Sir William Chandler Roberts-Austen, K.C.B. 193 



Mint as far back as 1848. Under that Act the Chancellor of the 

 Exchequer for the time being became Master, Worker, and Warden 

 of the Royal Mint. No salary was attached to the office, but it was 

 provided that all its duties should be performed and exercised by his 

 " sufficient deputy." In order to provide for the efficient discharge 

 of the scientific work devolving on the Mint, a new post that of 

 "Chemist of the Mint" was created, and Roberts was selected to 

 fill it, being appointed by Treasury Minute of January 7, 1870. At 

 this time the assays on gold and silver bullion received for coinage 

 were performed within the Department, whereas the assays of 

 coinage bars and finished coin were entrusted to certain eminent 

 chemists, known as " non-resident assay ers." The death of Dr. W. 

 Allen Miller, one of the non-resident assayers of the Mint, towards 

 the end of 1870, afforded an opportunity for reconsidering the general 

 system on which the assay work of the Department was conducted, 

 with the result that the practice of employing non-resident assayers 

 was discontinued. This led to the appointment of Roberts as a second 

 assayer in the Mint, whilst retaining his post as chemist. This 

 arrangement was maintained until 1882, when the assay work was 

 concentrated in one office, and Roberts was appointed to the amal- 

 gamated post of " Chemist and Assayer," the separate post of chemist 

 being abolished. This office he held up to the time of his death, 

 practically no change having been made in the organisation of the 

 Assay Department for the last twenty years. 



It is impossible to enumerate here the many technical points con- 

 nected with the metallic currency to which Sir William Roberts- 

 Austen's attention was directed during the thirty-three years which 

 have elapsed since he became officially connected witli the Mint. 

 These are described in more or less detail in the memoranda he was 

 called upon to supply each year for publication in the Annual Reports 

 of the Deputy Master and Comptroller of the Royal Mint, which 

 have been regularly presented to Parliament since 1870. 



Some of the more important of these questions, with the years in 

 which they came up for special consideration, are enumerated 

 below : 



Chemical and metallurgical operations in European 



Mints 1870 



Treatment of brittle gold 1870-1 



Assay by means of the spectroscope, in conjunction 



with Sir Norman Lockyer ... 1872-4 



Ancient trial plates of gold and silver 1873 



Liquation in alloys ... ... ... ... 1874 



Density of gold copper alloys ... ... ... 1877-8 



