A shared arena: the private astronomy lecturing trade and its institutional counterpart in Britain, 1817–1865

Abstract

Public lecturing on astronomy was prevalent in Britain throughout the first half of the nineteenth century. Many lecturers were private entrepreneurs operating lecturing businesses without institutional affiliations. Private lecturers enjoyed popularity in various places and sites ranging from metropolitan theatres to provincial town halls. By focusing on private lecturers, including Deane Franklin Walker (1778–1865), John Bird (d. 1840) and Robert Children, this paper explores the private astronomy lecturing trade and compares it with public lectures that took place inside scientific institutions. The careers of two London-based institutional lecturers, John Wallis (1788–1852) and George Henry Bachhoffner (1810–1879), are analysed as a comparison. Despite the trend towards institutionalized science, the activities of private astronomy lecturers had not been undermined by institutional competitors until the early 1860s. Astronomy remained largely an amateur practice in early Victorian Britain; public lecturing on astronomy was also far from a profession. Many astronomical lecturers, whether private or institutional, were not scientific practitioners working on original research or observational tasks. Some of their lecturing, and particularly their Lenten astronomical lectures, purveyed a distinctive kind of popular astronomy, which was a blend of instruction, amusement and religious sentiments. They indicate complex features of performance and showmanship beyond simply conveying popularized scientific knowledge.