JAMES DUNLOP, Messier of the Southern Sky

[glenc (Glen)]

Sir John Herschel published the General Catalogue in 1864. It contained all the clusters and nebulae known at the time. The four men who found the most objects in the General Catalogue were William Herschel who found 2432 objects, John Herschel 1580, James Dunlop 269 and Heinrich Louis d'Arrest 93.

LIFE SKETCH OF DUNLOP (1793 – 1848)
The biographical information on James Dunlop’s life was primarily obtained from James Dunlop’s nephew, John Service. He wrote Thir Notandums ... to which is appended a Biographical Sketch of James Dunlop, Edinburgh, 1890.
(A painting of James Dunlop https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/james-dunlop-0)

1. EARLY LIFE IN SCOTLAND 1793 – 1821
James Dunlop was born at Dalry (34 km south-west of Glasgow, Scotland) on October 31, 1793. His father John was a handloom weaver. John and his wife Janet Boyle had seven children, James being the fourth child. In 1819 his father died after an eleven year illness and James left for Australia two years later. His mother, said to be a clever woman, died in 1830, three years after James returned to Scotland in 1827.
(Map of Dalry, Beith, Largs and Glasgow.https://maps.app.goo.gl/JNvEmKpqixoBFLJX8)

When James was fourteen years old he moved six kilometres to Beith where he lived with his father's twin brother, Robert, and worked for Mr Fauld in a thread factory. James was not well educated. His biographer, John Service notes, “He had been a short time at school in Dalry, and when he went to Beith, he attended a night-school in the Strand ... But, beyond these meagre opportunities for education, he received no scholastic training whatever ...” James had a “natural aptitude and love” for mechanics and “when he was seventeen years of age, he was constructing lathes and telescopes and casting reflectors for himself ...” He made a telescope four feet long and six or nine inches in diameter. The only help he received was from his 14 year old brother John, who sometimes held a candle for him.

James married his cousin Jean Service on June 25, 1816, they had no children. In 1818 James, aged 24, left his job as a warehouse foreman in Beith and returned to Dalry to become a handloom weaver like his father.

The Patrick family of Trearne introduced James to Sir Thomas Brisbane (1773-1860) in 1820, which led to Dunlop's trip to Australia and his three catalogues of 7385 stars, 629 clusters and nebulae and 253 double stars. Brisbane, a former soldier, was soon to become the sixth governor of NSW. He was interested in astronomy because of its value in navigation and time keeping. During his life Brisbane established three observatories; the first was built at Largs in 1808.
(The ruins of Brisbane’s Largs observatory. https://maps.app.goo.gl/P9BKcmUgQjkeF3gLA)

Brisbane was planning to build his second observatory in NSW and employed Dunlop to care for and repair the mechanical appliances and instruments. He also employed a German, Christian Carl Ludwig (Charles Stargard) Rümker, (1788-1862) as the astronomer and mathematician. Dunlop packed Brisbane's instruments and sailed from Leith, Edinburgh on March 7, 1821 bound for London.

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2. DUNLOP’S WORK IN AUSTRALIA 1821-1827
On May 18, 1821 Brisbane aged 47, Rümker 33 and Dunlop 27 sailed from England on the ship Royal George. They arrived in Sydney five-and-a-half months later on November 7, 1821, having sailed via Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.

Brisbane built his observatory next to Government House at Parramatta. It was completed in April 1822 but observations began on March 11, 1822 according to Dunlop's letter of resignation dated August 18, 1847.
(The Parramatta observatory was here. https://maps.app.goo.gl/RBaQJmaMryKL64289)

One year later on June 16, 1823 Rümker left the observatory after several disputes with Brisbane. Up to this time Rümker had observed between 2000 and 2300 stars. In the absence of Rümker, the untrained Dunlop continued making observations. Brisbane taught him to use the instruments and he completed A Catalogue of 7385 Stars, chiefly in the Southern Hemisphere (also called the Parramatta Catalogue) by March 2, 1826.

