Just after his graduation from Cambridge in the spring of 1875, a series of experiments was made by George Chrystal with a view to comparing the different resistance coils of the set of British Association Units formerly deposited at Kew Observatory and now in the Cavendish Laboratory. In view of possible change in resistance of any or all of them, it was important to compare them with each other at frequent intervals. The comparison was difficult because accurate temperature determinations were almost impossible owing to the wires being embedded in solid paraffin. In the month of October a final set of experiments was made, which was the work of both George Chrystal and S A Saunder, sometimes working together and sometimes separately. The results of these experiments were submitted by them to the British Association and the General Committee of the British Association ordered these to be printed in extenso among the reports of the British Association meeting at Glasgow.

Saunder was a man of many interests and a hard worker at them all. To his regular school duties he added the care of the Scientific Society, which included the arrangement of lectures, many of which he gave himself, and the working of the lantern. He also started the school "tuck-shop," and managed it with great business ability so as to subsidise other school enterprises. ... he did much canoeing on the canals of England and was also a keen and expert fisherman.

... the model for back-garden observatories for several generations to come.

The object of this paper is to call attention to the great uncertainty that attaches to our knowledge of the positions of lunar formations, and to suggest means by which these positions may be determined more accurately than has yet been accomplished.

This result was naturally not achieved without much work and many disappointments. The method first tried, which involved using existing knowledge as a basis, broke down altogether. The places were too rough to give even a start. Then he devised a very ingenious method of measuring two plates with different librations, using the stereoscopic displacement as a base: but the base was not long enough, and this method would not do. It was apparently necessary to measure at the telescope the distances of several fundamental points from Mösting A, and this work Saunder undertook himself, though he was much helped by Professor Barnard's measures of two points. ... This third attempt, starting from measures at the telescope as a basis, was completely successful, and led to the Catalogue of over 3000 selenographical positions in 'Memoirs of the Royal Astronomical Society' 57 (1905).

Some apology is due from me for again occupying the time of the Society with a subject so familiar to all selenographers as the confusion now existing in lunar nomenclature, and the inadequacy of our present system for the growing needs of selenography; but, as some recent remarks of mine have led the Council of this Society to take a course of action which it is hoped may lead to an authoritative reconsideration of the questions involved, I have thought that a fuller statement of the difficulties might be of interest to those whose work lies in other directions, and might also lead to some useful suggestions from those who, like myself, have found themselves hampered by the want of a recognised language in which to express the results of their labours.

The proposal of the Royal Society for a committee on lunar nomenclature was adopted without opposition; and the following were nominated to serve on the committee, with power to add to their number:- Loewy (chairman), Newcomb, Weiss, Franz, Saunder, and Turner.

Vaughan was profoundly mediocre and resented being outshone by a junior. Saunder refused to resign and was sacked - compelled to "retire without pension" in July 1912. Vaughan's motivations were widely known and the case aroused outrage ...

In him a rapid and sometimes explosive reaction to folly, neglect, or wrongdoing was tempered by a strong sense of justice, deep sympathies, and a keen sense of humour.

After some consideration he arranged to settle at Oxford, finding a house with a garden suitable for his telescope and not too far from the University Observatory. But after the lease had been signed, and while he was planning the building for his telescope, he became ill, and it soon became clear that the trouble was possibly serious, though exact diagnosis was difficult.

... given under conditions such as few lecturers have ever faced : illness came suddenly upon him in a way which made it a severe pain to speak at all loudly : but he heroically declined all offers of help except that which a masseur could give him immediately before each lecture, and it is probable that the audiences never suspected what torture their lecturer was undergoing. He went straight from the last lecture to the bed from which he was never destined to rise.

Saunder had also secured the devoted help of Miss M A Blagg in collating the list here printed of names [of lunar features] in Beer and Mädler, Schmidt, and Neison. ... On his deathbed [on 30 November 1912] Saunder handed to me this collated list in manuscript, and I gathered that, although it was of great value and represented much careful labour, considerations of cost had deterred him up to that time from printing it. As soon as I had had time to review the situation, I realised the great advantages that would follow from printing this list; and found further that Miss Blagg would undertake to see it through the press.

In Mr Saunder astronomical science has lost a devoted and conscientious worker who gave himself whole-heartedly to a line of study requiring much ability, and involving immense labour, but offering no prospect of startling results.

Mr Saunder was elected a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1894 and from 1906 to 1912 he was one of the secretaries, fulfilling the duties of that post, as a colleague one wrote, "with tact, good judgement, and devotion to duty." And it is, perhaps, these last words that strike the keynote of his life and by which he himself would have chosen to be remembered. All who knew him will recall how unsparing of himself he was in fulfilling all his duties and engagements; he was careful and businesslike in all that he did, level-headed, of sterling principles and almost incredible industry. Mr Saunder was, perhaps, too reserved to have a wide circle of friends, but by all who knew him well he will be long and deeply regretted.