Elizabeth Martha Beckley (14 January 1846 – 6 August 1927) was a pioneering British astronomical photographer.[1][2][3]
She was born on 14 January 1846 in Wandsworth, London,[4][5] the daughter of Robert Beckley, a mechanical engineer based at Kew Observatory, who developed the Beckley rain gauge and the Robinson-Beckley anemometer with Thomas Romney Robinson.[1][6][7]
Beckley worked at Kew Observatory from 1854 while still a young girl,[2] where she was one of the first women to work at an astronomical observatory.[8] She photographed the sun in the 1860s and 1870s using a photoheliograph,[1][9][10] although her work was not always recognised.[11]
Beckley married fellow Kew Observatory employee George Mathews Whipple (1842–1893) in 1870.[8][12][13] They had five sons. The eldest was Robert Whipple, who was a scientific instrument collector, and founded the Whipple Museum of the History of Science in Cambridge.[1][8] While another was Francis Whipple, who was superintendent at Kew Observatory from 1925 to 1939.[14]
She died at 15 Creighton Ave, Muswell Hill, London, on 6 August 1927.[3] Her funeral was held in Richmond, London, and she was buried with her husband in Richmond Old Burial Ground.[15][16]
References
edit- ^ a b c d Macdonald, Lee (9 March 2017). "'Work peculiarly fitting to a lady': Elizabeth Beckley and the early years of solar photography". conscicom.org. Retrieved 6 May 2019.
- ^ a b "Death of Mrs G M Whipple". Saffron Walden Weekly News. 12 August 1927. p. 5. Retrieved 24 August 2022.
- ^ a b "Deaths". Saffron Walden Weekly News. 12 August 1927. p. 16. Retrieved 24 August 2022.
- ^ "Elizabeth Martha Beckley in 1885, Westminster Baptisms, St Barnabas, Pimlico, Middlesex, England". www.findmypast.co.uk. Retrieved 10 November 2024.
- ^ "Elizabeth Martha Beckley. Birth • England and Wales Birth Registration Index, 1837-2008". Family Search.
- ^ "Two parts of Beckley recording rain gauge | Science Museum Group Collection". collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk. Retrieved 24 August 2022.
- ^ Scott, Robert Henry (1886). "The History of the Kew Observatory" (PDF). Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. XXXIX: 37–86 – via British Geological Survey.
- ^ a b c Ptolemy, Photography and Pyjamas. Science Museum website.
- ^ Ré, Pedro. "THE KEW PHOTOHELIOGRAPH" (PDF).
- ^ "Diapositives of photographs of sunspots taken by Elizabeth Beckley with the Kew Photoheliograph". Science Museum Group.
- ^ "The Observatory of the British Association at Kew". The Norfolk News. 20 August 1868. p. 6 – via Find My Past.
- ^ "1893Obs....16..141. Page 141". The Observatory. 16: 141. 1893. Bibcode:1893Obs....16..141. Retrieved 24 August 2022.
- ^ "Elizabeth Martha Beckley b. 1845 Battersea, Surrey, England: Whipple Database". whipple.one-name.net. Retrieved 24 August 2022.
- ^ Who Was Who 1941-1950. Bloomsbury Publishing, London. 1980. ISBN 0-7136-2131-1. Entry of Francis John Welsh Whipple.
- ^ "Obituary. Mrs Whipple". The Times. 10 August 1927. p. 13 – via The Times Digital Archive.
- ^ Old Burial Ground Cemetery List (Excel Spreadsheet), Richmond Cemetery
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