Thursday November 29, 1894

Meeting of Ratcliffe Trustees[?] at 9 a.m.

William Christie, Astronomer Royal

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RH says..... This entry is rather illegible, but my reading suggests that this relates to a meeting of the managers of the Oxford Radcliffe Observatory.

Wednesday October 3, 1894

D^r Doberck Director of Hong Kong Obs^y called & aired his grievances in regard to M^r& M^rs Plummer, Com^ee on Photographic Exhbition 1895 at Imperial Institute at 4.

William Christie, Astronomer Royal

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RH says..... William Doberck, according to a recent article, was a "combatative and prickly personality", frustrated in his desire to do astronomical research by his role in an institution founded as a meteorological and magnetic observatory and time service.

The Plummer referred to here is not the one who visted in January and April. This was John Isaac Plummer who was working for Doberck in Hong Kong after working for brief periods in the Cambridge, Greenwich, Glasgow, Durham and Orwell Park Observatories - see this site for more information on Plummer and his problematic relationship with Doberck: already in 1891 Doberck was complaining that "Mr Plummer has turned out to be a most incompetent man, no friend of science in general and a particular enemy of this observatory. He has been very troublesome and his conduct has been ungentlemanly", although he had been warmly recommended by some of his previous employers. This account is also revealing of Christie's role in such staffing matters across the empire. Although the falling-out between Dorberck and Plummer was nearly disasterous, they seem to have overcome their differences in the end, working relatively harmoniously in Hong Kong until 1907 and 1911 respectively.

Tuesday October 2, 1894

D^r Doberck of Hong Kong Observatory called to see the Astronomer Royal.

Frank Dyson, Chief Assistant

Wednesday July 25, 1894

M^r A.N. Wollaston (Assis^t Sec^y India Office) called to enquire about the Photoheliograph for India. I mentioned to him the difficulties about arranging for meetings of Indian Obs^y Com^ee & proposed that there should be a fixed date for the meeting & that a clerk from India Office should act as Sec^y. Letters were written to him subsequently to this effect.

William Christie, Astronomer Royal

RH says..... Christie arranged for identical photoheliograph telescopes to be used in India and Mauritius to fill in gaps of the Greenwich series of sunspot photographs caused by cloudy weather. The Indian Observatory Committee of the Royal Society and Royal Astronomical Society had been set up in 1885 to monitor the efficiency of the Bombay and Madras observatories. In 1897 it was merged with the Observatories Committee.

Monday July 9, 1894

Went to distribution of Prizes at Greenwich Hospital School by the Prince of Wales at noon.

William Christie, Astronomer Royal

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RH says.... Officially renamed the Royal Hospital School in 1892, this institution occupied the buildings that now house the National Maritime Museum. Originally an institution that provided for the children of the Naval pensioners at the neighbouring Royal Hospital for Seamen, from the 1840s to the 1930s it trained boys with a seafaring background for service in the Royal Navy. Its provision of scientific and mathematical training was particularly notable and there was an observatory in the school grounds. This, through the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, had been provided with instruments from the brief-lived St Helena Observatory (1828-1835). The Prince of Wales was Queen Victoria's son and the future Edward VII.