respectable. Parsons and Ball measured ninety-three stars, newly found in the nebula. Moreover, Huggins’ result could be confirmed: the Orion Nebula shows a ‘gaseous spectrum’ (that is, single spectral lines). For comparison, Ball and Parsons also performed spectroscopic observations of the planetary nebulae M 97, NGC 3242 and NGC 7662 – with the same result. On the other hand, the spectra of M 31, M 65 and M 66 were found to be continuous (like that of stars). Indeed, these objects are huge stellar systems (galaxies). And for the spiral nebulae M 98, NGC 3379, NGC 3384, NGC 3389 and NGC 3593 they recorded: ‘no decided spectrum seen; spectrum suspected to be continuous’. The results of the comprehensive study appeared in 1868 in the Philosophical Transactions under the title ‘An account of the observations on the great nebula in Orion, made at Birr Castle, with the 3-feet and 6-feet telescopes, between 1848 and 1867’.142 The tradition of great Birr Castle publications was continued. Ball was an industrious observer, later writing: ‘I sometimes followed [William] Herschel’s strenuous example and remained observing from dusk to dawn … I should add that the work was occasionally interrupted by little visits to the castle, where, by the kindness of Lord Rosse, tea and other refreshments were always available.’143 Dreyer remarked that Ball ‘was an indefatigable observer, and was remembered for years after his departure by the workmen who helped to work the telescope as the man who kept them up “terrible late” at night’144 (see also p. 200). Ball left Birr Castle in August 1867 to become a Professor of Applied Mathematics and Mechanics at the new Royal College of Science in Dublin. Shortly after, Lord Rosse died on 31 October, at the age of 67. Later, Ball recognised the lifework of his idol in the popular book Great Astronomers.145 142 143

Parsons L. 1868. Ball V. 1915, 68.

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Ball V. 1915, 78. Ball R. 1895.

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He was succeeded by Charles Burton, who stayed from February 1868 to March 1869 (contributing about fifty observations). However, the best was yet to come: Copeland and Dreyer. After almost two years without a scientific assistant, Ralph Copeland was appointed. A trained astronomer, he started his job in January 1871. He soon controlled the 72-inch and made important observations. Copeland not only revisited known objects (like M 51) but also discovered many new nebulae, among them the famous Copeland Septet, a compact group of galaxies in Leo. When Copeland left Birr Castle in May 1874 to become Ball’s assistant at Dunsink Observatory, Dreyer took over. He had studied astronomy in Copenhagen under d’Arrest, his lifelong friend and idol. In the four years from August 1874 to August 1878, Dreyer not only observed nebulae, but also became an expert on nebular catalogues. He later remarked: When I entered Lord Rosse’s observatory in 1874 it was his [Laurence Parsons’] wish that the long series of observations of nebulae should be got ready for publication, including those previously printed, as the paper in Phil. Trans. 1861 in many cases gave insufficient particulars, especially about the new nebulae which had been found … I therefore at once drew up a working list of nebulae which required to be re-observed, chiefly in order to fix the places of the new ones, and most of them were then looked up and measured.146 This work, done with a micrometer at the 72-inch, established Dreyer’s great interest in cataloguing, making him a worthy successor to John Herschel. The first output was the GC Supplement,147 which enlarged (and corrected) John Herschel’s important General Catalogue of 1864. The second was Dreyer’s compilation of the Birr Castle observations, made on behalf of Laurence Parsons. The latter published it as ‘Observations of nebulae and clusters of stars made with the six-foot and three-foot reflectors at Birr Castle, from the year 1848 up to the year 1878’, in the Scientific Transactions of the Royal Dublin Society.148 In the introduction, it is recorded: From time to time after the completion of the six-foot reflector at Parsonstown, my late father brought out papers on some of the nebulae and clusters of stars observed with the three-foot 146 147

Dreyer 1914. Dreyer 1878.

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William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse and six-foot instruments, the last having been published in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London in 1861. Since that date no account (with the exception of the monograph on the great nebula in Orion) of the observations of nebulae, which have been, with a few interruptions, carried on up to the present time, has appeared.

In 178 pages, objects from Herschel’s General Catalogue and Dreyer’s Supplement are presented. Due to Dreyer’s great skill, the substantial volume of information is presented in a more structured manner than in Lord Rosse’s publication of 1861. However, the main elements are similar (there are still no coordinates). More than 1,840 objects are collected in a huge table (now arranged by GC-number). Though the title announces observations ‘from the year 1848’, five were made before 1848. The first two are due to Lord Rosse and concern M 51 and M 27, observed on 18 and 19 September 1843, respectively. The last was made by Dreyer on 5 May 1878 (NGC 5990, a galaxy in Serpens). The publication contains thirty-nine drawings, covering the period 1851–76. Dreyer later remarked: ‘Of the late years there was not much to be done with the pencil, as all the more interesting objects had already been drawn.’149 Nevertheless, beside drawings from the ‘classic’ Birr Castle period, the publication also presents some by Copeland, Dreyer and Laurence Parsons. What was Laurence Parsons’ role at Birr Castle? He not only supervised the assistants, but also was an active and keen observer. In all, thirty-eight new objects must be credited to him. He also worked on the improvement of the telescopes (the water-driven 18-inch reflector was mentioned earlier). He constructed a clock drive for the 72-inch, making the tracking-handwheel obsolete. The result was that the observer had more freedom for measurements: ‘the micrometer has been more frequently used, and in this work the clock movement applied in the year 1868 has been found of great service’.150 In 1874–76, Laurence Parsons converted the 36-inch into an equatorial instrument. In the 1860s, the round solid tube had been replaced by a truss tube of quadratic cross-section (see Figures 6.13 and 6.14). He also occasionally used the 72-inch in the ‘front-view’ configuration to get more information about well-studied objects. One example is Laurence Parsons’ observation of M 51 on 28 April 1875, where he ‘thought [that] the front-view showed the knots and faint parts better than he had seen it with the telescope 149

Dreyer 1881.

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Parsons L. 1880, 2.

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in Newtonian mounting’. Later, Dreyer commented differently: ‘The telescope was, in April 1875, arranged for front-view at the urgent suggestion of Dr. Robinson, but it was only used in this way on a couple of nights, as Lord Rosse did not think that the additional light made up for the discomfort, not to say danger, to the observer.’151 The method was indeed dangerous, because the observer had to stay in front of the tube (the lowest gallery had to be used, which could reach objects up to 42° elevation). When Dreyer – perhaps the most ambitious Birr Castle astronomer – departed in 1878, the 72-inch fell into oblivion. It was only occasionally used by his successor, Otto Boeddicker. In December 1893 the mighty telescope was pointed to its last object: the Orion Nebula – what else? After being engaged in 1880, Boeddicker soon assisted Parsons in realising the revolutionary idea of remote sensing: the measurement of the lunar temperature by detecting thermal (infrared) radiation, discovered by William Herschel in 1800. First, the modified 36-inch reflector was used. Later Parsons constructed a special instrument, equipped with a short-focus searchlight-mirror of 24 inches diameter. Afterwards, Boeddicker’s main target became the Milky Way, making naked-eye drawings, which were later presented to the Royal Astronomical Society.152 In February 1916, the last scientific assistant left Birr Castle. Referring to the idleness of the ‘Leviathan’ in Boeddicker’s time, Denning sarcastically wrote: ‘Its effectiveness as a working tool must have been regarded as small in the later period of its use, for Boeddicker, the observer in charge, spent several years in a naked-eye review of the Milky Way! Strange and certainly suggestive that anyone should engage systematically in naked-eye studies with the greatest telescope in the world at his elbow!’153 The occasion for his critical words was the transfer of the mirror to the Science Museum, South Kensington, in 1914. Dreyer, obviously in a sad mood, wrote about the famous 72-inch telescope: ‘In 1878 it was still in perfect order; and many questions, to solve which required great optical power, could have been dealt with the 6-foot reflector, if work so long done with it – work in which several subsequently distinguished men had shared – had been continued.’154 And Denning added: ‘So the active career of the mammoth telescope, which caused so much wonderment among men 70 years ago, has terminated in its becoming a museum curiosity!’ 151 152

Dreyer 1914. Boeddicker 1936.

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Denning 1914. Dreyer 1914.

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The Birr Castle legacy What is the legacy of Birr Castle in its investigation of the nebular world? There were great achievements – but failures too (see Chapter 10). There is no doubt that both the 72-inch reflector and its smaller progenitor, the 36-inch, brought many new insights – the most spectacular being Lord Rosse’s discovery of spiral structure in April 1845. Fortunately, this terminated an error, influenced by ideological constraints: the ‘resolvability’ of nebulae, a concept which would destroy the popular nebular hypothesis. Nowadays it sounds rather curious that gaseous nebulae like M 42 or galaxies like M 51 should have been considered ‘resolvable’. The Birr Castle observers entertained an illusion. Even the ‘Leviathan of Parsonstown’ was unable to resolve a galaxy into single stars – they are simply too remote. This was eventually done by its worthy follower (and new record holder): the 100-inch reflector on Mount Wilson in southern California. Perhaps the metal mirror caused the phenomenon? Its machinepolished surface (less homogeneous than that of a modern glass mirror) could generate unreal structures when imaging extended sources. They can look ‘mottled’ or show ‘filaments’ (as for the Crab Nebula, observed with the 36-inch). For some people, spiral structure was a mechanical relict too, as Darby has quoted: ‘Spiral! hem! rather say, coil-tracings left on the face of the speculum by the grinder, or the polisher!’155 It did not inspire confidence when the new feature was assigned to some innocent objects. Tempel has criticised this, but his view was too general. However, any explanation of such illusions must allow for the subjectivity of visual observing also. In the nineteenth century there were no reliable images, and the physical nature of the nebulae was unknown. If an object is observed under these conditions (e.g. for the first time), a description or sketch can strongly deviate from reality. False images easily appear, especially when gazing at a faint object over many hours with high magnification. On the other hand, known structures (even if only supposed) are perceived much more easily than unknown ones. But sometimes this leads to a curious effect: one ‘sees’ the wanted structures, though they actually are out of reach – well beyond the telescope’s limit. Facing the often strange conspiracy of eye and brain, a large portion of self-criticism is needed. Lord Rosse was always aware of these facts and acted in a scientific manner – others did not! Nevertheless, a diversity of real structures were seen with the 72-inch 155

Darby 1864.

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7.23 Number of Birr Castle observations made by the scientific assistants, 1848–78

for the first time: spiral arms, absorption bands of edge-on galaxies or knots (mostly extragalactic star-forming regions). Altogether 3,234 observations of 1,840 objects were published (by eleven observers); additionally thirty-nine drawings and 255 rough sketches (Figure 7.23). Though the search for new nebulae was not on the Birr Castle agenda, 344 objects were eventually found over a period of 30 years. Dreyer entered them in his New General Catalogue of 1888; a few were forgotten and appear in his first Index Catalogue of 1895.156 So these Birr Castle discoveries now bear NGC (or IC) numbers, which is still the most important designation for non-stellar objects. Here is the final score list: Bindon Stoney 100 R. J. Mitchell 89 Johnstone Stoney 50 Laurence Parsons 38 156

Dreyer 1953.

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William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse Ralph Copeland 35 John Dreyer 17 Robert Ball 11 Lord Rosse 3 Samuel Hunter 1.

The three Lord Rosse objects are: the galaxy NGC 4110 in Coma Berenices (1 April 1848) and NGC 1130/31, a pair of galaxies in Perseus (8 December 1855). The former was the first discovery at Birr Castle. The last discovery was due to Dreyer (26 April 1878), the galaxy NGC 4021 in Coma Berenices. Hunter’s object is NGC 1699, a galaxy in Eridanus, found on 13 February 1860, just a few days after his employment. Bindon Stoney was the most effective discoverer: he not only tops the list for his one hundred new objects, but he also found them in the shortest time (26 months). However, the prize for the maximum number, discovered in one night, goes to his brother Johnstone: twelve galaxies in Lynx on 13 March 1850. How much the 72-inch had expanded the visible universe is shown by the faintest objects – invisible in all other telescopes of that time. If 12.5 magnitude (mag) was the average brightness of the objects discovered by William Herschel, the ‘Leviathan’ pushed the mean to 14.3 mag; the faintest object even reaches 16.4 mag (the galaxy NGC 2689, found by Mitchell on 11 March 1858). Allowing for the problematic weather conditions, the cumbersome instruments, the exhausting nightly business and, finally, the continuous struggle to bring light into the obscure field of nebular astronomy, one must sum up: what a great work, done over so long a time – and Lord Rosse was at its centre!

References Airy 1851: ‘Report of the Council to the thirty-first Annual General Meeting’, by George B. Airy, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 11, p. 104. Backhouse 1863: ‘Lord Rosse on the nebulae’, by Thomas Backhouse, Astronomical Register, 1, pp. 33–5. Bailey 2005: ‘Unwinding the discovery of spiral nebulae’, by Mark Bailey, John Butler and John McFarland, Astronomy & Geophysics, 46, pp. 26–8. Ball R. 1895: Great Astronomers, by Robert S. Ball, Isaac Pitman, London. Ball V. 1915: Reminiscences and Letters of Sir Robert Ball, edited by Valentine Ball, Cassell, London. Bennett 1981: ‘The Rosse papers and instruments’, by Jim Bennett and Michael Hoskin, Journal for the History of Astronomy, 12, pp. 216–29.

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Bennett 1990: Church, State and Astronomy in Ireland. 200 Years of Armagh Observatory, by Jim Bennett, Armagh Observatory in association with the Institute of Irish Studies, The Queen’s University of Belfast. Boeddicker 1936: ‘Description of chart of the Milky Way deposited with the Society’, by Otto Boeddicker, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 96, pp. 641–2. Bond 1860: ‘On the spiral structure of the great nebula of Orion’, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 21, pp. 203–7. Chapman 1998: The Victorian Amateur Astronomer. Independent Astronomical Research in Britain 1820–1920, by Allan Chapman, John Wiley and Sons, Chichester. Darby 1864: The Astronomical Observer. A Hand-Book to the Observatory and the Common Telescope, by William A. Darby, Robert Hardwicke, London. D’Arrest 1865: ‘Über einige am Kopenhagener Refractor beobachtete Objecte aus Lord Rosse’s “List of nebulae not found”’, by Heinrich L. d’Arrest, Astronomische Nachrichten, 63, pp. 177–90. Denning 1914: ‘Lord Rosse’s telescope’, by William Denning, The Observatory, 37, pp. 347–8. Dick 1845: The Practical Astronomer (including ‘A particular account of the Earl of Rosse’s Large Telescopes’), by Thomas Dick, Seeley, Burnside & Seeley, London. Dreyer 1876: ‘Vogel. Positionsbestimmungen von Nebelflecken und Sternhaufen zw. +9° 30’ und +15° 30’ Declination’, review by John L. E. Dreyer, Vierteljahrsschrift der Astronomischen Gesellschaft, 11, pp. 276–80. Dreyer 1878: ‘Supplement to Sir John Herschel’s “General Catalogue of nebulae and clusters of stars”’, by John L. E. Dreyer, Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy, 26, pp. 381–426. Dreyer 1881: ‘Nebulae’, by John L. E. Dreyer, Copernicus, 1, pp. 77–8. Dreyer 1909: ‘Lawrence Parsons, 4th Earl of Rosse’, by John L. E. Dreyer, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 69, pp. 250–3. Dreyer 1914: ‘Lord Rosse’s six-foot reflector’, by John L. E. Dreyer, The Observatory, 37, pp. 399–400. Dreyer 1953: New General Catalogue, Index Catalogue, Second Index Catalogue, by John L. E. Dreyer, Royal Astronomical Society, London. Herschel J. 1833: ‘Observations of nebulae and clusters of stars, made at Slough, with a twenty-feet reflector, between the years 1825 and 1833’, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, 123, pp. 359–509. Herschel J. 1845: ‘Address of the President’, by John Herschel, Reports of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, 15, pp. xxxvii– xxxviii. Herschel J. 1849: Outlines of Astronomy, by John Herschel, Longman, Brown, Green & Longmans, London. Herschel J. 1864: ‘Catalogue of nebulae and clusters of stars’, by John Herschel, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, 154, pp. 1–137.

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Hoskin 1982: ‘The first drawing of a spiral nebula’, by Michael Hoskin, Journal for the History of Astronomy, 13, pp. 97–101. Hoskin 1982a: Stellar Astronomy. Historical Studies, by Michael Hoskin, Science History Publications, Cambridge. Hoskin 1990: ‘Rosse, Robinson, and the resolution of the nebulae’, by Michael Hoskin, Journal for the History of Astronomy, 21, pp. 331–44. Hoskin 2002: ‘The Leviathan of Parsonstown. Ambitions and achievements’, Journal for the History of Astronomy, 33, pp. 57–70. Hoskin 2012: The Construction of the Heavens – William Herschel’s Cosmology, by Michael Hoskin (with remarks by Wolfgang Steinicke and David Dewhirst), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Huggins 1864: ‘On the spectra of some nebulae’, by William Huggins, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, 154, pp. 437–44. Keeler 1895: ‘Note on a case of differences between drawings and photographs of nebulae’, by James Keeler, Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 7, pp. 279–82. Mitchel 1847: ‘Lord Rosse’s Whirlpool nebula’, by Ormsby M. Mitchel, Sidereal Messenger, 2, pp. 30–1. Nichol 1837: Thoughts on Some Important Points Relating to the System of the World, by John P. Nichol, William Tait, Edinburgh. Nichol 1846: The Architecture of the Heavens, by John P. Nichol, John Parker, London. Parsons C. 1926: The Scientific Papers of William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse 1800–1867, by Charles Parsons; reprint: Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2011. Parsons L. 1868: ‘An account of the observations on the great nebula in Orion, made at Birr Castle, with the 3-feet and 6-feet telescopes, between 1848 and 1867’, by Laurence Parsons, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, 158, pp. 57–73. Reprinted in Parsons C. 1926. Parsons L. 1877: ‘Nebulous star in the Pleiades’, by Laurence Parsons, Nature, 15, p. 397. Parsons, L. 1880: ‘Observations of nebulae and clusters of stars made with the six-foot and three-foot reflectors at Birr Castle, from the year 1848 up to about the year 1878’, by the Right Hon. The Earl of Rosse, D.C.L., F.R.S., Parts 1 and 2, August 1879, Part 3, June 1880, Scientific Transactions of the Royal Dublin Society, 2, pp. 1–136; 137–178; Appendix i–v. This paper was largely prepared for the press by J. L. E. Dreyer, who was employed at Birr from August 1874. Parsons W. 1840: ‘An account of experiments on the reflecting telescope’, by William Parsons, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, 130, pp. 503–27. Reprinted in Parsons C. 1926. Parsons W. 1844: ‘Observations on some of the nebulae’, by William Parsons, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, 134, pp. 321–4. Reprinted in Parsons C. 1926. Parsons W. 1846: ‘On the nebula 25 Herschel, or 61 of Messier’s Catalogue’,

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by William Parsons, Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, Held at Cambridge in June 1845, John Murray, London, p. 4. Parsons W. 1850: ‘Observations of nebulae’, by William Parsons, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, 140, pp. 499–514. Reprinted in Parsons C. 1926. Parsons W. 1853: ‘Drawings to illustrate recent observations of nebulae’, by the Earl of Rosse, with remarks by Rev. Dr. Robinson, Report of the TwentySecond Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, Held at Belfast in September 1852, John Murray, London, pp. 22–4. Reprinted in Parsons C. 1926. Parsons W. 1861: ‘On the construction of specula of six-feet aperture; and a selection from the observations of nebulae made with them’, by William Parsons, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, 151, pp. 681–745. Reprinted in Parsons C. 1926. Robinson 1840: ‘Account of a large reflecting telescope’, by Romney Robinson, Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, 2, pp. 2–12. Reprinted in Parsons C. 1926. Robinson 1845: ‘On Lord Rosse’s telescope’, by Romney Robinson, Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, 3, pp. 114–33. Reprinted in Parsons C. 1926. Robinson 1848: ‘An account of the present condition of the Earl of Rosse’s great telescope’ by the Rev. Dr. Thomas Romney Robinson, Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, 4, pp. 119–128. Reprinted in Parsons C. 1926. Robinson 1848a: ‘Observations of the nebula, Herschel 44’, by Romney Robinson, Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, 4, pp. 236–7. Reprinted in Parsons C. 1926. Robinson 1867: ‘Obituary of William Parsons’, by the Rev. Dr Thomas Romney Robinson, Proceedings of the Royal Society, 16, pp. xxxvi–xlii. Schaffer 1989: ‘The nebular hypothesis and the science of progress’, by Simon Schaffer, in History, Humanity and Evolution, edited by J. R. Moore, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 131–64. Schaffer 1998: ‘The Leviathan of Parsonstown: literary technology and scientific representation’, by Simon Schaffer, in Inscribing Science: Scientific Texts and the Materiality of Communication, edited by Timothy Lenoir, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 182–222. South 1845: The Times, 16 April 1845, by James South; see also: Astronomische Nachrichten, 23, pp. 113–18. Steinicke 2010: Observing and Cataloguing Nebulae and Star Clusters – from Herschel to Dreyer’s New General Catalogue, by Wolfgang Steinicke, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Steinicke 2011: ‘Eine Frage der Ehre – der Wettstreit um den weltgrößten Refraktor’, by Wolfgang Steinicke, Sterne und Weltraum, 50, no. 8, pp. 44–53. Steinicke 2012: ‘The M51 Mystery – Lord Rosse, Robinson, South and the discovery of spiral structure in 1845’, by Wolfgang Steinicke, Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage, 15, pp. 19–29.

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Steinicke 2013: www.klima-luft.de/steinicke; historic and modern data for all objects, mentioned in this chapter are available here. Tempel 1877: ‘Schreiben des Herrn Tempel, Astronom der Königl. Sternwarte zu Arcetri an den Herausgeber’, by Wilhelm Tempel, Astronomische Nachrichten, 90, pp. 27–42. Tobin 2008: ‘Full-text search capability. A new tool for researching the development of scientific language. The “Whirlpool Nebula” as a case study’, by William Tobin, Notes and Records of the Royal Society, 62, pp. 187–96. Weekes 2010: ‘The nineteenth-century spiral nebula whodunit’, by Trevor Weekes, Physics in Perspective, 12, pp. 146–62. Woods 1844: The Monster Telescopes Erected by the Earl of Rosse, Parsonstown, by Thomas Woods; reprint: Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2010 (incorrectly giving William Parsons as author).

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William Parsons and the Irish nineteenth-century tradition of independent astronomical research Allan Chapman Independent astronomical research t was a simple fact of life in Ireland and elsewhere in Britain in the nineteenth century that central government did not fund fundamental scientific research. All that it did fund was science which might conduce to the more efficient running of the country, the navy, or the wider Empire. And it was the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, that was the base for ‘official’ astronomy, then under the direction, from 1835 to 1881, of Sir George Biddell Airy (1801–92), Astronomer Royal. It is important to bear in mind, however, that Airy was a great admirer of the 3rd Earl of Rosse, worked closely with him when Lord Rosse served as President of the Royal Society, between 1848 and 1854, and was a house guest at Birr Castle. ‘Official’ or publicly funded astronomy was largely confined to highly precise yet essentially routine research, however, such as measuring the Right Ascension and Declination positions of bodies as they came to the meridian, so that the accumulated data could be used in the compilation of astronomical tables. But the more ‘philosophical’ and intellectually adventurous branches of astronomy, such as deep-space cosmology or, by the early 1860s, solar and stellar ‘astro-physics’, were left to private individuals. This situation had not come about, as some modern science historians have suggested, because of any anti-scientific philistinism in government circles but was, rather, an aspect of wider British government policy towards scientific and ‘cultural’ spending. For both the Westminster and, up to 1800, the Dublin parliaments were composed of private gentlemen and noblemen who had a horror of over-mighty ‘big’ government, and of a Crown that might try to appropriate too much power unto itself – as one saw was the case in Russia, France, Spain, Austria and elsewhere in Europe. For private independence hinged upon being in command

I

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of one’s own money, and not letting government agencies take it from you. Parliaments and politicians on both sides of the Irish Sea, therefore, pursued low-taxation policies, spending money from the public purse only on national defence and official government building, plus a certain amount on internal law-and-order maintenance, for example prisons. Many other ‘essential services’, such as roads, bridges and workhouses, were often devolved onto local communities and the magistracy, and had to be paid for locally.

The ‘Grand Amateur’ tradition Science, art, music, education and a wide range of other cultural activities, therefore, had to be paid for in the already time-honoured tradition of private benefaction, working on the premise that, if a gentleman was left in control of his own money, then public-spiritedness, Christian conscience and a sense of duty would inspire him to give part of his wealth to activities close to his heart. And these might include endowing schools, founding art galleries and museums, building churches, operating poor-relief schemes in times of distress or engaging in ground-breaking scientific research. And Lord Rosse was personally involved in several such schemes, from the endowing of both Roman Catholic and Protestant churches in Birr town (see p. 7), through vital humanitarian work during the famine years of the 1840s, and on to that for which he is internationally remembered today: his work in astronomy. This independent tradition of astronomical research came into being, then, through a combination of intellectual curiosity, independent money and public-spiritedness; for if you were Irish, Scottish, Welsh or English in 1840, and you wanted to attempt to ‘fathom’ the universe, it was no use trying to get into the good books of a king, a publicly funded academic body or an all-powerful minister of state in pursuit of patronage, as one might in St Petersburg, Paris, Berlin or Vienna, for there was no cash in the kitty. Parliament kept government on a tight financial leash to protect the taxpayer, politicians were regularly turned out of office in elections and there were no rich, publicly funded academic bodies. Learned societies in Britain and Ireland were traditionally self-funding, with Trinity College Dublin, Oxford, Edinburgh and the other universities within these islands running on their own private endowments; and, while some official grants were coming to be made by the 1860s, such as to Maynooth College and, sometime later, to the new Queen’s University, Belfast, they were modest by European standards.

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In short, if you wanted to do adventurous science, in the days of Lord Rosse, you had to pay for it yourself. And while William Parsons had the advantages of being a hereditary peer with inherited wealth (from his wife) and social position, there were other astronomers in Ireland and across the Irish Sea who came from much more modest economic circumstances; men who had made their money from business or the professions, who held ecclesiastical appointments or were funded by the Church, had married comfortably off wives or who had inherited private means that could derive from a small shop, a bank, a great brewery or landed rentals. And while I speak of men, one must not forget that there was a small yet growing number of women in this self-funded scientific tradition. One thinks immediately of Miss Agnes Clerke (1842–1907) of Skibbereen – astronomer and the first major historian of astronomy – of Mary, 3rd Countess of Rosse (1813–85, see Chapter 3), along with other ladies of the Rosse circle, and Miss Margaret Lindsay (1848–1915), who became Lady Huggins, the spectroscopist. And all of these were Irishwomen, born or naturalised, while, elsewhere in Britain, one had Caroline Herschel (1750–1848), Mary Somerville (1780–1872), Ada, Countess Lovelace (1815–52), Elizabeth Brown (1830–99) and quite a few others before 1900. This self-funded, independent tradition of astronomy I have styled ‘Grand Amateur’. Grand, because it was these men and women who addressed themselves to the great, cutting-edge problems and questions of the day, such as gravitational dynamics, cosmology and big-telescope engineering. And Amateur, as people who, often of their own proud confession, did astronomy for love, and not for pecuniary or explicit career advantages; for let us not forget that the word ‘amateur’ derives from the Latin verb ‘to love’. A tradition of science as noble, and as high-minded in its aspiration, as there has ever been in scientific history! For what conceivable practical use could there be in fathoming the nature of the nebulae, the vastness of the stellar system or the chemical composition of Sirius? Indeed, it is hardly surprising that no public money was forthcoming for these and similar investigations! Ireland had well-established astronomical traditions, extending back, perhaps, to the builders of Newgrange, and certainly to the Middle Ages. There was early Christian Ireland’s age of ‘saints and scholars’, when monks needed (like their contemporary the Venerable Bede of Jarrow, Northumbria) to have a sufficiently advanced knowledge of classical astronomy as to be able to calculate complex solar and lunar calendars for the annual computation of the date of Easter Day. And Johannes de Sacrobosco (John of the Holy Wood), whose textbook ‘bestseller’

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De Sphaera Mundi (‘On the Sphere of the Earth’) was being studied by students from the thirteenth to the early seventeenth centuries, was reputed to have been an Irishman. Astronomy was on the curriculum of Trinity College Dublin as part of the Liberal Arts course from its foundation in 1591, and, in 1783, Francis Andrews (1718–74) provided the original endowment for Trinity’s Dunsink Observatory, just outside Dublin, equipped with the finest instruments of the day. Then, in 1791, Archbishop Robinson of Armagh (1709–94) created the Archepiscopal Observatory Armagh – again with new, state-of-the-art instruments – bringing home the clear relationship between astronomy and the Christian Church. But more about Dunsink and Armagh later.

