Rev. Francis Wollaston, F.R.S

  Notes:

He had a private observatory with a Peter Dollond triplet telescope; and his rare, privately printed autobiography 'The Secret History of a Private Man' explains that his pursuit of astronomy was intended to separate him at a "distance from the misrepresentations of narrow minded bigots". http://home.europa.com/~telscope/histspec.txt

Francis, like many of the family, studied at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, matriculating in 1748 and obtained a LL.B. in 1754. He entered Lincoln's Inn in 1750; but disliking the idea of having, as an advocate, to put forward only one sideof the case, instead of trying to ascertain the truth, he turned his. mind to the Church. He was ordained a priest in 1755. In 1756 he commenced preaching at St. Anne's, Soho. He gave up, however, after his marriage in 1758 because he did not wish to hurt the feelings of a lady resident in the parish to whom he had previously been attached. In 1758 he was presented to the rectory of Dengie in Essex; in 1761 to the rectory of Dereham in Norfolk; and in 1769 to the rectory of Chislehurst in Kent which he held till he died. He was also appointed precentor of St. David's in 1777 and rector of the united London parishes of St. Vedast and St. Michael-le-Querne in 1779. He was pursued by philosophic doubts concerning the tenets of his religion and in 1772 he published an address advocating the replacement of the "Test" which was a declaration of faith in the 39 Articles by a declaration of faith in thescriptures. He followed this by publishing in 1774 queries relating to the Book of Common Prayer with proposed amendments. His views aroused the antagonism of other churchmen and his hopes of a bishopric were dashed.Hurt by these religious controversies which seemed to him contrary to the Christian principles of brotherhood and love, Francis turned to his interest in astronomy. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1769. Between 1789 and 1811he published several works on astronomy. His large family of nineteen children did not commend itself to his great-grandson, Sir Arthur Naylor Wollaston, who complained that had there been fewer children, each child would have been left a reasonable amount of money.

  Events

• Occupation: Priest and Astronomer.

• Education: Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge.

Francis married Althea Hyde, daughter of John Hyde and Mary West, in 1758. (Althea Hyde was born on 5 Feb 1737/38 in St Botolph's, Aldersgate and died on 8 Jun 1798 in Chislehurst, Kent.)