Anne Sheepshanks (2 April 1789 – 8 February 1876) was a British astronomical benefactor.

Life

Sheepshanks was born in

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

on 2 April 1789. She was the daughter of Joseph and Ann Sheepshanks. Her mother was from Kendal and her father was a cloth manufacturer. Her brothers were

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...

and Richard Sheepshanks. In 1819, her brother Richard returned from being tenth wrangler and after obtaining his master's degree at

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...

. Sheepshanks went to live with him. When he died unmarried in Reading in 1855 she was his heir. She gave 196 books from her brother's book collection to the

Royal Astronomical Society The Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) is a learned society and charitable organisation, charity that encourages and promotes the study of astronomy, planetary science, solar-system science, geophysics and closely related branches of science. Its ...

. Sheepshanks gave £10,000 to the Cambridge Observatory. This fund was used to purchase a modern photographic

telescope A telescope is a device used to observe distant objects by their emission, Absorption (electromagnetic radiation), absorption, or Reflection (physics), reflection of electromagnetic radiation. Originally, it was an optical instrument using len ...

at the observatory, which was named in her honour, and also to establish the Sheepshanks

Exhibition An exhibition, in the most general sense, is an organized presentation and display of a selection of items. In practice, exhibitions usually occur within a cultural or educational setting such as a museum, art gallery, park, library, exhibiti ...

. She became an honorary member of the

.Anne Sheepshanks: patron, benefactor, sister, by Mark Hurn A&G (2016) 57 (3): 3.11. http://astrogeo.oxfordjournals.org/content/57/3/3.11.abstract The crater Sheepshanks on the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...

is also named after her, one of the few lunar craters with a female

eponym An eponym is a noun after which or for which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. Adjectives derived from the word ''eponym'' include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Eponyms are commonly used for time periods, places, innovati ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sheepshanks, Anne 1789 births 1876 deaths People from Harrogate People from Reading, Berkshire Royal Astronomical Society