Dunlop prepared star maps of the Large Magellanic Cloud (which he called Nebula Major), the Small Magellanic Cloud (which he called Nebula Minor), and the area around Eta Carinae (which he called Eta Argus) using the mural circle. Dunlop also started work on his double star catalogue in 1825. Prior to this he made preliminary catalogues of clusters and nebulae in 1824.

Brisbane returned to England on December 1, 1825 via Cape Horn and Dunlop left the Parramatta Observatory on March 7, 1826, two months before Rümker returned to it on May 10, 1826. Dunlop moved to the Elder's house, it is now the southern part of the Woolpack Hotel on Marsden St, Parramatta.
(Dunlop lived here. https://maps.app.goo.gl/p3oUxK3BTwu3TfUQ7)

Dunlop spent March, 1826 watching a magnitude 6 comet (Comet Pons 1825 IV) from his observatory which was 50m SE of his home. The comet’s tail was 14 degrees long in Oct 1825. After this he produced two catalogues, the first of 629 clusters and nebulae and the second of 253 double stars. Dunlop worked on the double star catalogue when the moon was bright. Full moons in 1826 occurred on April 22, May 22, June 20, July 19, August 18, September 16, October 16 and November 15. Concurrently he worked on the non-stellar catalogue when it was clear and the moon was not up between April 27 and November 30, 1826.

He started his deep sky catalogue on April 27 when he observed four open clusters NGC 3532, IC 2714, Mel 105 and NGC 3766. Herschel missed two of these four objects and many others that Dunlop saw. Dunlop catalogued the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) on four nights between August 1 and September 6. The Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) was studied on seven nights between August 3 and November 6. He found three galaxies on November 24, namely NGCs 1317, 1350 and 1365. On his last night, November 30 1826, he saw the faint globular cluster NGC 2298.

Dunlop used a 9-inch aperture, 9-foot long reflecting telescope that he made himself and a 3.25” aperture achromatic telescope of 46 inches focal length. The 9-inch speculum reflector had a magnitude limit of approximately 13 (similar to a modern 6” reflector) and a very poor resolution of about 5 arc-seconds.

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3. BACK IN SCOTLAND 1827-1831
Dunlop left Sydney on February 4, 1827. Back in Scotland, he worked for Brisbane again at his third observatory at Makerstoun, 62 kilometres SE of Edinburgh and six kilometres upstream from Kelso on the River Tweed. Dunlop's 9-inch telescope was probably left at Makerstoun.
(Brisbane’s house. https://maps.app.goo.gl/677VYLcmaZ5Mbm1L8)

Brisbane and Dunlop worked together for the next four years and also travelled on the continent where they visited astronomers and observatories. Dunlop reduced and arranged his observations of southern clusters and nebulae during this time, probably between August and November 1827. This task was poorly executed.

His catalogue of 629 objects was presented to the Royal Society on December 20, 1827 and published in the Royal Society's Philosophical Transactions. An extract containing only 37 objects was published in the Edinburgh Journal of Science in 1829. A catalogue of 253 double stars was presented to the Royal Society on May 9, 1828. The Parramatta catalogue of 7,385 stars was reduced by William Richardson of the Royal Observatory at Greenwich and published in 1835.

On February 8, 1828 the president of the Royal Astronomical Society of London, Sir John Herschel presented gold medals to Brisbane, Dunlop and his aunt Caroline Herschel. At that time, Sir John praised Dunlop for his zealous, active, industrious and methodical work, and also said Dunlop “must be regarded as the associate rather than the assistant of his employer; and their difference of situation becomes merged in their unity of sentiment and object.” Herschel also said that the “optical power of Lacaille's telescope (a 0.5” refractor used at Cape Town in 1751-52) was far too feeble to afford much insight into the physical constitution of the objects determined with it” and added, “the astronomers of Europe may view with something approaching to envy, the lot of these their more fortunate brethren.” Interestingly, it seems Dunlop was not present for the presentation of the gold medal, as Herschel asked James South to “transmit to him [Dunlop] also this our medal.” South became president of the Royal Astronomical Society after Herschel.

