Wednesday December 11, 1894

M^r Crisp came down to discuss new buildings.

William Christie, Astronomer Royal

Friday October 19, 1894

M^r Crisp & M^r Loughborough with M^r Awdry discussed the above. Also discussed, with M^r Crisp proposed Magnetic Pavilion in the Park and balcony below 36^ft Dome.

Discussed with M^r Simms plans for new Astrographic micrometer & Photographic spectroscope.

William Christie, Astronomer Royal

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RH says..... The 36-foot dome was the new onion-shaped dome that accommodated the larger 28-inch telescope instead of the Great Equatorial telescope that the building had originally contained. This postcard clearly shows the balcony that Christie discussed today.

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The Magnetic House at this time was still where it had been since the 1840s - in the south part of the Royal Observatory's site, but north of the New Physical Observatory. This area today is covered by the dome of the Peter Harrison Planetarium. Despite Christie performing apparently satisfactory experiments to test the effect of ironwork in the new buildings on the magnetic observations, it had obviously become clear that the would have to be performed away from the main site. The picture below shows the new Magnetic Pavilion, built in 1899, in the area of Greenwich Park that became known as the Christie Enclosure. This area, 350 yards east from the main site, once held several telescope domes, including that of the Yapp 36-inch telescope, as well as the Magnetic Pavilion and Magnetograph House. It was all dismantled and returned to the Park when the Observatory moved to Herstmonceux and the Greenwich site became part of the National Maritime Museum.

Wednesday October 17, 1894

Called at Director of Works’ Department and arranged for M^r Crisp to come down to settle various matters in connection with the new buildings to be commenced next Monday.

William Christie, Astronomer Royal

Thursday September 13, 1894

Saw Director of Works at Admiralty & M^r Crisp about new buildings. Received from M^r Simms small reflecting prism for spectroscope on 28ⁱⁿ telescope.

William Christie, Astronomer Royal

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Half-inch prism for spectroscope of 28 Inch arrived from Troughton & Simms.

Frank Dyson, Chief Assistant

Tuesday August 7, 1894

Saw Assis^t. Director of Works & M^r Crisp at Adm^y about plans for new Altaz. Building.

M^r G.F. Millin of the Daily news came to enquire about progress of new Altazimuth & other works.

William Christie, Astronomer Royal

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RH says..... Plans and designs for the new building works still rumble on, and clearly were of interest to the press. This journalist was George F. Millin and, according to one of his books, Life in Our Villages (1891), he was the Special Commissioner of the Daily News. He is also described in the catalogue of the National Archives as "a Liberal propagandist for social causes".

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This visit resulted in an article in the Daily News on 23 August 1894 which is very supportive of Christie's attempts to modernise the ROG. It begins "Greenwich Observatory, which at one time was rather discreditably behind several other similar establishments in different parts of the world, is rapidly moving to the front. Mr Christie seems determined that Greenwich shall take its proper place in the front rank, if not in the actual load, in the astronomical world...". Millin approved of the (eventual) willingness of the Admiralty and Treasury to fund the new buildings and instruments and believed that the ROG"little by little is really becoming a splendidly equipped institution" and that they would "make Greenwich Observatory somewhat worthier of its fame, not only in point of efficiency, but in appearance and as a great public institution".

Friday June 29, 1894

Capt. Tizard & M^r Sadler came down for annual stocktaking of chron^s & deckwatches. All found right.

William Christie, Astronomer Royal

RH says..... As described in an earlier post, the testing of chronometers took up a great deal of staff time. It was work done directly for the Royal Navy which, since the Observatory was also run by the Admiralty, they were not in a position to refuse - although they did use it as a bargaining point. This illustration shows the Observatory's Chronometer Room, where the rate of the instruments was checked - i.e. their regular running, whether fast or slow. Another room included an oven in order to check their performance under hot conditions. This room, in the Great Equatorial Building that houses the 28-inch telescope, is now the office of the National Maritime Museum's Curator of Horology.

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Captain Tizard, mentioned in this entry, was Assistant Hydrographer of the Navy and had been made a Fellow of the Royal Society on the strength of his work and publications on hydrographic surveying. Most importantly he had commanded HMS Challenger during its important scientific expedition of 1872-76 and, over the next three years, had written the narrative of the voyage. The NMM's archive holds some lovely sketches by Tizard of his shipmates aboard Challenger.

Capt. Close R.N. discussed plans for a timeball at Chatham. Anniversary dinner of R.S. Club.

William Christie, Astronomer Royal

RH says..... The Royal Observatory's time ball was installed in 1833 in order to give a visual time signal to ships on the Thames. This allowed them to check the chronometers they used - along with the astronomical lunar distance method - to find their longitude at see. The mechanism still works: the ball rising half-way up the pole at 12.55, to the top at 12.58 and dropping at 1pm. With the arrival of telegraphic time signals from Greenwich in the mid 19th century, other time balls were set up at various ports, including Deal, Southampton, Chatham and Falmouth. The archives in Cambridge show that these prompted much correspondence for Christie.