Sir William and Sir John Herschel Fundamental to the life’s work of Lord Rosse were the discoveries of the Anglo-Hanoverian ex-bandsman astronomer, Sir William Herschel (1738–1822). (Strictly speaking he was not entitled to the ‘Sir’, as he was a Hanoverian not a British knight, but he is usually referred to in this way.) He had risen from the ranks of the Hanoverian Foot Guards to a Fellowship of the Royal Society. It was Herschel who, funding his own original researches from the profits of a fashionable musical career in Bath, shot to fame by his discovery of Uranus in 1781. But, more important from Lord Rosse’s point of view was Herschel’s transformation of what we now call ‘cosmology’. For it was Herschel, from the early 1780s onwards, who came to change the way that we think of ‘deep space’. Of course, it had been realised, since the first application of the telescope to astronomy after 1609, that the stellar universe receded to infinity, and that the stars were probably very distant suns. Edmond Halley (1658–1742) and Charles Messier (1730–1817) had drawn attention to woolly patches of light amongst the stars, generally named ‘nebulae’ (Latin, ‘clouds’), but it was Herschel who was to take them on in a serious way. Starting with his self-funded and home-made 6½-inch [16.5 cm] and other exquisite Newtonian reflecting telescopes, Herschel began a series of ‘surveys’, ‘sweeps’ and ‘gages’ (sic) of the northern heavens, in which he meticulously catalogued the regional densities of star fields, star clusters, binary star systems and a host of nebulae. Yet, even after winning the patronage of King George III and obtaining a modest pension and some capital equipment grants enabling him to build what would, for the next 56 years, be the world’s biggest telescope, he would never stray far from his ‘Grand Amateur’ roots. For his business acumen, a City of London

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marriage and lucrative private commissions to build large telescopes for the Royalty of Spain and Italy meant that Herschel was always self-funded on a day-to-day basis. And the man who was to exceed Herschel’s 1789 royal masterpiece reflector of 48 inches [122 cm] aperture and 40 feet [12 m] focal length was William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse. For, having experimented with and built smaller reflectors up to 36 inches [91.5 cm] aperture on his estates at Birr, his pièce de resistance was the iconic 72-inch [183 cm] aperture, 52-foot [16 m] focus reflector of 1845, and this telescope, in its turn, would remain the world’s biggest telescope for over 60 years. I am not aware that William, the 3rd Earl, ever met Sir William Herschel, who died in 1822, when Rosse was 22, though he did become a good friend of his son, Sir John Herschel (1792–1881). And it was Sir John who, after a first-rate mathematical training in Cambridge and a thorough grounding in telescopic astronomy from his elderly father, took a 20-foot [6 m] focus telescope with its 18¼-inch [46 cm] mirror to the Cape of Good Hope to begin the deep-space cosmology of the southern hemisphere between 1834 and 1838. Sir John was as proudly independent and ‘Grand Amateur’ as any astronomer of the age, accepting his first, and only, paid job at the age of 58, in 1850. And what a first job, for Herschel was prevailed upon by Lord John Russell (1792–1878) to serve as Master of the Royal Mint – a post which Sir John did not especially want and was prevailed upon to accept only because none other than Sir Isaac Newton (1642–1727) had once held it. Yet, as soon as the exigencies of the Crimean War were over, Herschel promptly resigned and returned to ‘Grand Amateur’ status, for he hated committees, team-work and administration. He also said that the hassle of the Mastership had made him ill and caused him to shrink by half an inch. Indeed, nowhere does John Herschel make his own admiration for the ‘Grand Amateur’ tradition more explicit than upon the occasion when he, as President, presented the Royal Astronomical Society Gold Medal to the Liverpool brewer-astronomer William Lassell (1799–1880) in 1849, for Lassell, he said, belonged ‘to that class of observers who have created their own instrumental means, who have felt their own wants and supplied them in their own way’.1 I would suggest that no other astronomers inspired the whole enterprise and scientific agenda of Lord Rosse at Birr Castle as much as did Sir William Herschel and his son. For the deep-space telescopic, observational cosmology begun by Sir William Herschel in the 1780s posed a Herschel J. 1849, 192.

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series of questions about the nature of the deep-space universe which, through their ensuing developments, permutations and responses to subsequent discovery, are still with us today! For what is the ‘length, breadth, and depth; or longitude, latitude, and Profundity’ of the heavens, asked the 79-year-old Sir William in 1817?

The new big telescope cosmology This post-Herschelian universe was a much stranger place than even the potentially infinite one revealed to the earlier telescopic astronomers. For one thing, it was made up not just of individual stars, but also of curious, glowing ‘chevelures’ or fuzzy objects – nebulae, including what we now call galaxies. How did these faintly glowing objects glow at all? Did the adjacent stars actually illuminate them in the same way that a candle will illuminate a cloud of mist on a foggy night? Or did the nebulae glow in their own right and, if so, how could you explain a generalised glow in the vacuum of deep space without individual stars to light them up, as was most conspicuously seen in the Orion Nebula? What was the relationship between the stars, the Milky Way and the hundreds of nebulae that by 1786 Herschel was cataloguing on a nightly basis, and fresh shoals of which his son would discover in the southern hemisphere in the 1830s? And why, moreover, line-of-sight effects notwithstanding, were there distinct pairs, groups or dense clusters of stars in some parts of the heavens, yet not in others? Why, in certain parts of space, were thousands of stars seemingly imploding into each other under the influence of gravity, to form densely-packed star clusters, like M 13 in Hercules? In short, the universe as revealed through Sir William Herschel’s telescopes was a complex, heterogeneous place, full of riddles and paradoxes. Did star systems crash together, and then somehow disintegrate when they had become too dense, the resulting debris providing the strange, nebulous matter out of which new stars formed? For while Herschel’s universe was stable as a system, it was nonetheless internally dynamic and forever changing in its inner parts. Probably, it was surmised, under the influence of gravity. And as the astronomers of 1800 already had a fairly good figure for the speed of light, one question that Herschel had recognised was this: do we see distant star systems not as they currently are, but as they were ages ago, when their light now reaching us began its journey? For Sir William came to realise that deep-space cosmology was looking into what he called ‘times past’. And perhaps the most challenging question

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was: what are the nebulae made of? Are they composed of relatively local – cosmologically speaking – misty ‘chevelures’ (resembling a shiny hairiness), or is each one made up of vast ‘congeries’ of stars that are so remote that we can see no individual star, but only the combined glow of thousands upon thousands?

The 3rd Earl of Rosse It was this very Grand Amateur research and cosmological thinking that stimulated the young Lord Oxmantown, as William Parsons was named before inheriting the Earldom of Rosse in 1841. And what is more, it seemed that there was only one way towards finding a solution, and that was to cast, figure, polish and perfect yet greater mirrors than those of Herschel’s, to make the universe, and the nebulae in particular, yield up their secrets. It was this quest which was to lead the young Lord into experiments into metallurgy, bulk metal casting and the devising of powered machines to figure great disks of ‘speculum’ metal, culminating in the pair of four- and three-and-a-half-ton disks which would be figured into the parabolic mirrors of the 72-inch ‘Leviathan of Parsonstown’ (Birr) in the mid-1840s (see Chapter 6). A pair of 72-inch disks, one notes, because the tin and copper alloy of which speculum metal was cast had a tendency to tarnish and lose its brilliance, so that a freshly figured and polished mirror had always to be available when the telescope was in use. And all the metallurgical casting, polishing, designing, manufacture and assembling of the great 72-inch was performed as a local enterprise, in which Lord Rosse trained and taught skilled craftsmen around Birr to build and maintain the great telescope under the direction of William Coghlan, his foreman-manager. Indeed, a truly Irish telescope in every way, and giving employment to the local community. Needless to say, such an undertaking could only have been brought about as a private enterprise. For no nineteenth-century government, Irish, British or probably even continental European, would have been willing to expend so many resources – estimated variously between £12,000 and £30,000 – upon something so ‘philosophical’ as plumbing the depths of the universe! Indeed, this was a trait which bound all the ‘Grand Amateurs’ together: their willingness to risk money, time and resources in pursuit of something so ‘useless’ as cosmology. And yet, as we all know today, ‘pure’ scientific research often produces remarkable and unexpected spin-offs. Take two British ‘Grand Amateurs’ who were good friends of the 3rd Earl: William Lassell (1799–1880) and James Nasmyth (1808–90).

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William Lassell and James Nasmyth and the big reflector Nasmyth, a Scotsman – the inventor of the ‘steam hammer’ – was a serious amateur astronomer and large reflecting telescope maker who earned his living by building railway and other locomotives in his Patricroft, Manchester factory, while Lassell was a rich Liverpool brewer. It was not so much cosmology that interested them as the geology of the moon, the possible structure of the outer planets and, in particular, Saturn’s rings. And they, like Lord Rosse and the Herschels, were part of the ‘Brotherhood of the Big Reflecting Telescope’. Yet, like Lord Rosse, they needed light-grasp, resolving power, very high magnifications and stable mounts for their great tubes. Lassell had been impressed by Lord Rosse’s steam-powered mirror-figuring machine (see p. 189): a much more precise device than the horse- and man-powered machines of the Herschels. He had also been taken by the astatic, adaptive mirror supports of Lord Rosse, Thomas Romney Robinson (1793–1882, of Armagh Observatory) and Thomas Grubb (1800–78, of Dublin), and incorporated them into his 24-inch [61 cm] and 48-inch [122 cm] aperture reflectors of 1845 and 1858. Indeed, one can see distinct lines of development within the ‘Big Reflector Brotherhood’, as William Herschel developed the first really large, high-grade parabolic mirrors, yet mounted them in moveable timber structures, adjusted with complex arrays of ropes, blocks and tackle that were reminiscent of the handling of a sailing ship. Then Lord Rosse, capitalising on the superior engineering technology of the early Industrial Revolution, used improved mirror-casting techniques, aided by a special regulated oven to cool the molten metal gently, to avoid cracks and bubbles. He then figured his 72-inch specula on a controlled steam-powered lathe to obtain an exquisite optical figure, yet he mounted the mirror in a stone walls, timber and chains system which was a slightly enhanced version of Herschel’s. And then, learning from Rosse, Lassell and his friend Nasmyth improved the steampowered mirror-grinding machine. Using the heavy precision technology of the locomotive manufacturer, steam-hammer forging and rolled iron-plate tubes, Lassell’s 1844 and 1858 great reflectors were mounted on beautifully engineered, all-cast-iron equatorial mounts which enabled the perfect tracking of an object right across the sky. Indeed, it was the engineering of the Lassell–Nasmyth ‘Grand Amateur’ reflectors that would provide the prototypes first for the Great Melbourne professional Reflector of 1867 (see Chapter  9), and then the big, twentieth-century American professional reflectors.

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Lord Rosse is among the grandest of the Grand Amateurs, because to him astronomy (and particularly its engineering challenge – see Chapter 6), along with being a responsible and considerate Irish landlord (see Chapter 4), was his career, and certainly his intellectual passion. He addressed the big questions in contemporary astronomy and, after the manner of Sir John Herschel, felt his own instrumental needs and met them from his own technological and financial resources.

The power of the spectroscope Within the last few years of Rosse’s life, another stunning new technology appeared which really would tell us much more about the chemistry and physics of celestial bodies: the spectroscope. And while the preliminary chemistry and physics of the spectroscope derived from the academic laboratory science of Count Robert Bunsen (1811–99) and Rudolf Kirchhoff (1824–87) in Heidelberg in 1859, its systematic application to astronomy, and to solving the on-going question of what the nebulae were made of, lay firmly with English and American Grand Amateurs and with the Jesuit astronomer Father Angelo Secchi, S. J. (1818–78). It had been reading about Bunsen’s and Kirchhoff’s laboratory work, and the possible identification of sodium in sunlight, that set William Huggins (1824–1910) on to his Grand Amateur career – and eventually a knighthood – as a pioneer astronomical spectroscopist after 1862; and when he detected a simple gaseous spectrum in the Cat’s Eye Nebula in Draco in 1864, he was able to answer ‘Yes’ to the question ‘Is there gas in space?’2 Then, in 1875, the 51-year-old Huggins (whose private means derived from a City of London silk business) married Miss Margaret Lindsay Murray, a 27-year-old Dublin solicitor’s daughter with a passion for astronomy. They were to form one of the legendary partnerships of Grand Amateur astronomy, as Margaret developed the technique not of measuring the stellar spectral lines directly at the telescope, but of photographing them at the eyepiece and then measuring them at leisure, in daylight, on a special plate-measuring machine. A similar technique came into use in the observatory–household of Dr Henry Draper (1837–82) and his wife, Mary Anna Palmer Draper (1839–1914). For, just as the Hugginses pioneered Grand Amateur spectroscopy in England, so did the Drapers and Lewis Morris Rutherfurd (1816–92) on the American East Coast. And by the time that professional astronomers began to dip their toes into the new Huggins 1864.

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spectroscopic astronomy in the 1870s, the Grand Amateurs had not only been there for several years, but had also undertaken all the venturecapital risk of developing expensive new and time-consuming optical, not to mention photographic, technologies. The work, no less, of British and American Grand Amateurs and of Roman Catholic priests.

The Daramona House group Needless to say, Ireland’s burgeoning Grand Amateur community made their own innovations. Lord Rosse commissioned a spectroscope, but died before he could really achieve anything with it. It was, rather, that group of astronomical friends who formed the ‘Daramona House’, County Westmeath group who would really place Ireland firmly in the league of major spectroscopic discoverers. Daramona House was owned by William Edward Wilson (1858–1908) and stood to the north of Lord Rosse’s County Offaly. Wilson had acquired an excellent 12-inch [30.5 cm] aperture refractor by Grubb of Dublin; then, 10 years later, in 1881, he set up an excellent 24-inch [61 cm] silver-on-glass reflector, also by Grubb, with a new, electrically driven mount. Astronomical photography and some pioneering photometry were done in the early days at Daramona. Also within Wilson’s circle was the Grand Amateur Dublin barrister William H. S. Monck (1839–1915), who owned a fine 7½-inch [19 cm] refractor by Alvan Clark of Boston, USA, housed in his Dublin observatory. And there were the engineer Stephen Dixon (1866–1940), the eminent physicist George F. Fitzgerald (1851–1901 – later of Fitzgerald-Lorenz contraction fame) and, when he was in Ireland from his English mathematical professorship, George Minchin (1845–1914). Their enduring contribution came from their fundamental research into photo-electric photometry. Using an apparatus commissioned from Yeates and Sons of Dublin, Wilson obtained the first estimates of the sun’s surface temperature in 1894. The following year, they obtained brightnesses for Regulus, Arcturus, η [eta] Boötis and other stars. What the Daramona group bring home to us is yet another example of the pioneering, innovative astronomy developed by Grand Amateurs, who paid for every aspect of their researches – from their time, to the commissioning of an elaborate technology – out of their own resources. They also bring home how very rapidly astronomical research had increased in complexity over 50 years, as more and more windows onto the cosmos were opened up. For, firstly, there was the drive to bigger mirrors and more sophisticated mounts; then there was spectroscopy,

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with its sudden rending of the veil and giving of access to the physics and chemistry of astronomical bodies; and, by the 1890s, chemical-based photometry, providing insights into their temperatures and internal physics. And when one adds in the new technologies of photographic imaging and recording, it is easy to see how profoundly astronomical understanding had changed in the latter half of the nineteenth century. And without wishing to labour a point, this had happened with Grand Amateurs leading the way at every turn, and with the academically and publicly funded professionals only following a path first beaten by, and with technologies pioneered by, the self-funded scientists. A very clear instance of this independence of mind and of the affinity between Grand Amateurs came about in May 1852, when Lassell was preparing to take his great 24-inch aperture telescope, his family and his household establishment to Malta, to observe under the clear skies of a south Mediterranean location. He requested Lord Rosse, then serving as President of the Royal Society, to furnish him with a letter of introduction to the leaders of the British community in Malta, for purely social reasons. What he was at pains to stress to Rosse, however, was that he was in no way soliciting financial assistance: as a proudly independent private gentleman, he would pay his own way entirely!3 In addition to Grand Amateurs like Lord Rosse and his big reflecting telescope brethren, who undertook the most far-reaching cosmological researches of the age, there were many others in Ireland, as elsewhere, who were involved in serious researches of a less ‘cutting-edge’ nature.

Edward Joshua Cooper of Markree Castle Perhaps the most eminent Irish Grand Amateur after Lord Rosse was Edward Joshua Cooper (1798–1863) of Markree Castle, in County Sligo. Though Dublin born, the well-to-do Cooper was educated at Eton and Oxford, and he had a passion for astronomy which extended back to his youth. Cooper, unlike Rosse, however, used a refractor, having snapped up an excellent 13.3-inch [34 cm] diameter object glass from the Parisian workshops of Robert Aglaé Cauchoix (1776–1845) in 1831, which he brought home to the west of Ireland. Having experimented with a rotary wooden altazimuth mount, which did not really allow him to use what was then one of the world’s biggest achromatic object glasses to its fullest potential, he commissioned Thomas Grubb of Dublin to mount it in a far-reaching stone base and cast-iron tube and superstructure equatorial Lassell 1852.

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in 1834. This was Thomas Grubb’s first major astronomical commission – his firm primarily made safes and iron-bed billiard tables – and was eventually to lead to Dublin becoming one of the world’s centres of excellence for large-scale optical and astronomical engineering.4 Cooper’s 13.3-inch, 25-foot [7.6 m] focus refractor and other instruments in his Markree Observatory were not intended for deep-space cosmology, which, by 1835, had long been acknowledged to be a big reflecting telescope preserve, for the simple reason that an 18-, 24-, 48-, or 72-inch diameter mirror could collect vastly more light, and hence could see much deeper into space, than could a 6-, 12-, or 13-inch diameter object glass. Exquisite achromatic object glasses on precision equatorial mounts were used for a different type of astronomical research: namely, celestial cartography, solar system body study and minor planet work. Unlike the reflector ‘light buckets’, refractors were the critically accurate measuring tools of astronomy, using precision scales and micrometers to measure the celestial angles to a tenth of an arc second. And Cooper’s large 25-foot focus lens, on Grubb’s balanced equatorial mount, enabled him to measure very tiny angles indeed when using an eyepiece ‘bar’ micrometer. The work for which Markree was to become renowned was the precision stellar mapping of the zodiac region of the sky. For this is the band of sky through which all the planets and – by 1850 – those newly discovered members of the solar system, the asteroids, move. Indeed, solar system studies were developing a new momentum during the 1840s, and it had been Carl Bremiker’s chart of the faint stars of the zodiac that had made possible the detection of the new planet Neptune from Berlin in September 1846. In the wake of the Neptune discovery, along with Karl Hencke’s discovery of a new asteroid in 1845, therefore, the ecliptic band of the sky had taken on a new research significance. And in line with the Continental practice, both Hencke (1793–1866) and Bremiker (1804–77) were academic, salaried, professional astronomers. Cooper and his paid assistant, Andrew Graham (1815–1907), set to work on mapping the dim stars of the zodiac, for the greater the number of ‘fixed’ star positions that one knew to a high level of accuracy, the more likely it became that one might detect the movement of faint asteroids, which revolve slowly around the sun, constantly changing their position with relation to the ‘fixed’ stars. It was this technique of detecting movement within a fixed star field that enabled Graham at Markree to discover the asteroid Metis, in 1848. And when Markree’s Catalogue was Glass 1997.

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published in four volumes between 1851 and 1856, it contained 60,066 star positions, on a scale that was sixteen times greater than the Berlin maps, the best in the world at the time; a major Irish contribution to European stellar and planetary science, in fact, performed by a Grand Amateur and his paid assistant, and using a privately owned world-class telescope. Another branch of fundamental research in the nineteenth century, which was a high-grade refracting telescope preserve, was the study of the gravitational physics of binary and compound star systems, along with the orbits of solar system planetary satellites. For, by carefully measuring the slight positional changes exhibited between pairs, or triples, of stars that moved around each other over a period of years, one could, using Newtonian formulae, calculate the exact gravitational masses of the stars in the system, or the mass-relationships of a planet and its moons. And one could do the same for the planetary satellites with relation to the masses of the planets, and hence of the sun, to ‘weigh’ the solar system. A mid-nineteenth-century Irish Grand Amateur who worked in this area was the barrister and magistrate Dr Wentworth Erck (1827–90), of Sherrington, Bray, County Wicklow. Using a superb 7½-inch [19 cm] aperture refractor by Alvan Clark, Erck measured double stars, though tending to specialise in planetary astronomy, and, following their discovery in America in 1877, he made studies of the two satellites of Mars, Phobos and Deimos. And in 1878 Dr Erck published a major paper on the two new moons in the Scientific Transactions of the Royal Dublin Society.5

John Birmingham of Tuam One Irish amateur, who was, sadly, unsung until recent times, was John Birmingham (1816–84), of Millbrook House, Tuam, County Galway. Indeed, for most of what we now know about Birmingham, we have to thank Peter Mohr. He has published several papers on him,6 as well as a substantial book.7 John Birmingham was a Roman Catholic country gentleman of modest means who, as a young man between 1848 and 1854, had lived in Berlin, then one of the great centres of European professional astronomy. Here he seems to have studied comets with Johann Encke (1791–1865), and had perhaps met the then elderly Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859), whose Cosmos Birmingham often cited. Erck 1878. Mohr 1994; Mohr, 2004.

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Mohr 2002.

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Back in Ireland, he settled to managing his estates – and appears to have been a fair-minded and kindly landlord – while pursuing his passion for astronomy. Then, shortly before midnight on 12 May 1866, he made a major discovery: he witnessed the eruption of a nova, in the constellation of Corona Borealis, or the Northern Crown. It appeared as a new star, flaming from a former dim ninth magnitude, right up to a second magnitude. And then it gradually waned over a period of time. Such a discovery, needless to say, could only have been made by a man with an intimate and detailed knowledge of the night sky and capable of spotting any possible slight changes in brilliance exhibited by any one of many hundreds of stars visible on a clear night from Tuam. Birmingham’s letter to The Times newspaper announcing his discovery was not published but, when he wrote to the Grand Amateur William Huggins in London, his work received instant recognition, and his name and achievement were brought before the learned societies of the British Isles, and then the rest of the world. And the new technology of the submarine electric telegraph ensured that Birmingham’s discovery was rapidly passed on to European and American astronomers. Birmingham’s discovery took place in 1866, when chemical and physical spectroscopy had just been born. All of a sudden, facts about the physics and chemistry of remote astronomical bodies, which could not even have been imagined a mere five years previously, were pouring out of the spectroscope. Examining Birmingham’s star, T Coronae Borealis, with his spectroscope, Huggins realised that an explosion of hydrogen gas had forced out a brilliant, glowing mantle of energy, rich in chemical spectral features (chemicals which, moreover, behaved exactly the same when incandesced in the laboratory). The spectroscope, indeed, had revealed that stars of different colours in the sky, especially stars displaying a reddish or a bluish tinge, displayed different chemical and energy characteristics. So the study of coloured stars became a major new field of astronomical investigation. John Birmingham began to study red stars and, in 1877, his ‘The Red Stars: Observations and Catalogue’ was published as a ‘Memoir’ by the Royal Irish Academy.8 Much of the meticulous observational work that went into this Catalogue had been performed by Birmingham using an excellent 4½-inch [11.5 cm] aperture Cook refractor, for which he had paid £120. The telescope still survives, in the possession of St Jarlath’s College, Tuam. One of the tragedies of Birmingham’s life is what happened after his death in 1884, at the age of 70. As he was a bachelor, his estate seems to Birmingham 1877.

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have been broken up, his substantial private library, observing books and correspondence were either dispersed or destroyed, and even Millbrook House was left to go to ruin. All that survive today are its stone walls. Yet, in the wake of his great discovery in 1866, John Birmingham came to be recognised as one of Ireland’s outstanding independent men of science.

Agnes Mary Clerke Although not a working astronomer, Miss Agnes Mary Clerke would become one of the first truly outstanding historians of astronomy, whose work still commands the highest respect over a century after her death in 1907. Agnes was born at Skibbereen in 1842, the daughter of John William Clerke, the local bank manager and Judge’s Registrar, himself a Trinity College Dublin graduate, a classicist and an active learned amateur astronomer. Indeed, her father possessed a good refractor, probably a transit telescope, and a good clock in his observatory, for, among other things, he took the sun’s daily meridian transit and supplied the local time service. He also communicated a passion for astronomy to his daughter Agnes and, in 1861, they moved to Dublin; she later lived in Italy with her sister, Ellen (1840–1906), while their brother, Aubrey (1843–1923), became a barrister. On returning to reside permanently in England, Agnes, Ellen and Aubrey seem to have settled together in London. Ellen became an Italian history and literature authority and writer, and Aubrey a barrister with chambers in Lincoln’s Inn Fields. All three remained unmarried. (It is also interesting to note, considering the state of Ireland in the nineteenth century, that John W. Clerke came from a family of Protestant medical and legal people, while his wife, Catherine, was the daughter of the Roman Catholic Deasy family of brewers. Agnes and her siblings were devout Roman Catholics, while the Clerke and Deasy families appear to have lived on the closest and warmest terms with each other.) Agnes Clerke’s A Popular History of Astronomy in the Nineteenth Century,9 first published in 1885, should be understood in its nineteenthcentury context, when the word popular meant ‘no equations or higher mathematics’ rather than ‘dumbed down’, as we tend to use the word today. For her History is a formidable piece of scientific scholarship by any standards, displaying a minutely detailed knowledge of astronomy, spectroscopy, stellar and solar physics, optics and gravitational mechanics Clerke 1885.

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as they were understood in the 1880s. It was updated in subsequent editions in 1887, 1893 and 1902 – with a facsimile of the 1902 edition published as recently as 2003.10 She saw the Herschels as the real founders of the ‘new astronomy’, and also wrote other works on Sir William. Agnes spent two months in 1888 at the Cape of Good Hope Observatory, when David Gill (1843–1914, in 1900 Sir David) and his wife, Isobel (1849–1919), invited her to visit and to observe the southern sky with large telescopes – in the capacity of a friend and guest, of course, rather than as a paid professional astronomer. She was also offered a junior post at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich after 1890, when Sir William Christie (1845–1922), the Astronomer Royal, was trying to recruit young women scientists onto his staff, but, as the pay and working conditions were not acceptable and she was probably making a decent income as a science writer, she turned the offer down.

Friends and assistants of the Rosses While not actively involved in scientific research herself, one must also remember that Mary, 3rd Countess of Rosse had scientific interests, for, in addition to fully supporting her husband’s researches and helping to finance them from her own inherited wealth, she was a famous Irish photographer in her own right (see Chapter 3). Her darkroom, equipped for the wet-plate collodion photography of the mid-nineteenth century, is preserved at Birr Castle. Abundant material survives in the Birr Castle Archives, giving testimony to her independent standing not only as a photographer but as an informed astronomer, as when, in 1864, she sent photographs of drawings of the Orion nebula and Hercules clusters to Bindon Stoney (1828–1909), the Irish engineer friend of her husband.11 The Rosses came increasingly to provide a ‘home from home’ for another Grand Amateur, whose irascibility and litigiousness had done him no good in England, yet whom William and Mary seemed to treat rather like an awkward but fond old uncle. This was Sir James South (1785–1867), who, in the early 1830s, had been one of the leading binary star observers in Europe, working from his state-of-the-art observatory at Campden Hill, West London with – like Cooper of Markree – a large-aperture Cauchoix refractor. But by 1860 he was very much past his prime, and even a bit of a laughing-stock in certain circles. Earlier in the century, the then Mr James South had been a London 10

Clerke 2003.

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Stoney 1864.

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surgeon of great promise, and a Member of the Royal College of Surgeons, with a growing passion for astronomy. He had married a wealthy brewery heiress (beer financed much astronomical research in the nineteenth century), had travelled on the Continent and was able not only to commission the very finest instruments of the late 1820s and 1830s, but to give up medicine and devote himself full time to astronomy, becoming the first ‘Charter President’ of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1830. And he did first-rate astronomical work, which won him Fellowship of the Royal Society and a knighthood. (His half-brother John Flint South was a distinguished surgeon.) Yet a rather ridiculous and humiliating lawsuit against the instrument-maker Edward Troughton (1753–1835) led to his scientific eclipse, as his irritability and worsening eccentricity, sometimes bordering upon the downright crazy, marginalised him within the world of learning.12 Yet he always enjoyed the company of the Earl and Countess and was a welcome guest at Birr Castle, making some of the first observations with the great ‘Leviathan’ telescope soon after it came into operation in early 1845 and praising the brilliance of its optics. And Countess Mary photographed him.

University observatories and private benefaction Private donation was fundamental to the creation of Ireland’s academic astronomical institutions, as it was for those of England and Scotland. Oxford University’s Radcliffe Observatory of 1771 was founded from a private donation trust – as the University’s previous Radcliffe donations for a scientific library and a hospital had been. Similarly, the Cambridge University Observatory (and Addenbrooke’s Hospital) had been the products of private benefactions, as was Edinburgh’s City Observatory, founded by a group of Edinburgh scientific gentlemen after 1811; and though King William IV graced it with the title ‘Royal’ in 1822, and in 1834 it became the seat of the University’s Regius Professor of Astronomy, it remained a Grand Amateur foundation. Dunsink Observatory had been founded near Dublin in 1783 under the will of Francis Andrews (1718–74), a wealthy lawyer, landowner and Provost of Trinity College Dublin, to become the research base and residence of Trinity College’s Andrews Professors of Astronomy. The Observatory was to have many distinguished Professorial Directors in the wake of Dr John Brinkley (1766–1835), but it was clearly the product of private benefaction aimed at the widening of academic astronomy in 12

Hoskin 1989.

