William Richardson (astronomer)

[1] In 1830 he was awarded the prestigious Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society for outstanding researches which contributed to astronomy and geophysics, especially the pioneering work he did on the Constant of aberration.

The matter might have been dismissed had he not made the mistake of burying his son secretly in their garden, where a labourer digging a cesspool for Richardson discovered the child's coffin on 22 January 1846.

This incident drew the attention from local to national audiences, with the proceedings of the court receiving considerable coverage by the major newspapers.

[3] William Richardson was a blacksmith in his home village of Pocklington [1] and was recommended to the Astronomer Royal by Troughton, a maker of instruments.

This recommendation saw him given the position of assistant at the Royal Observatory[5] at an annual salary of £100 plus £10 additional payment on consecutive three years in the service plus other allowances.

Richardson was acting as an advisor to Astronomer Royal John Pond when the latter decided in 1825 to increase the staffing at the Observatory by adding two new members.

[6] It was Richardson's recommendation to Pond that saw the recruitment of Yorkshiremen William Rogerson and Thomas Eli, which meant that half of the assistants at the observatory were from Yorkshire.

[5] Airy came with the ambition to give the Observatory a new thrust and wanted to lay off the first assistants, one of whom was Richardson, even though the latter had received the Royal Astronomical Society's gold medal.

Airy also managed to further the financial frustration of Richardson by blocking the traditional triennial pay rise, although this was overturned back to normal in 1843.

[3] The roles Richardson undertook in the reign of Airy were also changed, which saw him being limited to just making the observations with regard to the Equatorials, the Mural circle and the Zenith sector followed by diminishing them as requested.

[8] Richardson was also able to acquire several other properties in Pocklington including The Star, an ancient building with a thatched roof, which was later damaged in a fire that had spread from the adjourning brewhouse on 4 March 1845.

Richardson was also credited with an investigation into the subject of the Constant of aberration which won him the gold medal of the Royal Astronomical Society for his work.

[3] This work also inspired him to write about this topic in his book on Constant of Aberration a masterpiece of that time which was held highly by the astronomers in that period.

[5] Later, he worked on “A catalog of 7385 stars: chiefly in the southern hemisphere, prepared from observations made ...” [8] at the Parramatta observatory in New South Wales.