Friday June 22, 1894

M^r Crisp called to discuss arrangements for the new Buildings.

William Christie, Astronomer Royal

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RH says..... The south wing of the Physical Observatory had been completed in April and Christie was hoping to press on with the completion of the dome (to hold the Thompson telescopes) above the central portion (known as the 'Museum', or instrument store) and begin work on the north wing (which would house his own office). Work was also about to start on the Altazimuth Pavilion. Christie did his best to stress to the Admiralty the importance of continuing work, highlighting the need to be ready to receive Thompson's generous gift and the danger that prolonged building work would put Observatory business at risk. At the June Visitation he explained that “A number of the moveable instruments are now being arranged in the glass cases in the Museum, or set up in the South wing as a preliminary to the completion of the inventory, but the work cannot be satisfactorily finished till the North wing is completed, as the building operations greatly hamper the arrangements."

Thursday June 14, 1894

M^r Hancock Supe^t of Telegraphs Western Australia examined arrangements for Earth current registers, which he proposes to start on two long lines of telegraph in Western Australia. Discussed the question with him & suggested that magnetic registers should also be taken. Saw Director of Works & M^r Crisp about new buildings, and also M^r Awdry.

William Christie, Astronomer Royal

Saturday June 9, 1894

Went on trip to mouth of Thames in H.M.S. “Havock” the new torpedo boat destroyer.

William Christie, Astronomer Royal

RH says..... The name of this ship is a little hard to read in the original Journal, but it is probably the HMS Havock, launched on 12 August 1893. This little jaunt of Christie's reminds us again of the link between the Royal Observatory in Greenwich and the Admiralty. The Havock was, apparently, broken up in 1912, largely because of problems with the bow torpedo tube which meant that she could outrun her own torpedos.

The Havock was the first of a new class of ships that were part of the massive five-year ship-building programme launched by the 1889 Naval Defence Act. Given that this allocated £21,500,000 to the Admiralty it is an interesting question whether the several thousands of pounds that Christie was requesting for his building works and telescopes was seen as an insignificant addition to their budgets or yet another burden. While Christie certainly had to work hard to get the money, it was, ultimately, forthcoming. Did the Admiralty and the British government believe that rival powers could be impressed by scientific success as well as military and naval might?

Saturday May 19, 1894

A wall letterbox was fixed near Observatory entrance by P.O. contractors.

William Christie, Astronomer Royal

RH says..... Christie presumably recorded this entry after he returned from Deal on the Sunday, as recorded on 17 May. See entry for 16 March for an image that just reveals the letter-box in situ.

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Those who worry about Christie's frequent absences from Greenwich may be interested to know that the RGO archives suggest that he did, sometimes at least, continue official correspondence from the coast. There is, for example, a letter he sent in 1888 to his then Chief Assistant, H.H. Turner, from Westgate on Sea about examining naval telescopes on behalf of the Admiralty. This letter also reports that "Neuralgia has bothered me the last two or three days...", a condition that may explain his April visit to Malvern, well known for its water cure and spa.

Friday May 11, 1894

M^r Loughborough came up about the colouring of the terracotta in the new Building contrary to specification. R.A.S. Council Evening meeting.

William Christie, Astronomer Royal

Mr Julitt West, Berlin, Engineer called to see arrangements for time signals. He called again on May 16 & went into details of several points – viz – comparison of clocks – construction of Mean Solar clock Shepherd – Method of correcting Mean Solar Clock for small errors – Registration of signals on Chronograph – Barometric correction of S. S. Clock – Method of dropping Time Ball.

Frank Dyson, Chief Assistant

RH says..... There is a clear difference in the colour of the terracotta on the later wings of the South Building, which may be what is referred to here. It is testament to the length of time it took to complete all four wings and to the difficulties that were encountered in supply of terracotta - frost and strikes had both caused severe delays.

Thursday May 10, 1894

M^r Hughes from Director of Stores Depart^t made out his list of Office furniture required for new building South Wing. M^r Simms Jun^r commenced mounting Simms & Cooke Equatorials & Water Telescope in South Wing Basement. Mr McGilicuddy[?] from Doching[?] & Son called about a mistake in no of copies of Astr. Results 1891, the 180 separate copies not having been struck off. I complained to him of the slow rate of printing. Settled [illegible] details of mounting of Spectroscope on 28 inch telescope. Went to meeting of R.S. (Papers on Eclipse of 1893 April 16) & to dinner of R.S. Club.

William Christie, Astronomer Royal

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RH says..... E.Walter Maunder had this to say about the Water Telescope:

"An ingenious telescope was set up by Sir George Airy in order to ascertain if the speed of light were different when passing through water than when passing through air. Or, in other words, if the aberration of light would give the same value as at present if we observed through water. The water telescope, as it was called, is kept on the ground floor of the central octagon of the new observatory. The observations obtained with it were hardly quite satisfactory, but gave on the whole a negative result."

