Elizabeth Martha Beckley Explained

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.[6] [7]

Beckley worked at Kew Observatory from 1854 while still a young girl, 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] 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. Her funeral was held in Richmond, London, and she was buried with her husband in Richmond Old Burial Ground.[15] [16]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 'Work peculiarly fitting to a lady': Elizabeth Beckley and the early years of solar photography. Lee. Macdonald. 9 March 2017. conscicom.org. 6 May 2019.
  2. News: 12 August 1927 . Death of Mrs G M Whipple . 5 . Saffron Walden Weekly News . 24 August 2022.
  3. News: 12 August 1927 . Deaths . 16 . Saffron Walden Weekly News . 24 August 2022.
  4. Web site: Elizabeth Martha Beckley in 1885, Westminster Baptisms, St Barnabas, Pimlico, Middlesex, England . 2024-11-10 . www.findmypast.co.uk.
  5. Web site: Elizabeth Martha Beckley. Birth • England and Wales Birth Registration Index, 1837-2008 . Family Search.
  6. Web site: Two parts of Beckley recording rain gauge Science Museum Group Collection . 2022-08-24 . collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk . en.
  7. Scott . Robert Henry . 1886 . The History of the Kew Observatory . Proceedings of the Royal Society of London . XXXIX . 37-86 . British Geological Survey.
  8. https://blog.sciencemuseum.org.uk/ptolemy-photography-and-pyjamas/ Ptolemy, Photography and Pyjamas. Science Museum website.
  9. Web site: Ré . Pedro . THE KEW PHOTOHELIOGRAPH .
  10. Web site: Diapositives of photographs of sunspots taken by Elizabeth Beckley with the Kew Photoheliograph . Science Museum Group.
  11. News: 20 August 1868 . The Observatory of the British Association at Kew . The Norfolk News . 6 . Find My Past.
  12. 1893Obs....16..141. Page 141 . 2022-08-24 . The Observatory. 1893 . 16 . 141 . 1893Obs....16..141. .
  13. Web site: Elizabeth Martha Beckley b. 1845 Battersea, Surrey, England: Whipple Database . 2022-08-24 . whipple.one-name.net.
  14. Book: Who Was Who 1941-1950. 1980. Bloomsbury Publishing, London. 0-7136-2131-1. Entry of Francis John Welsh Whipple.
  15. News: 10 August 1927 . Obituary. Mrs Whipple . The Times . 13 . The Times Digital Archive.
  16. Old Burial Ground Cemetery List (Excel Spreadsheet), Richmond Cemetery

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