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Ireland. Yet, although Brinkley and his successors would enjoy academic salaries, those monies nonetheless derived from Trinity’s own essentially landed revenue income, which in turn was the College’s own property: private property to be used for the public good. A similar spirit prevailed in 1791, when Archbishop Richard Robinson (1708–94) of Armagh used Church of Ireland ecclesiastical and his own private revenues to establish a major observatory in his episcopal city. In 1827 Robinson’s successor, Archbishop Lord John Beresford (1773–1862), sumptuously re-endowed and re-equipped the Observatory. Indeed, the independence of Armagh Observatory was hammered home in 1869, when the then Director, the Rev. Dr Thomas Romney Robinson (1793–1882 – no relation of Archbishop Robinson), wrote to Prime Minister William Gladstone (1809–98). This was on the occasion of the London government’s disestablishing the Anglican Church of Ireland, which threatened to deprive the Armagh Observatory of about half its income. But, as Robinson told Gladstone, it was in reality astronomy on the cheap for the British taxpayer, for such was Armagh’s continuing achievement as an Irish scientific institution that it ‘is in fact a National one without costing the Nation a shilling’.13 For this is Grand Amateur thinking in a nutshell: providing scientific distinction for the nation without troubling the taxpayer. And while Robinson enjoyed a modest salary and a home at the Observatory, it was from other, independent sources, such as his Church livings of Carrickmacross and Enniskillen, that much of his income came. (While Armagh may not have cost the nation a shilling, one must remember that Roman Catholics and Dissenters may not have been entirely happy with parts of their obligatory tithes or rents going to support the Church of Ireland.) And, in 1878, the former Cork Academy (Queen’s College, Cork) acquired a splendid astronomical observatory, with a state-of-the-art 8-inch [20 cm] aperture equatorial refractor and other instruments by Sir Howard Grubb (1844–1931) of Dublin, all set up in a new stone building resembling a domed Celtic church: a clear statement of the perceived unity between astronomy and Irish Christianity!14 And while it was intended for the use of academic astronomers in Queen’s, Cork, the Observatory was the private benefaction of Horatio Crawford (c. 1814–88), a Cork merchant of Scottish descent, who was also a liberal patron of scientific learning. While on the subject of Irish academic observatories, it is worth saying something of the men who worked in them. Take Thomas Romney 13

Bennett 1990, 146.

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Robinson, who, for 59 years across the middle of the nineteenth century, directed the Armagh Observatory and was one of the formidable Irish scientists of international standing of that age. Like most astronomers who worked in academic observatories, Robinson worked with refractors, cataloguing the heavens in right ascension and declination coordinates, to provide data for mathematical studies of stellar proper motions, double stars, planetary and minor planetary (asteroidal) motions and gravitation theory. For without hard observational data to go on, astronomical theory is little better than speculation. Robinson’s Armagh Catalogue of 5,345 stars, published in 1859, made clear the Observatory’s standing as a major scientific institution. It is also interesting how the Earl and Countess of Rosse’s befriending of the ageing Sir James South, quite by chance led to an improvement in the instrumentation of Dunsink. For it was to Dunsink that the elderly South’s magnificent 11¾-inch [30 cm] aperture Cauchoix object glass passed in 1863, to be re-mounted in 1868 in a superb clock-driven equatorial by Sir Howard Grubb, constituting yet another example of Grand Amateur property being used to the advantage of a professional observatory.

Sir Robert Stawell Ball One man who was to use that instrument was Sir Robert Stawell Ball (1840–1913), appointed to the Andrews Professorship in 1873. He employed it to observe a catalogue of 368 small red stars (one remembers John Birmingham’s earlier work on red stars), as well as for stellar parallax and other astrometric work. Unfortunately, in spite of its aperture and power, the 40-years-old 11¾-inch Cauchoix was becoming rather ‘dated’ for front-rank research by the 1870s. For, by that time, as the Grand Amateurs and a few professional observatories on the Continent were showing, astrometry, or the manual angle-measurement of celestial positions, was no longer ‘cutting edge’, either intellectually or technically. And Ball knew that Dunsink did not possess the resources and instrumentation to enable him to undertake research into the new astrophysical branches of astronomy, involving as they did photography, spectroscopy, chemical laboratory back-up and special optical systems designed for use in the ‘photographic’ parts of the spectrum. And often, these new instruments were set on twin-telescope yoke equatorial mounts with a big refractor and a large reflector counterbalancing each other, of the type devised by Sir Howard Grubb for William Huggins and others. This was almost certainly

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the reason why Ball turned more of his attention to problems in pure mathematics – such as his ‘Theory of Screws’ – or else to popular writing and lecturing: a strategy which enabled him to get astronomy through to an unprecedentedly wide public. Yet, one may ask, why did the academic observatories, in Ireland, England and elsewhere, confine themselves to the astrometric, mathematical and gravitational aspects of astronomy, while leaving cosmology to the Grand Amateurs – at least, until the latter part of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries? I would suggest that it boiled down to time, cost and risk. Astrometry, after all, went back in a big way in Europe to the time of Tycho Brahe (1546–1601), in the sixteenth century. It was intimately linked to proving or disproving the Copernican theory, likewise for Newton’s theory of gravitation, as well as for time-finding, geography and navigation. It was all about the precision measurement of increasingly tiny angles, and it produced clear and tangible results, both intellectually and practically. It was also performed with large, stable, predictable engineering structures, be they mural quadrants, transit circles or, by the early nineteenth century, largeaperture achromatic refractors, mounted on stable equatorials. These instruments, moreover, were in no way idiosyncratic or ‘temperamental’, and could be used cost-effectively by teams of shift workers, as was the practice in the big professional observatories such as Greenwich or Berlin. And once the error parameters of a given instrument and observer had been quantified, they could be guaranteed to yield regular and reliable results. Hence, governments and universities on the whole were willing to invest in astrometry.

The big reflector as a ‘one-man’ telescope Yet, plumbing the ‘length, breadth, depth and profundity’ of deep-stellar space was a different matter altogether. For one thing, it promised no certainties, as did studying the gravitational mechanics of the solar system, for what did those blobs of light really signify, irrespective of how much one magnified them? And what conceivable use could cosmological research be, and how could spending public money upon it ever be justified by a Member of Parliament to his close-fisted electors? Cosmology was not refractor country, for the biggest possible optical surfaces were required to penetrate to the visible limits of deep space. And that meant bigger and bigger mirrors. Such mirrors, moreover, not only pushed contemporary metal and (after c. 1860) glass casting, figuring and polishing technology to breaking point, but even a ‘perfect’

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mirror posed major problems when it came to mounting. A 72-inch diameter, 52-foot speculum metal mirror, such as Lord Rosse was using, was thermally sensitive. Its focus could change during use, and such vast slabs of cold metal produced condensation, tarnishing and, hence, clarity problems. Consequently, a big reflecting telescope was a mightily temperamental animal to work with, in need of endless and expensive mirror refiguring to keep tarnish at bay, as well as of constant tweaking and adjusting when in use for a long period, and constant maintenance. And add to that their unsuitability to equatorial mounting (before Lassell’s and Nasmyth’s cast-iron equatorial wonders of the late 1840s and 1850s), and hence the narrow ‘window’ of meridian sky to which they were confined for use on a given night. And finally, remember all the dangerous climbing involved (see p. 199)! Imagine the hazards of ascending and descending all those damp and slippery ladders in the dark, then climbing out onto narrow catwalks and vibration-prone observing galleries, not to mention the sheer exposed position of the observer, maybe 50 feet up in the air, on a cold, damp or frosty night, with the starry heavens above and a dangerous black void below the creaking platform! (The present author has never had the opportunity to ascend the restored great 72-inch telescope at Birr at night, but he has done so on two occasions in the damp and slippery Irish daytime. Hand-cranking the wooden observing gallery out above the 52-foot drop below to approach the vertical Newtonian-focus eyepiece is fun, if you enjoy tightrope walking! Likewise, my admiration goes to those local men who worked the great winches that moved the tube up and down and left to right. I have operated both winches and was struck by how easily the telescope moves upon the great cast-iron foundation block, which acts as its pivot. But one has to be careful not to over-wind the tube in the vertical, so as to let it pass the zenith to the north – for that is where the great winding winch is: on the north side. In this position, it can feel like having a factory chimney hovering above one.) It is hardly surprising, therefore, that these were telescopes for men with a passion for astronomy, rather than for men who preferred to earn their academic or official salaries within the relative safety and snugness of an observatory dome! On the other hand, academic observatories were not without their scares: Sir Robert Ball records how, on one occasion, when observing at Dunsink on a clear night yet with a banshee-like wind howling outside, part of the under-flooring of the dome fell away with a terrifying crash!

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Ball and the Rosse family It is interesting to remember that the 25-year-old Robert Ball, scholar of Trinity College, had his first job at Birr Castle as tutor to the Earl’s and Countess’s sons – young gentlemen with whom the genial Ball forged lifelong friendships. He also got on famously with his employers, enjoying the social life of the Castle, the Earl introducing the young tutor to the great and the good of Irish, British and European science, and helping to speed on his career, before Lord Rosse died suddenly in 1867. Ball spent two years at Birr, during which he enjoyed the ‘dream privilege’ of any aspiring astronomer: namely, permission to use the great 72-inch telescope whenever his Lordship did not need it. It is said that he would sometimes go out in full evening dress after the end of a Castle social event, spend the night at the telescope and come in to breakfast still in white tie and tails! And on one memorable occasion, he used the upper stories of the great telescope as a viewing platform for one of the most spectacular meteor storms on record: the Leonid display of 13 November 1866. He observed all night, realising, as other astronomers elsewhere were coming to do, that the meteors came from a radiant point, which moved around as the sky and the constellations turned.

The Breen family of Armagh and Greenwich and Irish professional astronomers One Irish family produced several astronomers who worked in England for five decades between them, across two generations. These were the two Hugh Breens, father (1791–1848) and son (b. 1824), and the younger Hugh’s brothers, James (1826–66) and John William (1832–71). They were natives of Armagh, where they had been involved in teaching in the science school of the Mechanics’ Institute, then sought their careers at Greenwich and on the staff of the Cambridge University Observatory. The brothers Hugh and James were remarkable, not just as observers but as astronomical mathematicians and astronomical writers. Hugh junior published through the Royal Astronomical Society a major corrective study of the elements of the Venusian orbit in 1848,15 in which he acknowledged the work of his late father, Hugh senior, and of his brother James. The Breens were Roman Catholics, but Hugh junior made an unfortunate move in 1859, when he resigned his secure and moderately 15

Breen 1848.

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well-paid post at Greenwich in an attempt to found an Academy for young Roman Catholic gentlemen. Tragically, the Academy never seems to have got off the ground, for Breen appears to have suffered a nervous breakdown, though he was eventually given a pension of £50 per annum in recognition of his services to astronomy. The Breens were not Grand Amateurs, astronomical hobbyists or professionals in the generally used sense of those words. Rather, they were astronomical teachers who had become employed ‘professional assistants’, probably due to economic circumstances. They belong to a not inconsiderable body of often very highly educated men (and, by the 1890s, women) who were what I have styled ‘professional assistant’ astronomers and who, as a group, deserve more historical attention. Some made a career of their assistantships, especially if they were on the staff of a university or government observatory, and Greenwich – with its paid and remarkably generous official holiday breaks, decent and reliable salaries and pensions – could be a safe haven for those lucky enough to work there. Grand Amateur assistantships, being much more personal in their nature, could either be downright exploitative – Graham was not especially well treated by Cooper at Markree, though he did better when he succeeded James Breen at the Cambridge Observatory – or steppingstones to advancing careers. After 1848, Lord Rosse, with his growing commitments as a leading Irish public figure at a time of national crisis, began to employ paid assistants at Birr Castle. And, as happened with Robert Ball in his capacity as a family tutor, Lord Rosse’s ‘professional assistants’ were respected as learned gentlemen in their own right, enjoyed good pay and conditions and involvement in the social life of the Castle, and continued on very friendly terms with the Dowager Countess, the 4th Earl and other members of the family after leaving. The two Irish brothers Dr George Johnstone Stoney (1826–1911) and Mr Bindon Blood Stoney worked at the Castle before going on to distinguished careers elsewhere, George becoming an eminent Irish academic scientist and university administrator and Bindon a leading Irish engineer, both earning Fellowship of the Royal Society. And, as we saw above, it was Bindon Stoney who, in 1864, was corresponding with Lady Rosse about nebulae and star clusters drawings, over a decade after leaving Birr.

The telescope engineers Clark, Cooke and Grubb Lastly, one should not forget that major aspect of independent science without which neither the many Grand Amateurs nor the salaried professionals would have achieved what they did: namely, the astronomical

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engineers and instrument makers. It is also interesting to notice how some of the leading figures in this field entered it either from other quite distinct professions or were inspired by and responded to Grand Amateur requirements. The great American optician and instrument maker Alvan Clark (1804–87), for example, came into instrument manufacture from a successful career as a Boston portrait painter, while Thomas Cooke (1807–68) of York did so from school mastering. Yet both began to try their hands at achromatic lens making (as the musician Herschel had done with mirrors in the 1770s) and found that they were extremely good at it. And great global businesses in astronomical engineering sprang from that early ingenuity. The firm that was to put Dublin on the international astronomical engineering map originated in a similar way, for Thomas Grubb, the Dublin engineer and manufacturer, responded to requests to mount optics on precision mounts for Edward Joshua Cooper and Thomas Romney Robinson in the early 1830s, and so one of the world’s great astronomical apparatus firms was born. And it was Thomas’s son, knighted as Sir Howard Grubb, who would fundamentally change the technological terrain of astronomy in the decades after 1860. Responding to the new demands of spectroscopy and photography, Sir Howard designed a succession of great telescopes and powerful astronomical cameras. One of the most influential of these was his double-yoked equatorial design mentioned above, where a powerful refractor and spectroscope moved on the same axis as a large-aperture photographic reflector. The double telescope he built for William Huggins in 1870 was perhaps the first example of this influential design. Yet the Grubb firm, while responding (in addition to Grand Amateur commissions) to an increasing number of professional academic astronomical demands, was nonetheless a private business that depended upon its own technical excellence and innovative and commercial acumen to become and remain a market leader for the best part of a century.

Conclusion It is impossible to form any realistic evaluation of astronomy in the nineteenth century, especially in Ireland and Britain, without giving full credit to the independent, self-funded Grand Amateur tradition. For, in the context of nineteenth-century political, economic, fiscal and innovation policy, so much of the cutting-edge research in astronomy and in big telescope design and construction came from this body of people. And, by 1845, one of the acknowledged leaders of this tradition was William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse.

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References Bennett 1990: Church, State, and Astronomy in Ireland: 200 Years of Armagh Observatory, by Jim Bennett, Armagh Observatory in association with the Institute of Irish Studies, The Queen’s University of Belfast. Birmingham 1877: ‘The red stars: observations and catalogue’, by J. Birmingham, Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy, 26, pp. 249–354. Breen 1848: ‘Corrections of Lindenau’s elements of the orbit of Venus deducted from the Greenwich planetary observations, from 1750–1830’, by Hugh Breen, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 18, pp. 95–154. Clerke 1885: A Popular History of Astronomy in the Nineteenth Century, by Agnes Clerke, Adam & Charles Black, Edinburgh. Clerke 1902/2003: A Popular History of Astronomy during the Nineteenth Century, fourth edition, by Agnes M. Clerke, Adam & Charles Black, London. A facsimile of this edition was published in 2003 by Sattre Press, Decorah, Iowa. Erck 1878: ‘On the satellites of Mars’, by W. Erck, Scientific Transactions of the Royal Dublin Society, 1, pp. 29–37. Glass 1997: Victorian Telescope Makers: The Lives and Letters of Thomas and Howard Grubb, by I. S. Glass, Institute of Physics, Bristol. Grubb 1880: ‘On the equatorial telescope and the new observatory of the Queen’s College, Cork’, by H. Grubb, Scientific Proceedings of the Royal Dublin Society, 2, pp. 347–69 and plate 24 (picture of the Observatory reproduced in Chapman, The Victorian Amateur Astronomer, p. 264). Herschel J. 1849: ‘Presidential address’ [presentation of the Royal Astronomical Society Gold Medal to Lassell], by John F. W. Herschel, Memoirs of the Royal Astronomical Society, xvii, p. 192. Hoskin 1989: ‘Astronomers at war: South v. Sheepshanks’, by Michael Hoskin, Journal for the History of Astronomy, 20, pp. 175–210. Huggins 1864: ‘On the spectra of some nebulae’, by William Huggins, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, 154, pp. 437–44. Lassell 1852: Letter, Lassell to Rosse, 6 May 1852, Birr Castle Archives, K/10/1 (see Chapman, The Victorian Amateur Astronomer, p. 347, n. 74). Mohr 1994: ‘John Birmingham of Tuam: a most unusual landlord’, by Paul Mohr, Journal of the Galway Archaeological & Historical Society, 46, pp. 111–55. Mohr 2002: John Birmingham, Esq., Tuam and Ireland’s New Star, by Paul Mohr, Millbrook Nova Press, Cor an Dola, Co. Galway. Mohr 2004: ‘A star in the western sky: John Birmingham, astronomer and poet’, by Paul Mohr, The Antiquarian Astronomer, 1, pp. 23–33. Stoney 1864: Letter, Bindon B. Stoney to Mary, Countess of Rosse, 24 December 1864, Birr Castle Archives, J/19/1 (see Chapman, The Victorian Amateur Astronomer, p. 343, n. 22).

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Further reading

Ball V. 1915: Reminiscences and Letters of Sir Robert Stawell Ball, edited by W. Valentine Ball, Cassell & Co., London. Becker 2011: Unravelling Starlight. William and Margaret Huggins and the Rise of the New Astronomy, by Barbara J. Becker, Cambridge University Press. Bennett 1976: ‘On the power of penetrating space: the telescopes of William Herschel’, by J. A. Bennett, Journal of the History of Astronomy, 7, pp. 75–108. Brück 1993: ‘Ellen and Agnes Clerke of Skibbereen, scholars and writers’, by Mary T. Brück Seanchas Chairbre, 3, pp. 23–43. Brück 1999: ‘A family of astronomers: the Breens of Armagh’, by Mary T. Brück, Irish Astronomical Journal, 26 (2), pp. 121–8. Brück 2002, Agnes Mary Clerke and the Rise of Astrophysics, by Mary T. Brück, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Butler 1986: ‘Early photoelectric photometry in Dublin and Daramona’, by C. J. Butler, The Irish Astronomical Journal, 17, pp. 373–7. Buttmann 1967/1970/1974: The Shadow of the Telescope. A Biography of John Herschel, by Gunther Buttmann, Lutterworth, London, 1967; reprinted 1970, 1974. Chapman 1996: Astronomical Instruments and Their Users: Tycho Brahe to William Lassell, by Allan Chapman, Variorum, Ashgate, Aldershot (see chapters XII, Sir William Herschel; XIII, Sir John Herschel; XVII, William Lassell). Chapman 1998: The Victorian Amateur Astronomer. Independent Astronomical Research in Britain 1820–1920, by Allan Chapman, John Wiley, Chichester. Chapman 2007: ‘Sir Robert Stawell Ball (1840–1913): Royal Astronomer in Ireland and astronomy’s public voice’, by Allan Chapman, Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage, 10 (3), pp. 198–210. Crowe 1971: ‘Thomas Romney Robinson (1792–1882), Director of Armagh Observatory (1823–1882)’, by Sister Dolores Crowe, The Irish Astronomical Journal, 10 (3), pp. 93–101. Elliott 2004: ‘William Wilson and his contemporaries’, by Ian Elliott, The Antiquarian Astronomer, 1, pp. 11–12. Herschel 1849a: Outlines of Astronomy, by Sir John Herschel, Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, London. Herschel 1879: Memoir and Correspondence of Caroline Herschel, by Margaret (Mrs John) Herschel, John Murray, London. Hoskin 1963: William Herschel and the Construction of the Heavens, by M. A. Hoskin, Oldbourne, London. King 1955: A History of the Telescope, by H. C. King, Griffin, London. Mollan 2007: It’s Part of What We Are – Some Irish Contributors to the Development of the Chemical and Physical Sciences, in two volumes, by Charles Mollan, Royal Dublin Society. Includes biographies of Birmingham; Cooper;

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FitzGerald; Grubb (T. and H.); Hamilton; Parsons (W. L. and C.); Robinson; Ball (R.); Clerke; Huggins (M.); Minchin; Monck; Stoney (G. J.); and Wilson. Moore 1971/1981: The Astronomy of Birr Castle, by Patrick Moore, The Telescope Trust, Birr, and The Tribune Publishing Group, Birr, 1971; reprinted 1981. Nasmyth 1883: James Nasmyth Engineer. An Autobiography, by James Nasmyth, John Murray, London (with many reprints). Warner 1968: Alvan Clark and Sons. Artists in Optics, by Deborah Jean Warner, Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington.

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‘A presiding influence’: the relations of the 3rd Earl of Rosse with scientific institutions in Britain and Ireland Simon Schaffer The relations of the 3rd Earl of Rosse with scientific institutions All Governments must necessarily feel anxious to stand well with scientific men; it is however far more important to them to stand well with the advocates of economy. Science has little political favour in England, and to be a patron of science is a feather in the cap of a minister, but little more. (William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse, 29 August 1852).1 The middle decades of the nineteenth century saw dramatic reform of the sciences both in Britain and in Ireland. Sciences increased their public visibility in lectures, popular print and graphic images. The many reports that flowed from such spectacular sites as Parsonstown depended on these new kinds of publication. In the wake of catastrophic political and financial crises, there was also a major change in the relations of scientific expertise with government. In Britain and Ireland alike, the establishment of new educational institutions and the growing role of the state all helped to change the sciences and their support.2 Important roles in the administration of the major scientific institutions of this period were played by William Parsons, Earl of Rosse, as member of an impressive range of commissions and public institutions both in Ireland and in Britain. Though he sometimes adopted a tone of grumpy concession to the demands of office, Parsons nevertheless became a significant player on the sciences’ public stage. He made much of Parsons W. 1852c. Cannon 1978, 225–62; Morrell 1981, 12–29; Bennett 1997; Adelman 2009.

1 2

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the physical and social distance that separated his Irish estates from the scientific headquarters in the metropolis, while devoting considerable effort to managing metropolitan affairs. He told his colleague, the Anglo-Irish military engineer and scientific administrator Edward Sabine, that ‘there is something in the air of a large town which disagrees so much with Lady Rosse and the children’ that he could never spend more than three months in London, so had not bought a permanent town-house. In any case, the long winter nights were those when his attendance was essential at the telescopes in Birr.3 Despite the obstacles, his theatres included the peripatetic British Association for the Advancement of Science, founded in 1831, and the Royal Society of London, of which he served as President from 1848 until 1854. At least one jaundiced Fellow of the Royal Society did complain that, however socially and scientifically eminent, their new President was nothing but a ‘muff’, Victorian slang for a stupid incompetent.4 The discharge of such offices was by no means straightforward, even for Parsons, whose high rank and enthusiastic vocation seemed to have fitted him for these duties. One problem that dominated Parsons’ public career was the relation between sciences and the Victorian state. Parsons and his closest Anglo-Irish colleagues proposed a separation of what they took to be grubby politics from the virtues of scientific affairs. Speaking as President of the British Association at Cork in August 1843, Parsons declared that ‘the man of the world … cannot fail to look with surprise and, I may add, with gratification, at a meeting so large (and in this country too) from which politics are altogether excluded’5 (see also p. 9). Almost a decade later, Parsons wrote privately to his ally the mathematician and engineer Charles Babbage that ‘I should have been the last person to suggest the mingling of politics with science’.6 Yet the Earl worked to ensure there were close and sustained links between scientific and political affairs. In an aggressive memorandum written when leaving the Royal Society’s presidency, Parsons argued that the Society’s Council must include those ‘less conversant with matters of pure science: men of the world, however, and men of influence. Their aid would be invaluable in carrying out scientific objects to which the government of the country is necessarily a party.’ With such public men’s aid, the Society might at last become ‘a presiding influence over the science of this country’ that could show ‘where the state might usefully interfere for the advancement Parsons W. 1848; Parsons W. 1849. White 1898, 91. 5 Parsons W. 1844, xxix (Parsons C. 3 4

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1926, 45); Whyte 1995, 134–5. Parsons W. 1852c.

6

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of Science’ and ‘where Science might advantageously be brought to bear in promoting the interests of the State’.7 So, according to Parsons, there was bad politics and good politics. As a grandee of metropolitan science and Grand Amateur (see Chapter 8), he strove to balance criticism of politics’ effects on the sciences with his campaign for stronger interaction between them.

Making influence: scientific institutions in Ireland and Britain Well before he became a leader of the national scientific community, Parsons’ political inheritance and astronomical achievements marked him for both office and repute. From 1821, as member for King’s County, he would spend each parliamentary session in London. In advance of his plans for large telescope construction, in 1824 he joined the city’s new Astronomical Society, which, under the pugnacious management of figures such as its secretary, Charles Babbage, sought to direct a programme of precision measurement and stellar cataloguing in contrast to what many of its members judged the hopelessly sclerotic regime of the Royal Society.8 Parsons’ first publications on his telescope project, in the energetic Scottish natural philosopher David Brewster’s Edinburgh Journal of Science, quickly made his reputation as a precocious master of large-scale astronomical engineering.9 Babbage and Brewster were marked men, campaigners for reform of the scientific establishment. Both would become Parsons’ colleagues and clients. By 1831, in the wake of a controversial presidential election at the Royal Society that saw the defeat of the reformers’ candidate, the leading astronomer John Herschel, Parsons became a Fellow, and within three years was a member of the Royal Society’s council. His marriage to the wealthy and capable Mary Field, followed by his establishment at Parsonstown and the surprisingly rapid completion of the 3-foot reflector in autumn 1839 thenceforth defined his status within the wider scientific and public world. Parsons depended on major scientific institutions for much publicity and authority. The brute immobility of the giant telescopes made it necessary to find other ways of multiplying the astronomical images and stories that Parsons and his collaborators wanted to distribute. In spring 1848, for example, an unsuccessful request was made to shift the 6-foot reflector from the middle of Ireland to a public display in the Royal Surrey Zoological Gardens, otherwise notorious for panoramic displays Parsons W. 1855, 2 (emphasis added). Ashworth 1994.

7 8

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Parsons C. 1926, 1–13.

9

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of erupting model volcanoes and military re-enactments: re-erection of the Parsonstown Leviathan in south London ‘would be extremely advantageous to science and at the same time the mass of general information would be much increased’. Similarly, when Parsons was made a commissioner for the Great Exhibition in London in 1851, there was a proposal, quickly abandoned, that the Leviathan be shipped to Hyde Park.10 Some institutions, such as the British Association, encouraged travellers to witness the Parsonstown sights directly. The Castle’s visitors’ book records guests’ impressively frequent calls.11 But the stern Astronomer Royal, George Airy, explained that ‘the appropriation of the telescope on a fine night to any body but a technical astronomer is a misapplication of the enormous capital of money and intellect which is invested in this unique instrument’.12 The publications of scientific societies helped to spread news about Parsons’ work and secure its repute, especially in comparison with earlier astronomers, whom Parsons sometimes denounced as too secretive. It was significant that, as President of the Royal Society, Parsons sought to persuade the government to lift all taxes on scientific print sent from abroad, so as to ease scientific communication.13 Issues of secrecy and publicity were already evident when, in May 1840, Parsons sent the Royal Society a long and detailed account of casting, polishing and mounting the 3-foot mirror of speculum metal, as well as his aim to make a more powerful, 6-foot version. The paper pointed out the comparative failings of the great astronomer William Herschel’s mirrors in comparison to what the young Parsons had already achieved. The Royal Society’s secretary, Samuel Hunter Christie, sent the paper at once to William Herschel’s son John for his comments. While Herschel was willing to concede ‘the merit of original invention’ to Parsons’ methods, he would not concede the failures of his father’s polishing methods that Parsons’ essay alleged. ‘I wish to put on record’, Herschel riposted, ‘that Sir W. Herschel’s model of polishing was entirely by means of mechanism adjustable in every particular.’14 Christie suggested that Parsons simply omit offensive passages in which he had criticised William Herschel’s method, the paper was then accepted, and by November 1841 John Herschel himself had generously recommended that the Society’s Royal Medal be awarded Parsons for his work, as it Syles 1848; Altick 1978, 322–31; Parsons W. 1851. 11 Visitors’ Book, Birr Castle Archives. 12 Airy 1896, 221–2. 10

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13 14

Hall 1984, 152. Christie 1840; Parsons W. 1840 (Parsons C. 1926, 80–104).

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eventually would be a decade later.15 This complex exchange offered a model for Parsons’ future career in Irish and British scientific institutions. Principal among these was the Royal Irish Academy, founded in Dublin in 1785 as an erudite society of Ascendancy gentlemen, including an immediate and continuing interest in astronomy. Henry Ussher, Professor of Astronomy at Trinity College, and John Brinkley, the first Royal Astronomer for Ireland and Director of Dunsink Observatory, were both active in the Academy’s initial publications. Parsons’ father, Laurence, was an early member, while William himself joined in 1832. Though it seems to have languished in the years immediately following the Union, from the 1830s the Academy became a centre for astronomical and learned debate, principally under the aegis of William Rowan Hamilton, at Dunsink from 1827, and the prodigious Armagh astronomer, Thomas Romney Robinson.16 Robinson in particular played a decisive role in the development and definition of the Parsonstown astronomical programme. In early November 1840, Robinson and his ally, the London astronomer James South, first visited and used the new Parsonstown reflector, and then went straight to Dublin by coach to regale the Academy with the news. Their performance dramatised how scientific institutions could be used to transmit and reinterpret Parsons’ work. Smarting from a long-running controversy in which both he and Babbage had launched a ferocious attack on instrument makers’ skills, the irascible South was no stranger to the dangers of polemic.17 At Birr, the London astronomer sought to moderate Robinson’s enthusiasm for the powers of the 3-foot reflector, its capacity to surpass the achievements of William Herschel’s great instruments and the deathblow it would surely deal to any belief in the existence of a real nebulous fluid deep space. To no avail: when the two men reached the Academy, so South told Parsons, Robinson at once ‘spoke very warmly of the inadequacy of Herschel’s 20 feet to contend with yours when reduced to the same aperture’. According to South, ‘there were several assertions which I could wish him to have modified’.18 The Armagh expert also insinuated that every nebula observed through the instrument had been resolved into stars. What Robinson called Parsons’ ‘rare combination of optical science, chemical knowledge and practical mechanics’ (see also p. 171) had allegedly won the day against the errors of the nebular hypothesis of cosmic evolution. The Academy’s president, Hamilton, at once asked Robinson to print the lecture, although on 15 16

Herschel 1841. O’Raifeartaigh 1985, 8, 26, 258–61; McMillan 1990, 107–8.

