Richard Pendlebury (1847-1902) was a British

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...

musician A musician is someone who Composer, composes, Conducting, conducts, or Performing arts#Performers, performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general Terminology, term used to designate a person who fol ...

bibliophile A bookworm or bibliophile is an individual who loves and frequently reads or collects books. Bibliophilia or bibliophilism is the love of books. Bibliophiles may have large, specialized book collections. They may highly value old editions, aut ...

and

mountaineer Mountaineering, mountain climbing, or alpinism is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas that have become sports ...

. Pendlebury was born in

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

on 28 March 1847 and educated at

Liverpool College Liverpool College is a coeducational day and boarding school in Mossley Hill, Liverpool, England. It was one of the thirteen founding members of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference, Headmasters' Conference. History Liverpool Coll ...

. He went up to

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College, formally the College of St John the Evangelist in the University of Cambridge, is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge, founded by the House of Tudor, Tudor matriarch L ...

in 1866 and graduated

senior wrangler The Senior Wrangler is the top mathematics undergraduate at the University of Cambridge in England, a position which has been described as "the greatest intellectual achievement attainable in Britain". Specifically, it is the person who achiev ...

in 1870: he was then elected to a college fellowship. He was appointed University Lecturer in Mathematics in 1888. He collected early mathematical books and printed music, donating his collections to his college and university. His presentation of a collection of music books and manuscripts to the

Fitzwilliam Museum The Fitzwilliam Museum is the art and antiquities University museum, museum of the University of Cambridge. It is located on Trumpington Street opposite Fitzwilliam Street in central Cambridge. It was founded in 1816 under the will of Richard ...

stimulated the formation of the Music Faculty at Cambridge University and the University's

Pendlebury Library of Music The Pendlebury Library of Music is the library of the Faculty of Music, University of Cambridge, England. The current building was completed in 1984, and was designed by Sir Leslie Martin. The library is located next to the West Road Concert Hall ...

is named after him. Most of his more difficult alpine expeditions were made with his brother, W. M. Pendlebury and it was with his brother, along with Rev. C Taylor and the guide Ferdinand Imseng, that he made the

first ascent In mountaineering and climbing, a first ascent (abbreviated to FA in climbing guidebook, guide books), is the first successful documented climb to the top of a mountain or the top of a particular climbing route. Early 20th-century mountaineers a ...

of the east face of the alpine peak

Monte Rosa Monte Rosa (; ; ; or ; ) is a mountain massif in the eastern part of the Pennine Alps, on the border between Italy (Piedmont and Aosta Valley) and Switzerland (Valais). The highest peak of the massif, amongst several peaks of over , is the D ...

from Macugnaga in 1872. His first ascent of the Pic Olan, on 8 July 1875, was made with Arthur Cust. The Pendlebury Traverse on Pillar Rock in Cumberland bears his name, he took part in the first ascent of this climb in September 1872, along with his brother William and Frederick Gardiner, but it was actually Gardiner who initiated and led the climb. In his later years Pendlebury moved to

Keswick, Cumbria Keswick ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Cumberland (unitary authority), Cumberland unitary authority area of Cumbria, England. It lies within the Lake District National Park, just north of Derwentwater an ...

where he died on 13 March 1902.

References

External links

Richard Pendelbury
at St John's College Library 1847 births 1902 deaths 19th-century English mathematicians People educated at Liverpool College Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge Fellows of St John's College, Cambridge English book and manuscript collectors Senior Wranglers {{UK-mathematician-stub