The friendship of John Smeaton, F. R. S., with Henry Hindley, instrument and clockmaker of York and the development of Equatorial mounting telescopes

Abstract

Henry Hindley's name can occur in a whole variety of connexions. For instance an interesting pyrometer of his making formed a part of King George Ill’s Kew Collection and may now be seen in the Science Museum; in Kingston upon Hull, Hindley was involved in the design of a beamless atmospheric (steam) engine which lifted water for the town’s water supply. Mention of his many other interests need not, however, be made here, for they are not apposite to this short study, and, the writer hopes, will be fully covered elsewhere. Hindley was a great friend of John Smeaton (1724-1792, F. R. S.: 1753), whom he first met in 1741; many hints of the range of his work can be gleaned from Smeaton’s forty-seven page tract read to the Royal Society on 17 November 1785 by Henry Cavendish (1731-1810, F. R. S.: 1760). Smeaton’s ‘Observations on the Graduation of Astronomical Instruments, with an Explanation of the Method invented by the late Mr. Henry Hindley, of York, Clockmaker, to divide Circles into any given Number of Parts’ shows his great admiration of Hindley, both as an unselfish person and as no mean inventor. Smeaton also tantalizingly refers to Hindley’s work on telescopes. Before considering these, a brief note on Hindley the man would be appropriate.