Edward Crossley (1841 – 21 January 1905) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national id ...

businessman,

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a l ...

politician and

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses their studies on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. They observe astronomical objects such as stars, planets, moons, comets and galaxies – in either o ...

Biography

Edward Crossley was the eldest son of Joseph Crossley J.P., of Broomfield,

Halifax, Yorkshire Halifax () is a minster and market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale in West Yorkshire, England. It is the commercial, cultural and administrative centre of the borough, and the headquarters of Calderdale Council. In the 15th cent ...

, of the Crossley carpets dynasty. He inherited his family's carpet manufacturing business (John Crossley & Sons) from his father when he was 27. He married Jane Eleanor Baines, third daughter of the Leeds newspaper proprietor and MP Sir Edward Baines. He was the

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house ...

(MP) for Sowerby from 1885 to 1892. He was also mayor of

Halifax Halifax commonly refers to: *Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada * Halifax, West Yorkshire, England *Halifax (bank), a British bank Halifax may also refer to: Places Australia *Halifax, Queensland, a coastal town in the Shire of Hinchinbrook *Halifax ...

from 1874–1876 and 1884–1885. He became a Fellow of the

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

in 1867. He built the Bermersidehttp://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-447652-bermerside-house- accessed 27April2014 astronomical

observatory An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial, marine, or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geophysical, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed. H ...

, operational from 1867 to 1894, and purchased a telescope from

Andrew Ainslie Common Andrew Ainslie Common FRS (1841–1903) was an English amateur astronomer best known for his pioneering work in astrophotography. Biography Common was born in Newcastle Upon Tyne on 7 August 1841. His father, Thomas Common, a surgeon known ...

in 1885, and employed

Joseph Gledhill Joseph Gledhill (17 November 1837 – 20 March 1906) was a British astronomer. He worked as an assistant at the Bermerside Observatory in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. In 1879 he co-authored the book ''A Handbook of Double Stars'' with E ...

as an observer. With Gledhill and

James Wilson James Wilson may refer to: Politicians and government officials Canada * James Wilson (Upper Canada politician) (1770–1847), English-born farmer and political figure in Upper Canada *James Crocket Wilson (1841–1899), Canadian MP from Quebe ...

(later Canon of Worcester), he wrote ''Handbook of Double Stars'' in 1879, which became a standard reference work. By 1895 Crossley had deemed the rainy English weather and the industrial air pollution at his observatory site unsuitable for astronomy, so he donated his telescope to the Lick Observatory in

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

. Though extensively modified, it was used for research until 2010 and is known as the

Crossley reflector The Crossley telescope is a reflecting telescope located at Lick Observatory in the U.S. state of California. It was used between 1895 to 2010, and was donated to the observatory by Edward Crossley, its namesake. It was the largest glass refl ...

. This telescope was used by

Charles Dillon Perrine Charles Dillon Perrine (July 28, 1867June 21, 1951) was an American astronomer at the Lick Observatory in California (1893-1909) who moved to Cordoba, Argentina to accept the position of Director of the Argentine National Observatory (1909-1936 ...

to discover two

moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width ...

s of

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but slightly less than one-thousandt ...

. The 36 in.

was used extensively before the 120 in. Shane Reflecting Telescope (

C. Donald Shane Telescope The C. Donald Shane telescope is a 120-inch (3.05-meter) reflecting telescope located at the Lick Observatory in San Jose, California, San Jose, California. It was named after astronomer C. Donald Shane in 1978, who led the effort to acquire the ne ...

) was built in 1959.

References

External links

*
Short biography

on the Bremerside Observatory, from the Society for the History of Astronomy

Portraits of Edward Crossley from the Lick Observatory Records Digital Archive, UC Santa Cruz Library's Digital Collections

Obituaries

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crossley, Edward 1841 births 1905 deaths 19th-century British astronomers Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1885–1886 UK MPs 1886–1892 Mayors of Halifax, West Yorkshire Councillors in Calderdale 19th-century English businesspeople