Between 1827 and 1831 Dunlop visited relatives in Ayrshire. The Blair Museum near Dalry kept some of Dunlop's curios. In a letter dated April 22, 1831, issued from Government House NSW, Dunlop was appointed Superintendent of Parramatta Observatory with a salary of £300 per year, replacing Rümker.

Rümker returned to England in the middle of 1829 to purchase instruments to measure an arc of the meridian in NSW, to buy a transit circle and to publish his results. He lost his job because of a dispute with Brisbane over the original records of star observations and a separate dispute with Sir James South over the exorbitant price of a transit circle, which Rümker refused to purchase from him. South paid £400 for the transit circle and tried to sell it to Rümker for £650. Rümker never returned to Australia, but instead became superintendent of the Nautical School at Hamburg in Germany and Director of the Hamburg Observatory in 1830.

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4. BACK IN AUSTRALIA 1831 – 1848
James and Jane Dunlop left London on June 14, 1831 on The Mary and arrived back in Sydney five months later on November 11, 1831 after an eventful journey “including a fire, a row among the female convicts, and an attempted duel between the doctor and the mate.” (149 female convicts, Mr and Mrs Dunlop, 9 free women and 51 children (2 born at sea) landed. Two female convicts and 6 infants died on board). Governor Darling had departed the colony, Colonel Lindsay was acting governor when they arrived and Governor Bourke was about to become governor.

Dunlop’s house was to have been built next to the observatory, but when they arrived construction had not even started. The contract for the house was signed on May 17, 1832 and the building was finished in December 1832, one year after Dunlop arrived. It was 36 feet 3 inches by 27 feet (11m x 8.2m) with four rooms and cost the government in London £470. 97 (1.6 x Dunlop’s annual salary). In the absence of an astronomer at Parramatta, white ants and the elements were destroying Brisbane’s observatory and its precious books.

Dunlop resumed work at Parramatta, observing and recording new projects including the preparation of a working catalogue of 300 principal stars and the discovery of several new nebulae with a 7” aperture telescope at 70 times magnification (names unknown). He continued sending observations to the Royal Astronomical Society in England and his observations of Mars were published in March 1835. Dunlop also observed lunar occultations and the eclipses of Jupiter's satellites. He received a medal from the King of Denmark for finding the magnitude 4 comet C/1883 S1 in Virgo which he saw from September 30 to Oct 16 1833, (the medal took twelve years to reach him) and also a medal from the Royal Institute of France in 1835. He observed comet C/1834 E1 Gambert from March 21 to April 14, 1834.

John Service wrote that “Sir John Herschel was at the Cape 1834-38, and went there evidently with the intention of glorifying himself as the Observer in the Southern Hemisphere.” Herschel was unable to find some of Dunlop's double stars and he is quoted as saying Dunlop “saw Double Stars from subjective reasons.” Herschel only found a third of Dunlop’s clusters and nebulae. Dunlop included many faint double stars in this catalogue because he could not resolve them with his homemade 9” reflector.

Herschel's comments may have led to an incident on a Parramatta River steamer. The Rev W B Clarke, an eminent geologist, and James Dunlop were not the best of friends. Dunlop was known to ridicule Clarke's articles on “Winds and Earthquakes” published in the Sydney Herald. One day when the two were travelling on a Parramatta Steamer, Clarke offended Dunlop by asking him if he saw the stars double. The argument became heated with Dunlop threatening to throw Clarke overboard and the Captain had to intervene.

Dunlop’s observations were recorded in books dating from January 1832 to June 1840. He made about 4000 star observations in 1832 and 1833. In late 1835 Dunlop observed the return of Halley's Comet at magnitude 1 (perihelion November 16, 1835). Another of Dunlop’s activities was to keep rainfall records from January 1832 to September 1838. He also recorded the unusual occurrence of snow one inch deep at Parramatta on Tuesday June 28, 1836.

