The Durham Observatory employed an Observer from the origin of the building to the turn of the 21st Century. The role varied from astronomical to meteorological, held by young unmarried men until its final posting.
Click through the tabs below to learn about each of the Observers.
William Ellis acted as Observer for a year, continuing observations of comets and minor planets. In 1853 he returned to Greenwich, where he had worked as a Computer in his youth before coming to Durham. His interests were equally meteorological as astronomical, and he served as President of the Royal Meteorological Society in 1986.
F. W. Rumker arrived to act as observer. After three years, in 1856, he returned to Hamburg.
After discovering the minor planet Amphitrite in 1853, Albert Marth becomes Observer in July 1855. He published several papers whilst in Durham and the University awarded him an honorary M.A. for his work.
He too had complaints about the equipment, finding he could do little with the old refractor. Over his time as Observer, he instead developed expertise as a theorist. With the insufficient instruments, he also managed to publish orbit paths for comets, minor planets, the major planets and the moon.
In 1860, he published a substantial number of criticisms of the workings of Greenwich Observatory. His complaints were considered justifiable but it earned him scorn professionally.
He retired from the post in 1863, moving to an observatory in Malta for three years, before Gateshead, making a return to the North East of England. Eventually, he moved to Sligo, Ireland to become director of the Markree Observatory, where he stayed for the rest of his life.
Marth's absence left Durham with no observer for two years. Meteorological readings were still completed throughout this time.
A. G. Marshall, a recent graduate took up the role for just a year until 1864. He was followed by M. R. Dolman who worked from February 1865, until April 1867.
John Plummer became observer in November 1867. On the 4th of November a year later, he observed the transit of Mercury, but little more astronomy was completed in his tenure. He is largely attributed as the cause of the Observatory's accurate and consistent rainfall measurements.
In June of 1872, John Plummer was asked to find a new position. The University had planned to close the Observatory. Only meteorology convinced the curators to maintain the buildings. Within a year there was no functioning astronomy occurring at Durham Observatory.
In February 1874 Plummer moved to work for a private observatory at Orwell Park.
As Chevallier aged, his supervision decreased. As no improvements were made to the instruments, each Observer found them progressively less sufficient. Largely, astronomical motivation was lost to Durham Observatory.
In 1870, the 77-year-old Chevallier retired, and no one replaced him in the professorship until 1896.
There are three more observers before the turn of the century.
G. A. Goldney worked from June 1874, until September 1885. During his time as Observer, a new Campbell-Stokes Sunshine recorder was installed, but records ceased completely in 1884. When the Meteorological Office wrote to Durham, inquiring as to the records, they received no reply, until eventually they asked for the equipment to be returned. Eventually the letters were redirected to the Dean of the University, and Goldney was removed from the post.
The Sunshine record was allowed to be continued without Goldney, until the programme was terminated in 1999.
Henry James Carpenter, who, working in the Royal Observatory in Greenwich in 1861, had been one of only three men to observe the underside of Saturn's rings, was Observer from September 1885, until September 1900. The role of Observer was still reserved only for unmarried men, Carpenter was only accepted as he had been made a widower some years earlier, but he brought his two eldest sons with him.
During Carpenter's time as Observer, in 1889, Sir Howard Grubb was asked by the Curators to make an estimate for a new equatorial. He deemed it unaffordable. Grubb also found the Fraunhofer to be poorly maintained, almost unusable. A refurbishment was negotiated on both the Fraunhofer and its object glass, but this was under-utilised as Carpenter quickly grew too ill to properly use them
Henry was followed in 1900 by his son, Frederick Charles Hampshire Carpenter, who achieved a B.Sc. and an M.A, before being made a lecturer in Astronomy and Optics. He held the position of Observer until 1919, finding himself not suited to the new teaching requirements. He briefly left the role to participate in the war effort, where he was wounded at the Front.
In 1900, the Almucantar was installed in a specially built brick house. Frederick was able to observe twenty four circumpolar stars with higher accuracy than ever before. Unfortunately he achieved little with the new instrument, in 1913, the ground's subsidence disturbed its level. Carpenter wrote that the atmosphere was filthy, and soot had settled on the glass of his equipment leaving it in 'frightful condition'.
In 1908, the Chair of Astronomy Position was revived for R. A. Sampson. He was also made Director of the Observatory, and H. H. Turner urged him that the University should purchase an Almucantar, a transit instrument that would be new to the U.K. Sampson retired from the role three years later, and the honorary Astronomy title was dropped again. In the same year, a lectureship in Astronomy was created, filled by Frederick Carpenter. He was the first Observer to teach, holding lectures in mathematical astronomy until 1914.
In 1912, an honorary Director position was created and undertaken by Major Edmund Hills. He was an expert on solar astronomy and photography and soon proved the Almucantar’s shortcomings. Like Carpenter, he was away from Durham from 1814 - 1819.
Frank Sargent, an amateur briefly trained in Greenwich and Oxford, was made Observer in 1919. He left the post in 1938, but wrote two years later that he regretted his decision. He claimed Astronomical work was neglected in Durham, confining him to use his own telescopes to make utterly useless observations. In the late 1920s, Durham made considerable efforts to support Sargent and maintain the Observatory as a useful outpost for Astronomy. A site was provided for a 10ft reflector so that Sargent could continue his planetary observations. To decorate and rearrange the Observatory, the old Fraunhofer, and other instruments, were sold to raise funds. However at this time the skies were growing smoky, and there were no resources to replace the inadequate Peek Refractor clock.
Turner and Hills tried to overcome the Observatory's constant lack of instruments by borrowing a 6.4ft refractor from Sir Wilfrid Peek. The new refurbished Observatory now focused on long-period variable stars, managing systematic work rather than their establish opportunistic observations. Turner also loaned the Observatory a micrometer to assist the measurements.
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