The Royal Society Club was a dining club, for the inner circles of the Royal Society. See Archibald Geikie's 1917 Annals of the Royal Society Club; the record of a London dining-club in the eighteenth & nineteenth centuries for background.

Wednesday May 9, 1894

Meeting of Antarctic Com^ee of R.S. at 11.30. Saw M^r Jenkins at Adm^y about vacancies in staff.

William Christie, Astronomer Royal

RH says..... The Antarctic Committee was actually a joint committee of the Royal Society and the Royal Geographical Society, founded after the RGS president, Sir Clements Markam, began to promote an Antarctic voyage. The RS seems to have been a bit ambivalent and it was to take Markam several more years before funding and enthusiasm reached the necessary levels and the British National Antarctic Expedition of 1901-04 could go ahead.

Monday April 30, 1894

M^r Crisp came down to discuss final plans for new Altazimuth building. Went to Adm^y about reorganisation of Staff & appointment of successor to Le Brun. Crown lens of 28ⁱⁿ O.G. released from constraint (on E side) and reversed to photo-position.

William Christie, Astronomer Royal

Sunday April 29, 1894

M^r E. Buller & M^r Gray called about M^r Buller’s method of using[?] azimuths for navigation & to see the new buildings &c.

William Christie, Astronomer Royal

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RH says..... I have not been able to find out who Mr Buller and Mr Gray were, or anything about the former's navigational method. However, this entry is a good illustration of the Royal Observatory's role as one of the Admiralty's scientific departments, testing equipment and commenting on navigational methods. The ROG had, of course, been founded "for perfecting the art of Navigation".

Friday April 6, 1894

M^r Sewith from Controller’s Depart^t inspected electric light installation. M^r E.E. Putland from Messrs Johnson & Phillips was present.Received model of proposed 26ⁱⁿ Photo-telescope from Sir H. Grubb.

William Christie, Astronomer Royal

RH says..... The Controller's Department was part of the Admiralty, which administered the Royal Observatory, Greenwich. They were evidently required to check all work done on the Admiralty's budget. The firm of Johnson & Phillips, as you will see if you click on the link above, still exists, although now based in Pakistan. The firm supplied and laid cable for Trans-Atlanic communication, as you will see from this site - which also includes biographies of the firm's founding partners.

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The accompanying image shows the completed 26-inch telescope, alongside the 30-inch that Sir Henry Thompson also donated. They were mounted together in the dome of the New Physical Observatory in 1897.

Thursday April 5, 1894

Went to Adm^y but after waiting some time could not see M^r Awdry. Savile Club election.

William Christie, Astronomer Royal

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RH says..... Two rather contradictory indications of the Astronomer Royal's status: the Assistant Secretary to the Admiralty was too busy to see him, but he was being invited again into the heart of fashionable Mayfair. His need to speak to Awdry was undoubtedly related to his plans for staff reorganisation or building works.

Tuesday April 3, 1894

M^r Cass brought down a letter from Account. Gen. instructing me to draw the cheques. I replied next morning to Sec^y of Adm^y pointing out that this was not within my duties.The Crown lens of 28ⁱⁿ O.G. (Photogr. Posⁿ) was brought nearer to flint lens by taking off the separating ring 0.4ⁱⁿ thick on face of flint cell.

William Christie, Astronomer Royal

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RH says..... The financial issues highlighted in the previous post were clearly not solved. To confuse the issue, the Astronomer Royal was a Crown appointment, meaning that although the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, was answerable to the Admiralty, Christie, in theory, was not. The terms of his Royal Warrant, unsurprisingly, said nothing about drawing cheques.

Monday April 2, 1894

M^r C. Cass from the Admiralty (Account. Gen’s Depart^t) came to take over temporarily M^r Le Brun’s duties. M^r Dyson (to whom M^r Criswick had handed over the cash balance placed in his hands by M^r Le Brun on March 20) transferred the cash balance (which I counted over) to M^r Cass.

William Christie, Astronomer Royal

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M^r Cass took charge of the accounts.

Frank Dyson, Chief Assistant

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RH says..... Now we know why Criswick forgot to draw the cheques to pay the computers: this was not normally part of his job. Since Le Brun left, there had been no clerk at the Observatory - although before his arrival in 1893 there had been an even longer hiatus. Clerks and financial responsibility had been a bit of a sore point since 1892, when W.J. Wickison, a clerical assistant at the ROG since 1887, stole £188 and was dismissed. The Admiralty's correspondence at the National Archives records that "there is no doubt that Mr Christie’s superintendence was lax in the extreme", but also that, perhaps rightly, "his scientific duties required his more particular attention" and that he should therefore be provided with proper support in the form of an ex-Admiralty "Retired Assistant Paymaster". As a stop-gap, Le Brun and Cass were loaned out to the ROG while the Admiralty thrashed out "the broader question [of] whether the Observatory and its cost might not very fairly be transferred to the Treasury and to the Civil Service Estimates".