MacTutor
EDWARD JOHN ROUTH was born at Quebec in 1831, and was the son of Sir Randolph Isham Routh, K.C.B., Commissary-General to the British Forces from 1826 to his death in 1858, by his second wife Marie Louise, sister of Cardinal Taschereau, Archbishop of Quebec. The boy came to London at the age of 11, and was educated, first at University College School, and later at the College itself, under De Morgan. He matriculated at London University in 1847, and won two scholarships and a gold medal. He went up to Peterhouse, Cambridge, in 1850; was Senior Wrangler in 1854 (Clerk Maxwell being second, and the two being bracketted for the Smith's Prizes); was elected a Fellow of Peterhouse, appointed Lecturer, and ultimately became a most successful private tutor. In 1864 he married Hilda, eldest daughter of Mr. (afterwards Sir) G. B. Airy, Astronomer Royal, and by the statutes of the time he thus vacated his fellowship, but in 1883 he was elected to the first honorary fellowship at Peterhouse. He gave up private tuition in 1888, though he continued to lecture. His health broke down about the beginning of 1907, and on Friday,
June 7, he passed peacefully away. It may not be easy for future generations to understand the position Routh occupied in Cambridge life, or the debt Cambridge owes to him.
There are, roughly speaking, two ways of giving instruction, one by lectures to large audiences, the other by personal interviews with small groups or individuals. The private tutor was called into existence in Cambridge by the failure of the Colleges and of the University to give any teaching beyond lectures, and sometimes very inadequate lectures. The importance of such "coaching" had been rendered manifest by the success of those who were able to pay for it, and it was easy to recognise that some coaches were better than others by com-paring the achievements of their pupils. Routh was practically the successor of a great coach, William Hopkins, with whom he had himself read, and who was able in 1849 to say that in twenty-one years he had had among his pupils nearly 200 wranglers, 17 of then senior wranglers. Routh's own success was even greater, for between 1858 and 1888 he had between 600 and 650 pupils, including 27 senior wranglers. In fact, in the twenty-five years 1861-85 he claimed the senior wrangler in every year but one. His success was so great that at one time more than a quarter of the undergraduates studying mathematics were practically learning all their mathematics from him. His pupils were naturally divided into four "years" by their time of entering the University; and each "year" was subdivided into three or four classes, so that he had perhaps a dozen classes going at once; and to each class he would talk without hesitation for the allotted hour, rarely forgetting to begin just where he had left off, and seldom making even a slip in working on the blackboard. When it is remembered that he was thus covering the whole range of subjects for the Tripos, including ultimately the mathematical physics which had so rapidly developed during his own lifetime, one cannot but marvel at the astonishing memory which retained such a mass of facts in so orderly an arrangement. If at any time in his career all living senior wranglers could have been induced to compete in an Olympic Tripos, Routh would surely have been easily first of them all. Some of the lessons he gave were doubtless old and had been repeated many times, but many were new, for Routh kept fully abreast of the times, reading, digesting, and reducing to the form of "a little manuscript, which you had better copy out in the other room," such memoirs as were appearing from day to day. He was teaching almost uninterruptedly from 7 or 8 A.M. till 2 P.M.; after which he took a walk for two or three hours with the utmost regularity, devoting the evening to setting or looking over examination papers for his pupils. This busy life went on through July and August (the "Long Vacation") as well as through the regular terms; but immediately he was free, he got away with his family abroad, or to some complete change of scene. How he managed to find time to write his comprehensive treatises on Statics.and Dynamics, and to win the Adams Prize in 1877 by a masterly essay on the "Stability of Motion," must remain a mystery to most of us,
Looking today at Routh's notes on Astronomy, one finds little to modify; indeed they have been consulted many times during a dozen years of teaching, and always with profit. The details of a transit-circle have become more familiar to his former pupil than they were when Routh sketched his diagram on the board and briefly enumerated the chief points, but years of added experience do not suggest any essential improvement on Routh's description, which has often been repeated almost verbatim. His quaint little touches of humour are often the quickest route to an explanation. "There is a wheel with sixty teeth," he would say in describing the chronograph, "but one is removed, so there are only fifty-nine." After explaining the method used for planetary aberration by antedating the observation – "Why cannot this method be used for a star?" he would ask, and then reply, "Because light may take a thousand years to reach us from the star, and during that time the path of the earth is sensibly curved." Those who looked up from their notes at this would catch the little twinkle which impressed the point permanently on their memory. There were quaint expressions in other departments of mathematics which successive generations of pupils learnt to look for. All floating bodies were called ships: "Let us now consider the case of a spherical ship," he would say. His pupils did not see much of him outside the class-room until they had taken their degrees, but some of them were then privileged to form lifelong friendships with their former tutor. To accompany him on one of his daily walks was to realise a new pleasure in walking. It is perhaps worth recording, though a trivial matter, that he seldom failed to draw attention, when opportunity offered, to the transit-circle mark on Grantchester steeple, pointing out to his companion how it had been placed so as to minimise unsightliness.
