Henry Coddington

Henry Coddington was the son of Latham Coddington, Rector of Timolin, Kildare. Admitted to Trinity College, Cambridge in 1816, Coddingtion graduated BA as Senior Wrangler in 1820,[2] and first Smith's prizeman; proceeded M.A. in 1823, and obtained a fellowship and sub-tutorship in his college. He retired to the college living of Ware in Hertfordshire, and in the discharge of his clerical duties burst a blood-vessel, thereby fatally injuring his health.[3]

Coddington was vicar of Ware, Hertfordshire from 1832 to 1845.[2] Advised to try a southern climate, he travelled abroad, and died at Rome 3 March 1845.[3]

He married a daughter of Dr. Batten, principal of Haileybury College, and left seven children.[3]

He wrote chiefly on optics, in particular An Elementary Treatise on Optics.[4] He also made the Coddington magnifier popular. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in February, 1829.[5]

His name occurs on the first list of members of the British Association. He was one of the earliest members of the Royal Astronomical Society,[6] was a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and Royal Society, and sat on the council of the latter body in 1831-2.[3]

Attribution

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Clerke, Agnes Mary (1887). "Coddington, Henry". In Stephen, Leslie (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. 11. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 202–203.

• W. W. Rouse Ball, A History of the Study of Mathematics at Cambridge University, 1889, repr. Cambridge University Press, 2009, ISBN 978-1-108-00207-3, p. 131

• Works by or about Henry Coddington in libraries (WorldCat catalog)