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Francis Bashforth
Times obituary
The death took place on Monday night of the Rev. Francis Bashforth, B.D., of Woodhall Spa, aged 93, after three weeks' illness.
He was the son of a coachman of Lord Halifax, and it is said that as a boy he worked in a draper's shop at Leeds. Through diligent study he was able to go to Cambridge, where he became Second Wrangler in 1843 and obtained a Fellowship at St. John's College. He was ordained deacon in 1853 and priest in the following year by the Bishop of Ely (Dr. T. Turton). In 1857 he was appointed by his college to the benefice of Minting, Lines, of which he was vicar and rector for 51 years, retiring in 1908.
His chief claim to distinction lay in his experiments in ballistics, and in consideration of the importance of these experiments and his inventions, he received a government grant of 2,000 pounds and was also granted a pension. The original instrument by which he measured the velocity of projectiles fired from a rifle or cannon is exhibited at South Kensington. He was for some time Professor of Applied Mathematics to the advanced class of Royal Artillery officers at Woolwich, accepting the office at the invitation of the Military Education Council.
Between the years 1864 and 1880, Mr. Bashforth carried out a series of experiments which really formed the foundation of our knowledge of the resistance of the air, as employed in the construction of ballistic tables. He published, notably, "A Report on the Experiments made with the Bashforth Chronograph, etc., 1865–1870," and another report dated 1878–1880 as well as "The Bashforth Chronograph (Cambridge, 1890). These experiments were calculated to show that the resistance of the air can be represented by no simple algebraic law over a large range of velocity. Having therefore abandoned all prior theoretical assumptions, Mr. Bashforth set to work experimentally measuring the velocity of shot and the resistance of the air by means of equidistant electric screens furnished with vertical threads or wire, and by a chronograph which measured the instants of time at which the screens were cut by a shot flying nearly horizontally. Formulae of the calculus of finite differences enabled the experimenter to infer the velocity and retardation of the shot, and thence the resistance of the air.
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The Rev. C. P. Bashforth writes to contradict the statement that his father, the Rev. Francis Bashforth, whose obituary appeared in The Times of February 14, was the son of a coachman of Lord Halifax. He was the eldest son of Mr. John Bashforth, who farmed the Glebe at Thurnscoe, Yorks, and passed all his married life at the rectory. The Rev. C. P. Bashforth also contradicts the story that his father was engaged as a boy in the drapery trade; he was educated at Doncaster Grammar School before going to Cambridge.
The death took place on Monday night of the Rev. Francis Bashforth, B.D., of Woodhall Spa, aged 93, after three weeks' illness.
He was the son of a coachman of Lord Halifax, and it is said that as a boy he worked in a draper's shop at Leeds. Through diligent study he was able to go to Cambridge, where he became Second Wrangler in 1843 and obtained a Fellowship at St. John's College. He was ordained deacon in 1853 and priest in the following year by the Bishop of Ely (Dr. T. Turton). In 1857 he was appointed by his college to the benefice of Minting, Lines, of which he was vicar and rector for 51 years, retiring in 1908.
His chief claim to distinction lay in his experiments in ballistics, and in consideration of the importance of these experiments and his inventions, he received a government grant of 2,000 pounds and was also granted a pension. The original instrument by which he measured the velocity of projectiles fired from a rifle or cannon is exhibited at South Kensington. He was for some time Professor of Applied Mathematics to the advanced class of Royal Artillery officers at Woolwich, accepting the office at the invitation of the Military Education Council.
Between the years 1864 and 1880, Mr. Bashforth carried out a series of experiments which really formed the foundation of our knowledge of the resistance of the air, as employed in the construction of ballistic tables. He published, notably, "A Report on the Experiments made with the Bashforth Chronograph, etc., 1865–1870," and another report dated 1878–1880 as well as "The Bashforth Chronograph (Cambridge, 1890). These experiments were calculated to show that the resistance of the air can be represented by no simple algebraic law over a large range of velocity. Having therefore abandoned all prior theoretical assumptions, Mr. Bashforth set to work experimentally measuring the velocity of shot and the resistance of the air by means of equidistant electric screens furnished with vertical threads or wire, and by a chronograph which measured the instants of time at which the screens were cut by a shot flying nearly horizontally. Formulae of the calculus of finite differences enabled the experimenter to infer the velocity and retardation of the shot, and thence the resistance of the air.
_____________
The Rev. C. P. Bashforth writes to contradict the statement that his father, the Rev. Francis Bashforth, whose obituary appeared in The Times of February 14, was the son of a coachman of Lord Halifax. He was the eldest son of Mr. John Bashforth, who farmed the Glebe at Thurnscoe, Yorks, and passed all his married life at the rectory. The Rev. C. P. Bashforth also contradicts the story that his father was engaged as a boy in the drapery trade; he was educated at Doncaster Grammar School before going to Cambridge.
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