William Bayly (1737–1810) was an English astronomer.

Life

Bayly was born at

Bishops Cannings Bishops Cannings is a village and civil parish in the Vale of Pewsey in Wiltshire, England, north-east of Devizes. The parish includes the village of Coate (not to be confused with Coate, Swindon) and the hamlets of Bourton, Horton and Little Ho ...

, or Carions, in Wiltshire. His father was a small farmer, and Bayly's boyhood was spent at the plough. In spite of the constant manual work he had to do, he took advantage of the kindness of an exciseman living in a neighbouring village, who offered to give him some lessons. From him he learned the elements of arithmetic. A gentleman of Bath, named Kingston, heard of the boy's taste for mathematics, and gave him some help. He became usher in a school at Stoke, near Bristol, and after a while took a similar situation in another school in the neighbourhood. While thus employed, he took every opportunity of increasing his mathematical knowledge.

Nevil Maskelyne Nevil Maskelyne (; 6 October 1732 – 9 February 1811) was the fifth British Astronomer Royal. He held the office from 1765 to 1811. He was the first person to scientifically measure the mass of the planet Earth. He created the ''British Nau ...

, the astronomer-royal, happened to hear of his talents, and engaged him as an assistant at the Royal Observatory. On his recommendation Bayly, in 1769, was sent out by the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

North Cape, Norway North Cape ( no, Nordkapp; sme, Davvenjárga) is a cape on the northern coast of the island of Magerøya in Northern Norway. The cape is in Nordkapp Municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The European route E69 highway has its north ...

to observe the

transit of Venus frameless, upright=0.5 A transit of Venus across the Sun takes place when the planet Venus passes directly between the Sun and a superior planet, becoming visible against (and hence obscuring a small portion of) the solar disk. During a trans ...

that occurred in that year, and his observations were printed in the ''

Philosophical Transactions ''Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society'' is a scientific journal published by the Royal Society. In its earliest days, it was a private venture of the Royal Society's secretary. It was established in 1665, making it the first journa ...

'' of the society. In 1772 he accompanied William Wales as an astronomer on

Cook Cook or The Cook may refer to: Food preparation * Cooking, the preparation of food * Cook (domestic worker), a household staff member who prepares food * Cook (professional), an individual who prepares food for consumption in the food industry * ...

's second voyage of discovery to the southern hemisphere. The two ships employed in the expedition, the ''

Resolution Resolution(s) may refer to: Common meanings * Resolution (debate), the statement which is debated in policy debate * Resolution (law), a written motion adopted by a deliberative body * New Year's resolution, a commitment that an individual mak ...

'' and the ''

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'', sailed on 13 June. He also sailed in Cook's

third Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * Second#Sexagesimal divisions of calendar time and day, 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (d ...

and last voyage made with the ''Resolution'' and the ''

Discovery Discovery may refer to: * Discovery (observation), observing or finding something unknown * Discovery (fiction), a character's learning something unknown * Discovery (law), a process in courts of law relating to evidence Discovery, The Discovery ...

'', which cleared the channel on 14 July 1776. This voyage, in which Cook was killed, came to an end in 1780. In 1785 Bayly was made head-master of the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

, an office he continued to hold until the establishment of the Royal Naval College in 1807, when he retired on a sufficient pension. The organ in the parish church of his native village is his gift. He died at

Portsea, Portsmouth Portsea Island is a flat and low-lying natural island in area, just off the southern coast of Hampshire in England. Portsea Island contains the majority of the city of Portsmouth. Portsea Island has the third-largest population of all th ...

towards the end of 1810.

Works

* 'Astronomical Observations made at the North Cape for the Royal Society by Mr. Bayley ', ''Philosophical Transactions'', 59, 262. * ''The Original Astronomical Observations made in the course of a Voyage towards the South Pole … by W. Wales and W. Bayly … by order of the Board of Longitude'', 1777. * ''Original Astronomical Observations made in the course of a Voyage to the Northern Pacific Ocean. … in the years 1776–1780, by Capt. J. Cooke, Lieut. J. King, and W. Bayly … by order of the Board of Longitude'', 1782.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bayly, William 1737 births 1810 deaths People from Wiltshire 18th-century British astronomers 19th-century British astronomers James Cook