William Henry Wesley (1841–1922) was an engraver, artist, astronomer and administrator, who worked as assistant secretary of the

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

from 1875 to his death in 1922.The Times, Monday, 23 October 1922, pg. 12, Issue 43169, col C. Wesley was born at

Stapenhill Stapenhill is a suburban village and civil parish in Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire in the United Kingdom, UK. It was a small village owned by Nigel of Stafford as far back as 1086, however, this ancient parish area has long since been surroun ...

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, the son of a printer and publisher. He moved with his family to London in 1855, and became an apprentice to an engraver. He developed a reputation as a skilled technical artist, preparing and engraving diagrams for scientific publications. Wesley was asked by the astronomer

Arthur Cowper Ranyard Arthur Cowper Ranyard (21 June 1845 – 14 December 1894) was an English astrophysicist. Life Born at Swanscombe, Kent, he was son of Benjamin Ranyard by his wife Ellen Henrietta Ranyard (''née'' White). Ranyard attended University College Sch ...

to prepare an engraving of the Sun's corona from photographs of the 1871 total solar eclipse. When the position of assistant secretary to the

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

became vacant, Cowper Raynard pushed Wesley to apply. Wesley was appointed. The assistant secretary was the society's primary administrative official. William Henry Wesley reorganised and updated the administration of the society. He prepared a catalogue of its extensive library. He travelled to

Algiers Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques ...

to observe the

total solar eclipse A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby obscuring the view of the Sun from a small part of the Earth, totally or partially. Such an alignment occurs during an eclipse season, approximately every six month ...

of 28 May 1900. He concluded that photography was capable of recording more detail in the Sun's

corona Corona (from the Latin for 'crown') most commonly refers to: * Stellar corona, the outer atmosphere of the Sun or another star * Corona (beer), a Mexican beer * Corona, informal term for the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, which causes the COVID-19 di ...

than could be seen visually through a telescope. Wesley prepared diagrams for scientific publications. This included charts of the Milky Way and maps of the Moon's surface. Wesley was an author of articles in the ''

Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

'', including the short one about the astronomer

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Wesley, William Henry English biographers 1922 deaths 1841 births