[1] He was born at Alberbury, Shropshire, fourth son of William Pritchard, a failed manufacturer who later moved to London where he attended the Merchant Taylor's School and Poplar Academy where he was taught by John Stock, the progressive educationalist.

By De la Rue's advice, Pritchard began his career there with a determination of the physical libration of the moon, or the nutation of its axis.

The results were published in 1885 in his Uranometria Nova Oxoniensis, and their importance was recognized by the bestowal in 1886 upon him, conjointly with Professor Pickering, of the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Although some lurking errors impaired the authority of the concluded parallaxes this work ranks as a valuable contribution to astronomy, since it showed the possibility of employing photography in such delicate investigations.

[5] When an international survey of the heavens was proposed, the zone between 25° and 31° north declination was allotted to him, and at the time of his death some progress had been made in recording its included stars.