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National Maritime Museum

Herschel, Sir John Frederick William, astronomer (1792-1871)


IDENTITY STATEMENT

Reference code(s): GB 0064 HRS/101-107

Held at: National Maritime Museum

Title: Herschel, Sir John Frederick William, astronomer (1792-1871)

Date(s): 1832-1886

Level of description: sub-fonds

Extent: 1 box

Name of creator(s): Herschel | Sir | John Frederick William | 1792-1871 | 1st Baronet | astronomer

CONTEXT

Administrative/Biographical history:

Sir John was the son of Sir William Herschel. He was Senior Wrangler at Cambridge and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1813 for his contributions to chemistry and mathematics. Through assisting his father he came to adopt astronomy as his career and went to live at the Cape of Good Hope from 1833 to 1838, making a star survey of the southern sky. The results of this work were published in 1847. On his return to England, Herschel became an active member of several scientific societies. He was employed as Master of the Mint from 1850 to 1855 and wrote many articles for the Encyclopaedia Britannica and other general works of reference. There is a translation of Gunther Buthman's 'The shadow of the telescope. A biography of John Herschel' by B E Pagel (New York, 1970).

CONTENT

Scope and content/abstract:

Papers of Sir John Frederick William Herschel consisting of notes, news cuttings and Lady Herschel's housekeeping accounts for 1832 to 1838 and for 1852 to 1886; papers concerning the family's Molyneux chronometer together with a description of Sir John's barometer, 1832 to 1833.

ACCESS AND USE

Language/scripts of material: English

System of arrangement:

Conditions governing access:

Please contact the Archive for further information.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Please contact the Archive for further information.

Finding aids:

Detailed catalogue online at the: National Maritime Museum website .

ARCHIVAL INFORMATION

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

The papers, for the most part, were presented in 1958 by Mrs Shorland, great-great-niece of Sir John. Maggs Brothers also presented some notes and correspondence in 1958 concerning the family's Molyneux chronometer together with a description of Sir John's barometer.

ALLIED MATERIALS

DESCRIPTION NOTES

Archivist's note: Edited by Sarah Drewery, Jul 2011.

Rules or conventions: Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions: 2010-08-26


INDEX ENTRIES
Subjects
Astronomy

Personal names
Herschel | Sir | John Frederick William | 1792-1871 | 1st Baronet | astronomer

Corporate names

Places