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17 18

Hoskin 1989. South 1840.

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South’s advice it was somewhat toned down: ‘prudence will require some saving words here and there’. Nevertheless, the link between the status of the Parsonstown resolutions and that of Irish scientific culture was trumpeted, and the telescopes’ ‘optical pre-eminence’ soon became something of an ­institutional principle.19 During the 1840s, Robinson often used the Academy to propagate this gospel. In April 1842 he provided a colourful account of Parsons’ casting of the mirror for the 6-foot reflector, and followed this three years later with a summary of its mounting and the earliest observations made with the great instrument. The Academy then printed the description in its Proceedings. Alongside his evocation of the ‘sublime beauty’ of the casting (see p. 183), Robinson characteristically emphasised the moral order of the Birr system: ‘persons taken from the surrounding peasantry’ had apparently turned into ‘accomplished workmen combining with high skill and intelligence the yet more important requisites of steady habits and good conduct’.20 Robinson quickly linked this atypical discipline with an equally triumphant lesson about the heavens. ‘No REAL nebula seemed to exist’, he declared (see p. 227). All were revealed as mere congeries of stars. Just as in autumn 1840, so in spring 1845 Robinson’s bold claims were by no means shared by South, who used the pages of The Times to report that, though most nebulae seemed to be resolved into stars by the Leviathan, ‘some, at least to my eyes, showed no such resolution’. South’s caveats never cowed Robinson: ‘Dr R. congratulates the Academy and their country on the success of this matchless instrument.’21 The relation between Irish astronomical success and the Parsonstown reports remained current during and after the Famine. Robinson returned to the Academy in March 1848 to explain how Parsons’ duties had left the telescope programme in abeyance, and how the Armagh astronomer had personally resuscitated work at Birr after the catastrophe. In 1846 there were even newspaper reports, soon denied, that the great telescope had been targeted by violent fanatics (from Cheltenham, apparently) keen on its destruction, while the following year Parsons published a collection of his polemical letters to The Times on the political economy of famine and Irish land tenure.22 While these urgent matters preoccupied the Earl, Robinson again used the Academy to make himself spokesman Hoskin 1990, 335–7; Robinson 1840 (Parsons C. 1926, 14–19); South 1840a. 20 Robinson 1845, 116–19 (Parsons C. 1926, 21–23). 19

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Robinson 1845, 130–2 (Parsons C. 1926, 29–31); Hoskin 1990, 339–40. 22 Standard 1846; Athenaeum 1846; Parsons W. 1847. 21

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for Parsons’ programme.23 The fate of the nebulae, the telescopes and Irish science in a time of crisis were artfully interwoven at the Academy and soon distributed by journals such as the Athenaeum throughout British elite readership. ‘Lord Rosse is not a person to seek knowledge or enjoyment in the heavens, when he ought to be employed on earth.’24 Institutions such as the Royal Irish Academy and the Royal Astronomical Society did not just transmit scientific information. As Robinson’s astute rhetoric in Dublin showed, they helped to make news. Parsons himself rarely if ever addressed either of these august bodies. Just as Robinson could make himself the legitimate representative of Parsonstown observatory at the Academy, so other astronomers such as Airy used the Royal Astronomical Society to define what counted as Parsons’ achievements. It has been noted by this Society’s historians that Parsons never won its prestigious Gold Medal, a failure that they attribute to his status as an engineer rather than an observer.25 Airy certainly treated Parsons rather as a master engineer. After visiting Birr in August and September 1848, the Astronomer Royal lectured the Society about the manufacture of the speculum, reported on corrections for optical distortions when it was directed to objects near the horizon and lauded Parsons for having ‘shewn that it was possible, without any important manual labour, to produce with certainty, by means of machinery, mirrors of a size never before attained’. Airy insinuated that (unlike Herschel) Parsons had, ‘by publication and by private communication, made these methods accessible to the world’.26 Yet Airy never subscribed to the claim that the Parsonstown instruments had destroyed the nebular hypothesis, and remained somewhat sceptical of the virtues of huge reflectors, even under Parsons’ expert management. Just because bigger Irish reflectors resolved more nebulae, it did not follow that all nebulae were merely distant stars; so the Astronomer Royal consistently told his public, as in his presidential address in 1851 to the Ipswich meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science.27 The British Association was the most important and newsworthy national rally of scientific enthusiasts and elite practitioners, its meetings held each summer in a different city, under a different president. The Association especially attracted Parsons’ attentions from the 1840s. It functioned both as a vast platform for scientific news and, just as Robinson 1848, 128 (Parsons C. 1926, 37); Bennett 1990, 108. 24 Robinson 1848, 119 (Parsons C. 1926, 32); Athenaeum 1848. 23

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Grove-Hills 1923, 114. Airy 1896, 198–200; Airy 1849, 119, 121. 27 Airy 1852, xli. 25 26

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significantly, a forum for major lobbies for funding collaborative scientific inquiry. Between its foundation in 1831 and the end of the 1840s it spent around £15,000 on 300 different scientific projects. Alongside such noblemen as the Earl of Northampton (whom he would eventually succeed as President of the Royal Society), Parsons appeared on the enthusiastic Brewster’s initial list of possible aristocratic supporters when the Association was launched, but missed its inaugural York meeting because of parliamentary duties.28 When the Association met at Dublin in summer 1835, Parsons was one of its vice-presidents, yet once again failed to attend, through press of business.29 Parsons’ major involvement started when the British Association visited Cork in 1843 (Figure 9.1); he was made President and, as at the Royal Irish Academy, elite publicity could be focused on Parsonstown. Steamers brought visitors from Dublin and Glasgow, Bristol and Liverpool. Amongst those attending were the leaders of national and international scientific elites, including Sabine and Northampton, alongside other luminaries such as Charles Dickens, who had parodied the Association in a London magazine just six years before.30 Parsons encouraged visits to Birr’s ‘stupendous telescope manufactory’, described by one guest as ‘the universal wonder of the world’: it became an unmissable attraction for many.31 Among the more eminent members, William Rowan Hamilton wrote a sonnet in the instrument’s honour (see p. 65), while the celebrated Scottish geologist, Charles Lyell, expressed his confidence in the telescopes’ success, even while debating Daniel O’Connell’s politics with Parsons and complaining that attendance at Cork had fallen, due to strife in the city about repeal of the Act of Union and suspicions of the country gentry.32 The Association’s presidential platform in Cork’s Corn Exchange offered Parsons an unusual chance to speak for himself. At debates on mathematics and physics he discussed methods for polishing specula, explaining that ‘the most perfect machinery was insufficient without minute and scrupulous attention to detail in every part of this most delicate process’. Artful skill and rigorous surveillance would characterise much of Parsons’ account of how such engineering should proceed.33 And, as President, he spoke of the contrast between science, which Morrell 1981, 72, 75; Macleod 1971a, 325. 29 British Association 1835, 123. 30 Johnston 1983, 59; Illustrated London News 1843, 132. 28

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Morrell 1981, 114; Parsons W. 1843; Herschel 1843. 32 Graves 1882, 2:415–16; Lyell 1881, 2:75–6. 33 Athenaeum 1843, 848; Greene 1843. 31

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9.1  The general meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science at the Corn Exchange in Cork in 1843 (Illustrated London News, 26 August 1843)

increased power, and politics, which he reckoned a kind of zero-sum fight over the spoils of power. He also articulated his long-held principle of natural theology, inherited from his father, that just as countrymen were more devout than city-dwellers, so those devoted to experience and facts were closer to divinity than were theoreticians and dogmatists. It followed that the right use of power was to support the scientific pursuit of facts and discoveries: ‘the religion of discovery is rich beyond the powers of conception’.34 From 1843 onwards, Parsons used the British Association to ensure coverage of his astronomical labours and for policy debates. At York in 1844, he again used the presidential platform to articulate his views on the utility of exact sciences in industry, navigation and cartography; heard from his successor, the Cambridge mathematician and churchman 34

Parsons W. 1844, xxix–xxx, xxxiii (Parsons C. 1926, 45, 48–9).

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George Peacock, how much the success of his great telescope had impressed the Association’s members as ‘magnificent works upon a gigantic scale’; then himself told the Association of the details of casting and polishing such huge specula.35 Similarly, at Cambridge in June 1845, the Association’s President, Herschel, declared that although he had not yet been able to visit the newly completed 6-foot Leviathan of Parsonstown, nevertheless he had been astonished by the stories told him by Parsons, who turned up at the Cambridge meeting with a carefully prepared drawing of the astonishing Whirlpool Nebula (Messier 51), the very first image of a spiral nebula and a means of impressing his audience with the power of his new telescope.36 Thanks to his successes, Parsons’ high status was now assured.

Presiding influence: the uses of power at the Royal Society The power made evident in successive meetings of the Royal Irish Academy and then of the British Association certainly helped Parsons to the presidency of the Royal Society when Lord Northampton resigned in February 1848. Negotiations were led by Lyell and Sabine: once it became clear that Herschel would not again be a candidate, as he had been in 1831, Parsons was the favoured nominee.37 The Royal Society managers were impressed by Parsons’ triumphs in astronomy and engineering during the 1840s. Northampton praised the expense and ingenuity of the instruments, alongside the virtues of Parsons’ noble status. Not all were convinced: according to one correspondent, though it was claimed that the tradition of aristocratic Presidents had improved science’s influence with government, there was in fact no other country ‘where scientific men hold so degraded a position in relation to the State’. The outgoing President riposted that ‘the possession of wealth, of rank, and of station gives to their possessors the power of aiding science in various ways’.38 The Athenaeum opined that: Lord Rosse has given pledges to science which go far to reconcile this new recognition of the aristocratic principle to the common sense idea of a scientific association; and we hope, as he has been a worker in science himself, that he may be expected to devote himself

Athenaeum 1844, 905–6; Peacock 1845, xxxi; Parsons W. 1845. 36 Hoskin 1982. 35

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Hall 1984, 89–90; Northampton 1848. 38 FRS 1848; Northampton 1848a, 765. 37

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William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse to the correction of the abuses that have crept into the body over which he is called to preside.39

Both Parsons and the Society had problems in engineering this transition. Parsons told his friend Sabine, the Society’s foreign secretary, that ‘I hear there is a growing wish that the President of the Royal Society should reside the whole year or at least the whole session of the Society in London’. From March 1848 they discussed the need for an assistant at Birr – otherwise it would be impossible to leave the instruments unattended during the invaluable winter months, when the Society was most active. Sabine visited the Parsonstown telescopes in early 1849. Parsons told him that, if he were absent, ‘the staff kept up to work them, and if possible improve them, much larger I believe than the staff of any private observatory, would also in that case be almost wholly idle’.40 Sabine agreed that it would be tough to find a reliable military engineer who could do the astronomical duties, and wondered whether photography might work. Parsons also lacked a permanent home in the city where, as tradition dictated, the President would hold his evening soirées to entertain and instruct scientific and political guests during the social season. Sabine hoped that the Society would seek rooms for these events in its own cramped accommodation at Somerset House on the Strand.41 In his inaugural address in 1849, Parsons stressed that ‘frequent absence from the observatory during the winter would very seriously interfere with the progress of nebular astronomy’, and ‘to the soirées I attach much importance. I think it very important that scientific men should have an opportunity of meeting each other. I think it very desirable in this country that classes should be brought together.’42 In fact Parsons, whom one of the Royal Society’s officials described as ‘a plain well-grown man, farmer-like in appearance’, needed all his skills even to bring the sections of the Society together.43 Reformers damned ‘abuses’ to which the Athenaeum referred in its report on Parsons’ election in May 1848. The Society was an uneasy combination of gentlemen’s club, political lobby and elite scientific institution, its President something like a constitutional monarch. In 1846 a revisionist committee recommended limiting the number of new fellows and an overhaul of elections for Council in order to turn the Society into a restricted organisation of men of science. It was even suggested that Presidents’ tenure should be Athenaeum 1848; Athenaeum 1848a. Parsons W. 1849. 41 Parsons W. 1848; Parsons W. 1848a; 39 40

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Sabine 1848. Parsons W. 1849c, 860. 43 White 1898, 61. 42

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limited to two years and, by 1848, debates about Council elections and fellows’ nominations persistently erupted in polemic: ‘will science or faction conquer?’ Scandals broke out about Society awards such as the Copley and Royal medals, and about the balance to be struck between life and physical sciences. In 1847, Parsons’ ally Sabine even threatened to boycott the physical sciences committee after failing to win the Royal Medal. According to one of the Society’s officers, ‘self and not science is the prime mover’.44 Journalists hoped that ‘Lord Rosse and his Council will … adopt a higher standard of morality than the political one’.45 Parsons’ pacification programme focused on combining scientific specialism with political influence, which he reckoned needed socially eminent recruits. So he fought any proposal to limit presidential tenure. He told Sabine that: unless the President was in some degree a permanent officer and was in a position to entertain suitably, he would have no more influence with the Government than the President of the Astronomical, or Geological, which is nothing at all. As it is, so little is science regarded in this country by politicians that the President can do but little if he … is not in a position to officiate on equal terms with the leading politicians.46 Presidential entertainments could also continue the publicity campaigns launched at the Royal Irish Academy and British Association. In April 1849, Parsons hosted a soirée for 500 people at Somerset House, with the Prince Consort in attendance, where a working model of the 6-foot telescope ‘made under his Lordship’s personal superintendence’ was put on show.47 Once Parsons rented a London house of his own, on Great Cumberland Street in Marylebone, it became a social hub. The Prince Consort was a frequent guest; others, such as courtiers and army officers, fought for invitations.48 Samples of photography, engineering designs or natural historical collections were put on show, alongside Parsons’ own working models of new-fangled telescopes and his drawings of nebulae and their gradual resolution. The Astronomer Royal for Scotland, Charles Piazzi Smyth, made a charming drawing of Parsons and his wife discussing one of these drawings at a soirée at Great Cumberland Street in June 1850 (Figure 9.2), just a few days before Parsons presented his major Royal Society paper on observations of spiral and resolvable White 1898, 83, 88; Hall 1984, 77–88. 45 Athenaeum 1848b, 727. 44

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Parsons W. 1853. Athenaeum 1849. 48 Sabine 1849. 46

47

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9.2  Charles Piazzi Smyth’s drawing of the Earl and Countess of Rosse at a soirée in their house at Great Cumberland Street, London, in June 1850

nebulae. Both astronomical and moral lessons were astutely taught by these significant exercises in social engineering.49 A key theme in the overhaul of metropolitan science was ‘juxtaposition’, the construction of a ‘Palace of Science’ to house scientific societies, the Linnean, Geological and Astronomical, in one building, with the Royal Society at its centre. Parsons declared that ‘it was not unreasonable to expect that Government would … provide them with a building where they would be enabled to employ to the best advantage the machinery of association’.50 This was a visionary project launched by the Society’s reformers in the 1840s, perhaps by seizing space in Somerset House from its other tenants.51 Northampton was sceptical of plans to ‘form one monster Society’ and never enthused about juxtaposition. Ambitious reformers reckoned that Parsons’ ‘intimacy’ with leading Athenaeum 1850; Athenaeum 1853; Bruck 1988, 378, 385; Parsons C. 1926, 109. 50 White 1898, 103; Parsons W. 1854b, 49

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51

248–9 (Parsons C. 1926, 72). Hall 1984, 189–92; Morus 1991, 616–20.

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politicians such as Lord Derby, former Chief Secretary for Ireland and organiser of the Irish Board of Commission for National Education, then briefly Tory prime minister during 1852, ‘will facilitate the getting of a mansion for the Royal Society’. At the same time, Parsons’ alliance with the Prince Consort and his role as a commissioner for the 1851 Great Exhibition might offer the chance of a site in South Kensington, near the new museums. Negotiations with Derby failed, while Parsons himself quashed the South Kensington plan because he reckoned the western suburb too remote. In the end, in 1857 the Society at last moved to Burlington House on Piccadilly, Parsons’ aim at least partially achieved.52 As an aristocratic reformer, Parsons joked that Britain had changed since 1660 but the Society barely had.53 Hence the need to recruit politically effective members. In summer 1849, Parsons unsuccessfully tried to appoint as the Society’s Treasurer the antiquarian Fellow and Tory MP Robert Harry Inglis, notorious as an opponent both of Catholic emancipation and of state endowment for the new college at Maynooth. The President judged Inglis a useful political contact, but eventually Sabine took the job instead.54 Parsons often returned to the fray. He told Sabine that Council should include such members as the Liberal minister the Duke of Argyll, and Lord Ashburton, a wealthy businessman and supporter of Robert Peel. Sabine riposted that Argyll’s ministerial duties would prevent him from turning up at the Society, while, however sympathetic, Ashburton had been a Fellow for only twelve months. For Parsons, such politically astute members could help to lobby for science; for Sabine and his allies, only scientific experts could judge scientific quality.55 The question of scientific judgement was fraught throughout Parson’s leadership. For example, the Society’s annual Medal awards had always been accompanied by controversy, in which polemicists such as Babbage, Sabine and the Trinity College Dublin professor Humphrey Lloyd all took part, about the scope of the sciences, candidates’ qualifications and even the Society’s competence. In March 1850, Airy announced that the Medal system ‘has totally failed: I believe the effect to have been that of lowering the character of the Society’.56 Parsons praised the system at Trinity College Dublin, of which he had just been made a commissioner, whose fellows were generalists and capable of judicious decision making across Northampton 1848a, 764; White 1898, 104; Parsons W. 1853a, 349. 53 Parsons W. 1855. 54 Hall 1984, 95; Brewster 1850, xxxix. 52

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Parsons W. 1854a; Sabine 1854; Hall 1984, 95. 56 Macleod 1971, 82–93; Airy 1850. 55

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the sciences. Parsons conscientiously oversaw the awards, consulting such colleagues as Herschel and Faraday, Hamilton and Lloyd, on the virtues of rival claimants, as well as managing potential embarrassment when he himself won the Royal Medal in 1851.57 When Lloyd told Parsons that the great French mathematician, Augustin Cauchy, had been preceded in his optical researches by the Trinity College Dublin mathematician, James MacCullagh, Parsons decided that anticipation by the Irishman ‘will greatly diminish [Cauchy’s] claims in my opinion’.58 Puzzles of priority and discovery stayed challenges to presidential influence. These issues were most pressing in debates about direct government support for the sciences. In late 1849, just as Parsons took office, an entirely unprecedented source of state funding for original scientific inquiry was offered to the Society by the Prime Minister, Lord John Russell, through a grant of £1,000. The grant was a public sign of the Society’s authority and a striking example of the role of intimate influence in science policy. Russell made a private offer to Parsons in a letter read at the Society’s Council. The President, who wanted to make the Grant ‘as much a matter of business as possible’, saw the essence of the sciences as the patient accumulation of facts. It was quickly agreed that the cash should fund laborious inquiry and data analysis, with astronomical calculation and hardware given high priority.59 Parsons dismissed the notion that state funding was a foreign practice ‘little harmonizing with our institutions’, and insisted that ‘the facts are not to be obtained without cost and the cost may be much too great to be conveniently borne; it is then that … an opening [is] made for the farther advance of scientific discovery’.60 This was not quite an open competition. The first group of beneficiaries, agreed by a committee including Parsons and his colleagues Brewster, Lyell, Lloyd, Herschel and Airy with Sabine as secretary, were all Fellows, and all at once personally approved by the Prime Minister. They included several of the leading astronomical projects of the time, such as star catalogues to be prepared by Robinson at Armagh and by the eminent amateur astronomer and Tory MP, Edward Cooper, at Markree in County Sligo (see p. 281), as well as cash for Sabine’s instruments.61 Parsons answered those who doubted the grant’s success and predicted its Parsons W. 1854b, 254 (Parsons C. 1926, 74); Herschel 1850; Faraday 1996, 162. 58 Parsons W. 1849b. 59 Macleod 1971a, 325; Hall 1984, 57

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163–4; Parsons W. 1853b; Russell 1850. 60 Parsons W. 1853a, 344; Parsons W. 1852d, 235. 61 Macleod 1971a, 327–8; Russell 1850a.

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abuse. ‘We shall remain as free to exercise our own unbiased judgments and as perfectly independent as at any previous period of our history.’ He explained why physical astronomy would benefit especially from the grant and assured his colleagues that it would be renewed annually by the government.62 Parsons was too sanguine about the government grant’s early career. For example, even though a committee member, Airy at once protested about the award of £350 (more than one third of the total grant) to Robinson for the preparation of the Armagh star catalogue, since this was raw data not yet presented to the Royal Society.63 Parsons had to intervene personally, taking advice from Sabine that the grant was for British science in general, while Lloyd wrote from Dublin in support. This Anglo-Irish alliance was enough to assuage Airy and secure the cash for Robinson. So personal was the grant, however, that Robinson worked hard to complete the project before Parsons left the presidency, lest his successor should fail to continue the support.64 The grant did depend on relations between Parsons and government. Each year until 1854, when Parsons left office, Russell and his prime ministerial successors, Lord Derby and Lord Aberdeen, personally guaranteed the cash.65 But, when the financially stringent Lord Palmerston took power in early 1855, he cancelled the grant, claiming that the costly war with Russia justified cutbacks. There was controversy in parliament and in the press: the Duke of Argyll, a member of Palmerston’s government and a figure whom Parsons wanted on the Society’s Council, complained vociferously about the cut. The new Royal Society President, the astronomer Lord Wrottesley, asked Parsons if he could find a copy of the initial offer from Russell. Then on holiday in Brighton, Parsons could not. So he composed a memorandum unhelpfully explaining that this had been something of a personal deal with no guarantee of continuation. He confessed that ‘in speaking with confidence … as to the continuance of the Government Grant, I did so on broad principles’. Such breadth was not enough. Wrottesley recruited political allies to turn Parsons’ private arrangement into a permanently accountable public fund for scientific research under the Society’s management.66 By the end of the 1850s, with a new permanent home and secure funding, the Society and its allies seemed at last to have attained some of Parsons W. 1850, 1003–4. Sabine 1850; Bennett 1990, 113. 64 Sabine 1850; Sabine 1850a; Bennett 1990, 121. 62

65

63

66

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Russell 1851; Macleod 1971a, 330. Macleod 1971a, 331–3; Parsons W. 1855a.

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the aims that Parsons had sought. But the Edinburgh natural philosophy professor, James David Forbes, expressed his sorrow at Parsons’ departure, grumbling that ‘I do not think the Royal Society seems flourishing’, while a Royal Society official observed that Parsons ‘does not retire quite so comfortably as could have been wished’. The transition to bureaucratic administration from Parsons’ more personal and face-to-face system of influence marked a decisive shift in the realities of power.67

The limits of influence The years of his Royal Society presidency represented the zenith of Parsons’ public role as an administrator and scientific politician. His workload was remarkable. Presidency of the Royal Society made him an ex officio visitor of the Royal Observatory and trustee of the British Museum, while his contacts with the Prince Consort prompted his appointment as a commissioner and financial guarantor for the Great Exhibition. The same year he was named a member of a commission to inquire into the affairs of Trinity College Dublin, which directly addressed issues of religious affiliation, overhaul of administration and changes in salaries.68 Parsons sought to strike a balance between public demands and the needs of astronomy at Birr, which were hard to separate. Despite encouragement from Brewster, he missed the British Association’s meeting at Birmingham in September 1849 because his senior observatory assistant had died of cholera and his deputy was ill.69 Once again, Robinson stood in. As President of the Birmingham meeting, Robinson delivered a characteristically pugnacious account of the ‘resolution of the nebulae into fixed stars’, illustrated by some fine drawings from Parsonstown, in which he explained the demands on Parsons’ time during the Famine and the need for more systematic survey of the heavens. The Armagh astronomer also took the opportunity to attack the London professor Richard Potter, who had claimed priority in inventing effective methods for casting specula only later followed in Ireland.70 Parsons was worried by the attack, fearing that it ‘may cause some to gossip at the Astronomical Society’. So he explained the situation to Airy, while Robinson printed a fierce assault on Potter’s originality and competence in The Athenaeum. No more was heard from their critic.71 White 1898, 112; Forbes 1854. Parsons W. 1851; Luce 1992, 93–6. 69 Brewster 1849; Parsons W. 1849a. 67 68

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Athenaeum 1849a, 961–2; Parsons W. 1850a; Potter 1849. 71 Parsons W. 1849a; Robinson 1849. 70

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Such exchanges at the British Association continued to preoccupy Parsons. He supplied details of his researches for Brewster’s presidential address at Edinburgh in July 1850, while at Ipswich the following year Airy lauded Parsons’ telescope engineering and Parsons described how to make silver specula. At Belfast in 1852, Robinson and Rosse staged a double act using their nebular drawings and engineering plans.72 The Belfast meeting also launched a specialist Lunar Committee to survey the Moon’s surface, composed of Parsons, Robinson, the Dublin geology professor John Phillips and the indefatigable Sabine. The four gathered at Birr to plan their campaign, and got promises of co-operation from eminent astronomers such as Johann Heinrich von Mädler in Dorpat and Otto Struve in Pulkovo. Though little would come of the project, it represented an ideal of collaborative work to which Parsons continued to subscribe. Years later, the energetic astronomer William Birt, then charged with running the Lunar Committee, used Parsonstown lunar images he had seen at an Astronomical Society soirée to show to Association members at their annual meeting.73 Birr was again a site for visits when the Association met at Dublin in 1857 under Humphrey Lloyd’s presidency. Not everyone was impressed: the eminent French physicist Léon Foucault, then planning a new-fangled silver-on-glass mirror for a 31-inch [79 cm] reflector, decided that ‘Lord Rosse’s telescope is a joke’ and grumbled that ‘Pour les anglais, le mien n’existe pas’ (‘For the English, mine does not exist’; see also p. 204).74 This was some sign of the institutional link between Parsons’ reputation and that of Anglo-Irish engineering. As Charles Mollan describes in his chapter in this book (see pp. 165–6), Parsons’ important Dublin lecture to the Mechanical Sciences section set out the significance of engineering both for the economy and for warfare. He also, significantly, used the lecture to favourably compare the Association’s commitment to specialism with the Royal Society’s more generalist attitude to the sciences: ‘it rarely happens that there is a discussion at the meetings of the Royal Society of general interest or of real value, and for that there is no remedy’.75 Such scientific institutions were never mere publicity machines, nor simply sites for learned discussion. They were also lobbies for influence. Parsons mastered the intricate art of lobbying and learnt the limits Brewster 1850; Brewster 1851, xxxv– vi; Airy 1852, xl; Parsons W. 1852e (Parsons C. 1926, 53); Parsons W. 1853c (Parsons C. 1926, 57–8). 73 British Association 1853, xxxv; 72

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Parsons C. 1926, 58–60; Struve 1853; Birt 1864; Birt 1865; Birt 1867. 74 Gascoigne 1996, 108. 75 Parsons C. 1926, 61.

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that political realities placed on his influence. To win such influence, at Birmingham in 1849, the British Association established a group of its members who were also parliamentarians, such as Parsons. The group proved unwieldy, and so in 1851 it became the Association’s parliamentary committee, with Parsons, Inglis, Argyll and Wrottesley as leaders. From 1852, Parsons and his allies lobbied government for tax relief on scientific mail, for pensions for men of science and for dedicated grants for such ventures as the young surgeon-naturalist Thomas Henry Huxley’s publication of his scientific researches conducted in New Guinea and Australia. Parsons’ attempts to get funds from the premier, Lord Derby, and his successor, Lord Aberdeen, were entirely unsuccessful. His committee reported that ‘the want has been felt in this instance as in many others of suitable and systematic arrangements on the part of Government for the due publication of the results of scientific researches’. Parsons’ Royal Society report was damning: the parliamentary committee had failed because ‘it can scarcely be said that such a committee is a recognized body, and has any proper business, and besides it is well known that all Governments look upon little coteries of Parliamentary men with jealousy rather than favour’.76 Although during the 1850s Parsons was one of the sciences’ bigwigs, he knew that there were limits on his influence. He therefore exploited personal contacts with scientific and political institutions to win public support for new optical and mechanical engineering with obvious economic and technical benefits. A significant example was his crucial intervention on behalf of photographic processing in the early 1850s. Photographs at Parsons’ soirées impressed the new Photographic Society. Herschel even suggested that Parsons should become its president, since it offered ‘the best prospect of attracting attention to the scientific as distinguished from the artistic leanings of the subject’.77 As David Davison describes elsewhere in this book (Chapter 3), Mary, Countess of Rosse, was a superb photographer. Her husband pondered whether such photo-registration techniques could help the British Association’s lunar project. He discussed problems of shortening exposure times with the chemist and antiquarian William Henry Fox Talbot, Royal Society medalist as inventor of one of the first photographic processes.78 Some Royal Society critics judged it outrageous that Talbot should have won a medal for a process over which he claimed lucrative patent rights. Some of Parsons’ allies, such as 76

British Association 1852, xxv–vi, xxx; British Association 1853, xxix–xxxii; Parsons W. 1855, 2.

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77 78

Diamond 1852; Herschel 1855. Parsons W. 1854.