In addition Dunlop pursued other interests, including assisting several explorers. In November 1831 and again in 1834 and 1835, Dunlop assisted Sir Thomas Mitchell with his preparations for exploratory expeditions and loaned him a chronometer. In 1839 Lieutenant Wilkes visited Dunlop after a trip to the south polar seas. By then Dunlop was “nearly blind with sore eyes” and this limited his astronomical observations. In July 1841 Dunlop carried out experiments with Sir James C Ross using rockets to establish an accurate latitude and longitude for Garden Island. Ross travelled to Parramatta with the governor by the usual transport of the day; a barge to Parramatta and a carriage back to Sydney.

By 1835 Dunlop's health was failing. He was still in poor health after an attack of dysentery when his wife wrote to her sister on July 20, 1837. His health problems were compounded by tetanus, as a result of being bitten on the thumb by a native cat. On October 23, 1839 Governor Gipps wrote to Brisbane in Scotland that “Dunlop the Astronomer is very ill, and will not I fear last long.” The comment was however somewhat premature as Dunlop lived nine more years. For his health's sake, Dunlop travelled in 1841 and 1845 to a property he owned at Bathurst, 195 kilometres west of Parramatta. One dark night early in 1843, Dunlop broke his leg when he fell over a log in the Parramatta Domain.

On August 18, 1847 Dunlop wrote a letter of resignation. The Sydney Morning Herald announced his resignation on November 9, 1847. A testimonial was to have been held in his honour but it was postponed and never occurred because the governor's wife, “Lady Mary Fitzroy was thrown from her carriage in the grounds of Government House and killed.”

Dunlop retired to Boora Boora, NSW on Brisbane Water, between Gosford and Kincumber, in October 1847. A house still stands on the original foundations of Dunlop's house and is (in 2005) occupied by John Dunlop Heuston, a descendant of John Dunlop, the brother of James. The hill nearby is named Dunlop Hill.
(Dunlop’s house was here. https://maps.app.goo.gl/CrT1DA6Z7etRS4m57)

Late in August 1848 Dunlop and a friend strayed from the track and were lost, while walking home from Gosford one night. The winter night in the bush and “the cold and exposure told severely on Mr Dunlop's already shattered constitution.” He died on September 23, 1848 of Urinary Calculus (Kidney Stones) aged 54. He is buried at St Paul's Anglican Church, Kincumber, with his wife Jane, who died 11 years later. A stone at the entrance to St Paul’s Church also reminds people of his work. (Dunlops’ grave is here. https://maps.app.goo.gl/cAE64hG7EzKE4Xsa8)

After his death, Dunlop was described by his contemporaries in many different ways, some contradictory. He was slender and not tall (5 feet 8 inches or 5 feet 10 inches, 175 cm), had a swarthy pale complexion, was dark haired, had a rather long nose and piercing dark eyes. He wore a blue coat with brass buttons on it, smoked and snuffed, and had a broad Scottish accent. Some said he was eccentric, peculiar, strange, and was not good at explaining things, while others said he was intelligent and much respected. It was said he hated all ceremony but was hospitable and generous, loved poetry, and had a good sense of humour.

Dunlop's life contributed greatly to southern astronomy even though he “laboured with little encouragement from the colonial authorities.”


Thir Notandums, Being the Literary Recreations of Laird Canticarl of Mongrynen:
To Which is Appended a Biographical Sketch of James Dunlop (Edinb, 1890) is here.
https://docs.google.com/folder/d/0B9IODmdwP81WRmJfdTlUaTlXb0U/edit

[Crater101 (Warren)]

Well I can say that I've learned something today. A nice little capsule of history. Many thanks for sharing this.

[Bobbyoutback]

Well done Glen , I enjoyed reading about Dunlop

Cheers
Bobby