William
Coleman 1824-1911 was the owner of Solton Manor near Dover, he had a
strong interest in astronomy. He erected at his residence The
Shruberry, Buckland near Dover an observatory housing an 8 inch
Thomas Cooke and Sons of York telescope which was made around 1891.
His main interest was in double stars.
He
had work published in the Royal Astronomical Society Memoirs vol Iiii
containing the measurement of his double stars made in the years
between 1893-1896 using the 8 inch telescope. The list included 161
double stars. Another list published I the Memoirs vol Iiv for the
years 1897-1899 looked at 131 double stars. Again using the 8 inch
telescope.
William
Coleman also had a smaller 4 inch Cooke and Sons telescope plus
other accessories
which were sold by auction after his death.
Following
William Coleman’s death in 1911 his estate which was worth over
£40,000 left numerous bequests including that the Thomas Cooke and
Sons 8 inch telescope and observatory were offered to the Royal
Astronomical Society who then leased them to the Rev T.E.R .Phillips
who then re erected them at Ashtead in Surry. The telescope and
original observatory would be moved again in 1916 when Phillips
became rector of Headley also in Surrey. Phillip’s work on the
planets and in particular Jupiter and Mars using the 8 inch Cooke was
particularly important.
The
Rev TER Philips died in 1942 but the story of the Coleman/Philips
telescope continued. In 1947 a group of people the Port Elizabeth
Astronomical Society in South Africa wanted to establish an
observatory there. By 1948 the money needed had been raised and the
telescope went to Port Elizabeth. Originally housed in a run off shed
by 1953 it was housed in an observatory and at the time was the
largest telescope in South Africa used for public viewing nights.
The
telescope was used through until the 21st century when a
combination of lack of ageing membership and light pollution plus the
age of the telescope meant that it was used less and less. With the
possibility of it being scrapped. The the Antique Telescope Society
came to the rescue and through their help Daniel Mobati of Oakland
California in 2016 purchased the 8 inch Cooke telescope with the
plane to have the telescope fully restored and placed in an
observatory in the San Francisco Bay area. As of 2022 I do not know
if the project has yet been completed.
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