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Herschel and Brewster, held that the entire patent system merited radical overhaul, if not abolition.79 So, under pressure from Photographic Society members, during early summer 1854 Parsons and his ally, the Society’s President, Charles Eastlake, successfully managed delicate negotiations with Talbot to relinquish rights over the use of his photographic and printing techniques, save for commercial portrait photography.80 ‘Many of the finest applications of the invention will probably require the co-operation of men of science and skilful artists’, Parsons and Eastlake told Talbot in a letter published in the London newspapers.81 At the same time, Parsons used his position at the British Museum to encourage Talbot to help to photograph objects in its collections, such as cuneiform inscriptions recently brought there from Mesopotamia. Parsons reckoned that, just as photo-registration was being used effectively in astronomical observatories, so it could be used in recording fragile museum artefacts. The Museum did start to employ a photographer, though with limited success.82 Crucial in Parsons’ intervention was his strong sense that public utility and personal influence could be effectively combined in these innovative scientific techniques. During just the same months as his negotiations with Talbot, Parsons was involved in an equally significant but distinctly less successful technological lobby. As an expert engineer, Parsons saw his friend Babbage’s development of calculating engines, a project in which the government and the Royal Society had been involved for more than three decades, as being of immediate significance for British industry: ‘the manufactures of this country had been indirectly benefited to many times the cost of the machine’.83 As soon as he became President of the Royal Society, Parsons helped Babbage to lobby Lord John Russell for further cash. When Russell’s government collapsed in 1852, to be replaced by Lord Derby’s Tories, Parsons cunningly suggested that Babbage should present his plans to the new administration in exchange for cash and an engineer to build the machine. Parsons also recruited the eminent engineer and astronomer James Nasmyth (who confirmed the economic benefits of Babbage’s scheme) and John Herschel (though Parsons grumbled that Herschel stressed costs too much).84 Just as they rejected Parsons’ claim Brewster 1843, 344; Grove 1843, 521; Herschel 1852. 80 Talbot 1852; Parsons W. 1852; Talbot 1852a; Talbot 1852b. 81 Mechanics’ Magazine 1852; Wood 1971, 79

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53–6. Date 1990, 316; Brusius 2013. 83 Parsons W. 1852a; Hyman 1982, 230. 84 Babbage 1849; Babbage 1852; Babbage 1852a; Parsons W. 1852b. 82

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for funds for Huxley’s surveys, so Derby and his Chancellor, Benjamin Disraeli, curtly dismissed the Babbage scheme, ‘the expenditure so certainly large and so utterly incapable of being calculated that the Government would not be justified in taking upon itself any further liability’.85 Babbage printed a polemic about the disaster that for long made it notorious amongst scientists and engineers. In his cool manner, Parsons was no less angry and sought to mobilise reformist politicians such as the Radical MP Joseph Hume.86 Parsons spent much of his 1854 valedictory speech at the Royal Society detailing the sad history: ‘that the first great effort to employ the powers of calculating mechanism in aid of the human intellect should have been suffered in this great country to expire fruitless, because there was no tangible evidence of immediate profit, as a British subject I deeply regret’. Though some thought the speech was ‘spoiled by lugging in a eulogium of Mr Babbage’s calculating machine’, it eloquently testified to Parsons’ vision of practical scientific value and the limits on his influence to secure that value.87 The final public engineering project that preoccupied Parsons in his negotiations with scientific institutions and the government was a distinctly Irish astronomical scheme, launched by Robinson and Sabine, using Parsons both as precedent and sponsor, and with the celebrated Dublin engineers Thomas and Howard Grubb as manufacturers. After two successive government rejections, the enterprise lasted even beyond Parsons’ death. At the British Association meeting at Birmingham in 1849, over which Robinson eloquently presided, it was agreed to extend the nebular surveys conducted at Parsonstown by building a comparable reflector at the Cape of Good Hope. According to Sabine, it would have been awkward if Parsons had personally proposed the scheme. But the Earl’s election to the Royal Society presidency and Russell’s award to Parsons in autumn 1849 of the government grant made it timely and apparently viable.88 Parsons’ Council backed a less-defined scheme, while Parsons and Robinson jointly drafted a memorandum for Russell’s attention requesting £2,500 to build a 3-foot reflector somewhere in the southern hemisphere. Parsons’ experience showed that ‘an instrument of sufficient power can be constructed with certainty and at no overwhelming cost’, while ‘the Observer need not possess very high mathematical attainments’, merely skill in draftsmanship and the Talbot 1852c. Babbage 1852b; Babbage 1864, 97–111; Parsons W. 1852b. 87 Parsons W. 1854b, 256–7; White 85 86

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88

1898, 112. British Association 1850, xix; Bennett 1990, 118; Warner 1982, 506.

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aid of a few labourers, including a mechanic.89 In summer 1850 their memorandum reached George Cornewall Lewis, Financial Secretary to the Treasury, who promptly asked the Astronomer Royal. Only a few weeks after his similarly ill-tempered complaint about the award of the Royal Society’s government grant for Robinson’s star catalogue, Airy also privately advised the government against Parsons’ and Robinson’s southern telescope scheme, which was thus halted pending ‘much further consideration’.90 The plan was relaunched under Sabine’s encouragement in 1852 at the Belfast meeting, where Parsons and Robinson so impressed their audience with nebular imagery and telescope engineering. Parsons held that mechanisation had made mirror polishing so reliable that ‘any person of ordinary mechanical capacity would be able to do as much with a little instruction’, and offered to train anyone put in charge of the large southern reflector.91 He soon established a Southern Telescope Committee at the Royal Society, and for the next year took part in debates about its funding, design and staffing. After detailed discussion among the astronomical elite, Robinson’s proposal for an equatorially mounted 4-foot [122 cm] diameter mirror using a Cassegrain construction to be built by the eminent Dublin instrument maker, Thomas Grubb, carried the day. Robinson told Parsons that ‘our best chance of success depends on your permitting us to cast and polish the speculum at Parsonstown under your eye and to mount and try it there’.92 Though Parsons ‘should not on any account wish to interfere in any other way in the construction of an instrument undertaken by the Government’, he agreed to help Grubb with advice and apparatus, upon which the Dublin maker incorporated this guarantee into his estimates. Once again, the August 1853 plan presented to the Prime Minister by the Irish trio of Parsons, Sabine and Robinson foundered on economic grounds during the retrenchment necessitated by the Crimean War.93 Despite these defeats, the scheme survived. At the British Association’s Dublin meeting of 1857, Parsons lectured on the importance of engineering and hosted visits to Parsonstown, while Grubb presented his scheme for the southern reflector. The following year the Association granted £200 to Robinson’s former Belfast colleague, the mathematician British Association 1851, xvii–xix; Warner 1982, 507–8. 90 Warner 1982, 508–9; Robinson 1850; British Association 1852, xxiv. 91 Bennett 1990, 118; Parsons W. 1853c, 24. 89

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Great Melbourne Telescope 1871, part 1, 35. 93 Great Melbourne Telescope 1871, part 1, 35–6 (emphasis in original); Warner 1982, 512; Glass 1997, 42–4. 92

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William Parkinson Wilson, to help build the southern reflector at his new post in Melbourne.94 By 1862 the government of Victoria, flush with cash because of the state’s gold rush, agreed to back the project, and during winter 1862–63 the Royal Society’s Telescope Committee reconvened to advise the Colonial Office. Robinson successfully resuscitated the scheme for a 4-foot diameter mirror on a Cassegrain mounting to be built by Grubb, while Herschel and others remained convinced that the scheme depended entirely on hiring an astronomer of ‘skill and energy giving his whole heart, soul, time and thought to the one great work of using and keeping in order this magnificent instrument’. But, for Parsons, successful mechanisation meant that it was sufficient for ‘a mechanical assistant’ to accompany the mirror to Australia: ‘I think machinery affords such facilities that with a little instruction any educated man, with an aptitude for mechanical pursuits, would soon acquire the knack so far as to succeed moderately.’95 The telescope would survive and prosper through reliable engineering and proper conduct. It did not. In the event, the telescope was not completed until 1868, some months after Parsons’ death, and reached Melbourne in mid-1869. Scholars are still divided as to reasons for the Melbourne telescope’s failure, even if it failed. It was soon found that the mirror was pinched in its cell, mirror varnish had not been properly removed and the mirror definition was unpredictably variable. The press called it ‘a gigantic philosophical blunder’. Grubb published a long defence of his work and instructions on how better to run the machine. The Melbourne astronomer who best managed the instrument initially guessed that nebulae were becoming fainter, when in fact it was the mirror that was tarnishing. Financial crisis deprived the observatory of the maintenance resources needed to keep its prized instrument at work.96 This posthumous failure of astronomical engineering is too grim a note on which to conclude a survey of William Parsons’ relations with the major scientific institutions of his time. Yet it illuminates many of the themes that dominated those relations, notably his apparently paradoxical confidence both in the power of engineering to act at a distance and in the power of intimate contact to guarantee scientific and political influence. This energetic sagacity was the key to Parsons’ entire career. At the end of 1852, looking back on a year in which he had failed to fund the Warner 1982, 513; Gascoigne 1996, 107; Glass 1997, 46; British Association 1859, xxxix. 95 Great Melbourne Telescope 1871, part 2, 94

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96

39, 14, 35. Glass 1997, 59–61; Gascoigne 1996, 119–22; Hyde 1987, 229.

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calculating engines, had successfully won public access to photographic technology and had helped to relaunch a project for a vast new reflecting telescope in the southern hemisphere, Parsons rejoiced that the public at last understood how sciences were changing the economy and preserving society: The prospects of science are brightening in all directions: the many recent applications of science to utilitarian purposes have satisfied the masses that science is not a mere unprofitable abstraction: the progress of knowledge dispelling error seems to have dissipated the delusion that in science there might possibly be something ungenial to our institutions and to stable government. The feeling seems rapidly to be gaining ground that … in fact it is true that knowledge is power.97

References Adelman 2009: Communities of Science in Nineteenth-century Ireland, by Juliana Adelman, Pickering & Chatto, London. Airy 1849: ‘Substance of the lecture delivered by the Astronomer Royal on the large reflecting telescopes of the Earl of Rosse and Mr. Lassell’, by George Airy, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 9, pp. 110–21. Airy 1850: George Airy to Samuel Hunter Christie, 18 March 1850, Royal Society Archives, MC.4.334. Airy 1852: ‘Address by George Biddell Airy’, in Report of the Twenty-First Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science held at Ipswich in July 1851, John Murray, London, pp. xxxix–liii. Airy 1896: Autobiography of Sir George Biddell Airy, edited by Wilfrid Airy, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Altick 1978: The Shows of London: A Panoramic History of Exhibitions, 1600–1862, by Richard D. Altick, Belknap Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Ashworth 1994: ‘The calculating eye: Baily, Herschel, Babbage and the business of astronomy’, by William J. Ashworth, British Journal for the History of Science, 27, pp. 401–44. Athenaeum 1843: ‘Thirteenth Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science: Section A – Mathematical and Physical Science’, The Athenaeum, 829, 16 September 1843, pp. 846–8. Athenaeum 1844: ‘Fourteenth Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science: Evening meeting’, The Athenaeum, 884, 5 October 1844, pp. 905–9. 97

Parsons W. 1852d, 240.

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Athenaeum 1846: ‘Our weekly gossip’, The Athenaeum, 990, 17 October 1846, p. 1072. Athenaeum 1848: ‘Lord Rosse’s telescope’, The Athenaeum, 1067, 8 April 1848, pp. 365–6. Athenaeum 1848a: ‘Our weekly gossip’, The Athenaeum, 1074, 27 May 1848, p. 533. Athenaeum 1848b: ‘The Royal Society’, The Athenaeum, 1082, 22 July 1848, pp. 726–7. Athenaeum 1849: ‘Our weekly gossip’, The Athenaeum, 1122, 28 April 1849, p. 437. Athenaeum 1849a: ‘Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science’, The Athenaeum, 1143, 22 September 1849, pp. 958–73. Athenaeum 1850: ‘Our weekly gossip’, The Athenaeum, 1174, 27 April 1850, p. 450. Athenaeum 1853: ‘Our weekly gossip’, The Athenaeum, 1331, 30 April 1853, p. 528. Babbage 1849: Charles Babbage to Earl of Rosse, 24 December 1849, British Library, MS Add 37194, fol. 337. Babbage 1852: Charles Babbage to Earl of Rosse, 9 May 1852, British Library, MS Add 37194, fol. 338. Babbage 1852a: Charles Babbage to Earl of Rosse, 27 July 1852, British Library, MS Add 37195, fol. 113. Babbage 1852b: Charles Babbage to Earl of Rosse, 27 August 1852, British Library, MS Add 37195, fols 123–6. Babbage 1864: Passages from the Life of a Philosopher, by Charles Babbage, Longman, London. Bennett 1990: Church, State and Astronomy in Ireland: 200 Years of Armagh Observatory, by Jim Bennett, Armagh Observatory in association with the Institute of Irish Studies, The Queen’s University of Belfast. Bennett 1997: ‘Science and social policy in Ireland in the mid-nineteenth century’, by James Bennett, pp. 37–84 in Science and Society in Ireland: the Social Context of Science and Technology in Ireland 1800–1950, edited by Peter J. Bowler and Nicholas Whyte, Institute of Irish Studies, The Queen’s University of Belfast, pp. 37–48. Birt 1864: William Birt to the Earl of Rosse, 2 July 1864, Birr Castle Archives, L/6/1. Birt 1865: William Birt to the Earl of Rosse, 25 January 1865, Birr Castle Archives, K/17/14. Birt 1867: William Birt to the Earl of Rosse, 31 July 1867, Birr Castle Archives, K/17/15. Brewster 1843: ‘Photogenic drawing or drawing by the agency of light’, by Sir David Brewster, Edinburgh Review, January 1843, pp. 309–44. Brewster 1849: Sir David Brewster to Earl of Rosse, 22 August 1849, Birr Castle Archives, K/17/4.

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Brewster 1850: Sir David Brewster to Earl of Rosse, 2 July 1850, Birr Castle Archives, K/17/5. Brewster 1851: ‘Address by Sir David Brewster’, Report of the Twentieth Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science held at Edinburgh in July and August 1850, John Murray, London, pp. xxxi–xliv. British Association 1835: Proceedings of the Fifth Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science held in Dublin, Philip Dixon Hardy, Dublin. British Association 1850: Report of the Nineteenth Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science held at Birmingham in September 1849, John Murray, London. British Association 1851: Report of the Twentieth Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science held at Edinburgh in July and August 1850, John Murray, London. British Association 1852: Report of the Twenty-first Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science held at Ipswich in July 1851, John Murray, London. British Association 1853: Report of the Twenty-second Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science held at Belfast in September 1852, John Murray, London. British Association 1859: Report of the Twenty-eighth Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science held at Leeds in September 1858, John Murray, London. Brück 1988: ‘The Piazzi Smyth collection at the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh’, by Mary T. Brück, Vistas in Astronomy, 32, pp. 371–408. Brusius 2013: ‘From photographic science to scientific photography: Talbot, decipherment and the application of photography at the British Museum around 1850’, by Mirjam Brusius, in William Henry Fox Talbot: Beyond Photography, edited by Mirjam Brusius, Katrina Dean and Chitra Ramalingam, Yale University Press, New Haven. Cannon 1978: Science in Culture: the Early Victorian Period, by Susan Faye Cannon, Science History Publications, New York. Christie 1840: Samuel Hunter Christie to Lord Oxmantown, 17 July 1840. Birr Castle Archives, L/6/1. Date 1990: ‘The origins of photography at the British Museum, 1839–1860’, by Christopher Date and Anthony Hamber, History of Photography, 14, pp. 309–25. Diamond 1852: Hugh Welch Diamond to Earl of Rosse, 11 April 1852, Birr Castle Archives, K/17/33. Faraday 1996: Correspondence of Michael Faraday, Volume 4, 1849–1855, edited by Frank A. L. James, Institution of Electrical Engineers, London. Forbes 1854: James David Forbes to William Whewell, 19 July 1854, Trinity College Cambridge, Whewell papers, Add. a.204.111. FRS 1848: ‘The Royal Society’, by ‘FRS’, The Athenaeum, 1070, 29 April 1848, p. 438.

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Gascoigne 1996: ‘The Great Melbourne telescope and other 19th century reflectors’, by S. C. B. Gascoigne, Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society, 37, pp. 101–28. Glass 1997: Victorian Telescope Makers: the Lives and Letters of Thomas and Howard Grubb, by I. S. Glass, Institute of Physics, Bristol. Graves 1882–9: Life of Sir William Rowan Hamilton, by Robert Percival Graves, three volumes, Hodges Figgis & Co., Dublin 1882/1885/1889. Great Melbourne Telescope 1871: Correspondence concerning the Great Melbourne Telescope in Three Parts: 1852–1870, Taylor and Francis, London. Greene 1844: ‘On polishing the specula of telescopes’, by Dr. Greene, Report of the Thirteenth Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science held at Cork in August 1843, John Murray, London, pp. 11–12. Grove 1843: ‘Physical science in England’, by William Robert Grove, Blackwood’s Magazine 54, October 1843, pp. 514–25. Grove-Hills 1923: ‘1850–1860’, by E. H. Grove-Hills, in History of the Royal Astronomical Society 1820–1920, edited by J. L. E. Dreyer and H. H. Turner, Weldon and Wesley, London, pp. 110–28. Hall 1984: All Scientists Now: the Royal Society in the Nineteenth Century, by Marie Boas Hall, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Herschel 1841: John Herschel to Lord Northampton, 16 November 1841, Royal Society Archives, MM.11.158. Herschel 1843: John Herschel to Earl of Rosse, 17 July 1843, Birr Castle Archives, K/2/1. Herschel 1850: John Herschel to Earl of Rosse, 10 April 1850, Royal Society Archives, MC.4.340. Herschel 1852: John Herschel to Earl of Rosse, [1852?], Birr Castle Archives, K/2/12. Herschel 1855: John Herschel to Earl of Rosse, 8 January 1855, Birr Castle Archives, K/2/5. Hoskin 1982: ‘The first drawing of a spiral nebula’, by Michael Hoskin, Journal of the History of Astronomy, 13, pp. 97–101. Hoskin 1989: ‘Astronomers at war: South v. Sheepshanks’, by Michael Hoskin, Journal of the History of Astronomy, 20, pp. 175–210. Hoskin 1990: ‘Rosse, Robinson, and the resolution of the nebulae’, by Michael Hoskin, Journal of the History of Astronomy, 21, pp. 331–44. Hyde 1987: ‘The calamity of the Great Melbourne telescope’, by W. Lewis Hyde, Proceedings of the Astronomical Society of Australia, 7, pp. 227–30. Hyman 1982: Charles Babbage: Pioneer of the Computer, by Anthony Hyman, Oxford University Press, Oxford. Illustrated London News 1843: ‘Meeting of the British Association at Cork’, Illustrated London News, 3, p. 132. Johnston 1983: ‘Science and technology in Irish national culture’, by Roy Johnston, The Crane Bag, 7, No. 2, pp. 58–63.

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Luce 1992: Trinity College Dublin: the First 400 Years, by J. V. Luce, Trinity College Dublin Press, Dublin. Lyell 1881: Life, Letters and Journals of Sir Charles Lyell, edited by Katherine Lyell, two volumes, John Murray, London. Macleod 1971: ‘Of medals and men: a reward system in Victorian science, 1826–1914’, by Roy M. Macleod, Notes and Records of the Royal Society, 26, pp. 81–105. Macleod 1971a: ‘The Royal Society and the government grant: notes on the administration of scientific research, 1849–1914’, by R. M. Macleod, The Historical Journal, 14, pp. 323–58. McMillan 1990: ‘Organisation and achievements of Irish astronomy in the nineteenth-century – evidence for a “network”’, by Norman D. McMillan, Irish Astronomical Journal, 19, pp. 101–18. Mechanics’ Magazine 1852: ‘Mr Talbot’s photographic patent rights’, Mechanics’ Magazine 57, 21 August 1852, pp. 153–4. Morrell 1981: Gentlemen of Science: Early Years of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, by Jack Morrell and Arnold Thackray, Clarendon Press, Oxford. Morus 1991: ‘Correlation and control: William Robert Grove and the construction of a new philosophy of scientific reform’, by Iwan Rhys Morus, Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, 22, pp. 589–621. Northampton 1848: Lord Northampton to John Herschel, 21 and 27 March 1848, Royal Society Archives, JFWH 5.274-5. Northampton 1848a: ‘Address’, by the Marquis of Northampton, Abstracts of the Papers Communicated to the Royal Society of London, 5, pp. 761–7. O’Raifeartaigh 1985: The Royal Irish Academy: A Bicentennial History 1785–1985, edited by T. O’Raifeartaigh, Royal Irish Academy, Dublin. Parsons C. 1926: The Scientific Papers of William Parsons, Third Earl of Rosse 1800–1867, Collected and Republished by the Hon. Charles Parsons, K.C.B. F.R.S., Percy Lund, Humphries, London. Parsons, W. 1840: ‘An account of experiments on the reflecting telescope’, by the Right Honourable Lord Oxmantown, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, 130, pp. 503–28. Reprinted in Parsons C. 1926, pp. 80–104. Parsons W. 1843: Earl of Rosse to John Herschel, 9 July 1843, Royal Society Archives, JFWH 13.227. Parsons W. 1844: ‘Address by the Earl of Rosse’, in Report of the Thirteenth Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science held at Cork in August 1843, John Murray, London, pp. xxix–xxxiii. Reprinted in Parsons C. 1926, pp. 44–49. Parsons W. 1845: ‘On the construction of large reflecting telescopes’, by the Earl of Rosse, in Report of the Fourteenth Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science held at York in September 1844, John Murray, London, pp. 79–82. Reprinted in Parsons C. 1926, pp. 49–52.

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Parsons W. 1847: Letters on the State of Ireland, by the Earl of Rosse, Bradbury and Evans, London. Parsons W. 1848: Earl of Rosse to Edward Sabine, 23 March 1848, Royal Society Archives, 259.1112. Parsons W. 1848a: Earl of Rosse to Edward Sabine, 5 December 1848, Royal Society Archives, 259.1114. Parsons W. 1849: Earl of Rosse to Edward Sabine, 3 February 1849, Royal Society Archives, 259.1115. Parsons W. 1849a: Earl of Rosse to Edward Sabine, 7 October 1849, Royal Society Archives, 259.1117. Parsons W. 1849b: Earl of Rosse to Edward Sabine, 29 October 1849, Royal Society Archives, 259.1119. Parsons W. 1849c: ‘Address’, by the Earl of Rosse, Abstracts of the Papers Communicated to the Royal Society of London, 5, pp. 858–89. Parsons W. 1850: ‘Address’, by the Earl of Rosse, Abstracts of the Papers Communicated to the Royal Society of London, 5, pp. 1003–11. Parsons W. 1850a: ‘Notice of nebulae lately observed in the six-feet reflector’, by the Earl of Rosse, Report of the Nineteenth Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science held at Birmingham in September 1849, John Murray, London, pp. 53–6. Parsons W. 1851: Papers on the Great Exhibition, 1851, Birr Castle Archives, J/16. Parsons W. 1852: Earl of Rosse to William Henry Fox Talbot, 13 June 1852, Correspondence of William Henry Fox Talbot, www.foxtalbot.dmu.ac.uk, Document 6644. Parsons W. 1852a: Earl of Rosse to Charles Babbage, 22 July 1852, British Library, MS Add 37195, fols 108–9. Parsons W. 1852b: Earl of Rosse to Charles Babbage, 18 August 1852, British Library, MS Add 37195, fols 119–20. Parsons W. 1852c: Earl of Rosse to Charles Babbage, 29 August 1852, British Library, MS Add 37195, fol. 127. Parsons W. 1852d: ‘Address’, by the Earl of Rosse, Abstracts of the Papers Communicated to the Royal Society of London, 6, pp. 234–41. Parsons W. 1852e: ‘Plain specula of silver’, by the Earl of Rosse, Report of the Twenty-first Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science held at Ipswich in July 1851, John Murray, London, pp. 12–14. Reprinted in Parsons C. 1926, pp. 53–55. Parsons W. 1853: Earl of Rosse to Edward Sabine, 26 October 1853, Royal Society Archives, 259.1120. Parsons W. 1853a: ‘Address’, by the Earl of Rosse, Abstracts of the Papers Communicated to the Royal Society, 6, pp. 344–56. Parsons W. 1853b: Earl of Rosse to John Lubbock, 1853, Royal Society Archives, JWL P.87. Parsons W. 1853c: ‘Drawings to illustrate recent observations of nebulae’, by the

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Earl of Rosse, with remarks by Rev. Dr. Robinson, Report of the Twentysecond Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science held at Belfast in September 1852, John Murray, London, pp. 22–24. Reprinted in Parsons C. 1926, pp. 56–58. Parsons W. 1854: Earl of Rosse to William Henry Fox Talbot, 2 February 1854, Correspondence of William Henry Fox Talbot, www.foxtalbot.dmu.ac.uk, Document 6906 (original in British Library). Parsons W. 1854a: Earl of Rosse to Edward Sabine, 23 October 1854, Royal Society Archives, 259.1122. Parsons W. 1854b: ‘Address’, by the Earl of Rosse, Proceedings of the Royal Society, 7, pp. 248–63. Reprinted in Parsons C. 1926, pp. 72–79. Parsons W. 1855: ‘A rough memorandum hastily written with the view of throwing out some hints for considerations relative to the question, whether it may not be practicable to strengthen the Royal Society’, by the Earl of Rosse, Birr Castle Archives, L/6/1. Parsons W. 1855a: ‘Memorandum relative to the origin of the Government grant’, by the Earl of Rosse, Royal Society Archives, MM.14.13. Peacock 1845: ‘Address by the Very Rev. George Peacock’, Report of the Fourteenth Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science held at York in September 1844, John Murray, London, pp. xxxi–xlvi. Potter 1849: ‘Casting of specula’, by Richard Potter, The Athenaeum, 1144, 29 September 1849, p. 984. Robinson 1840: ‘An account of a large reflecting telescope lately constructed by Lord Oxmantown’, by the Rev. T. R. Robinson, Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, 2, pp. 2–12. Reprinted in Parsons C. 1926, pp. 14–19. Robinson 1845: ‘On Lord Rosse’s telescope’, by the Rev. T. R. Robinson, Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, 3, pp. 114–33. Reprinted in Parsons C. 1926, pp. 20–31. Robinson 1848: ‘An account of the present condition of the Earl of Rosse’s great telescope’, by the Rev. Dr. Robinson, Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, 4, pp. 119–28. Reprinted in Parsons C. 1926, pp. 32–37. Robinson 1849: ‘Casting of specula’, The Athenaeum, 1150, 10 November 1849, p. 1139. Robinson 1850: Thomas Romney Robinson to Earl of Rosse, 16 August 1850, Birr Castle Archives, K/5/11. Russell 1850: Lord John Russell to Earl of Rosse, 15 April 1850, Royal Society Archives, MC.4.344. Russell 1850a: Lord John Russell to Earl of Rosse, 11 July 1850, Royal Society Archives, MC.4.356. Russell 1851: Lord John Russell to Earl of Rosse, 6 January 1851, Royal Society Archives, MC.5.1. Sabine 1848: Edward Sabine to the Earl of Rosse, 8 July 1848, Birr Castle Archives, K/6/1.

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Sabine 1849: Edward Sabine to the Earl of Rosse, 28 April 1849, Birr Castle Archives, K/6/3. Sabine 1850: Edward Sabine to the Earl of Rosse, 31 May 1850, Birr Castle Archives, K/6/6. Sabine 1850a: Edward Sabine to Earl of Rosse, 18 June 1850, Birr Castle Archives, K/6/7. Sabine 1854: Edward Sabine to Earl of Rosse, Royal Society Archives, MC.5.184. South 1840: James South to Lord Oxmantown, 11 November 1840, Birr Castle Archives, K/1/2. South 1840a: James South to Lord Oxmantown, 23 November 1840, Birr Castle Archives, K/1/3. Standard 1846: ‘From Armagh’, The (London) Standard, 6918, 12 October 1846, p. 2. Struve 1853: Otto Struve to the Earl of Rosse, 20 September 1853, Birr Castle Archives, K36A/S7. Syles 1848: William Syles to the Earl of Rosse, 17 March 1848. Birr Castle Archives, K/1/7. Talbot 1852: William Henry Fox Talbot to Earl of Rosse, 30 May 1852, Correspondence of William Henry Fox Talbot, www.foxtalbot.dmu.ac.uk, Document 6624. Talbot 1852a: William Henry Fox Talbot to Earl of Rosse, 10 June 1852, Correspondence of William Henry Fox Talbot, www.foxtalbot.dmu.ac.uk, Document 6640. Talbot 1852b: William Henry Fox Talbot to Earl of Rosse, 24 June 1852, Correspondence of William Henry Fox Talbot, www.foxtalbot.dmu.ac.uk, Document 6648. Talbot 1852c: Patrick Talbot to Earl of Rosse, 16 August 1852, British Library, MS Add 37195, fol.118. Visitors’ Book: Visitors’ book at Birr (from 1850), Birr Castle Archives, L/6/2. Warner 1982: ‘The large southern telescope: Cape or Melbourne?’, by Brian Warner, Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society, 23, pp. 505–14. White 1898: The Journals of Walter White, edited by William White, Chapman and Hall, London. Whyte 1995: ‘“Lords of ether and of light”: the Irish astronomical tradition of the nineteenth- century’, by Nicholas Whyte, Irish Review, 17/18, pp. 127–41. Wood 1971: ‘Gallic acid and Talbot’s calotype patent’, by R. Derek Wood, Annals of Science, 27, pp. 47–83.

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The 3rd Earl of Rosse: an assessment Trevor Weekes The 3rd Earl of Rosse: an assessment

The legacy One of the outstanding landmarks in the town of Birr is the statue erected by the citizens of the town in 1876 to the memory of its most famous son, William Parsons, the 3rd Earl of Rosse. This 3½-ton solid bronze statue shows the Earl in the robes of Chancellor of Dublin University (Figure 10.1). The Anglo-Irish aristocrats of nineteenth-century Ireland were not renowned for their academic achievements, nor for their popularity amongst their tenants, and hence few are thus honoured. What was it about the 3rd Earl that warranted the citizenry’s raising of this fine statue to his memory? In its commanding position in the centre of the median strip in John’s Mall, the statue bears the proud legend ‘Builder of the Greatest Telescope in the World’. It in no way diminishes the stature of this great nobleman to say that, while his crowning achievement, the Leviathan, was in its day the most powerful telescope then in existence, it cannot be said to have ever been the greatest telescope in the world. However, his telescopes were remarkable, and he deserves a prominent place in the history of nineteenth-century astronomy in Ireland. This book gives details of different aspects of his life and, together with the benefit of hindsight, allows us to make some assessment of his legacy: as a man, as an engineer and telescope builder, as spokesman for science, as a landlord and statesman and as a role model for future generations of Irish scientists. In Chapter 2 we saw how the Earl was motivated to engage in astronomy. Although it was without doubt the engineering challenge that first attracted him, he quickly became engrossed in the potential scientific challenge: would a more powerful telescope solve the riddle of

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10.1  The statue, by John Henry Foley (1818–74), of the 3rd Earl of Rosse in John’s Mall in Birr (Birr Castle Archives)

the nebulae? In Chapter 7 Wolfgang Steinicke demonstrates that, even with his new telescopes, the Earl could not arrive at a definitive answer. New techniques were to provide the answer and reveal the complexity of the nebulae.

