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James Whitbread Lee Glaisher
Times obituary
MATHEMATICIAN AND COLLECTOR.
Dr. J. W. L. Glaisher, Sc.D., F.R.S., senior Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, who died at Cambridge yesterday at the age of 80, was one of the most eminent pure mathematicians of his day and was also a great connoisseur of faience and pottery.
James Whitbread Lee Glaisher was the eldest son of James Glaisher, F.R.S., who was eminent in his day as an astronomer and mathematician and was the pioneer of scientific meteorology, in whose interests he made many adventurous balloon ascents. Born at Lewisham, Kent, on November 5, 1848, he was sent to St. Paul's School, where he was Campden exhibitioner in 1867, went up to Cambridge as a scholar of Trinity in 1868, and took his degree as second wrangler in 1871. In the same year he was elected a Fellow of his college (of which he was lecturer until 1901, and tutor from 1983 to 1893), and forthwith began his career as an original investigator.
Almost his first act was to become editor of the Messenger of Mathematics. His success in research was immediate and pronounced, and it led to his election to the Fellowship of the Royal Society in 1875 at the early age of 27, an honour which his father did not attain until he was 40. For more than 50 years he worked untiringly, mostly at pure mathematics. He was particularly attracted by the subject of elliptic functions, and his numerous papers thereon were based on the works of Jacobi and H. J. S. Smith. The arithmetical applications of the former of those two great thinkers inspired him; he meditated deeply on the theory of numbers and produced a long series of important papers. He was learned in the history of this theory and was the recognized authority on all tabular matters connected therewith. He was the reporter of the Committee of the British Association on Mathematical Tables, of which his father was an active member. In 1878 he took up the additional duty of editing the Quarterly Journal of Pure and Applied Mathematics and readily extended the hospitality of its pages and those of the Messenger to the earliest attempts of young mathematicians. He thus accomplished a good work in encouraging those who felt inclined to occupy themselves with research; but at the same time he was a keen critic of what was submitted to him, and ready with suggestions which were a help to those who had less experience than himself. He was president and professor of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, 1882–84, of the London Mathematical Society, 1884–86, and of Section A of the British Association, 1890.
Although he was inspired from time to time by the writings of Cayley and Sylvester, he scarcely worked at all on the new mathematical ideas that have arisen since the middle of the 19th century. His published works do not involve anything connected with the modern theory of functions, as it has been developed by Riemann, Weierstrass, Schwartz, Klein, Hilbert, Poincaré, and Lie on the Continent of Europe, and by Forsyth, Hobson, W. H. Young, Hardy, and Littlewood in our own country. When the Napier centenary celebration was held in Edinburgh in 1914, his address on the origin of the tables of logarithms of Napier and Briggs was not second to that of Lord Moulton as one of the features of the meeting.
He was a member of the Council of the Royal Astronomical Society throughout nearly the whole of his active life and was president for four years, 1885-87 and 1900-02. He was also a member of the Astronomical Dining Club from 1873 onwards and its president for over 20 years. In that office he was privileged seven times each year to invite distinguished men as club guests to the dinner. On these occasions, which he much enjoyed and when he was socially at his best, he shone in delivering appropriate and witty speeches when proposing the health of the guests. Those who were fortunate enough to hear his speeches about Mr. Choate and Lord Moulton and those made in reply are not likely to forget them. In 1913 he was awarded the Sylvester Medal of the Royal Society, on the council of which he served for three terms, and was vice-president in 1917-19. In 1908 he received the De Morgan Medal of the London Mathematical Society. He had been president of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society for three years, 1882-85, and president of the Cambridge University Bicycle Club, and more than 40 years ago he was elected to the Athenæum under Rule II.
But Glaisher had another career; outside academic circles he will be remembered as one of the leading pottery collectors of his time. His attention in this direction was at first occupied by Delft ware, but from Dutch pottery he was led to take an interest in English wares made in emulation of it, and thus in other types of English pottery of early date. This collection, which had been forming through a long period of years, is, as regards the 17th and early 18th centuries, the largest collection of English pottery ever created, and it is satisfied to reflect that, by becoming the permanent possession of the Fitzwilliam Museum, in which a large part of it has been on view for many years, it will be accessible to all who wish to study it. It is rich especially in the slip-decorated wares made not only in Staffordshire, but also at all rustic kilns all over the country, which are among the most characteristic, as they are aesthetically among the most important, of English wares. The collection also includes many specimens of foreign origin, among them types such as Swiss and Belgian peasant wares, which are seldom seen outside their country of origin. Dr. Glaisher had of late years extended his interest also to porcelain, especially English, and had acquired rare examples of early Chelsea and Bow figures.
Though he had made voluminous notes on his collection and was an acknowledged authority, little from his hand on the subject of pottery appeared in print; apart from one or two papers read before societies (including an important lecture in 1897 on Delft to the Society of Arts), there were only chapters on slip ware and Delft ware prefixed to the catalogue of the exhibition held in 1913-14 at the Burlington Fine Arts Club, and the only truly authoritative account of the Wrotham pottery in Kent, printed as an appendix to the book on English pottery by Rackham and Read.
The funeral service will be held in Trinity College Chapel on Tuesday at 2:15.
