The Reverend Joseph Woolley MA

LLD Legum Doctor (Latin: “teacher of the laws”) (LL.D.) or, in English, Doctor of Laws, is a doctorate-level academic degree in law or an honorary degree, depending on the jurisdiction. The double “L” in the abbreviation#Plural forms, abbrev ...

FRAS (1817-1889) was a fellow of the

Royal Astronomical Society (Whatever shines should be observed) , predecessor = , successor = , formation = , founder = , extinction = , merger = , merged = , type = NG ...

and a founding member of the Royal Institution of Naval Architects.

Early life and education

Woolley was born in Petersfield,

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

on 27 June 1817. He was the third son of George Woolley, a local surgeon, and later employee of the Royal Humane Society and his wife Charlotte. Woolley was educated at Brompton Grammar School and

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge founded by the Tudor matriarch Lady Margaret Beaufort. In constitutional terms, the college is a charitable corporation established by a charter dated 9 April 1511. Th ...

in 1835. He graduated BA as third Wrangler in 1840, and became a Fellow and Lecturer at St John's College, and was Rede Lecturer in 1844. In 1846, Woolley gave up his post to become a country rector.

Career in Naval Architecture

Woolley's career in naval architecture began when he was appointed was the first Principal of the short-lived

School of Mathematics and Naval Construction The Central School of Mathematics and Naval Construction was a short-lived shipbuilding college at Portsmouth Dockyard on the south coast of England. It was founded in 1848 but only lasted five years, until 1853. The first Principal was Joseph W ...

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city status in the United Kingdom, city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is admi ...

which ran from 1848 to 1853. Its predecessor, the School of Naval Architecture, led by Professor James Inman, another Cambridge graduate, had closed in the 1830s. like the earlier school, the School was distrusted by those without academic training, who referred to its graduates as '

Euclid Euclid (; grc-gre, Εὐκλείδης; BC) was an ancient Greek mathematician active as a geometer and logician. Considered the "father of geometry", he is chiefly known for the ''Elements'' treatise, which established the foundations of ...

boys.'H.W. Dickinson, "Joseph Woolley - Pioneer of British Naval Education; 1848-1879,"Education Research and Perspectives, Vol. 34, No. 1, 2007 In 1864, Woolley became the first principal of the Royal School of Naval Architecture.

Family connections

He was related to the 20th-century astronomer Richard van der Riet Woolley (Joseph Woolley was the brother of Benjamin Woolley, Richard van der Riet Woolley's paternal grandfather).

Sources

*H. W.Dickinson, 'Joseph Woolley - Pioneer of British Naval Education; 1848 - 1873', ''Education Research and Perspectives'' (2007) 34(1) pages 1–26
Richard van der Riet Woolley biography
including Woolley family history {{DEFAULTSORT:Wolley, Joseph 19th-century British astronomers 1817 births 1889 deaths British naval architects Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge Fellows of St John's College, Cambridge 19th-century British businesspeople