Birr observations of nebulae To get some feel for the 3rd Earl’s contribution to astronomy, one has to appreciate just how difficult such observations were in practice. Since he was working at a time that predated the use of photography or digital techniques, all observations were made by eye. The human eye is an incredible organ, but in the observation of faint diffuse objects such as nebulae it is pushed to its limits. The eye does not integrate an image in the way that a photographic plate does; in fact what it records are a series of images lasting about a millisecond which are conveyed

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to the brain, which tries to make sense of them. In a steady image this is not a problem, but astronomical images are viewed through the earth’s atmosphere, the turbulence of which makes the images ‘dance’ in the view-finder. When the ‘seeing’ is good (low turbulence in the atmosphere), the eye may see fleeting glimpses of astronomical phenomena which are quickly overwritten by fresh images, distorted by turbulence. Such observations are therefore highly subjective, and a different observer may see a completely different phenomenon; in fact the same observer may register a completely different view of the same object a short time later. This lack of objectivity inevitably results in controversy as different observers try to reconcile results from different telescopes and under different conditions. The problem is compounded by the physical difficulty of making the observations. The nineteenth-century observer was perched at the eyepiece of the telescope, sometimes on a platform some distance from the ground. There was generally no protection from the elements (no dome, as in a modern telescope), and he had to make the observations in complete darkness so that his eyes were completely dark-adapted. He then recorded his observation by drawing it on a paper which was very faintly illuminated. Working in the Irish climate, he was constantly racing against the clock, since the sky might cloud up at any moment. In the nineteenth century, most of the big telescopes were built and used almost exclusively by their owners (see Chapter 8). Although the 3rd Earl of Rosse had shown himself to be a skilled observer in his observation of the Spiral Galaxy, M 51, and in the subsequent discovery of other spiral nebulae, his civic duties precluded his use of the telescope on a constant basis. It was necessary therefore for an observer to be hired to make regular use of the telescope. Finding an observer who was both scientifically minded and a capable draftsman was not a trivial task and was complicated by the fact that he was required to do double duty as a tutor to the Parsons offspring. As a result, there was a significant turnover of observers, which complicated the Birr observing programme. The 3rd Earl was very mindful of the way in which the mind can play tricks in naked-eye observations (see also pp. 231–2): When certain phenomena can only be seen with great difficulty, the eye may imperceptibly be in some degree influenced by the mind; therefore a preconceived theory may mislead, and speculations are not without danger. On the other hand, speculations may render important service by directing attention to phenomena which otherwise would escape detection, just as we are sometimes enabled

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William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse to recognize a faint object with a small instrument, having had our attention previously directed to it by an instrument of greater power.1

Nasim 2 has made a detailed study of the Birr telescope nebulaeobserving strategy. The 3rd Earl, probably with the assistance of the Rev. Romney Robinson, who was an active Birr observer in the early years, evolved a methodology in which the observers were trained to make multiple observations of nebulae, which were recorded in their observing books and later transferred to a ledger, from which a definitive image was derived from the multiple images, often recorded by different observers. Nasim emphasises that the aim was generally to derive portraits of individual nebulae, with a concentration on their shape and appearance. Only later in the programme was there an attempt to make accurate maps. The care with which these portraits were assembled was extraordinary.

The critics There were probably some astronomers who resented this Irish upstart who dared to challenge the supremacy of William Herschel and his son, John, as the premier observers of nebulae. Otto Struve, Director of the Pulkova Observatory in Russia, spoke for the community when he said: ‘L’étude du ciel nébuleux parait être le domaine presque exclusif des Herschel’ (The study of the nebulous sky appears to be the exclusive domain of the Herschels).3 Professional astronomers naturally resented an amateur who had the means to build a telescope of a size that they could not contemplate. That the builder of the new telescope was Irish and that he had chosen a very original design did not help, either. The Leviathan had been built without the endorsement of the astronomical establishment and, if it was as good as it appeared on paper, it seemed set to dominate astronomy for the immediate future. It was a challenge to the British astronomical establishment; even Caroline Herschel, William Herschel’s extraordinary sister, when her nephew told her of the Earl’s achievement, was reported to have laughed at the very idea that an Irish earl could build a telescope which was larger than her brother’s.4 An early critic of the Leviathan was Richard Proctor, who wrote articles on astronomical subjects for popular magazines. In an article in Parsons W, 1850, 191–5. Nasim 2010/2013.

Struve 1847, 48. Hoskin 2003, 132.

1

3

2

4

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1869 that was, on the surface, laudatory of the power of the Leviathan (‘its ponderous six-feet [sic] mirror has been poised so skilfully [sic] that a child could guide its movements’), he was nonetheless critical of its resolving power.5 Wilhelm Tempel, a German astronomer working in Italy, cast doubt on the whole phenomenon of spiral nebulae because he could not see them himself in his smaller telescope.6 An observation of M 51 by Jean Charornac in 1862, using Foucault’s reflecting telescope (with a silvered-glass mirror of 80 cm diameter), has recently been critically compared, by Tobin and Holberg, with the Birr discovery image;7 they find that their image exhibits features not seen in the earlier Birr drawing. This might suggest that the resolution of the Leviathan at its best was not as good as it should have been. The credibility of the spiral structure was not helped by the claim of some observers to have seen structure in some nebulae which afterwards were found to be devoid of such structure (see Chapter 7). Lord Rosse himself was guilty of this, since he even claimed to see spiral structure in the companion to M 51. Others working with smaller telescopes made similar claims which were never substantiated. For many years there was controversy about the existence of the spirals; there was a suggestion that the figuring of the speculum was uneven and left circular patterns in its reflecting surface. There was also a suggestion that the discrepancies arose because the nebulae were variable in brightness. However, the use of photography to image nebulae was introduced in the 1880s, and soon astronomers did not have to depend on their eyes and the vagaries of the earth’s atmosphere to record what they thought they saw.

The response When a new visitor came to view the heavens through the Leviathan, the seeing might be poor and the inexperienced visitor might conclude that the resolution of the telescope was inferior, when in fact it was the observing conditions that were at fault. This was pointed out by the 4th Earl, who made a spirited defence of the optical quality of the Leviathan in a paper published after the death of his father8 (see also p. 204). In the same paper the 4th Earl effectively responded to Proctor’s hearsay – but well publicised – criticism9 in which, having described how wonderful Saturn was when seen through a small telescope, he tells an Proctor 1869, 755. Tempel 1878, 403–5. 7 Tobin 2008, 107–15.

Parsons L. 1880, 4. Proctor 1869, 755.

5

8

6

9

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anecdote of how it appears in the Leviathan: ‘In the Rosse telescope, well: all that we shall say is that a distinguishing [sic] foreign astronomer was once invited to look at the planet by its aid, and his account of what he saw was thus worded: “They showed me something and they told me it was Saturn, and I believed them”.’ This anecdote was repeated in a letter to The Times of London some 11 years later. Although not identified in print, Otto Struve, the distinguished Russian astronomer, felt that it was he who was referred to and was moved to write to the 4th Earl to deny any such statement by him concerning the merits of the Leviathan. His letter dissociating himself from any statement deriding the quality of the Leviathan was published in the 4th Earl’s paper.10 Pulkova Observatory, May 26th My Dear Lord Yesterday evening a friend conveyed to me a note inserted in The Times of April 3rd under the title ‘Three Great Telescopes’ in which I am told of having expressed myself in a very uncourteous manner on the optical qualities of the great reflector constructed by your father. I beg leave to say that these expressions are altogether invented by the anonymous author of the note, or, at least quite a voluntary and thoroughly wrong interpretation of what I may have said. I am sorry my name is abused in such a manner by people, who probably have a design of their own in deprecating the performance of the instrument, the construction of which marked in itself a high progress in optics and mechanics and which in its space penetrating power has not had any rival until now, though certainly with regard to definition (particularly where the mirror is considerably out of horizontal position) there are other instruments superior to it. Believe me, my dear Lord, Yours truly Otto Struve A reasonable conclusion therefore is that the Leviathan was indeed capable of very good definition but that, in practice, observations were often limited by the observing conditions.

Efficiency of observations The effectiveness of a telescope depends not just on its optical and mechanical accuracy but also on the percentage of the time that it can be 10

Parsons L. 1880, Appendix v.

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used and on how easy it is to use. Sadly, one of the contributions of the Leviathan to the development of optical astronomy was a negative one, in that it demonstrated that the location of the telescope must be chosen such as to have the optimum observing conditions. Many of the contemporaneous accounts of visits to the Birr telescopes mentioned the poor observing conditions. For example, in the commissioning observations, Sir James South11 mentioned that in the entire month of February 1845 it was impossible to see the Orion Nebula; and on the his visit the Astronomer Royal, Sir George Airy, reported that ‘the weather here is still vexatious: but not absolutely repulsive’.12 Nowadays nobody would consider building the largest telescope in the world at a location where the observing conditions were not optimal; these we now know must be above the inversion layer, so as to minimise the effect of atmospheric turbulence. Even today, it is not possible to define a site without an extended series of monitoring procedures to optimise the exact location, since a shift of location by a few tens of metres can have dramatic results. Equally critical is the overall climate, which determines the percentage of clear (cloudless) nights in a year. Thus the current favoured sites, high mountain tops in the Andes or on Hawaii, are as radically different from a sea-level site in the wet Irish midlands as can be. Of course, the site close to Birr Castle was not chosen on scientific grounds, but on grounds of convenience to the Earl and his family; there is no suggestion that any other site was considered. In fairness, the limitations of a bad site (and Birr was a terrible site for astronomical viewing) were not really known in 1828, when the 3rd Earl began his astronomical adventures. While there are considerable advantages in building a telescope without the necessity of approval by committees, there is also a disadvantage that personal considerations outweigh scientific priorities. The fundamental design of the Leviathan mounting was a further limitation. To move the telescope required no fewer than four assistants (see p. 200). Although manpower was not a problem for the lord of the manor, it did not make duplication of its operation practical for most observatories. All motion was effected by human effort. Although Sir James South13 was very apprehensive of the safety of the astronomer with the complicated method of observing, after his first observing stint he reported that within eight minutes the mirror could be uncovered and the first object acquired. Even with a modern telescope this would be 11 12

South 1845. Airy 1896, 198.

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South 1845.

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remarkable, and he may have been carried away by his enthusiasm for the new instrument. After an early visit to Birr, Airy complained of the slowness of finding a new object but, since observing methods may later have improved with practice, perhaps we should not regard this comment as too negative. There is no doubt that the limitation in observing objects within one half hour of Right Ascension of transit was a serious handicap. The massive masonry walls on either side of the telescope effectively blinkered it and limited prolonged observations of a given object. In later years, the operation of the Leviathan was modified so that only two assistants were required.

The country lord: gentle but firm Intellectual is not a word that springs to mind in describing the Anglo-Irish gentry of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. One thinks of them as, at their best, brave, dashing and witty; at their worst, drunken, dissipated and illiterate. But there has, of course, always been a leavening of less typical families, of these none are more interesting than the Parsonses of Birr.14 William Parsons, the 3rd Earl, was perhaps the most famous member of his distinguished family, but he was also the son of a statesman, the father of a distinguished astronomer and the father of the inventor of the steam turbine engine. His great-grandson remembered him as ‘kindly and genial’ and ‘singularly unpretentious’ and noted that, in his portraits, he appears serene.15 He had the reputation of being rather shy and self-effacing. He often let his collaborator, the Rev. Romney Robinson, be his spokesperson and the presenter of his results to learned societies. He was never happy in the House of Commons or the House of Lords, and earned no reputation as an orator. He had strong views on the landlord–tenant relationship, but these were expressed mainly in writing (see Chapter 5). He was perhaps happiest in his workshop, where he enjoyed the practical side of his engineering tasks. Robert Ball, one of his astronomers, described an occasion when one of his workmen dropped one of the mirrors which the Earl had himself made with many hours of personal labour. ‘The only remark of his lordship was that “accidents will happen”.’16 14 15

Girouard 1965. Parsons L. 1967.

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16

Ball 1895, 288.

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But, even as Lord Oxmantown, he had to take a stern role in maintaining civic order, since he was Lord Lieutenant of the County and Colonel of the Militia. Margaret Hogan (pp. 95–101) gives us details of the so-called Crotty Schism in the 1820s, involving the rancorous splitting of the Parsonstown Catholics between the parish priest and his curate. Both Margaret Hogan (p. 100) and Andrew Shields (p. 130) detail the trouble at Shinrone, ‘a hotbed of rampant Orangeism’, in 1828, when supporters of Daniel O’Connell’s campaign for Catholic Emancipation were poised to enter the town. Thanks to the combined efforts of the parish priest, Father Kennedy, the local attorney, Thomas Lalor Cooke and Lord Oxmantown, the situation was defused and the dangerous confrontation was averted. The 2nd Earl was heard to state afterwards that he had been informed by the Duke of Wellington that the successful outcome of this affair was ‘an eminently accelerating cause for conceding the Act of Catholic Emancipation’ in 1829.17

The 3rd Earl and the famine The 3rd Earl was mindful of the problems of Irish land use and tried to introduce some reforms. In 1841, he founded the Parsonstown Agricultural Society and was its principal financial support. He foresaw the Famine which was to devastate Ireland in 1845–48, and expressed concern about the alarming increase in population and subdivision of land (see pp. 142–3). Even before the Famine of 1845, the Parsons family had earned the reputation of being exemplary landlords. In 1843, the charitable work of Lady Rosse was commented on in The Illustrated London News: ‘she has taken the most lively interest in the poor, and is constantly improving and changing in order to afford them work’. These good works set the scene for the legendary contribution of the Parsons family during the 1845–48 Famine, when astronomical work essentially came to a standstill and much of the income from the estate was devoted to relief work. The Leviathan was then probably in its finest condition, with a pristine speculum. An obituary of the 3rd Earl was generous in its reference to his discharge of his civil obligations and his standing in the local society: ‘Dwelling among an excited people in troublous times, he was firm in enforcing the authority of the law, even to the risk of his personal safety; 17

Cooke, 1875, 207.

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… winning for himself a place in their hearts, and in time diverting the hostile feelings with which he had been regarded.’18 When he was laid to rest in St Brendan’s church in Parsonstown, in November 1867, his funeral was attended by some 4,000 of the local inhabitants, a fitting tribute to a conscientious landlord.

The demise of the Leviathan The astronomical tradition that the 3rd Earl had established at Birr Castle was continued by his son, the 4th Earl, who, like him, had been educated at home (mostly by tutors who doubled as resident astronomers) and at Trinity College. He was 27 when his father died and he succeeded to the title and the telescope (Figure 10.2). Although he published a comprehensive paper in 1880, listing the many years of nebulae observations,19 his attention by this time had switched to the measurement of the temperature of the moon, which did not require the use of the large telescope and for which he is justly remembered as a scientist. In 1880 he appointed Otto Boeddicker, a German, as resident astronomer (see p. 214). Over the next five years, some improvements were attempted on the Leviathan, but it was obvious that the telescope was not well suited for either photography or spectroscopy, which had become available since it was built and which were to revolutionise astronomical observations; hence the Leviathan fell into disuse. The power of the Leviathan as a naked-eye observatory for the study of nebulae was no longer unique. As the 4th Earl said: ‘Can the pencil of the draughtsman be any longer profitably employed upon nebulae, as seen through the 6-feet reflector when photography, to say the least, follows so closely on his heels?’20 Boeddicker continued to work at Birr Castle until 1916, when, as a German alien, he was required to repatriate to his native land. Much of his work on mapping the Milky Way at Birr had been done without the aid of the telescopes and was superseded by photographic surveys. Boeddicker’s failure to make use of ‘the greatest telescope in the world’ during his long stay in Birr was interpreted as a judgement on the usefulness of the instrument for astronomical research.21 The 4th Earl died in 1908 and, with him, died the astronomical tradition at Birr Castle (but there is a plan to locate a radio telescope in the Birr Demesne). Although the Leviathan was physically intact, it was 18 19

Challis 1869, 123. Parsons L. 1880.

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20 21

Parsons L. 1890, 755. Denning 1914, 347–8.

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10.2 Sir Laurence Parsons (1840–1908), 4th Earl of Rosse

never used again. The 4th Earl’s successor, the 5th Earl, was a casualty of the First World War in 1918, and his heir, the 6th Earl, inherited the title as a child. The social structure of Ireland had also changed. The day of the landed gentry’s controlling the Irish political (and economic) structure had come to an end. The franchise was extended beyond the landowning class and the big estates were gradually being broken up. Famine and emigration had taken their toll, and the population of Ireland was almost halved. A disastrous and bitter civil war followed independence from British rule, and there was severe economic hardship. There was a serious fire in Birr Castle in 1919, and the Castle was temporarily occupied by a military garrison during the civil war of 1922–24. The Parsons family decided that the better speculum should be sent to the British Museum for safe keeping. This was accomplished in 1914, although the late Sir Patrick Moore made a strong case for its return to

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Birr to form part of an astronomical museum.22 Although Birr Castle’s stable block, designed and built by Mary, Countess of Rosse in the 1840s–50s, has now been converted into Ireland’s Historic Science Centre, it still lacks the large speculum, which, ideally, should be its centrepiece. The Leviathan was reconstructed with a conventional mirror. The Centre is a fitting tribute to the astronomical tradition of Birr Castle and attracts many visitors. The decision to send the speculum to London can be seen in retrospect as a wise one, as there is no trace at Birr of the other speculum. By 1925, the wooden galleries that provided observer access to the telescope had been removed for safety reasons and the tube was left in the horizontal or rest position. The Leviathan as it existed in 1973 was a sad sight. Telescopes are versatile instruments and often have prolonged lifetimes, as they are adapted to different uses primarily by the use of different focal plane instrumentation. The Birr telescopes were designed to study the nebulae, and the assumption was that the observer would be making naked-eye observations. It could not be foreseen that telescopes would be required to have accurate drive systems which would permit photography with long exposures, or that instrumentation, such as a spectrograph, would be heavy and require an elaborate support structure in the focal plane. The absence of this flexibility in use inevitability led to the comparatively short lifetime of the Leviathan.

Science in Ireland before and after the demise The Irish golden age of astronomy, and perhaps also of science, can be said to have coincided with the prime of the Leviathan, between 1845 and 1885.23 When astronomy at Birr went into decline in the 1880s, the proud place that Ireland enjoyed in the astronomical universe was eclipsed. The new century was to bring dramatic changes in Ireland, changes that had a profound impact on the Birr astronomical tradition. The Leviathan and its telescopic companions had been an island of intellectual endeavour in a rural society where there was little emphasis on the value of scientific research. The old order was being abolished. If the fine scientific tradition that the Earls of Rosse had established in the nineteenth century could have survived the very great changes that came in the first few decades of the twentieth century, then perhaps some vestige of Irish scientific pride might have survived. Those who grew up in Ireland in the middle of the last century had little awareness of 22

Moore 1971, 71.

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the place in the history of science that Ireland had enjoyed through the efforts of Parsons family. That this history was not taught in Irish schools may have been at least partially from prejudice against the Anglo-Irish landlord class, who were seen as the cause of all Ireland’s legendary injustices; an enlightened family such as the Parsons, that did not fit this generalisation, did not seem worth mentioning. Thus, this author, who was educated at secondary school and university in Dublin in the mid-twentieth century, was barely aware of the scientific wonder that had taken place in Birr just a century before. Since he was to choose a career in astronomy in which the construction of telescopes (albeit of a different sort) was to be a critical part, this is all the more lamentable. What a fine role model the 3rd Earl would have been to young physicists in the twentieth century! This same point has been made by Professor Edward Walsh in his examination of the tradition of science teaching in Irish schools.24 Although a commission in 1898 had recommended the introduction of science for all National (primary) School students, the Revised Programme of Primary Instruction introduced by the Free State Government in 1934 removed science from the curriculum. Moreover, there was no attempt to relate the histories of those Irish men and women who had made significant scientific contributions. Walsh illustrates his point by mentioning that he was surprised to find, at a meeting near to Birr, that most of those in attendance were unaware of the famous Birr telescope. Had Birr survived as an internationally recognised astronomical entity, it might have stirred the young Irish government into a realisation of the value of science in the educational system. Instead, Ireland was virtually a scientific wasteland until well into the twentieth century. Although De Valera, the dominant figure in the new Irish state, was a mathematician, the De Valera government did little to foster science, apart from establishing the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies in 1940. He had not appreciated the connection of Charles Parsons with Birr, and was pleased when this was pointed out to him.25 ‘Education and research do not appear to have been central to the earlier stages of economic policy in the Republic. Education was seen as having largely a social and cultural purpose.’26 Not only was there little appreciation of the heritage that Irish scientists had left, but there was almost an anti-science culture in the schools. ‘One of the curricular innovations of the early Irish State was to 23 24

See Mollan 2007. Walsh 1999.

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25 26

7th Earl, personal communication. Thornhill 2005, 77.

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remove science education from the primary school curriculum in order to allow more time for teaching Irish.’27 Not until the 1960s was there any attempt to develop a science policy and, even then, it was a contentious and underfunded operation.28 This was a far cry from the idealism that had characterised the Birr Castle astronomical efforts of the previous century. It is good, though, to acknowledge that things have changed substantially for the better in recent decades, with recognition by successive governments of the importance of the knowledge economy, and the significance within it of science, technology and innovation. However, there is still little or no room for the history of science in the school curriculum.

Legacy What would the 3rd Earl have considered his own legacy? We can only surmise how he might have felt in his 67th year as he looked back on his career. Land reform was still heavy on his mind and he felt compelled to publish his views on the duties of the landlord as a pamphlet in this last year of his life.29 His last years were passed in poor health and in comparative seclusion. He had retired from public life and spent most of his time at Birr Castle ‘working on political and social questions’, and only left the Castle to go to nearby St Brendan’s church.30 He had plenty of time to review his achievements. His attempt to influence British naval policy towards iron-clad ships had fallen on deaf ears (p. 166). He had been an effective spokesperson for the consideration of engineering as an important element of science (p. 165). Had the pursuit of astronomy been a fulfilment of his early ambitions? He had pioneered the construction of a monster telescope in an unlikely place, at great personal expense and effort. Unlike his predecessors, he had published all the details of his telescope manufacture (Chapter 6). His proposals for land reform had been largely ignored by the political establishment in London (p. 102). His astronomical projects had achieved international accolades and put Birr on the astronomical map. He had made a major discovery, the existence of the spiral nebulae, but he had not achieved his primary ambition, which was to solve the problem of the nebulae by showing that they all could be resolved into individual clusters of stars (Chapter 7). He 27 28

Walsh 1999, 3. Thornhill 2005, 75–100.

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29 30

Parsons L. 1967. Ball 1915, 288.

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had seen new techniques developed, in particular, spectroscopy, which revealed the physical nature of the nebulae and provided an alternative mode of investigation that did not require very large telescopes. ‘His aim was not the vainglorious possession of something beyond the reach of his fellow-man – in which he would have preserved silence – but the extension of Astronomical research in his own and succeeding generations.’31 It must have been a source of great satisfaction to see his eldest son, Laurence Parsons, the future 4th Earl of Rosse, then aged 27, follow in his footsteps by choosing an astronomical career. He was to measure the temperature of the moon and to pioneer a new scientific discipline, infrared astronomy. The 3rd Earl would have been pleased to know that his youngest son, Charles, was to inherit his engineering skill and be recognised as the inventor of the steam turbine. Similarly, he must have rejoiced in the successful careers of his assistants who had trained under him and had learnt their trade well, as can be seen in their subsequent illustrious careers at other observatories. The 3rd Earl had a major part in the conception of a large speculum telescope that was built in Ireland and installed in Melbourne in 1868.32 But the days of the speculum telescope were numbered, and this 48-inch telescope was the last big one. Glass mirrors with silver coatings were coming into vogue. These were easier to figure and more rigid than specula. They were thus easier to mount, and their reflectivity was higher. It was also comparatively easy to provide a new coating, and this did not entail refiguring the glass. The 3rd Earl must surely have been disappointed that the ingenious design of the Leviathan would not be replicated in any future large telescope; also that the engineering techniques that he had so laboriously developed for the manufacture of specula would not come into common use. His consciousness of this trend can be seen in his attempt, in his last year, to write a manual for future makers of specula, his last, unfinished contribution to the art of telescope manufacture.33 This is a sad, unpublished document, a last bid to cement his rightful place in the history of telescope making.

31 32

Challis 1869, 123. King 1979, 264–7.

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33

Parsons W. 1867.

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References Airy 1896: Autobiography Sir George Biddell Airy, edited by Wilfrid Airy, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Ball 1895: Great Astronomers, by Robert Stawell Ball, Isbister and Co., London. Ball 1915: Reminiscences and Letters of Sir Robert Ball, edited by Valentine Ball, Little, Brown & Co., London. Challis 1869: ‘Obituary of William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse’, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 29, p. 123. Cooke 1875: The Early History of the Town of Birr, or Parsonstown, by Thomas Lalor Cooke, Robertson & Co., Dublin. Denning 1914: ‘Lord Rosse’s telescope’, by William F. Denning, The Observatory, 37, pp. 347–8. Girouard 1965: Birr Castle Demesne, the Home of the Earl and Countess of Rosse, by Mark Girouard, reprinted from Country Life. Hoskin 2003: Caroline Herschel’s Autobiographies, edited by Michael Hoskins, Science History Publications, Cambridge. King 1979: The History of the Telescope, by Henry C. King, Dover Publications, New York. This is an ‘unabridged and unaltered republication’ of the original 1955 book, published by Charles Griffin & Co., High Wycombe. Mollan 2007: It’s Part of What We Are – Some Irish Contributors to the Development of the Chemical and Physical Sciences, in two volumes, by Charles Mollan, Royal Dublin Society. Moore 1971: The Astronomy of Birr Castle, by Patrick Moore, Mitchell Beazley, London. Nasim 2010: ‘Observation, working-images, and procedure; the great spiral in Lord Rosse’s record books and beyond’, by Omar Nasim, British Journal for the History of Science, 43, pp. 353–89. Nasim 2013: Observing by Hand: Sketching the Nebulae in the Nineteenth-Century, by Omar Nasim, University of Chicago Press. Parsons L. 1880: ‘Observations of nebulae and clusters of stars made with the six-foot and three-foot reflectors at Birr Castle, from the year 1848 up to the year 1878’, by Laurence Parsons, Scientific Transactions of the Royal Dublin Society, 2, pp. 1–178. Parsons L. 1890: ‘The 3rd Earl of Rosse’s Observatory, Birr Castle’, by Laurence Parsons, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 50, p. 211. Parsons L. 1967: ‘Williams Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse’, Centenary Lecture, by Laurence Parsons, sixth Earl of Rosse, Trinity College, Dublin [unpublished]. Parsons W. 1867: Letters on the State of Ireland, by William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse, John Hatchard and Sons, London. Proctor 1869: ‘The Rosse telescope set to new work’, by Richard Proctor, Fraser’s Magazine for Town and Country, 1869, p. 755.

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South 1845: ‘The Earl of Rosse’s Leviathan telescope’, by Sir James South, The Times, 16 April 1845, p. 8. Struve 1847: Études d’astronomie stellaire sur la Voie Lactée et sur la distance des étoiles fixes, by Friedrich Georg Wilhelm Struve, St Petersburg, Imprimerie de l’Académie Impériale des Sciences. Tempel 1878: ‘Spiral form of nebulae’, by Wilhelm Tempel, The Observatory, 1, 403–5. Thornhill 2005: ‘Developing a research culture’, by Don Thornhill, in Science and Ireland – Value for Society, edited by Charles Mollan, Royal Dublin Society, pp. 75–100. Tobin 2008: ‘A newly-discovered accurate early drawing of M 51, the Whirlpool Nebula’, by W. Tobin and J. B. Holberg, Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage, 11, 2, pp. 107–15 Walsh 1999: ‘Science for All’, by Edward Walsh, The Irish Journal of Education, 1999, pp. 3–21.

