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Arthur Wellesley Jeffery [Obituary]

Trans. Devon. Assoc. vol. XLII, (1910), pp. 45-46.

by

Maxwell Adams (Ed.)

Prepared by Michael Steer

The obituary was read at the Association’s July 1910 Cullompton meeting. Captain Jeffery was a skilled nautical surveyor with an important role in the formation of what was to become The British Astronomical Association. A record of the second meeting of the Liverpool Astronomical Society, in its journal, The Observatory, Vol. 13, p. 379-380 (1890), shows Captain Jeffery in the chair due to the absence of its President. He later became secretary of the Glasgow branch of the British Astronomical Association. The obituary, from a copy of a rare and much sought-after journal can be downloaded from the Internet Archive. Google has sponsored the digitisation of books from several libraries. These books, on which copyright has expired, are available for free educational and research use, both as individual books and as full collections to aid researchers.

Captain Jeffery was born in Plymouth in 1855, and belonged to an old Devonshire family. His father was a well-known personage amongst the seafaring community of that port, he having been one of the few practical opticians with a thorough knowledge of the chronometer. He went to sea early in life, and when quite a young man held commands in the Lamport and Holt line of steamers, and for several years carried the mails between Antwerp and the River Plate. In 1886, he was successful in obtaining a Board of Trade appointment in London, and was transferred to Liverpool, in 1888, as nautical surveyor to the department, where he became conspicuous for the active part he took in measures for the suppression of overloading in vessels. While in Liverpool he acted for some time as secretary of the Liverpool Astronomical Society. In 1893, he was transferred to Glasgow as chief Board of Trade officer. In that port he also became secretary of the Glasgow branch of the British Astronomical Association, and it is said that owing to his efforts shipmasters were officially requested to take observations of Halley's Comet, which are expected to prove a great aid to science.
In his younger days Captain Jeffery was an accomplished swimmer, and in 1874 won the championship of England. In the course of his duties he was the means of saving eighteen lives, and he held the Humane Society's medal and other awards for personal gallantry.
He joined the Association in 1900, and besides being an enthusiastic collector of books relating to his native county, he took a leading part in the work of the Glasgow Devonshire Association.
In the discharge of his duties he was a striking example of conscientiousness and courtesy.
He died 2 May, 1910, at the age of fifty-five years.