Francis Bashforth (8 January 1819 – 12 February 1912) was an English

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

priest and mathematician, who is known for his use of

applied mathematics Applied mathematics is the application of mathematics, mathematical methods by different fields such as physics, engineering, medicine, biology, finance, business, computer science, and Industrial sector, industry. Thus, applied mathematics is a ...

ballistics Ballistics is the field of mechanics concerned with the launching, flight behaviour and impact effects of projectiles, especially weapon munitions such as bullets, unguided bombs, rockets and the like; the science or art of designing and acceler ...

Early life and education

Bashforth was born on 8 January 1819 in

Thurnscoe Thurnscoe is a village in the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley in South Yorkshire, England. The village falls within the Dearne North ward of the Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council, and along with Goldthorpe and Bolton upon Dearne is part o ...

, Yorkshire, England. Bashforth was the eldest son of John Bashforth, a farmer. He was educated at

Doncaster Grammar School Doncaster ( ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the City of Doncaster metropolitan borough, and is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Noted for i ...

. In 1839, he

matriculated Matriculation is the formal process of entering a university, or of becoming eligible to enter by fulfilling certain academic requirements such as a matriculation examination. Australia In Australia, the term ''matriculation'' is seldom used now ...

into

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College, formally the College of St John the Evangelist in the University of Cambridge, is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge, founded by the House of Tudor, Tudor matriarch L ...

as a

sizar At Trinity College Dublin and the University of Cambridge, a sizar is an Undergraduate education, undergraduate who receives some form of assistance such as meals, lower fees or lodging during his or her period of study, in some cases in retur ...

. Having studied the

Mathematical Tripos The Mathematical Tripos is the mathematics course that is taught in the Faculty of Mathematics, University of Cambridge, Faculty of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge. Origin In its classical nineteenth-century form, the tripos was a di ...

at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

, he graduated with a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

(BA) degree in 1843 and was the

Second Wrangler At the University of Cambridge in England, a "Wrangler" is a student who gains first-class honours in the Mathematical Tripos competition. The highest-scoring student is the Senior Wrangler, the second highest is the Second Wrangler, and so on ...

. Bashforth later returned to his alma-mater to undertake a

Bachelor of Divinity In Western universities, a Bachelor of Divinity or Baccalaureate in Divinity (BD, DB, or BDiv; ) is an academic degree awarded for a course taken in the study of divinity or related disciplines, such as theology or, rarely, religious studies. ...

(BD) degree, which he completed in 1853.

Career

Bashforth was elected a

Fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

in 1843. Bashforth was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...

in the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

as a

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian denominations, such as the Cathol ...

in 1850 and as a

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

in 1851. From 1857 until 1908, he was the Rector of

Minting Minting is a village and civil parish in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. The village is situated south from the A158 road The A158 road is a major route that heads from Lincoln, Lincolnshire, Lincoln in the west to Ske ...

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

, the

living Living or The Living may refer to: Common meanings *Life, a condition that distinguishes organisms from inorganic objects and dead organisms ** Living species, one that is not extinct *Personal life, the course of an individual human's life * ...

of which belonged to his college. From 1864 to 1872, Bashforth was Professor of Applied Mathematics at the

Royal Military Academy, Woolwich The Royal Military Academy (RMA) at Woolwich, in south-east London, was a British Army military academy for the training of Officer (armed forces), commissioned officers of the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers. It later also trained officers o ...

, teaching the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

's artillery officers. Between 1864 and 1880, he undertook systematic

experiments that studied the resistance of air. He invented a ballistic chronograph and received an award from the British government in the amount of £2000 (). He also studied liquid drops and

surface tension Surface tension is the tendency of liquid surfaces at rest to shrink into the minimum surface area possible. Surface tension (physics), tension is what allows objects with a higher density than water such as razor blades and insects (e.g. Ge ...

. The Adams–Bashforth method (a numerical integration method) is named after

John Couch Adams John Couch Adams ( ; 5 June 1819 – 21 January 1892) was a British mathematician and astronomer. He was born in Laneast, near Launceston, Cornwall, and died in Cambridge. His most famous achievement was predicting the existence and position o ...

(who was the 1847 Senior Wrangler to Bashforth's Second Wrangler) and Bashforth. They used the method to study drop formation in 1883.

Personal life

On 14 September 1869, Bashforth married Elizabeth Jane, daughter of the Revd Samuel Rotton Piggott. Together, they had one son: Charles Pigott Bashforth (1872–1945) who was also an Anglican clergyman. Bashforth died on 12 February 1912 in

Woodhall Spa Woodhall Spa is a former spa town and civil parish in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England, on the southern edge of the Lincolnshire Wolds, south-west of Horncastle, Lincolnshire, Horncastle, west of Skegness, east-south-east o ...

, England, aged 93.

Writings

* * * * * * *

References

External links

*https://books.google.com/books?id=gO4pAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA42 states "Second Wrangler 1843", "Rector and Vicar of Minting". *http://armiestrumenti.com/2010/11/03/introduzione-alla-balistica-esterna/ (Italian); has picture of Bashforth *''This article was translated from the corresponding article in the

German Wikipedia The German Wikipedia () is the German-language edition of Wikipedia, a free and publicly editable online encyclopedia. Founded on 16 March 2001, it is the second-oldest Wikipedia edition (after the English Wikipedia). It has articles, ma ...

. '' {{DEFAULTSORT:Bashforth, Francis 1819 births 1912 deaths Academics of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich British mathematicians Ballistics experts Scientists from Yorkshire Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge People from Thurnscoe 19th-century English Anglican priests Second Wranglers Fellows of St John's College, Cambridge