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Select bibliography Select bibliography

The Scientific Papers of the 3rd Earl of Rosse, with some by the Reverend Thomas Romney Robinson, were reprinted by the Earl’s son, Sir Charles Parsons, in 1926 (see the Parsons C. reference below). Papers listed here which were so reprinted are marked with *. Airy 1849: ‘Substance of the lecture delivered by the Astronomer Royal on the large reflecting telescopes of the Earl of Rosse and Mr. Lassell’, by George Airy, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 9, pp. 110–21. Appleyard 1933: Charles Parsons, His Life and Work, by Rollo Appleyard, Constable & Co., London. Babbage 1864: Passages from the Life of a Philosopher, by Charles Babbage, Longman, London. Backhouse 1863: ‘Lord Rosse on the nebulae’, by Thomas Backhouse, Astronomical Register, 1, pp. 33–5. Bailey 2005: ‘Unwinding the discovery of spiral nebulae’, by Mark Bailey, John Butler and John McFarland, Astronomy & Geophysics, 46, pp. 26–8. Ball R. 1895: Great Astronomers, by Sir Robert S. Ball, Isbister & Co., London. Ball V. 1915: Reminiscences and Letters of Sir Robert Ball, edited by his Son, W. Valentine Ball, Cassell & Co., London. Becker 2011: Unravelling Starlight. William and Margaret Huggins and the Rise of the New Astronomy, by Barbara J. Becker, Cambridge University Press. Bennett 1976: ‘On the power of penetrating space: the telescopes of William Herschel’, by Jim Bennett, Journal of the History of Astronomy, 7, pp. 75–108. Bennett 1981: ‘The Rosse papers and instruments’, by Jim Bennett and Michael Hoskin, Journal for the History of Astronomy, 12, pp. 216–29. Bennett 1988: ‘Lord Rosse and the giant reflector’, by Jim Bennett, in Science in Ireland 1800–1930: Tradition and Reform, edited by J. R. Nudds,

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N. D. McMillan, D. L. Weaire and S. M. P. McKenna-Lawlor, Trinity College, Dublin, pp. 105–13. Bennett 1990: Church, State and Astronomy in Ireland: 200 Years of Armagh Observatory, by Jim Bennett, Armagh Observatory in association with the Institute of Irish Studies, The Queen’s University of Belfast. Bennett 1997: ‘Science and social policy in Ireland in the mid-nineteenth century’, by Jim Bennett, in Science and Society in Ireland: the Social Context of Science and Technology in Ireland 1800–1950, edited by Peter J. Bowler and Nicholas Whyte, Institute of Irish Studies, The Queen’s University of Belfast, pp. 37–84. Berry 1915: A History of the Royal Dublin Society, by Henry F. Berry, Longmans, Green & Co., London. Boeddicker 1936: ‘Description of chart of the Milky Way deposited with the Society’, by Otto Boeddicker, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 96, pp. 641–2. Bond 1860: ‘On the spiral structure of the great nebula of Orion’, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 21, pp. 203–7. Breen 1998: ‘Landlordism in King’s County in the mid-nineteenth-century’, by Gráinne C. Breen, in Offaly: History and Society: Interdisciplinary Essays on the History of an Irish County, edited by William Nolan and Timothy P. O’Neill, Geography Publications, Dublin, pp. 627–80. Challis 1869: ‘Obituary of William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse’, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 29, p. 123. Chandler 2001: Photography in Ireland, The Nineteenth Century, by Edward Chandler, Edmund Burke, Dublin. Chapman 1998: The Victorian Amateur Astronomer. Independent Astronomical Research in Britain 1820–1920, by Allan Chapman, John Wiley, Chichester. Cooke 1826: The Picture of Parsonstown in the King’s County, Containing The History of that Town from the Earliest Period to the Year 1798, Together with its Description at the Present Day, by Thomas Lalor Cooke, W. de Veaux, Dublin. Cooke 1875/1990: The Early History of the Town of Birr, or Parsonstown, with the Particulars of Remarkable Events There in More Recent Times also with the Towns of Nenagh, Roscrea, Banagher, Tullamore, Philipstown, Frankford, Shinrone, Kinnetty and Ballyboy, and the Ancient Septs, Princes, and Celebrated Places of the Surrounding Country, by Thomas Lalor Cooke, Robertson & Co., Dublin. Reprinted 1990, with Introduction by Margaret Hogan, at Esker Press, Tullamore, Co. Offaly. Crotty 1847/1850: A Narrative of the Reformation at Birr in the King’s County, Ireland, of which the Author was the Honoured Instrument, by the Rev. Michael Crotty, Hatchard, London; first edition 1847, second edition 1850. Crowley 2012: Atlas of the Great Irish Famine, edited by John Crowley, William J. Smyth and Mike Murphy, Cork University Press.

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Cudworth 1896: Manningham, Heaton and Allerton (Townships of Bradford), Treated Historically and Topographically, by William Cudworth, Published by Subscription, Bradford. D’Arrest 1865: ‘Über einige am Kopenhagener Refractor beobachtete Objecte aus Lord Rosse’s “List of nebulae not found”’, by Heinrich L. d’Arrest, Astronomische Nachrichten, 63, pp. 177–90. Davison 1989: Impressions of an Irish Countess, by David Davison, Birr Scientific and Heritage Foundation. Denning 1914: ‘Lord Rosse’s telescope’, by William Denning, The Observatory, 37, pp. 347–8. Dick 1845: The Practical Astronomer (including ‘A particular account of the Earl of Rosse’s Large Telescopes’), by Thomas Dick, Seeley, Burnside & Seeley, London. Dreyer 1878: ‘Supplement to Sir John Herschel’s “General Catalogue of nebulae and clusters of stars”’, by John L. E. Dreyer, Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy, 26, pp. 381–426. Dreyer 1909: ‘Lawrence Parsons, 4th Earl of Rosse’, by John L. E. Dreyer, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 69, pp. 250–3. Dreyer 1914: ‘Lord Rosse’s six-foot reflector’, by John L. E. Dreyer, The Observatory, 37, pp. 399–400. Dreyer 1953: New General Catalogue, Index Catalogue, Second Index Catalogue, by John L. E. Dreyer, Royal Astronomical Society, London. Firth 1990: Bradford and the Industrial Revolution, by Gary Firth, Ryburn Publishing, Halifax. Gascoigne 1996: ‘The great Melbourne telescope and other 19th century reflectors’, by Ben Gascoigne, Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society, 37, pp. 101–28. Girouard 1965: Birr Castle Demesne, the Home of the Earl and Countess of Rosse, by Mark Girouard, reprinted from Country Life. Glass 1997: Victorian Telescope Makers: the Lives and Letters of Thomas and Howard Grubb, by I. S. Glass, Institute of Physics, Bristol. Graves 1882/1885/1889: Life of Sir William Rowan Hamilton, by Robert Perceval Graves, Hodges Figgis & Co., Dublin, in three volumes. These were published in facsimile in 1975 by Arno Press, New York. Herschel J. 1833: ‘Observations of nebulae and clusters of stars, made at Slough, with a twenty-feet reflector, between the years 1825 and 1833’, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, 123, pp. 359–509. Herschel J. 1864: ‘Catalogue of nebulae and clusters of stars’, by John Herschel, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, 154, pp. 1–137. Hogan 1990: ‘Introduction’ by Margaret Hogan to the reprint of Cooke’s History of Birr, Esker Press, Tullamore, Co. Offaly, pp. i–xxxi. Hogan 1998: The Great Famine, Birr and District, by Margaret Hogan, Birr Historical Society.

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Hoskin 1982: ‘The first drawing of a spiral nebula’, by Michael Hoskin, Journal of the History of Astronomy, 13, pp. 97–101. Hoskin 1982: Stellar Astronomy. Historical Studies, by Michael Hoskin, Science History Publications, Cambridge. Hoskin 1990: ‘Rosse, Robinson, and the resolution of the nebulae’, by Michael Hoskin, Journal for the History of Astronomy, 21, pp. 331–44. Hoskin 2002: ‘The Leviathan of Parsonstown. Ambitions and achievements’, Journal for the History of Astronomy, 33, pp. 57–70. Hoskin 2012: The Construction of the Heavens – William Herschel’s Cosmology, by Michael Hoskin (with remarks by Wolfgang Steinicke and David Dewhirst), Cambridge University Press. Huggins 1864: ‘On the spectra of some nebulae’, by William Huggins, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, 154, pp. 437–44. Hyde 1987: ‘The calamity of the great Melbourne telescope’, by W. Lewis Hyde, Proceedings of the Astronomical Society of Australia, 7, pp. 227–30. Hyman 1982: Charles Babbage: Pioneer of the Computer, by Anthony Hyman, Oxford University Press. Keeler 1895: ‘Note on a case of differences between drawings and photographs of nebulae’, by James Keeler, Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 7, pp. 279–82. King 1979: The History of the Telescope, by Henry C. King, Dover Publications, New York. This is an ‘unabridged and unaltered republication’ of the original 1955 book, published by Charles Griffin & Co., High Wycombe. King 2001: Heaton: the Best Place of All. A History of Heaton in Bradford Dale, by John Stanley King, Bradford Arts, Museums and Libraries, Bradford. Malcomson 1998: ‘A variety of perspectives on Laurence Parsons, 2nd Earl of Rosse’, by Anthony Malcomson, in Offaly: History and Society: Interdisciplinary Essays on the History of an Irish County, edited by William Nolan and Timothy P. O’Neill, Geography Publications, Dublin, pp. 439–84. Malcomson 2008: Calendar of the Rosse Papers, by Anthony Malcomson, Irish Manuscripts Commission, Dublin. McKenna-Lawlor 1988: ‘Astronomy in Ireland from the late eighteenth century to the end of the nineteenth century’, by Susan McKenna-Lawlor, in Science in Ireland 1800–1930: Tradition and Reform, edited by J. R. Nudds, N. D. McMillan, D. L. Weaire and S. M. P. McKenna-Lawlor, Trinity College, Dublin, pp. 85–96. McMillan 1990: ‘Organisation and achievements of Irish astronomy in the nineteenth-century – evidence for a “network”’, by Norman McMillan, Irish Astronomical Journal, 19, pp. 101–18. Meehan 1972: The Members of Parliament for Laois and Offaly (Queen’s and King’s Counties) 1801–1918, by Patrick F. Meehan, Leinster Express Limited, Portlaoise.

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Mitchel 1847: ‘Lord Rosse’s Whirlpool nebula’, by Ormsby M. Mitchel, Sidereal Messenger, 2, pp. 30–1. Mollan 1995: Irish National Inventory of Historic Scientific Instruments, by Charles Mollan, Samton Limited, Dublin. Mollan 2007: It’s Part of What We – Some Irish Contributors to the Development of the Chemical and Physical Sciences, in two volumes, by Charles Mollan, Royal Dublin Society. Moore 1971/1981: The Astronomy of Birr Castle, by Patrick Moore, The Telescope Trust, Birr, and The Tribune Publishing Group, Birr, 1971; reprinted 1981. Morrell 1981: Gentlemen of Science: Early Years of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, by Jack Morrell and Arnold Thackray, Clarendon Press, Oxford. Nasim 2010: ‘Observation, working-images, and procedure; the great spiral in Lord Rosse’s record books and beyond’, by Omar Nasim, British Journal for the History of Science, 43, pp. 353–89. Nasim 2013: Observing by Hand: Sketching the Nebulae in the Nineteenth-Century, by Omar Nasim, University of Chicago Press. Nudds 1988: Science in Ireland 1800–1930: Tradition and Reform, Proceedings of an International Symposium held at Trinity College Dublin, March 1986, edited by John. R. Nudds, Norman D. McMillan, Denis L. Weaire and Susan M. P. McKenna-Lawlor, Trinity College, Dublin. O’Neill 1998: ‘The famine in Offaly’, by Timothy P. O’Neill, in Offaly: History and Society: Interdisciplinary Essays on the History of an Irish County, edited by William Nolan and Timothy P. O’Neill, Geography Publications, Dublin, pp. 681–738. Parsons B. 1982: Birr Castle, by Brendan Parsons, 7th Earl of Rosse, Irish Heritage Series No. 37, Eason & Son, Dublin. Parsons C. 1926: The Scientific Papers of William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse 1800–1867, collected and republished by The Hon. Sir Charles Parsons, K.C.B., F.R.S., Percy Lund, Humphries, London. This reference also contains papers by Thomas Romney Robinson describing the Birr telescopes. Reprinted by Cambridge University Press in 2011. Parsons L. 1811: Observations on the Present State of the Currency of England, by Laurence Parsons (2nd Earl of Rosse), J. J. Stockdale, London. Parsons L. 1834: An Argument to Prove the Truth of the Christian Revelation, by Laurence Parsons, 2nd Earl of Rosse, John Murray, London. Parsons L. 1866: ‘Description of an equatoreal clock’, by Lord Oxmantown (Laurence Parsons), Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 26, pp. 265–6. Parsons L. 1868*: ‘An account of the observations on the great nebula in Orion, made at Birr Castle, with the 3-feet and 6-feet telescopes, between 1848 and 1867’, by Laurence Parsons, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, 158, pp. 57–73. Reprinted in Parsons C. 1926, pp. 190–206.

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Parsons L. 1877: ‘Nebulous star in the Pleiades’, by Laurence Parsons, Nature, 15, p. 397. Parsons L. 1880: ‘Observations of nebulae and clusters of stars made with the six-foot and three-foot reflectors at Birr Castle, from the year 1848 up to about the year 1878’, by the Right Hon. The Earl of Rosse, D.C.L., F.R.S., Parts 1 and 2, August 1879, Part 3, June 1880, Scientific Transactions of the Royal Dublin Society, 2, pp. 1–136; 137–78; Appendix i–v. This paper was largely prepared for the press by J. L. E. Dreyer, who was employed at Birr from August 1874. Parsons L. 1880: ‘On some recent improvements made in the mountings of the telescopes at Birr Castle’, by the Earl of Rosse, F.R.S., Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, 171, pp. 153–60. Parsons L. 1890: ‘The 3rd Earl of Rosse’s Observatory, Birr Castle’, by Laurence Parsons, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 50, p. 211. Parsons L. 1907*: A Contribution to the History of Ironclads – Introductory Note by the Right Hon. The Earl of Rosse. Reprinted in Parsons, C. 1926, p. 207. Parsons R. undated (between 1914 and 1936): Reminiscences, by Randal Parsons, printed for private circulation only. Parsons W. 1828*: ‘Account of a new reflecting telescope’, by The Rt. Hon. Lord Oxmantown, M.P., &c., Edinburgh Journal of Science, 9, No. 17, pp. 25–30. Reprinted in Parsons, C. 1926, pp. 1–4. Parsons W. 1828*: ‘Account of an apparatus for grinding and polishing the specula of reflecting telescopes’, by The Rt. Hon. Lord Oxmantown, M.P., &c., Edinburgh Journal of Science, 9, No. 18, pp. 213–17. Reprinted in Parsons, C. 1926, pp. 5–7. Parsons W. 1830*: ‘Account of a series of experiments on the construction of large reflecting telescopes’, by The Rt. Hon. Lord Oxmantown, M.P., &c., Edinburgh Journal of Science, New Series 2, pp. 136–44. Reprinted in Parsons, C. 1926, pp. 8–13. Parsons W. 1840*: ‘An account of experiments on the reflecting telescope’, by the Rt. Hon. Lord Oxmantown, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, 130, pp. 503–28. Reprinted in Parsons C. 1926, pp. 80–104. Parsons W. 1844*: ‘Address by the President, the Earl of Rosse’, in Report of the Thirteenth Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, Held at Cork in August 1843, John Murray, London, pp. xxix–xxxiii. Reprinted in Parsons, C. 1926, pp. 44–9. Parsons W. 1844*: ‘Observations on some of the nebulae’, by William Parsons, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, 134, pp. 321–4. Reprinted in Parsons C. 1926, pp. 105–8. Parsons W. 1845*: ‘On the construction of large reflecting telescopes’, by the Earl of Rosse, in Report of the Fourteenth Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, Held at York in September 1844, John Murray, London, pp. 79–82. Reprinted in Parsons, C. 1926, pp. 49–52.

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Parsons W. 1846: ‘On the nebula 25 Herschel, or 61 of Messier’s catalogue’, by William Parsons, Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, Held at Cambridge in June 1845, John Murray, London, p. 4. Parsons W. 1847: Letters on the State of Ireland by a Landed Proprietor, by William Parsons (3rd Earl of Rosse), Bradbury & Evans, London. Parsons W. 1850: ‘Notice of nebulae lately observed in the six-feet reflector’, by the Earl of Rosse, Report of the Nineteenth Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, Held at Birmingham in September 1849, John Murray, London, pp. 53–6. Parsons W. 1850*: ‘Observations of the nebulae’, by the Earl of Rosse, Pres. R.S., &c., &c., Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, 140, pp. 499–514. Reprinted in Parsons, C. 1926, pp. 109–24. Parsons W. 1852*: ‘Plain specula of silver for reflecting telescopes’, by the Earl of Rosse, in Report of the Twenty-First Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, Held at Ipswich in July 1851, John Murray, London, pp. 12–14. Reprinted in Parsons, C. 1926, pp. 53–5. Parsons W. 1853*: ‘Drawings to illustrate recent observations of nebulae’, by the Earl of Rosse, with remarks by Rev. Dr. Robinson, Report of the Twentysecond Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, Held at Belfast in September 1852, John Murray, London, pp. 22–4. Reprinted in Parsons C. 1926, pp. 56–8. Parsons W. 1854*: ‘Address’, by the Earl of Rosse, Proceedings of the Royal Society, 7, pp. 248–63. Reprinted in Parsons C. 1926, pp. 72–9. Parsons W. 1854*: ‘Notes on experiments relative to lunar photography and the construction of reflecting specula’, by the Earl of Rosse, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 14, pp. 199–200. Reprinted in Parsons, C. 1926, pp. 67–9. Parsons W. 1854*: Letter from the Earl of Rosse to Sir Baldwin Walker, December 16, 1854. Reprinted in Parsons, C. 1926, p. 214. Parsons W. 1858*: ‘Mechanical science – address by Lord Rosse, the President of the Section’, in Report of the Twenty-Seventh Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, Held at Dublin in August and September 1857, John Murray, London, pp. 175–8. Reprinted in Parsons, C. 1926, pp. 60–3. Parsons W. 1860*: ‘Mathematics and physics – address by Lord Rosse, the President of the Section’, in Report of the Twenty-Ninth Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, Held at Aberdeen in September 1859, John Murray, London, pp. 1–3. Reprinted in Parsons, C. 1926, pp. 64–6. Parsons W. 1861*: ‘On the construction of specula of six-feet aperture; and a selection from the observations of nebulae made with them’, by the Earl of Rosse, K.P., F.R.S., Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, 151, pp. 681–745 Reprinted in Parsons, C. 1926, pp. 125–89.

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Parsons W. 1865*: Letter from the Earl of Rosse to Sir John Burgoyne, September 15, 1865. Reprinted in Parsons, C. 1926, pp. 218–19. Parsons W. 1867: ‘Materials for a manual on the construction of reflecting telescopes, collected by the Earl of Rosse during part of the years 1866 and 1867; to be put away in a safe place, Nov. 8, 1867’, by the 3rd Earl of Rosse, Birr Castle Archives L/4/4. Parsons W. 1867: A Few Words on the Relations of Landlord and Tenant in Ireland and in Other Parts of the United Kingdom, by William Parsons (3rd Earl of Rosse), John Murray, London. Proctor 1869/1894: The Orbs Around Us: A Series of Familiar Essays on the Moon and Planets, Meteors and Comets, the Sun and Coloured Pairs of Stars, by Richard A. Proctor, New Edition, Longmans, Green, & Co., London. The essay quoted: ‘The Rosse telescope set to new work’, was first published in Frazer’s Magazine in December 1869. Reilly 2012: ‘King’s County during the great famine’, in Atlas of the Great Irish Famine, edited by John Crowley, William J. Smyth and Mike Murphy, Cork University Press, pp. 349–53. Robinson 1840*: ‘An account of a large reflecting telescope lately constructed by Lord Oxmantown’, by the Rev. Dr Thomas Romney Robinson, Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, 2, pp. 2–12. Reprinted in Parsons C. 1926, pp. 14–19. Robinson 1845*: ‘On Lord Rosse’s telescope’, by the Rev. Dr Thomas Romney Robinson, Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, 3, pp. 114–33. Reprinted in Parsons 1926, pp. 20–31. Robinson 1848*: ‘An account of the present condition of the Earl of Rosse’s great telescope’, by the Rev. Dr. Thomas Romney Robinson, Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, 4, pp. 119–28. Reprinted in Parsons C. 1926, pp. 32–7. Robinson 1848*: ‘Observations of the nebula, Herschel 44’, by the Rev. Dr Thomas Romney Robinson, Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, 4, pp. 236–7. Reprinted in Parsons C. 1926, pp. 37–8. Robinson 1853*: ‘Drawings to illustrate recent observations on nebulae’, by the Rev. Dr Thomas Romney Robinson, Reports of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, 22, pp. 22–3. Reprinted in Parsons C. 1926, pp. 56–8. Robinson 1867: ‘Obituary of William Parsons’, by the Rev. Dr Thomas Romney Robinson, Proceedings of the Royal Society, 16, pp. xxxvi–xlii. Rogers 1974: ‘Reformation in Birr (Part II)’, by Robert J. Rodgers, in The Bulletin of the Presbyterian Historical Society of Ireland, No. 4, April 1974, pp. 2–6. Russell 1845: ‘The Earl of Rosse’s telescopes’, anonymous but by Dr Charles Russell, Dublin Review, 18, March and June 1845, pp. 1–43. This article was republished, though without acknowledging the author, in the book The Monster Telescopes Erected by the Earl of Rosse, Parsonstown, which

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contained text attributed to, but not actually written by, William Parsons, Cambridge University Press, 2010. Scaife 1995: The Making of the Rosse Telescope, by Garrett Scaife, Institution of Engineers of Ireland Heritage Society Meeting, 27 November 1995. Scaife 2000: From Galaxies to Turbines – Science, Technology and the Parsons Family, by Garrett Scaife, Institute of Physics Publishing, Bristol. Schaffer 1989: ‘The nebular hypothesis and the science of progress’, by Simon Schaffer, in History, Humanity and Evolution, edited by J. R. Moore, Cambridge University Press, pp. 131–64. Schaffer 1998: ‘The Leviathan of Parsonstown: literary technology and scientific representation’, by Simon Schaffer, in Inscribing Science: Scientific Texts and the Materiality of Communication, edited by Timothy Lenoir, Oxford University Press, pp. 182–222. Senior 1868: Journals, Conversations and Essays relating to Ireland, in two volumes, by Nassau Senior, Longman, Green and Co., London. Shields 2007: The Irish Conservative Party, 1852–68: Land, Politics and Religion, by Andrew Shields, Irish Academic Press, Dublin. Steinicke 2010: Observing and Cataloguing Nebulae and Star Clusters – from Herschel to Dreyer’s New General Catalogue, by Wolfgang Steinicke, Cambridge University Press. Steinicke 2011: ‘Eine Frage der Ehre – der Wettstreit um den weltgrößten Refraktor’, by Wolfgang Steinicke, Sterne und Weltraum, 50, no. 8, pp. 44–53. Steinicke 2012: ‘The M 51 Mystery – Lord Rosse, Robinson, South and the discovery of spiral structure in 1845’, by Wolfgang Steinicke, Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage, 15, pp. 19–29. Tempel 1878: ‘Spiral form of nebulae’, by Wilhelm Tempel, The Observatory, 1, pp. 403–5. Tobin 2008: ‘A newly-discovered accurate early drawing of M 51, the Whirlpool nebula’, by W. Tobin and J. B. Holberg, Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage, 11, 2, pp. 107–15 . Tobin 2008: ‘Full-text search capability. A new tool for researching the development of scientific language. The “Whirlpool Nebula” as a case study’, by William Tobin, Notes and Records of the Royal Society, 62, pp. 187–96. Tubridy 1998: Reconstruction of the Rosse Six Foot Telescope, by Michael Tubridy, edited by Brigid Roden, Birr Castle. Ward 1858: A World of Wonders Revealed by the Microscope, by The Hon. Mrs. Ward, Groombridge & Sons, London. Ward 1859: Telescope Teachings, by The Hon. Mrs. Ward, Groombridge & Sons, London. Weekes 2010: ‘The nineteenth-century spiral nebula whodunit’, by Trevor Weekes, Physics in Perspective, 12, pp. 146–62. Whyte 1995: ‘“Lords of ether and of light”: the Irish astronomical tradition

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of the nineteenth century’, by Nicholas Whyte, Irish Review, 17/18, pp. 127–41. Wood 1971: ‘Gallic acid and Talbot’s calotype patent’, by R. Derek Wood, Annals of Science, 27, pp. 47–83. Woods 1844: The Monster Telescopes Erected by the Earl of Rosse, Parsonstown, With an Account of the Manufacture of the Specula, and Full Descriptions of All the Machinery Connected with these Instruments, second edition, by Thomas Woods, Shields and Son, Parsonstown. Reprinted by Cambridge University Press, 2010 (incorrectly citing William Parsons as author).

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Index Index

Aberdeen 165 Aberdeen, Lord 313, 316 Académie des Sciences, Paris 71 Act of Union 1800 3, 7, 17, 28, 30, 31, 90, 93, 124–5, 133, 305 Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge 287 Agricultural Revolution (British) 140 Airy, George Biddell 65, 238, 271, 301, 304, 311–15, 319, 335–6 Albert Hall 63 Albert, Prince Consort 10, 63, 309, 311, 314 Amateur Photographic Association 79–81 America 135, 144, 278–80, 283–4 Amsterdam 68 An Post xxii, 11 Andes, The 335 Andrews Professor of Astronomy 287, 289 Andrews, Francis 37, 274, 287 Arago, François 71 Arcetri Observatory, Florence 251–2 Archer, Frederick Scott 75 Ardsley, near Leeds 52 Argyll, Duke of 311, 313, 316 Arkwright, Richard 47 Armagh 292 Catalogue (5,345 stars) 289, 313 Mechanics’ Institute 292

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Observatory 41, 172, 184, 212, 230, 234, 274, 278, 288, 289, 302–3, 312 Archbishop of 41, 55 Arctic, the 69 Ashbourne, Derbyshire 80 Ashburton, Lord 311 Astronomer Royal 30, 65, 68, 238, 271, 286, 301, 304, 319, 335 Astronomer Royal for Scotland 309 Astronomical Society – see Royal Astronomical Society Athenaeum 304, 307–8, 314 Athlone 102 Athy, County Kildare 15 Aughrim, Battle of 23 Austhorpe Lodge, Leeds 51, 52 Australia xiv, 271–2, 278, 316, 320 Austrian Tyrol 68 BAAS 8, 116, 299, 301, 304–7, 309, 315–16 Aberdeen 1859 165 Belfast 1852 315, 319 Birmingham 1849 314, 316, 318 Cambridge 1845 227, 232–3, 307 Cork 1843 164, 222, 299, 305–6 Dublin 1835 305 Dublin 1857 37, 114, 165, 315, 319 Edinburgh 1850 315 Ipswich 1851 304, 315

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Index York 1831 305 York 1844 306 Babbage, Charles 64, 299, 300, 302, 311, 317, 318 Backhouse, Thomas 256 Bacon, Francis 163 Ball, Robert Stawell 34, 160, 162–3, 188, 190, 202, 212–13, 225, 249, 259–61, 266, 289–93, 336 Valentine (son) 190 Ballybrit, County Offaly 91, 105 Banagher, County Offaly 22 Bangor, Lord 67 Bank of England 132 Bath, Somerset 49, 274 Bay of Biscay 68 Bede, Cuthbert 75 Bede, Venerable 273 Belamont Forest, Dublin 14 Belfast 162, 319 Presbyterian Church 96 Belgium 97 Bell Burnell, Jocelyn xiii, xvi–xviii, xxi Bennett, Jim 174 Beresford, John George de Poer 55, 288 Berlin 272, 282–3, 290 Bernard, Thomas 133, 134 Berwick, Duke of 22 Bible, The 40, 148–9 Big Wind, 6 January 1839 197 Biggs, Mr 167 Birmingham, John 10, 283–5, 289 Tommy 171 Birr Catholic Church (chapel) 7, 31, 90, 94–6, 98, 128 Church of Ireland Church, St Brendan’s 7, 90, 94, 338, 342 Convent of Mercy 94, 116 Crotty Church 7, 96 Gallows Hill 106 Ireland’s Historic Science Centre xiii, 12, 70, 119 John’s Hall – see Birr – Mechanics’ Institute John’s Mall 33, 68, 328, 330

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Mechanics’ Institute 102, 114 Methodist Church 7, 90, 94 Model National School 149 Scientific and Heritage Foundation v, xiii, xxi, xxii statue of 3rd Earl 329–30 workhouse xiv, 58, 100, 102–3, 108–10 Birr Castle darkroom 73, 87 Entrance Gate 60, 70, 74, 85 history 17–29 improvements by Countess Mary 59–60, 74 Keep Gate 57, 60–1, 70, 74 schoolroom 32 suspension bridge 79, 85, 162–3 Birt, William 315 Bishop of Rome 98 Blacker, William 140–1 Board of Works 109, 166 Boeddicker, Otto 214, 263, 338 Bog of Allen xvii, 225 Boleyn family 26 Bond, George 251–2 Borrisokane, County Tipperary 103 Boston 280, 294 Boyle, Richard, Earl of Cork 18 Robert 18, 164 Boyne, Battle of the 22 Bradford, Yorkshire xix, 15, 45–7, 55, 101, 116 Bradford to Keighley turnpike 46 canal 46 Mechanics’ Institute 54 Volunteer Corps 48 Bradley, Edward 75 Brahe, Tycho 290 Bray, County Wicklow 283 Breen, Hugh (senior) 292 Hugh (junior) 292 James 292 John William 292 Bremiker, Carl 282 Brewster Stereoscopic Viewer 86 Brewster, David 300, 305, 312, 314–5, 317

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Index

Brighton 63, 67, 101, 116, 313 Brinkley, John 37, 38, 287–8, 302 Bristol 305 British Academy xiv British Army 143 British Association for the Advancement of Science – see BAAS British Broadcasting Corporation xiv British Museum 9, 314, 317, 339 Brosna, County Offaly 114 Brown, Elizabeth 273 Browne, Denis 127, 132 Browning spectroscope 260 Buckingham Palace 63 Bunsen, Robert 279 Burdett, Mr 105 Burgoyne, John 166 Burlington House, Piccadilly 311 Burren, The 69 Burton, Charles Edward 214, 261 Butlers of Ormond 19 Caledon, Countess of 79 Caledonian Canal 67 California xvi, 205, 264 Callan, Nicholas 11, 151 Cambridge Observatory 256 Camcor, River 24, 79, 85, 94, 160–3 Campden Hill, London 286 Canada xiv cannon 114–15 Cape of Good Hope 275, 286, 318 Carlile, James 96, 97, 99 Carrickmacross, County Monaghan 288 Carroll, Owen 22 Cashel, County Tipperary 100 Catholic Association 123, 127, 129–30, 133 Catholic Committee 129 Catholic Emancipation 116, 123, 125, 128–31, 133–4, 145, 311, 337 Catholic Emancipation Act 1829 100, 113, 337 Catholic Relief 129–30

