Joseph Baxendell
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Joseph Baxendell (1815–1887) was a British
meteorologist A meteorologist is a scientist who studies and works in the field of meteorology aiming to understand or predict Earth's atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric phenomena including the weather. Those who study meteorological phenomena are meteorologists ...
and
astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. Astronomers observe astronomical objects, such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, galax ...
.


Background

He was the son of Thomas Baxendell and Mary his wife, née Shepley, and was born at
Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...
on 19 April 1815. He received his early education at Thomas Whalley's school in
Cheetham Hill Cheetham is an inner-city area and electoral ward of Manchester, England, which in 2011 had a population of 22,562. It lies on the west bank of the River Irk, north of Manchester city centre, close to the boundary with Salford, bounded by Cru ...
, Manchester. He left school at the age of fourteen, but not before his natural love of science had been noticed and fostered by his mother and by his schoolmaster. He made good use of his powers of observation during six years spent at sea from his fourteenth to his twentieth year. In the Pacific he witnessed the shower of meteors in November 1833. When he abandoned seafaring life in 1835 he returned to
Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...
, and for a while assisted his father, who was a land steward. Sutton, 1901


Career

Baxendell afterwards had a business of his own as an estate agent. From the time of his return to
Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...
he pursued, in a quiet unobtrusive way, his studies in astronomy and meteorology, in the former of which pursuits he had the advantage of the use of the observatory of his friend Robert Worthington at Crumpsall Hall, near Manchester. His first contribution 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 ...
was made in 1849. He subsequently wrote for the Royal Society's ''
Proceedings In academia and librarianship, conference proceedings are a collection of academic papers published in the context of an academic conference or workshop. Conference proceedings typically contain the contributions made by researchers at the confer ...
'', the Liverpool Astronomical Society's ''Journal'', and several other publications, but the greater and more important portion of his work was contributed to the
Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society The Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society, popularly known as the Lit. & Phil., is one of the oldest learned societies in the United Kingdom and second oldest provincial learned society (after the Spalding Gentlemen's Society). Promi ...
, of which he became a member in January 1858. In the following year he became a Member of Council, and in 1861 became joint Secretary as well as Editor of the society's 'Proceedings.' The former post he retained until 1885, and the latter until his death. As colleagues in the secretaryship he had
Henry Enfield Roscoe Sir Henry Enfield Roscoe (7 January 1833 – 18 December 1915) was a British chemist. He is particularly noted for early work on vanadium, photochemical studies, and his assistance in creating Oxo, in its earlier liquid form. Life and work ...
until 1873, and afterwards
Osborne Reynolds Osborne Reynolds (23 August 1842 – 21 February 1912) was an Irish-born British innovator in the understanding of fluid dynamics. Separately, his studies of heat transfer between solids and fluids brought improvements in boiler and condenser ...
. He was one of the founders of the physical and mathematical section of the society in 1859. He was enrolled as a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1858, but did not become 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 ...
until 1884. In February 1859 he succeeded Henry Halford Jones as astronomer to the Manchester corporation. Some years subsequently he superintended the erection of the Fernley meteorological observatory in Hesketh Park, Southport, and was appointed meteorologist to the corporation of Southport. From 1873 to 1877 he was a member of the
Crumpsall Crumpsall is an outer suburb and Wards of the United Kingdom, electoral ward of Manchester, in Greater Manchester, England, north of Manchester city centre, bordered by Cheetham Hill, Blackley, Harpurhey, Broughton, Greater Manchester, Broughton ...
local board. His scientific contributions, of which sixty-seven are enumerated in the Royal Society's ''Catalogue of Scientific Papers'', have been ably summarised by Dr. J. Bottomley in the paper mentioned below. Of his astronomical observations, perhaps the most important are those embodied in various catalogues of
variable stars A variable star is a star whose brightness as seen from Earth (its apparent magnitude) changes systematically with time. This variation may be caused by a change in emitted light or by something partly blocking the light, so variable stars are ...
. His meteorological and terrestrial-magnetical researches were of conspicuous importance, and he was one of the main pioneers in detecting the close connection between those sciences and
solar physics Solar physics is the branch of astrophysics that specializes in the study of the Sun. It intersects with many disciplines of pure physics and astrophysics. Because the Sun is uniquely situated for close-range observing (other stars cannot be re ...
. Among other valuable suggestions for the practical application of meteorology was that for the use of storm signals, concerning which he had a protracted controversy with the
board of trade The Board of Trade is a British government body concerned with commerce and industry, currently within the Department for Business and Trade. Its full title is The Lords of the Committee of the Privy Council appointed for the consideration of ...
. He predicted the long
drought A drought is a period of drier-than-normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D.  Jiang, A.  Khan, W.  Pokam Mba, D.  Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, ...
of 1868, and helped enable the Manchester corporation to regulate the supply of water and so mitigate the inconvenience that ensued. On another occasion he predicted the outbreak of an epidemic at Southport. His later years were passed at Birkdale, near
Southport Southport is a seaside resort, seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. It lies on the West Lancashire Coastal Plain, West Lancashire coastal plain and the east coast of the Irish Sea, approximately north of ...
, where he died on 7 October 1887. In religion he was a churchman and a staunch Anglo-Israelite.


Family

He married, in 1865, Mary Anne, sister of Norman Robert Pogson, the government astronomer for
Madras Chennai, also known as Madras ( its official name until 1996), is the capital and largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of India. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. According to the 2011 Indian ce ...
, and left an only son, named after himself, who succeeded him as meteorologist to the corporation of Southport.


References

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Baxendell, Joseph Scientists from Manchester 1815 births 1887 deaths English meteorologists 19th-century British astronomers Fellows of the Royal Astronomical Society Fellows of the Royal Society Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society