Joseph Gurney Barclay

FRAS FRAS may refer to: * Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, post-nominal letters * Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland Fellows of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland are individuals who have bee ...

(1816 – 25 April 1898) was the son of Robert and Elizabeth Barclay (née Gurney). Joseph Gurney Barclay followed the banking profession for more than fifty years. In his later career he was head of the Barclay & Bevan bank and retired at the age of 80 when his bank amalgamated with others into a

limited company In a limited company, the liability of members or subscribers of the company is limited to what they have invested or guaranteed to the company. Limited companies may be limited by Share (finance), shares or by guarantee. In a company limited by ...

in 1896, becoming

Barclays Barclays () is a British multinational universal bank, headquartered in London, England. Barclays operates as two divisions, Barclays UK and Barclays International, supported by a service company, Barclays Execution Services. Barclays traces ...

. He was also a life member of the

Meteorological Society The Royal Meteorological Society is a long-established institution that promotes academic and public engagement in weather and climate science. Fellows of the Society must possess relevant qualifications, but Associate Fellows can be lay enthus ...

Biography

Barclay was a banker by profession and an amateur

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses their studies on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. They observe astronomical objects such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, g ...

Early life

About the time of Barclay's birth, his grandfather, who owned an estate in

Clapham Clapham () is a suburb in south west London, England, lying mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, but with some areas (most notably Clapham Common) extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth. History Early history T ...

, South West London, died and Robert Barclay moved his family to Knotts Green,

Leyton Leyton () is a town in east London, England, within the London Borough of Waltham Forest. It borders Walthamstow to the north, Leytonstone to the east, and Stratford to the south, with Clapton, Hackney Wick and Homerton, across the River L ...

, East London.

Astronomical Work

Barclay built an observatory in the grounds of Knotts Green in 1862. The observatory, which was located at 51° 34' 34" N latitude and 0^h 0.87^m W longitude (equivalent to just under 0.22°), was equipped with a -inch (184mm) aperture

equatorial Equatorial may refer to something related to: *Earth's equator **the tropics, the Earth's equatorial region **tropical climate *the Celestial equator ** equatorial orbit **equatorial coordinate system ** equatorial mount, of telescopes * equatorial ...

telescope A telescope is a device used to observe distant objects by their emission, absorption, or reflection of electromagnetic radiation. Originally meaning only an optical instrument using lenses, curved mirrors, or a combination of both to observe ...

made by Thomas Cooke & Sons of

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

in 1854. The telescope was exchanged for a 10-inch (254mm) aperture 12 feet (3.66m) focal length instrument in 1860 by the same maker, which was fitted with a three-inch (76mm) aperture finder telescope. The observatory was also equipped with a

transit telescope In astronomy, a transit instrument is a small telescope with extremely precisely graduated telescope mount, mount used for the precise observation of star positions. They were previously widely used in astronomical observatory, astronomical obse ...

Troughton & Simms Troughton & Simms was a British scientific instrument firm. It was formed when Edward Troughton in his old age took on William Simms as a partner in 1826. It became a limited company in 1915 and in 1922 it merged with T. Cooke & Sons to form ...

for time determination. The acquisition of the second, larger, telescope persuaded Barclay that it would be necessary to have a professional astronomer to work the observatory for him, and the services of Hermann Romberg (1835–1898) were obtained. In 1864, after only two years work, Romberg moved to the

Berlin Observatory The Berlin Observatory (Berliner Sternwarte) is a German astronomical institution with a series of observatories and related organizations in and around the city of Berlin in Germany, starting from the 18th century. It has its origins in 1700 w ...

and was replaced by Charles George Talmage (1840–1886). Talmage suffered from poor health and his death in his mid-forties in 1886 brought an end to regular observational work at Leyton. Barclay died just two years after Talmage and the telescope was bequeathed to the

Radcliffe Observatory Radcliffe Observatory was the astronomical observatory of the University of Oxford from 1773 until 1934, when the Radcliffe Trustees sold it and built a new observatory in Pretoria, South Africa. It is a Grade I listed building. Today, the obse ...

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. The transit telescope was separately bequeathed to the Oxford University Observatory. When the Radcliffe left the UK for the better skies of Southern Africa in the nineteen-thirties the Cooke telescope stayed in behind and was installed at

Marlborough College Marlborough College is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English Independent school (United Kingdom), independent boarding school) for pupils aged 13 to 18 in Marlborough, Wiltshire, England. Founded in 1843 for the sons of Church ...

Observatory.

Marriage and children

Barclay married twice, first to Mary Walker Leatham and second to Margaret Exton. With his first wife he had two sons and one daughter.

Religion

Barclay was a member of the

Religious Society of Friends Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abili ...

Published works

Leyton Observations (4 volumes).

Honours, decorations, awards and distinctions

Fellow of the

Royal Astronomical Society (Whatever shines should be observed) , predecessor = , successor = , formation = , founder = , extinction = , merger = , merged = , type = NGO ...

from 1855.

References/Notes and references

External links

Orwell Astronomical Society (Ipswich) Article

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barclay, Joseph Gurney 19th-century British astronomers British bankers 1816 births 1898 deaths 19th-century British businesspeople