An astronomer who had a wide range of interests. He was born in Sunderland on August 14th 1842, and would spend most of his astronomical career at West Hendon House in Sunderland. He traveled abroad to observe 4 eclipses of the Sun, he intended to go to watch the eclipse in 1914 from Norway but the war prevented this. In 1911 he produced a catalog of 9842 stars that were visible to the naked eye without using binoculars or telescopes.
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| West Hendon House with observatory |
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| Observatory |
The Backhouse family owned banks in Darlington and Newcastle that would be taken over by Barclays.
He died on March 13th 1920 following a short illness.
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