Most of the questions I get are about people, and nearly all the rest are about places - but some of the most interesting are about the provenance of objects such as the
Boxmoor watches and the
mirror from Stocks. Now Bob has written from Australia to say he has a telescope that had been owned by the early Victorian astronomer, the Rev. William Rutter Dawes. John Dickinson - of paper-making fame - owned a similar telescope at his home,
Abbots Hill, in
Abbots Langley.
Was it the same one? The clue is that Dawes telescope was sold to "
A gentleman, a friend of Admiral Smythe" in 1859. So could John Dickinson have been a friend of the Admiral? I suggest one or two possible sources (
Click here for more information) but if you can suggest somewhere else to look please let me or Bob know.