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Catholic University, Dublin 152 Cauchoix, Robert Aglaé 281, 286, 289 Cauchy, Augustin 312 Caulfield, Susan 166 Cavendish, Henry 164 Challis, James 228 Chalmont, Charles 23 Chapman, Allan xiii, 10 Charles I, King 20 Charles II, King 21 Charleville, Lady 134 Lord 104, 135 Charornac, Jean 333 Chatterton, Georgiana 58 Chaucer Head Antiquarian Booksellers xiv Chearnley, Samuel 24–6 Cheltenham 303 China 16 Chippenham, Wiltshire 71 Christchurch Cathedral, Dublin 3 Christie, William 286 chromatic aberration 174 Church Education Society 149–50 Church of Ireland 122, 149, 195, 216, 288 Clancarty, Lord 149 Clarendon, Lord 138, 154 Clark, Alvan 280, 283, 293–4 Clara xxii Clarke, E.M. 72 Clere, Mary 15 Clerke, Agnes Mary 10, 173, 273, 285–6 Aubrey 285 Ellen Mary 285 John William 285 Cloghan, County Offaly 105 Cloghnevoe, County Offaly 15 Clonlisk, County Offaly 105 Clonmacnoise, County Offaly 103 Cloyne, County Cork 37 Coghlan, William 170, 277 Colonial Office 320 Connemara 97

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Index Conner, William 140–1 Conroy, Alicia – see Parsons, Alicia Edward 55, 168 Conservative Party (Irish) 134, 146, 148–51, 154 Cooke-Hurle, Alison – see Parsons, Alison, 7th Countess of Rosse Cooke, Thomas Lalor 90, 92, 94–6, 100, 114–15, 284, 293–4, 337 Cooper, Edward Joshua 10, 38, 257, 281–2, 286, 293–4, 312 Copeland, Ralph 214, 261–2, 266 Copenhagen University 256, 261 Copernican heliocentric system 52 Copernicus, Nicolaus 290 Cork xix, 8 Corn Exchange 305–6 County 18, 273, 285 Corunna battlefield 68 Court of the Star Chamber 18 Cox, Captain 106, 108 Crab Nebula (M 1) 221–2, 226, 264 Craig Millar, Scotland 15 Craig, Robert 162 Crawford, Horatio 288 Crimean War 114, 275, 319 criminal commitments by County 1843 113–14 Crinkill, County Offaly 91, 93 Crofton, Augusta 75 Crofton, Lord 75 Croker, John Wilson 12 Crompton, Henrietta M. 187, 192 Cromwell, Oliver 69 Crotty, Michael 6–7, 95, 97–8 William 96–8 Crotty Schism 92–3, 95–101 Crystal Palace 73 Cullen, Cardinal 150 Curie, Marie 11 d’Arrest, Heinrich Ludwig 256–7, 261 Daguerre, Louis 71 Daingean, County Offaly 104 Dalkey School Project 8

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359

Danes, The 3 Daramona House, County Westmeath 280 Darby, William A. 244, 264 Daubeny, Charles 36–7 Davenport, William 172 Davison, David xiii, xxi, xxii, 5, 44, 316 de Ginkell, Godert 23 de Laplace, Pierre-Simone 215, 218, 237, 244 de Sacrobosco, Johannes 273 De Valera, Eamon 341 Deasy, Catherine 285 Deimos 283 Denby Grange, Yorkshire 16 Denmark 256, 259 Denning, William 238, 263 Derby, Lord 311, 313, 316–18 Derry, County 15 Dewer, Messrs (founders) 182 Dickens, Charles 63, 305 Didsbury College xiv Digby of Geashill 104 Disraeli, Benjamin 318 Dixon, Stephen 280 Donnelly, Dervilla xxi Donoughmore, Lord 123, 148 Dorpat 315 Down, County 149 Doyle, Bishop 99 Draper, Anna Palmer 279 Henry 279 Dreyer, John Louis Emil xviii, 214, 222, 230, 232, 252, 254–6, 259–63, 266 Drought, John 94 Drummond, Thomas 146 Dublin Castle 105, 107, 110, 146 Institute of Technology xiv Institute for Advanced Studies v, xxii, 341 International Exhibition 1865 87 Mansion House 117 Photographic Society 79 School of Design 253

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360

Index

Dublin Society – see Royal Dublin Society Dublin tourism 11 Dublin University – see Trinity College Dublin Duffy, Michael xxi Duncombe, Arthur 55, 67 Delia – see Field, Delia Jane 67 Dunsink Observatory 12, 37, 38, 41, 261, 274, 287, 289, 291, 302 Durrow, County Laois 112 Durrow Abbey, Tullamore 144 Eades, William 171 Eagon, George 28 Easter Rising 1916 31 Eastlake, Charles 317 Ecclesiastical Tithes Act 1851 117 Edgeworth, Maria 29, 32 Edinburgh xxii, 174, 287 City Observatory 287 Edinburgh Journal of Science 300 Edison, Thomas 11 Educate Together 8 Edward, Prince of Wales 63 Eglinton, Earl of 117 Egyptian beans 108 Einstein, Albert 11 Elizabeth I, Queen 3, 17 Elliott, Ian xxi Ely O’Carroll 19, 20 emigration 123, 143–4, 146 Encke, Johann 283 Enniskillen, County Tyrone 288 Erasmus Prize for European Culture xiv Erck, Wentworth 283 Eton College 281 Evangelical Protestant campaign 127 eviction 111 Famine, Great Irish Potato xvii, xviii, 6, 31, 48, 58, 71, 91–2, 101, 103–12, 118, 138, 142–3, 146, 234, 303, 314, 339

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Famine fatigue 109 Faraday, Michael 71 Fenian Rising 1867 90 Fenians 116 Fenton, Catherine 14, 17–18 Geoffrey 14, 17–18 Ferbane 109 Feversham, Lord 67 Field, Anne 168 Delia 47, 49–52, 55, 64, 67 John Wilmer 45–53, 168 John, ancestor of John Wilmer Field, 52 Joshua 46, 51–2 Mary – see Parsons, Mary, 3rd Countess of Rosse Fiels and Cleaver (bankers) 47 First World War 339 Fitzgerald–Lorenz contraction 280 Fitzgerald, George Francis 280 Fitzgerald, Mr (Ferbane) 109 Fitzsimon, Nicholas 101, 135–6 Flood, Henry 26–7, 124 Florence 251 Foley, John Henry 119 Forbes, James David 314 Foster, Roy 125 Foucault, Léon 175, 204, 315, 333 France 23, 26, 71, 95, 151, 165–6, 271–2 Franklin, John 69 French Revolution 151 Galileo Galilei 11 Galway 99, 102, 149 Galway Bay 69 County 283 gas lighting 114 Gascoigne, Ben 169 Geashill 104 General Catalogue (Herschel) – see Slough catalogue General Post Office, Dublin 28 Genesis, Book of 39 Geological Society 309–10 George III, King 169, 274

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Index Germany 169, 201, 272, 282, 290, 293, 333, 338 Gill, David 286 Isobel 286 Gladstone, William 147, 288 Glasgow 305 Observatory 215, 227 Gloire (warship) 166 Gloster, Birr 15 Graham, Andrew 282–3, 293 Grand Canal 107 Grand Juries 105 Grand Masonic Dinner, Birr 1845 102 Grattan’s Parliament 17 Great Cumberland Street, London 309–10 Green Boys 100, 101, 113 Greenwich Hospital 80 Greenwich Royal Observatory – see Royal Observatory, Greenwich Gregory, William 130 Gretna Green 55, 168 Grey, Charles 133 grinding and polishing machine 188–91 Grinke Park, Yorkshire 46 Grubb Telescope Company xvii Grubb–Parsons xvii Grubb, Howard 280, 288, 289, 294, 318 Thomas 38, 176, 184, 278, 280, 281, 282, 293, 294, 318–20 Grubb, M. 80 Hague, The 68 Halley, Edmond 274 Hamilton, Claud 138 George Alexander 151 William Rowan 41, 64–5, 180, 302, 305, 312 Hancock, William Neilson 147 Handel 24 Hanham, H.J. 126–7 Hanoverian Foot Guard 169, 274 Hargreaves, James 47

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Harlem 68 Harrowgate 3 Harvard College Observatory 251 Harvey-Hawke, Cassandra – see Parsons, Cassandra, 4th Countess of Rosse Hawaii 335 Hawke, Lord 68 Heaton Hall 168 Heaton, Yorkshire xix, 45–54, 64, 101 Helmsley, Yorkshire 46–7 Hencke, Karl 282 Hennessy, John Pope 150 Henry VII, King 69 Herschel, Caroline 273, 332 Herschel, John xviii, 10, 40, 175, 211, 215, 218–19, 227, 229, 232, 234, 254–6, 258, 261, 274, 275, 278, 279, 300, 301, 304, 307, 312, 316–17, 320, 332 William xviii, 10, 34, 169–70, 173–6, 178, 193–5, 201, 210, 212, 214–18, 220, 229, 242, 250, 253–5, 260, 263, 266, 274–6, 278, 286, 294, 301, 302, 332 Hill and Adamson (photographers) 71 Hogan, Margaret xiv, 6, 337 Holberg, J.B. 333 Holyhead, Wales 57 Hooker telescope xvi House of Commons, Irish 26, 31, 116, 124, 125, 127 House of Commons, Westminster 7, 92, 101, 110, 113, 122, 123, 125, 127, 129, 132, 148, 336 House of Lords, Westminster 7, 28, 92, 116, 135, 138, 336 howitzer guns 166–7 Huggins, Margaret 273, 279 William 238–9, 256, 260, 279, 284, 289, 294 Hume, Joseph 318 Hunter, Samuel 212–13, 225, 242, 247, 248, 252–3, 259–60, 266, 301

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Index

Huxley, Thomas Henry 316, 318 Hyams, Blanche 75 Hyde Park 301 Illustrated London News ix, 117, 306, 337 Independent Club 133–4 Indian corn/meal 104, 106–7 Industrial Revolution 46, 141, 278 infrared astronomy 343 Inglis, Robert Harry 311, 316 Insolvent Court of Ireland 126 Institute of Physics xiii in Ireland v, xxii Institution of Civil Engineers 11 Ireland’s Historic Science Centre xiii, 12, 70, 119, 340 Irish Civil War 339 Irish Conservative Party 123 Irish Free State Government 341 Irish Georgians vi Irish Land Act 1870 147 Irish National Education System 123, 148–50, 311 Irish Parliament 30 iron-clad ships 10, 166 Isle of Dogs 80 Isle of Wight 67 Italy 285, 333 James II, King 21–22 Jarrow, Northumbria 273 Johnston, Denis 8 Michael 8 Jupiter 181 Kennedy, Patrick 7, 97–100, 337 Kensington 212, 263 Kilbury, County Tipperary 15, 26 Kildare, County 15, 151 Kilkenny 127 Killaloe, County Clare 97, 99 Killeen, County Tipperary 106 Kilnwick, Yorkshire 67 King, Harriet 67 Mary – see Ward, Mary

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King’s County Chronicle 91, 101, 102, 106, 110 King’s County Militia 6, 337 Kirchoff, Rudolf 279 Kirkheaton, Yorkshire 97 Knight’s (camera makers) 77 Knockshegowna, County Tipperary 64 Knox, Arthur E. 65, 168 Jane – see Parsons, Jane, sister of 3rd Earl Kortryk, Belgium 97 Lalor, James Fintan 141 Lancaster gun 167 land reform 342 tenure 303 subdivision of 102 Lands End 67, 69 Lassell, William 222, 256–7, 275, 277–8, 281, 291 Latin America 131 Lawson, Susan 49, 50, 52, 74 le Gray, Gustave 77 Leeds, Yorkshire 51 Legge, Mrs 94 Legion of Honour 10 Leicestershire 14 Leonid display 1866 292 Leveson-Gower, Francis 130 Leviathan of Parsonstown – christening 223 Lewis, George Cornewall 319 Leyell, Charles 305–7, 312 Lighting of Towns Act 1828 114 Lilcoln’s Inn Fields 285 Limerick 91, 96 Bishop of 67 Siege of 22 Lin, Anna, Lady Oxmantown 16 Lindsay, Margaret – see Huggins, Margaret Linnean Society 310 Lismore Castle, County Cork 18 Lister-Kaye, Lois – see Parsons, Lois, 5th Countess of Rosse

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Index Little Brosna, river 24 Liverpool 275, 278, 305 Lloyd, Alice – see Alice, 2nd Countess of Rosse Colonel 100 Humphrey 152, 311–13, 315 Loftus, Adam 19–20 London, Great Exhibition 1851 10, 63, 70, 73, 75, 301, 311, 314 Longford, County 14 Lorenz, Hendrik 280 Louvain 151 Lovelace, Ada 273 Lovell, Bernard vi Lunar Committee 315 lunar temperature 263 Macaulay, Thomas 63 MacCullagh, James 312 Mackenzie, Alice 50 McClintock, Leopold 65 McDowell, Daniel xiv, xxi, 5 McKenna-Lawlor, Susan 38 MacMahon, Bishop 96–7 Mahon, Jane 67 Malham, Anne 15, 20 Malta 256, 281 Manchester xiv, 190, 278 Metropolitan University xiv Manningham Mills 47 Markree Castle, County Sligo 257, 281–2, 286, 293 Married Women’s Property Act 1882 44 Mars 204, 283 Mary I, Queen 69 Mary II, Queen 22 Mary’s Abbey, Dublin 96 Maskelyne, Nevil 68 Maynooth College 7, 11, 116, 95, 148, 150–2, 272, 311 Mayo, County 127 Melbourne 8, 320 great telescope 278, 343 Meredith, Robert 19 Mesopotamia 317

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Messel, Anne – see Parsons, Anne, 6th Countess of Rosse Messier, Charles 218, 274 Metis 282 Midland Tribune 167 Milbrook House, Tuam, County Galway 283, 285 Minchin, George 280 Mitchel, John 116 Ormsby 237 Mitchell, R.J. 212–13, 247, 249, 252, 254, 256, 258, 265–6 Mohr, Paul 283 Mollan, Charles v, xiv, xx, 315 Molyneux, William 124 Monaghan, County 288 Monck, William H.S. 280 Monkstown, County Dublin 68 Montgomery, Bob 168 Moon, the 181, 199, 225, 263, 278, 338 Moore, Patrick vi, 11, 171, 339 Moses 40 Mote Park, Roscommon 75 Mount Wilson xvi, 205, 264 Mulvaney, W.T. 109 Murphy, Ignatius 97 Murray, Archbishop 99 Museum of Irish Industry 152 Naas, Lord 123, 148 Napoleon III 10 Napoleonic Wars 47, 127 Nasim, Omar 332 Nasmyth, James 277–8, 291, 317 National Education Board 96, 148–9 National Tenant League 146 Nebular Hypothesis 214–18, 227–8, 231, 236–8, 244, 264, 302, 304 Neptune 282 New General Catalogue (Dreyer) xviii, 255, 265 New Guinea 316 Newcastle, County Longford 14 Newgrange 273

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Index

Newton, Isaac 40, 169, 176–7, 201, 215, 275, 283, 290 Newtown Limavaddy, County Derry 15 Nichol, John Pringle 215–16, 227–8, 233, 237 Nicholson, Asenath 115 Norbury, Elizabeth 55 Lord 112, 144–5 Norfolk 3 North Pole 65 Northampton, Earl of 305, 307, 310 nova – discovery of first 284 Nymans, Sussex 16 O’Carroll Clan 19, 27 O’Connell, Daniel 7, 101, 108, 113, 125, 127–8, 133–5, 143, 145–6, 305, 337 Offaly, County 15 Office of Public Works 104 Orion Nebula (M 42) 211, 214, 216, 218, 222–3, 226–8, 236–8, 250–1, 253, 260, 262–3, 276, 283, 335 outdoor relief 110 Owl Nebula (NGC 2438) 242–4, 250 Oxburgh, Hugh 21–3 Oxmantown, Lord – see Parsons, Laurence Patrick Paine, Thomas 47 Palace of Science 310 Palmerston, Lord 313 papal supremacy 150 Paris 71, 95–6, 272 Exhibition 1855 10 Parsons Alice, 2nd Countess of Rosse 4, 15, 27, 29, 63, 69, 91 Alice, daughter of 3rd Earl 5, 57, 109 Alicia, daughter of 7th Earl 16 Alicia, sister of 3rd Earl 55 Alison, 7th Countess of Rosse xiii, xxi, 3, 4, 16

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Anne, 6th Countess of Rosse vi, 15, 69 Cassandra, 4th Countess of Rosse 15, 68, 69, 81 Charles Algernon, son of 3rd Earl, xix, 4–5, 11, 58, 63, 69, 70, 76, 119, 166–7, 169, 173, 341, 343 Clere, son of 3rd Earl xix, 5, 57, 161, 167 Dorothy, sister of 1st Bart 20 Elizabeth (Toler), wife of 3rd Earl’s brother, Laurence 112 Elizabeth (Preston), wife of 2nd Bart 15, 23 James (ancestor) 14 Jane, cousin of 2nd Earl 27 Jane, sister of 3rd Earl 65, 168 John Clere, brother of 2nd Earl 91, 126 John, brother of 3rd Earl 4, 29, 32–3, 36, 39, 101, 131 John, son of 3rd Earl 57–9, 83, 84 Laurence, 1st Bart 15, 20 Laurence, 1st Earl of Rosse 14, 15, 26 Laurence, 2nd Earl of Rosse 3, 14–15, 17, 27–9, 92, 93, 122–4, 129, 131, 160, 302, 337 Laurence, 3rd Bart 15, 24 Lawrence, brother of 3rd Earl 67 Laurence, 4th Earl of Rosse xix, 4–5, 14, 52, 54, 56–9, 62–3, 68, 69, 77, 80, 83–4, 86, 105, 112, 167, 171, 193, 204, 212, 214, 238, 247, 248, 253, 255, 259, 261–2, 265, 333–4, 338–9, 343 Laurence Michael, 6th Earl of Rosse vi, 14, 339 Laurence Patrick, Lord Oxmantown 3, 16 Lois, 5th Countess of Rosse 16 Mary (Field), 3rd Countess of Rosse 15, 35, 44–87, 101, 168, 205, 273, 286, 287, 292, 293, 299, 300, 310, 316, 337, 340 Silver Medal for photography 78, 87

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Index Mary (Sprigge), wife of 4th Bart 15, 26 Michael, son of 7th Earl 16 Olivia, daughter of Lord and Lady Oxmantown 16 Randal, son of 3rd Earl 3–4, 6, 57–9, 61–4, 67, 83–4, 171 Thomas Clere, brother of 2nd Earl 3, 91 William, 2nd Bart 15, 23 William, 4th Bart 15, 26 William, 5th Earl of Rosse 14, 15, 339 William, son of 3rd Earl 57–9, 83–4, 86 William, son of Lord and Lady Oxmantown 16 William Brendan, 7th Earl of Rosse vi, xiii, xxi, 3, 12, 14, 16, 42 Parsonstown (old name for Birr) Agricultural Society 143, 153, 337 Loyal Association 93 Poor Law Guardians 103, 108, 110 Poor Law Union 102, 110, 113 Relief Committee 106–7 Relief Fund 105, 107 Town Commissioners 114–15 Volunteers 26 and King’s County Farming Society 101 Pastorini 93 Patriot Group 124 Peacock, George 195, 307 Peasant Proprietary 141 Peel, Robert 311 Penal Laws 30–1 Peninsular War 59 Philips, Dorothy 15 Philipstown 97, 104 Phillips, John 315 Phobos 283 Photographic Society – see Royal Photographic Society Photographic Society of Ireland 78–9, 87 photography, history of 70–2

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Piazzi Smyth, Charles xviii, 68, 309–10 Pinecroft, Manchester 278 Pitt, William 151 Ponsonby of Philipstown (Daingean, County Offaly) 104 Pontefract, Yorkshire 68 Poor Law Commissioners 108 Poor Law Guardians 91 Porro, Ignazio 228 Potter, Richard 314 Powis, Lord 148 Presbyterian Church 96, 99 Preston, Elizabeth – see Parsons, Elizabeth, wife of 2nd Bart Prior, Thomas 159 Proctor, Richard 204, 205, 332–3 Protestant Nationalists 124 Pugin, Augustus 108 Pulkova (Pulkovo) Observatory 204, 254, 256, 315, 332, 334 pulsars xiii Queen’s College Cork Observatory 288 Queen’s Colleges 152 Queen’s University, Belfast 272 Queen’s University, Ireland 10, 212 Quinn, Joanna xxi Radcliffe Observatory, Oxford 287 radical agrarianism 144 Raleigh, Walter 18 Rambaut, William Hautenville 212–13, 234–5, 242–4, 249, 257–9 Rathfarnham Castle, Dublin 19, 20 Reform Act 1832 133 Regiment of Foot, 44th 94 Relief Commission 104, 106, 107, 109 Relief Committee 104–8, 146 Repeal Association 133, 137, 145 Repeal of the Act of Union 115–16, 126, 133 Ribbonmen 6, 93–4

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Index

Roberts, Isaac 252 Robinson, Archbishop 274 Richard 288 Thomas Romney 5, 11, 38–9, 41, 171–2, 176, 181, 183–4, 199, 202, 212–20, 223, 225–6, 228–32, 234, 236, 244, 250, 252, 257–8, 260, 263, 278, 288–9, 294, 302–4, 312–14, 318–19, 332, 336 Rockites 6, 93, 94, 136 Roden, Earl of 149 Roman Catholic Academy 293 Rossmore, Lord 134 rouge 190 Roundstone, County Galway 97 Routh, Randolph 109 Royal Astronomer for Ireland 38, 302 Royal Astronomical Society xiii, xiv, xxii, 34–5, 38, 41, 168, 263, 275, 287, 292, 300, 304, 309–10, 314–15 Royal College of Science, Dublin 260 Royal College of Surgeons 287 Royal Commission on Primary Education 7, 148 Royal Dublin Society v, xiv, xxii, 24, 34, 159, 261 Scientific Transactions 261, 283 Royal Engineers 166 Royal Horse Guards 47 Royal Horticultural Society 70 Royal Institute of British Architects 60 Royal Institution 71 Royal Irish Academy 34, 38–9, 218, 226, 234, 244, 284, 302–5, 307, 309 Royal Mint 275 Royal Observatory, Edinburgh xxii Royal Observatory, Greenwich 9, 256, 271, 286, 290, 292–3, 314 Royal Photographic Society 74, 79, 316–17

Mollan, William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse double column foonotes.indd 366

Royal Society xiii, xvi, xxii, 8–9, 34–35, 38, 41, 63, 71–3, 116, 138, 147, 164, 169, 239, 252, 256, 258, 262, 271, 274, 281, 287, 293, 299–301, 305, 307, 308–11, 313–19 medals 10, 301, 309, 311–12 Telescope Committee 320 Royal Surrey Zoological Gardens 300 Rules of Management on Rosse Estate 111 Russell, Charles William 116, 151 Russell, John 312, 313, 317, 318, 275 Russia 271, 272, 313, 332, 334 Rutherfurd, Lewis Morris 279 Ryde, Isle of Wight 67 Sabine, Edward 65, 299, 305, 307–9, 311–13, 315, 318–19 Salt, Titus 47 Saltaire, Yorkshire 47 Samton Limited xiv Sarsfield, Patrick 22–3 Saturn 215, 218, 278, 333, 334 Savage, Frances 15, 22–23 Saxony, Lower 169 Scaife, Garrett 128, 162 Scarborough, Yorkshire 3 Schaffer, Simon xiv, xx, 8, 164 Science Museum, London xxi, 11, 263 Scientific Instrument Society v, xxii Scotland 15, 67, 71, 167, 272, 278, 287, 305 Seapoint and Salthill Association 11 Sebastopol 114 Secchi, Angelo 279 Senior, Nassau 64, 97, 137, 140 Shannon harbour 107 river xvii, 25, 103, 107 Shaughnessy, Bishop 97 Sherrington, Bray, County Wicklow 283 Shields, Andrew xiv, 6, 7 Shinrone, County Offaly 100, 113, 130

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Index Shipley, Yorkshire 45–7, 53–4 Short, James 174 Sirius 181 Sisters of Mercy 108 Sisyphus 188 Skibbereen , County Cork 273, 285 Slieve Bloom 23, 102 Sligo, County 257, 281–2, 286 Slough 169, 210, 212 Slough catalogue (Herschel) 218–19, 226, 232, 244, 249, 256, 262 Smeaton, John 51–2 Smiles, Samuel 163 Somerset House 308–10 Somerville, Mary 273 soup kitchens 108, 110 South Africa 275, 286 South Kensington 311 South, James 41, 64, 181, 212, 217–19, 222–3, 226, 230–2, 237, 250, 257, 286, 289, 302–3, 335 John Flint 287 Southern Telescope Committee 319 Spain 77, 165, 271, 275 Spain, John 105–6, 108 spectroscopy 238–9, 260, 273, 279, 280, 284, 285, 289, 294, 338, 340, 343 speculum metal 176–8 spherical aberration 174 Spiral or Whirlpool Nebula (M 51) 214, 218–19, 229–42, 251–4, 262, 264, 307, 331, 333, 342 Sprigge, Mary – see Parsons, Mary St Jarlath’s College, Tuam 284 St Omer 151 St Patrick’s College, Dublin xiv St Petersburg 272 Imperial Academy 10 Pulkova Observatory 204 Startforth, Yorkshire 16 steam-powered road vehicle 167 Steinicke, Wolfgang xiv, 1, 2, 205, 330 Stevenson, George 67 Robert 67

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Stoney, Bindon Blood 212–13, 228, 249, 252–4, 256, 258, 260, 265–6, 286, 293 George Johnstone 152, 204, 212–13, 229, 234, 236, 239–41, 247–8, 252, 256, 258–9, 265–6, 293 Story-Maskelyne, Nevil 68 Strafford, Thomas, Viscount Wentworth 20 Stroganoff, Sergei 39 Struve, Otto 204, 238, 254, 315, 332, 334 William 227 subdivision of land 142–3 Sussex 16 Swift, Jonathan 124 Switzerland 68 Talbot, William Henry Fox 71–4, 84, 164, 316–17 Tempel, Wilhelm 251–2, 255, 264, 333 Templemore, County Tipperary 94, 100, 128 Tenant League 140 Tenant Right 154 Tenerife 68 Terryalts 136 Thames, river 80 Thurles, County Tipperary 100 Tienjing, China 16 Times, The 284, 303, 334 Tipperary, County 15, 26, 100, 102–3, 105, 113 tithes 96, 99, 117, 288 Tobin, W. 333 Toler, Elizabeth – see Parsons, Elizabeth Tone, Wolfe 31 Tooke, Thomas 132 Torrens, Robert 140 Trevelyan, Charles 109 Trinity College, Dublin 4–5, 7, 10, 19, 32, 35, 37–9, 41, 63, 68, 90, 148, 152, 259, 272, 274, 285, 287–8, 292, 302, 311–12, 314, 329, 338, 341

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Index

Troughton, Edward 287 Tuam, County Galway 283–4 Tubridy, Michael 160, 200, 202 Tullamore 102, 104, 107, 108, 111–13, 134, 144, 146 Tyrone, County 288 Ultramontane wing of Irish Roman Catholic hierarchy 149–50 United Nations Development Programme xiii United States of America 131 University College, Dublin xiv, xv, 160 University of Cambridge xiii, xiv, 10, 63, 228, 275, 287, 292–3 University of Chicago xv University of Dublin – see Trinity College Dublin University of Edinburgh 272, 314 University of Oxford v, xiii, 32, 36, 47, 90, 164, 272, 281, 287 Magdalen College xxii, 4, 36 University of York – Nuffield Enquiry xiv Uranus 169, 274 Ussher, Henry 37, 302 James 37 Venus 292 Victoria, Australia 320 Victoria, Queen 63 Vienna 272 von Hahn, Friedrich 220 von Humboldt, Alexander 283 von Maedler, Johann Heinrich 315 Wales 272 Walsh, Edward 341 George 171 Ward, Henry (Mary’s husband) 67, 167 Mary 66–70, 119, 167–8

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Waterloo, Battle of 59 Watt, James 47 Wayman, Patrick 12, 38 Weaire, Denis xxi Weekes, Trevor xv, 4, 10, 162, 230 Wellington, Duke of 100, 129–30, 337 Wentworth, Anne 15 Westentra, John Craven 134 Westmeath, County 280 Wexford, County 3 Wharton Myddleton, Robert 46, 59–60, 74, 86 Whately, Richard 86 Blanche 82–3, 86 Whelan, Gerard xxi Wickam, Field and Cleaver (bankers) 47 Wicklow, County 283 William III of Orange, King 22 Williams, T.R. 73 Wilmer, Randal 46 Wilson, John Fountayne 48 William Edward 10, 280 William Parkinson 320 Wiseman, Cardinal 117 Woodhouse, William 78, 87 Woods, Dr 167 Thomas 223 Woodville 106 Worcester 164 Wrottesley, Lord 313, 316 Wynterley, Lord 75 yachts, Themia 67 Titania 67–9, 77 Yeates and Sons 280 York 3, 4, 49, 294 Yorkshire xiii, xvi, 3, 5, 15–16, 20, 45–55, 57, 64, 67, 68, 97, 116, 168, 205 Youghal, County Cork 18–19

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