Ill 



Richard Pearce, of Penzance, by whom he leaves two daughters. 

 Seven or eight years ago he had an attack of paralysis, which com- 

 pelled him to retire from practice. He had since been an invalid, 

 getting gradually weaker from year to year, though he was able to 

 take his usual daily drive till within a few days of his death. He 

 died on January 18, 1893, at the age of seventy-seven. 



E. D. 



The Rev. CHARLES PRITCHARD, D.D., Savilian Professor of Astro- 

 nomy in the University of Oxford, was born at Alberbury, Shropshire, 

 on February 29, 1808, being the fourth son of Mr. William 

 Pritchard. In his early youth he was sent to a private school at 

 Uxbridge, of which his recollections were slight, but the little that he 

 did remember of its internal and economical arrangements were not 

 pleasant. When nearly eleven years old he was removed to Merchant 

 Taylors' School, to which, according to an entry in Robinson's 

 Registers of the school, he was admitted in January, 1819. In those 

 hardy days it was the custom of the school to commence work at 

 7 in the morning, and, as young Pritchard's home was at Brixton, he 

 was accustomed, for a year and a half or more, to take this long and 

 weary walk of nearly four miles at a very early hour, regardless of 

 rain or fog. Referring to this period of his schooldays, in his 

 'Annals of our School Life,' Pritchard says: "I do not remember 

 that I ever complained of this severe arrangement ; I was old enough 

 to be aware that temporary economical necessities were the cause, 

 and I can never forget that the words most frequently heard in my 

 home were ' education,' ' education'; so I suppose I felt I was being 

 ' educated.' " Apparently, however, he did not profit so much as he 

 desired from the instruction he received at this school. 



From Merchant Taylors' young Pritchard was transferred to an 

 admirable academy at Poplar, conducted by a Mr. John Stock a 

 self-educated, energetic, and practical man, of very considerable 

 abilities. Here he felt more in his natural element, and he always 

 referred to the practical training he received at this school with the 

 greatest respect. In addition to the general school education usually 

 obtainable at that time, the senior pupils were indulged with the 

 sight and handling of a number of instruments and working models 

 made and used by the celebrated Ferguson, the astronomer. These 

 included some telescopes and quadrants, which excited the curiosity 

 of young Pritchard and other intelligent youths, and probably, in his 

 case, formed the turning-point of scientific proclivities. He has 

 himself said that " very many of us could use the theodolite, and 

 could survey and plot an estate. Our practice-ground was mainly in 

 the Isle of Dogs, at that time an all but unoccupied waste, and I well 

 remember how, at the age of less than sixteen, 1 earned two guineas 



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