When he gave up private tuition in 1888 his former pupils asked permission to have his portrait painted by Herkomer as a present for Mrs. Routh. Mr. Justice Stirling made the presentation in the company of a large number of the subscribers, including 13 senior wranglers.
Dr. Routh was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1872, and served on its Council, 1888-90.
He was elected a Fellow of the Society on 1866 April 13.
H.H.T.
June 7, he passed peacefully away. It may not be easy for future generations to understand the position Routh occupied in Cambridge life, or the debt Cambridge owes to him.
There are, roughly speaking, two ways of giving instruction, one by lectures to large audiences, the other by personal interviews with small groups or individuals. The private tutor was called into existence in Cambridge by the failure of the Colleges and of the University to give any teaching beyond lectures, and sometimes very inadequate lectures. The importance of such "coaching" had been rendered manifest by the success of those who were able to pay for it, and it was easy to recognise that some coaches were better than others by com-paring the achievements of their pupils. Routh was practically the successor of a great coach, William Hopkins, with whom he had himself read, and who was able in 1849 to say that in twenty-one years he had had among his pupils nearly 200 wranglers, 17 of then senior wranglers. Routh's own success was even greater, for between 1858 and 1888 he had between 600 and 650 pupils, including 27 senior wranglers. In fact, in the twenty-five years 1861-85 he claimed the senior wrangler in every year but one. His success was so great that at one time more than a quarter of the undergraduates studying mathematics were practically learning all their mathematics from him. His pupils were naturally divided into four "years" by their time of entering the University; and each "year" was subdivided into three or four classes, so that he had perhaps a dozen classes going at once; and to each class he would talk without hesitation for the allotted hour, rarely forgetting to begin just where he had left off, and seldom making even a slip in working on the blackboard. When it is remembered that he was thus covering the whole range of subjects for the Tripos, including ultimately the mathematical physics which had so rapidly developed during his own lifetime, one cannot but marvel at the astonishing memory which retained such a mass of facts in so orderly an arrangement. If at any time in his career all living senior wranglers could have been induced to compete in an Olympic Tripos, Routh would surely have been easily first of them all. Some of the lessons he gave were doubtless old and had been repeated many times, but many were new, for Routh kept fully abreast of the times, reading, digesting, and reducing to the form of "a little manuscript, which you had better copy out in the other room," such memoirs as were appearing from day to day. He was teaching almost uninterruptedly from 7 or 8 A.M. till 2 P.M.; after which he took a walk for two or three hours with the utmost regularity, devoting the evening to setting or looking over examination papers for his pupils. This busy life went on through July and August (the "Long Vacation") as well as through the regular terms; but immediately he was free, he got away with his family abroad, or to some complete change of scene. How he managed to find time to write his comprehensive treatises on Statics.and Dynamics, and to win the Adams Prize in 1877 by a masterly essay on the "Stability of Motion," must remain a mystery to most of us,
Looking today at Routh's notes on Astronomy, one finds little to modify; indeed they have been consulted many times during a dozen years of teaching, and always with profit. The details of a transit-circle have become more familiar to his former pupil than they were when Routh sketched his diagram on the board and briefly enumerated the chief points, but years of added experience do not suggest any essential improvement on Routh's description, which has often been repeated almost verbatim. His quaint little touches of humour are often the quickest route to an explanation. "There is a wheel with sixty teeth," he would say in describing the chronograph, "but one is removed, so there are only fifty-nine." After explaining the method used for planetary aberration by antedating the observation – "Why cannot this method be used for a star?" he would ask, and then reply, "Because light may take a thousand years to reach us from the star, and during that time the path of the earth is sensibly curved." Those who looked up from their notes at this would catch the little twinkle which impressed the point permanently on their memory. There were quaint expressions in other departments of mathematics which successive generations of pupils learnt to look for. All floating bodies were called ships: "Let us now consider the case of a spherical ship," he would say. His pupils did not see much of him outside the class-room until they had taken their degrees, but some of them were then privileged to form lifelong friendships with their former tutor. To accompany him on one of his daily walks was to realise a new pleasure in walking. It is perhaps worth recording, though a trivial matter, that he seldom failed to draw attention, when opportunity offered, to the transit-circle mark on Grantchester steeple, pointing out to his companion how it had been placed so as to minimise unsightliness.
When he gave up private tuition in 1888 his former pupils asked permission to have his portrait painted by Herkomer as a present for Mrs. Routh. Mr. Justice Stirling made the presentation in the company of a large number of the subscribers, including 13 senior wranglers.
Dr. Routh was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1872, and served on its Council, 1888-90.
He was elected a Fellow of the Society on 1866 April 13.
H.H.T.
Edward John Routh's obituary appeared in Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society 68:4 (1908), 239-241.