Friday November 16, 1894

Went to Sandwich in the evening returning Monday morning Nov 19

William Christie, Astronomer Royal

Thursday November 8, 1894

Meeting of Com^ee of Advice for Imperial Institute Photographic Exhibition.

William Christie, Astronomer Royal

RH says..... I came across this image on the internet the other day: I'm not sure if this is how Christie travelled to Sandwich on his holidays, but it would certainly be handy for him.

Friday July 13, 1894

Went to Sandwich this evening returning Monday evening July 16.

William Christie, Astronomer Royal

Friday July 6, 1894

Went to Sandwich this evening returning Sunday evening July 8

William Christie, Astronomer Royal

Saturday June 16 to Tuesday June 19, 1894

Went to Broadstairs (for Sandwich) this afternoon returning to the Obs^y on Wednesday morning.

William Christie, Astronomer Royal

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RH says..... A bit of rest and relaxation required after the stresses of the Visitation?

Wednesday March 21, 1894

Went to Sandwich this evening for Easter returning Tuesday March 27.

William Christie, Astronomer Royal

RH says.... The mystery of the visits to Sandwich seems to be that Christie was a keen yachtsman, and presumably kept his boat moored in the sheltered harbour at Sandwich. The first point is included in the ODNB entry by A.J. Meadows, and Colin A. Ronan, in a book on the ROG, reported that Christie owned a boat (thanks to my colleague Graham Dolan for telling me about this one). Born in Woolwich, where his father (Samuel Hunter Christie) taught mathematics at the Royal Military College, and now running an institution administered by the Admiralty, his interest in boats seems entirely appropriate.

Sunday March 4, 1894

Returned from Sandwich this evening

William Christie, Astronomer Royal

RH says.... Not a great deal happened at the Royal Observatory on a Sunday that was not entirely routine and Christie evidently often went away over the weekend. Sandwich, a Kent port and home of the famous Royal St George's golf course, may have either been the home of a friend of relative, or Christie had a second house there. I've not yet seen anything in the RGO archives that mentions his connection Sandwich, so this is just a guess.

The routine work, that continued even on a Sunday, included the regular uninterrupted series of observations such as meterological readings, the daily photograph of the sun (depending on the weather) to record sunspot activity and, of course, time-determination observations and the maintenance of time-signals. From 1852 to 1893 the latter, sent by telegraph, were controlled by the Shepherd Master Clock, but from May 1893 this was superceded by a clock made by Dent & Co. (no. 2012), one of several made for the 1874 Transit of Venus expedition. It was very similar to the one pictured here, Dent 2016, which was adapted in 1923 to be used as the primary standard for the BBC's 'six-pip' time signal.

Incidentally, while Christie was off playing golf (or whatever he did do in Sandwich) this day saw the 219th anniversary (or 334th anniversary in 2009) of the Royal Warrant that officially appointed John Flamsteed as Astronomer Royal, or Charles II's "astronomical observator". See Greenwich Day-by-day for more Greenwich-related anniversaries like this.

Thursday March 1, 1894

Wrote to Adm^y forwarding letter from Sir H. Thompson (received yesterday) offering £5000 for a large photo-equatorial to be presented to the Obs^y. M^r Dyson entered on his duties (as Chief Assistant) this morning. Reported this to Adm^y.

Went to Sandwich this evening.

William Christie, Astronomer Royal

Began work as Chief Assistant.The Astronomer Royal went away in the evening till Sunday Evening. March 4.

Frank Dyson, Chief Assistant

Thursday February 15, 1894

Went to Sandwich this afternoon, returning Sunday evening. Soon after I left an explosion of a bomb occurred on the zigzag path leading up to N.W. corner of the Observatory, the man who carried it (a French anarchist) being found mortally injured on the path - see detailed reports in D9.

William Christie, Astronomer Royal

A dynamiter anarchist was blown up with his own bomb in Greenwich Park. See special Reports.

H.H. Turner, Chief Assistant

RH says.....
A French anarchist, Martial Bourdin, accidentally set of a bomb that he was carrying through Greenwich Park at 4.45pm on 15 February 1894. An account of events by one of my ROG colleagues can be found here and a flavour of the media storm that the event provoked (which provided inspiration for Joseph Conrad's The Secret Agent) is given here. The image accompanying this post, and another fantastic image from the illustrated press here, show the public's fascination in the event. There has been much debate over what Bourdin's target actually was but, given that the "zigzag path" beneath the Observatory is not a main route, it would appear that the Observatory was the intended target. For nearly a decade Greenwich's local meridian had been designated the Prime Meridian for the world, and that the international day began at midnight in Greenwich - perhaps, then, what Greenwich stood for was indeed a tempting target for an anarchist.

The decision regarding the Prime Meridian was made at the International Meridian Conference held in Washington in 1884, the proceedings of which are available online. These show that the French delegates were far from happy about the idea of making Greenwich rather than Paris (or at least a 'neutral' position) home of the Prime Meridian.

Friday February 2, 1894

Attended meeting of Council R.A.S. Went to Sandwich in evening returning Monday evening.

William Christie, Astronomer Royal

Rebekah Higgitt says....

After a meeting of the Council of the Royal Astronomical Society, Christie was off for the weekend. I don't know what he was doing in Sandwich (Kent), unless he enjoyed golf. Sandwich is the home of the Royal St George's Golf Club. Opened in 1887, in 1894 this was the first course to host the British Golf Open Championship outside Scotland - and apparently they will be hosting it again in 2011.