MacTutor
HENRY PERIGAL was born 1801 April 1. He was the eldest of six children, the youngest of whom, Mr. Frederick Perigal, is now in his 87th year. He came of a long-lived family, his father, who reached the age of 99 years, being one of thirteen children, nine of whom attained a great age. He traced his ancestry back to Sigurd the Dane, who in 908 made a successful raid on Normandy, assumed the name of Perigal, and settled in France. The English branch of the family sprang from Gideon Perigal and his wife, Madeline Duval of Dieppe, Huguenots who escaped to London. Henry Perigal belongs to the tenth generation of their descendants. He was remarkably vigorous until the last few years, and it may be recorded that on, the occasion of the 90th birthday of Sir G. B. Airy (1891 July 27) – which was celebrated on Saturday, July 25, by a reception at the White House, Greenwich Park – Mr Perigal walked up the steep Croom's Hill to the reception without apparently the least distress, being himself a year older than the distinguished nonagenarian. During the last year or two, however, his strength had failed, and he died peacefully on 1898 June 6.
In early life he was a clerk in the Privy Council office, but, being pensioned somewhat early, joined Mr. Tudor, a family connection, in his stockbroking business. With the greatest regularity he spent, for many years, his days in the office in Threadneedle Street, and his evenings at some scientific meeting, and his venerable figure was familiar at many scientific societies. He was treasurer of the Royal Meteorological Society for nearly fifty years, the fortieth anniversary being celebrated by a dinner given in his honour 1893 April 15. He was also a member of the Mathematical Society, the Microscopical Society, and the Royal Institution. Concerning this last it is interesting to note that, though he attended the Friday evening lectures with great regularity, it was only as a visitor until 1895, when he celebrated his ninety-fourth birthday by becoming a member of the Institution. One might search in vain the records of any other society for mention of a candidate in his tenth decade.
He was elected a Fellow of this Society on 1850 February 8, but our publications contain nothing from his pen. His astronomical opinions were indeed conspicuous for their heterodoxy, and it is a remarkable tribute to his personal character that, in spite of such opinions, he was the friend of men whose official positions led them to regard paradoxers generally with special disfavour. De Morgan has recorded in his Budget of Paradoxes what trouble these eccentric opinions have cost him; but he was indebted to Mr. Perigal for friendly help in making diagrams.
In the records at the Royal Observatory there are bundles of letters from circle squarers and others, which show how little reason the late Astronomer Royal can have had to regard the writers with affection (though he always answered them courteously), yet he was no less glad to see Mr. Perigal at his ninetieth birthday celebration than was the latter to come. And it was always a pleasure to see Mr. Perigal at the dinners of the Royal Astronomical Society Club – an inner circle of the Society not usually mentioned in this official report; perhaps an exception may be pardoned for the purpose of recording the fact that he was elected on 1853 June 17, fifteen years before Mr. Dunkin, who was the next oldest member; his proposer being De Morgan. Such facts as these are sufficient to show the remarkable way in which the charm of Mr. Perigal's personality won him a place which might have seemed impossible of attainment for a man of his views; for there is no masking the fact that he was a paradoxer pure and simple, his main conviction being that the Moon did not rotate, and his main astronomical aim in life being to convince others, and especially young men not hardened in the opposite belief, of their grave error. To this end he made diagrams, constructed models, and wrote poems; bearing with heroic cheerfulness the continual disappointment of finding none of them of any avail. He has, however, done excellent work apart from this unfortunate misunderstanding. He was an excellent lathe-worker; he has written on the geometry of lathe-work, on the laws of motion, on the methods by which the Pyramids were built, on harmonic motion, cycloidal curves, &c. He never married, but leaves a large number of nephews and nieces.
In early life he was a clerk in the Privy Council office, but, being pensioned somewhat early, joined Mr. Tudor, a family connection, in his stockbroking business. With the greatest regularity he spent, for many years, his days in the office in Threadneedle Street, and his evenings at some scientific meeting, and his venerable figure was familiar at many scientific societies. He was treasurer of the Royal Meteorological Society for nearly fifty years, the fortieth anniversary being celebrated by a dinner given in his honour 1893 April 15. He was also a member of the Mathematical Society, the Microscopical Society, and the Royal Institution. Concerning this last it is interesting to note that, though he attended the Friday evening lectures with great regularity, it was only as a visitor until 1895, when he celebrated his ninety-fourth birthday by becoming a member of the Institution. One might search in vain the records of any other society for mention of a candidate in his tenth decade.
He was elected a Fellow of this Society on 1850 February 8, but our publications contain nothing from his pen. His astronomical opinions were indeed conspicuous for their heterodoxy, and it is a remarkable tribute to his personal character that, in spite of such opinions, he was the friend of men whose official positions led them to regard paradoxers generally with special disfavour. De Morgan has recorded in his Budget of Paradoxes what trouble these eccentric opinions have cost him; but he was indebted to Mr. Perigal for friendly help in making diagrams.
In the records at the Royal Observatory there are bundles of letters from circle squarers and others, which show how little reason the late Astronomer Royal can have had to regard the writers with affection (though he always answered them courteously), yet he was no less glad to see Mr. Perigal at his ninetieth birthday celebration than was the latter to come. And it was always a pleasure to see Mr. Perigal at the dinners of the Royal Astronomical Society Club – an inner circle of the Society not usually mentioned in this official report; perhaps an exception may be pardoned for the purpose of recording the fact that he was elected on 1853 June 17, fifteen years before Mr. Dunkin, who was the next oldest member; his proposer being De Morgan. Such facts as these are sufficient to show the remarkable way in which the charm of Mr. Perigal's personality won him a place which might have seemed impossible of attainment for a man of his views; for there is no masking the fact that he was a paradoxer pure and simple, his main conviction being that the Moon did not rotate, and his main astronomical aim in life being to convince others, and especially young men not hardened in the opposite belief, of their grave error. To this end he made diagrams, constructed models, and wrote poems; bearing with heroic cheerfulness the continual disappointment of finding none of them of any avail. He has, however, done excellent work apart from this unfortunate misunderstanding. He was an excellent lathe-worker; he has written on the geometry of lathe-work, on the laws of motion, on the methods by which the Pyramids were built, on harmonic motion, cycloidal curves, &c. He never married, but leaves a large number of nephews and nieces.
Henry Perigal's obituary appeared in Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society 59:5 (1899), 226-228.