John Narrien (1782–1860) was an English astronomical writer,

Life

The son of a stonemason, Narrien was born at

Chertsey Chertsey is a town in the Borough of Runnymede, Surrey, England, southwest of central London. It grew up around Chertsey Abbey, founded in AD 666 by Earconwald, St Erkenwald, and gained a municipal charter, market charter from Henry I of Engla ...

, in

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

. For some years he kept for an optician's shop in

Pall Mall, London Pall Mall is a street in the St James's area of the City of Westminster, Central London. It connects St James's Street to Trafalgar Square and is a section of the regional A4 road (England), A4 road. The street's name is derived f ...

. Narrien was nominated in 1814 as one of the teaching staff of the

Royal Military College, Sandhurst The Royal Military College (RMC) was a United Kingdom, British military academy for training infantry and cavalry Officer (armed forces), officers of the British Army, British and British Indian Army, Indian Armies. It was founded in 1801 at Gre ...

. Promoted in 1820 to be mathematical professor in the senior department, he was long the effective head of the establishment. He was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

in 1840. Narrine observed the partial solar eclipse of 6 May 1845, at the observatory of Sandhurst College. The failure of his eyesight caused him to give up his post at Sandhurst in 1858, and he retired that year also from 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 ...

. He died at Kensington on 30 March 1860, aged 77. He had lost his wife eight years previously.

Works

Narrien published in 1833 ''An Historical Account of the Origin and Progress of Astronomy''. He also compiled a series of mathematical text-books for use in Sandhurst College, including ''Elements of Geometry'', London, 1842; ''Practical Astronomy and Geodesy'', 1845; and ''Analytical Geometry'', 1846.

Notes

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Narrien, John 1782 births 1860 deaths Academics of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst English writers Fellows of the Royal Society People from Chertsey English male writers