MATHEMATICIAN AND COLLECTOR.
Dr. J. W. L. Glaisher, Sc.D., F.R.S., senior Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, who died at Cambridge yesterday at the age of 80, was one of the most eminent pure mathematicians of his day and was also a great connoisseur of faience and pottery.
James Whitbread Lee Glaisher was the eldest son of James Glaisher, F.R.S., who was eminent in his day as an astronomer and mathematician and was the pioneer of scientific meteorology, in whose interests he made many adventurous balloon ascents. Born at Lewisham, Kent, on November 5, 1848, he was sent to St. Paul's School, where he was Campden exhibitioner in 1867, went up to Cambridge as a scholar of Trinity in 1868, and took his degree as second wrangler in 1871. In the same year he was elected a Fellow of his college (of which he was lecturer until 1901, and tutor from 1983 to 1893), and forthwith began his career as an original investigator.
Almost his first act was to become editor of the Messenger of Mathematics. His success in research was immediate and pronounced, and it led to his election to the Fellowship of the Royal Society in 1875 at the early age of 27, an honour which his father did not attain until he was 40. For more than 50 years he worked untiringly, mostly at pure mathematics. He was particularly attracted by the subject of elliptic functions, and his numerous papers thereon were based on the works of Jacobi and H. J. S. Smith. The arithmetical applications of the former of those two great thinkers inspired him; he meditated deeply on the theory of numbers and produced a long series of important papers. He was learned in the history of this theory and was the recognized authority on all tabular matters connected therewith. He was the reporter of the Committee of the British Association on Mathematical Tables, of which his father was an active member. In 1878 he took up the additional duty of editing the Quarterly Journal of Pure and Applied Mathematics and readily extended the hospitality of its pages and those of the Messenger to the earliest attempts of young mathematicians. He thus accomplished a good work in encouraging those who felt inclined to occupy themselves with research; but at the same time he was a keen critic of what was submitted to him, and ready with suggestions which were a help to those who had less experience than himself. He was president and professor of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, 1882–84, of the London Mathematical Society, 1884–86, and of Section A of the British Association, 1890.
Although he was inspired from time to time by the writings of Cayley and Sylvester, he scarcely worked at all on the new mathematical ideas that have arisen since the middle of the 19th century. His published works do not involve anything connected with the modern theory of functions, as it has been developed by Riemann, Weierstrass, Schwartz, Klein, Hilbert, Poincaré, and Lie on the Continent of Europe, and by Forsyth, Hobson, W. H. Young, Hardy, and Littlewood in our own country. When the Napier centenary celebration was held in Edinburgh in 1914, his address on the origin of the tables of logarithms of Napier and Briggs was not second to that of Lord Moulton as one of the features of the meeting.
He was a member of the Council of the Royal Astronomical Society throughout nearly the whole of his active life and was president for four years, 1885-87 and 1900-02. He was also a member of the Astronomical Dining Club from 1873 onwards and its president for over 20 years. In that office he was privileged seven times each year to invite distinguished men as club guests to the dinner. On these occasions, which he much enjoyed and when he was socially at his best, he shone in delivering appropriate and witty speeches when proposing the health of the guests. Those who were fortunate enough to hear his speeches about Mr. Choate and Lord Moulton and those made in reply are not likely to forget them. In 1913 he was awarded the Sylvester Medal of the Royal Society, on the council of which he served for three terms, and was vice-president in 1917-19. In 1908 he received the De Morgan Medal of the London Mathematical Society. He had been president of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society for three years, 1882-85, and president of the Cambridge University Bicycle Club, and more than 40 years ago he was elected to the Athenæum under Rule II.
But Glaisher had another career; outside academic circles he will be remembered as one of the leading pottery collectors of his time. His attention in this direction was at first occupied by Delft ware, but from Dutch pottery he was led to take an interest in English wares made in emulation of it, and thus in other types of English pottery of early date. This collection, which had been forming through a long period of years, is, as regards the 17th and early 18th centuries, the largest collection of English pottery ever created, and it is satisfied to reflect that, by becoming the permanent possession of the Fitzwilliam Museum, in which a large part of it has been on view for many years, it will be accessible to all who wish to study it. It is rich especially in the slip-decorated wares made not only in Staffordshire, but also at all rustic kilns all over the country, which are among the most characteristic, as they are aesthetically among the most important, of English wares. The collection also includes many specimens of foreign origin, among them types such as Swiss and Belgian peasant wares, which are seldom seen outside their country of origin. Dr. Glaisher had of late years extended his interest also to porcelain, especially English, and had acquired rare examples of early Chelsea and Bow figures.
Though he had made voluminous notes on his collection and was an acknowledged authority, little from his hand on the subject of pottery appeared in print; apart from one or two papers read before societies (including an important lecture in 1897 on Delft to the Society of Arts), there were only chapters on slip ware and Delft ware prefixed to the catalogue of the exhibition held in 1913-14 at the Burlington Fine Arts Club, and the only truly authoritative account of the Wrotham pottery in Kent, printed as an appendix to the book on English pottery by Rackham and Read.
The funeral service will be held in Trinity College Chapel on Tuesday at 2:15.
You can see the original newsprint at THIS LINK
