Abbott, Francis (1799 - 1883)

Summary

Francis Abbott, a watchmaker, was transported to Tasmania in 1845 for 'obtaining two watches under false pretences'. He served one year with the Oyster Cove gangs and three years as an assigned servant. Abbott was freed three years early in 1849 and set up his own business in Hobart. He was very successful and many of his public clocks, including one at Government House, were erected. Francis Abbott also had a keen interest in meteorology and astronomy. His reputation in this field soon overshadowed his watch and clock making abilities. He began making observations at the Rossbank Observatory soon after his arrival in Tasmania. After its closure in 1854 he continued his work in his private observatory. Self-taught, Abbott went on to pioneer observations of the southern hemisphere and contributed numerous articles to astronomy and meteorological journals. He also wrote several books. His recordings became the standard reference for the local climate and were published in world charts. He was also the first astronomer to record and announce changes on the variable star Argus (Carinae). Many of his large collection of books (philosophy and science) and instruments are kept by museums, observatories and universities around Australia.

Details

Chronology

25 October 1821

Life event - Married Mary Woolley at St Werburgh's Church in Derby, UK

1831

Career position - Honorary member of the Antiquarian and Chronological Society of London

1838

Career position - A Treatise on the Management of Public Clocks published in London

1844

Life event - Sentenced to seven years transportation by the Central Criminal Court in England

June 1845

Arrived in Hobart Town, Tasmania

27 March 1849

Life event - Received a ticket-of-leave and started a watch and clockmaker business in Murray St, Hobart

1850

Life event - Wife and family granted free passage to join him

1854 - 1880

Career position - Began recording meteorological observations which were published in Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania

1855

Career position - Member, Royal Society of Tasmania

1859

Career position - Clock at Government House erected

1860

Career position - Fellow, Royal Astronomical Society, London

1861

Career position - Member of Council, Royal Society of Tasmania

1861 - 1883

Award - Life Member, Royal Society of Tasmania

1869

Career position - Fellow, Royal Meteorological Society

1878

Career position - Modern Astronomy published in Hobart

1879

Career position - Résumé on Modern Astronomy published in Hobart

1880

Career position - Siderereal Systems of the Modern Astronomy, Multiple Suns and Far-off Worlds published in Tas

Related entries

Archival resources

National Herbarium, Melbourne

• Francis Abbott - Records, 1879 - 1881, MSS M55; National Herbarium, Melbourne. Details

Private hands (Abbott, M.)

• Francis Abbott - Records, 1860 - 1872; Private hands (Abbott, M.). Details

Royal Society of Tasmania

• Francis Abbott - Records, 1856 - 1874, RSA/B.10, RSA/A.17(A); Royal Society of Tasmania. Details

Published resources

Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation Exhibitions

• Collins, David, Chemistry in 19th Australia - Select Bibliography, An exhibition of the Encyclopedia circa 2005 with assistance from Ailie Smith and Gavan McCarthy., eScholarship Research Centre (original publisher), Melbourne, 2009, https://eoas.info/exhibitions/ciab/ciab_ALL.html. Details

Books

• Abbott, Francis, Results of meteorological observations for twenty years for Hobart Town, made at the Royal Observatory, Ross Bank, from January 1841, to December 1854, and at the Private Observatory, from January 1855 to December 1860, inclusive (Hobart Town: Government Printer, 1861), 21 pp. Details
• Abbott, Francis, Results of twenty-five years' meteorological observations for Hobart Town together with a two years' register of the principal atmospheric meteors and aurora australis (Hobart: Mercury Steam Press, 1866), 46 pp. Details
• Abbott, Francis, Results of five years meteorological observations for Hobart Town; with which are incorporated the results of twenty-five years observations previously published by the Royal Society of Tasmania and completing a period of thirty years (Hobart: Government Printer, 1872), 37 pp. Details
• Abbott, Francis, Results of five years meteorological observations for Hobart Town; with which are incorporated the results of thirty years observations previously published by the Royal Society of Tasmania and completing a period of thirty-five years (1841-75) (Hobart: Government Printer, 1877), 33 pp. Details

Book Sections

• Rimmer, Gordon, 'Abbott, Francis (1799-1883)' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 3: 1851 - 1890 A-C, Douglas Pike, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1969), pp. 2-3. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A030002b.htm. Details

Journal Articles

• Abbott, Francis, 'Spectrum analysis', Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania (1863), 2-9. Details
• Abbott, Francis, 'Spectrum analysis and its application to science.', Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania for 1868 (1869), 41-48. Details
• Orchiston, Wayne, 'The Contribution of Francis Abbott to Tasmanian and Australian Astronomy', Vistas in Astronomy, 35 (1992), 315-344. Details

Resources

• Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q4529517. Details
• 'Abbott, Francis (1799-18830218)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-1465018. Details

Resource Sections

• 'Abbott, Francis', in Physics in Australia to 1945, R.W. Home, with the assistance of Paula J. Needham, Australian Science Archives Project, June 1995, http://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/bsparcs/physics/P000065p.htm. Details

See also

• Federation and Meteorology, 2001, http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/fam/index_a.html. Details
• Maiden, J. H., 'Records of Tasmanian Botanists', Papers and proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania, 1909 (1909), 9-29. Details