William Richardson (astronomer)

William Richardson was a notable astronomer of British origin. He was born at Packlington, Yorkshire and died at the age of 75.[2] He was married to Anne Rogerson in the year 1821, a lady who was about two years younger than him. He already had six children by the time Airy joined the Observatory. When he was tried and dismissed from the observatory he already had nine surviving children in total. During the census of 1841, and he was staying in Greenwich by his two daughters Amelia and Ann Maria.[1] During this period, he was staying separately from his wife who was staying at Chapmangate in Pocklington with the other children: Louisa, Lavinia, Lucy, and Julia. She was listed there as the head of this household, this meant the two of them were separated at the time. In the following census in the year 1851, he was staying in Pocklington with three children of his namely Lucy, William, and Julia with no mention of his wife's whereabouts.[4]

Richardson was also involved in a scandal which lead to his arrest in January 1846 in Pocklington.[1] He was then charged the following month, February for colluding with his daughter in the murder of Theodore Horatio Richardson who was their incest son.[4] The mentioned baby was born in 1845 September and had just cloaked 10 days before the incident took place. On 11 May 1846, the two were put to trial at the old barley court. He was then relieved off his job at the Observatory. This was done even though incest was not considered as a crime in those days in Britain until after 1908. The matter could have been dismissed but he made a mistake to bury this son secretly in their garden.[5] A laborer digging a cesspool for Richardson then discovered the child's coffin on 22 January 1846. To add to that, neither the birth nor the death of the child was recorded. It was not also registered by the authorities. This then became the basis of the murder charge against him. This incident drew the attention from local to national audiences, with the proceedings of the court receiving considerable coverage by the major newspapers. The charges against the two were later dropped leading to their acquittal by the court. After this incident, Richardson moved back to live in Pocklington.[2]  This is where he did live until the time of his death.

William Richardson was a blacksmith in his hometown, Pocklington.[1] Though he received a recommendation to the Astronomer Royal by Troughton who was a maker of instruments. This recommendation saw him hold the assistant position at the Royal Observatory.[5] Richardson's appointment saw him receive an annual salary of £100 plus £10 additional payment on consecutive three years in the service plus other allowances. His housing was also paid for by the Admiralty in order to avail a suitable accommodation for him on his arrival at Observatory.[1] In the year 1830, he moved to a cottage on by road at Gang lane now referred to as the Circus Street. Richardson was acting as an advisor to Pond when he decided to increase the staffing by adding two new members in the year 1825 at the Observatory in Greenwich.[6] It was his recommendation to Pond that saw the recruitment of William Rogerson and Thomas Eli who was from Yorkshire into the Observatory. This then made almost half of the assistants at the observatory people from Yorkshire. Richardson was also offered the position to become the director at the Madras Observatory in East India Company. He came to decline this offer due to alleged health concerns he had. This could have been a topflight position in his career had he not forgone it at this moment when he was full of ego.[5]

In 1835, when Pond was preparing his departure from the Observatory, he gave judgment concerning his six assistants. Richardson was the person that was being highly regarded for the position.[7]  Sometime later, Richardson was given a recommendation for the position of an assistant by the Mr. Troughton the late due to his knowledge in Elementary Mathematics. He was also considered as a "first-rate observer with the Circle" because of his immense mastery of the Circle computations.[1] He was also tasked with computing for others' catalog especially the ones for Sir Thos Brisbane. This led to an increment in the salary he was being paid.[7] The responsibilities highlighted for Richardson by the observatory before the reign of Airy was: doing the computations regarding the Troughton Circle and Jones Circle. Though the payable amounts he was given for these external jobs was not clearly stated. In the year 1835 when Pond was replaced by Airy, the standards at the observatory were falling.[5] He 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 he had received a Royal Astronomical Society's medal of gold. This later made him survive when the Observatory supported Airy's request that saw the laying off of his colleague Tailor and him retaining his job.[1] The coming of Airy to the Observatory marked the beginning of frustrating times to Richardson at Greenwich. When airy was given the permission to amend the allowances in the year 1836, he ripped most off their allowances after which Richardson only received about £60 for rent and other domestic expenses e.g. Coal fuel. Airy also managed to further the financial frustration of Richardson by blocking the triennially pay rise tradition of the Observatory, though this was overturned again in 1843 back to normal.[2] The roles Richardson undertook in the reign of Airy were also changed. This 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. Richardson's career ending at the Observatory in Greenwich came towards the closing of the year 1845 when he was released from his position by Airy. This was due to the personal lifestyle issues he had leaking to Airy. Though incest wasn't much of a crime back then, he was still surrounded by several scandals and unsolved conspiracies towards the murder of his incest baby in collusion with his daughter Maria.[1] He was also charged by concealing the child from the registrar and the authorities and ultimately murder. This marked the end of his career at the royal observatory. These sealed his fate at the Observatory.

A gold medal was awarded to Richardson by Royal Astronomical Society for his work relating to the findings of the Constant Aberration.[2] Richardson had really excelled in his first years at the Royal Observatory, something that made him awarded this medal. This was also seen by his superiors who offered him the position to become the Director at the Madras Observatory in East India Company which though he declined due to alleged health concerns. This could have been a topflight position in his career had he not forgone it.[1]

During his period at the Royal Observatory, Richardson was credited with the data calculation which enabled the making of "A catalog of 7385 stars: chiefly in the southern hemisphere, prepared from observations made ... at the observatory at Paramatta, New South Wales  ...” A piece which was published later in the year 1835 by the Admiralty. Richardson was also credited by an exploration into the subject of Constant of Aberration which won him the medal. 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.[2]

Richardson had vast knowledge in the field of Elementary Mathematics, a strength of his mental capabilities. He was thus able to keep the circle computations in an organised way and was "a first-rate observer with the Circle" as described by Mr. Troughton.[1]This trait really made him a real asset to the Royal Observatory. He was even able to make calculations for others which even involved cataloging for Sir Thos Brisbane and those for the astronomical society.[2]

William Richardson was able to amerce some considerable wealth in terms of several properties that he had acquired during his lifetime from 1792 to 1872 when he eventually died. These were in both Greenwich and Pocklington.[1] The property holdings he had in Greenwich were: two neighboring houses in Royal Hill and another one to the south of the junction of Peyton's area. He had further had acquired two more properties just adjacent to the first properties that he had. Among them was a big cottage in Peyton's place which was facing to the front of the glebe-house. This was the house that Richardson had stayed in in the year 1845. The fourth property that William Richardson was owning was at the Royal Hill corner and Peyton's area. It was attached to a workshop. He then decided to sell all his properties and move to Pocklington.[8]

Richardson was also able to acquire other several properties in Pocklington upon his stay here. These properties were: The Star which was an ancient building with a thatched roof, this was later damaged in a fire that had spread from the adjourning brewhouse on the 4^th of March 1845.[9] These buildings were later re-built and are now existing as a result of the then modern London architecture that was used to design these houses. The building is said to be surviving now and is used in the comprehension of modern architecture.[6] He had also had eight other properties in and around the market place. These included the Brewhouse and the residential area that he stayed in at the Parramatta Villa. His house was built in the 1861 to 1871 period.[1] After his death, the building was sold and later changed the name of the building to Sherbutt house from the then existing name of Parramatta Villa. This building was letter modified to be used as an educational establishment by Charles Nichols.[1]

Richardson had written a book on the investigation into the Constant of Aberration which was highly valued by the Royal Astronomical Society and the astronomers of his days.[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. The Admiralty then published it in the year 1835. He later wrote an article on the "Greenwich assistants during 250 years "which was published several years later in 1925 by Henry Hollis.[7]