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Biographical Notes on Individuals Active in Ipswich Science-Gossip Society and Ipswich Scientific Society

Below are biographical notes on several of the characters mentioned in the minute books of Ipswich Science-Gossip Society and Ipswich Scientific Society.

Branford Edwards (1844-1904)

Census and other data

Born: Ipswich, 06 July 1844.

1870 Medical Directory, Carr St., Ipswich, L.R.C.P. Lond. 1868; M.R.C.S. Eng. 1868; (Guy’s).

Married (1): Jane Sophia Alexander (1859-1900), Ipswich, 1875.

1891 census, surgeon registered general practitioner, Major’s House, Major’s Corner, Ipswich.

Married (2): Cordelia Eliza Cullingham (1854-1914), Ipswich, 1900.

1901 census, physician & surgeon, Major’s House, Major’s Corner, Ipswich.

Died: Ipswich, 19 October 1904, age 60.


Obituary

BMJ 12 November 1904, vol. 2, no. 2289, p. 1347 (which mentions his interest in astronomy), see https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2355845/pdf/brmedj08195-0067b.pdf.


Ipswich Science-Gossip Society

05 June 1880. Branford Edwards exhibited a handmade telescope speculum. [GC444/1/2 Minute Book, 1874-84, p. 268.]

03 May 1882. Branford Edwards lectured on "The Reflecting Telescope". [ibid, p. 312.]

Edgar Jermyn Brown (1856-1920)

E J Brown’s grandfather was William Brown, born in Framlingham on 05 December 1779. William was an architect, surveyor and timber merchant, and founded the Ipswich timber merchants "William Brown & Company".

Census and other data

Born: Ipswich, 1856.

1881 census, Gippeswyk Hall (with parents).

1885, married Annie Josephine Loverly (1858-1930) in Ipswich.

1887, joined the Liverpool Astronomical Society, address, 24 Burlington Rd., Ipswich [LAS membership list for 1887 (British Library, London)].

1891, 1901 & 1911 censuses, Villette, 28 Tuddenham Road, Ipswich.

Died: Ipswich, 06 November 1920, age 64.


Ipswich Science Gossip Society

05 May 1880, Mr E J Brown lectured on "The Ringed Planet Saturn". [GC444/1/2 Minute Book, 1874-84, p. 266.]

07 March 1883, Mr E J Brown lectured on "The Moon". [ibid, p. 330.]


Ipswich Scientific Society

01 April 1885, Mr E J Brown read an interesting paper on "The Physical Constitution of the Sun". [GC444/1/3 Minute Book, 1885-1903, p. 16.]

06 April 1892, Mr E J Brown read a paper on "Astronomical Instruments". [ibid, p. 208.]

William Mussen Young (1858-1904)

Census and other data

Born, Northern Ireland, ca. 1858.

1891 census, Physician & Surgeon, Suffolk County Lunatic Asylum, Melton (later known as St Audry's).

Died, Kensington, W London, 14 December 1904, age 48.

Obituary, BMJ, vol. 1 (1905), no. 2397, p. 49, see https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2318707/pdf/brmedj08098-0051c.pdf.


Ipswich Scientific Society

05 December 1885, Dr W M Young gave an extremely good paper on "The Sun". He advanced that the Helmholtz (Shrinkage) Theory was the source of the Sun’s power. [GC44/1/3 Minute Book, 1885-1903, p. 250.]

05 February 1896, Dr W M Young read a paper entitled "Historical Notes on the Development of Astronomy as a Science". [ibid, p. 276.]

John Isaac Plummer (1845-1911)

Biography.

Mentioned several times in the records of Ipswich Science Gossip Society [GC444/1/2 Minute Book, 1874-84] and Ipswich Science Society [GC444/1/3 Minute Book, 1885-1903].

Alice Grace Cook (1877-1958)

Biographical notes.

Mentioned in the records of Ipswich Science Society [GC444/1/3a Minute Book, 1903-23].


Bill Barton, FRAS