Scientific research in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries had, in general, been a pursuit of the rich and well educated anglo-irish landowners. The age of free university education for all, regardless of background, had not yet arrived. Consequently, when the economic power of the landlords was finally broken by the various land reform bills of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, they were no longer able to support and indulge in scientific activity.
The great private observatories in Ireland at Markree Castle, Birr Castle, and Daramona, Co Westmeath, which had contributed so much to science, were finally abandoned at this time. Armagh Observatory, although set up as a public institution, was basically financed by land endowments and thus it fell victim to the new legislation. It finally lost its estates in 1914.
The decline in income inevitably led to a drop in scientific activity. Dreyer moved to Oxford in 1916 to complete his historical studies of Tycho Brahe and his successor J A Hardcastle died before he took up his position. Dunsink Observatory, the only other Irish Observatory at that time, similarly entered a period of inactivity as funds from its parent institution Trinity College, Dublin dried up.
The precarious financial position of Armagh Observatory, following the loss of its estates, continued to inhibit activity in the period between the wars. The next Director, F A Ellison, was probably chosen partly because of his expertise in telescope maintenance and building. The fact that he was able to undertake such technical improvements himself reduced the financial burden on the Observatory of providing new instruments. In fact he presented the observatory with a large reflecting telescope by Calver.
The art of making telescope mirrors of fine quality had, since the eighteenth century, been a closely guarded secret. Sir William Herschel, the greatest telescope maker of the eighteenth century, was able to charge high fees for his mirrors and therefore was reluctant to divulge his techniques of construction. The cost of a mirror, made for George III ‘with peculiar care’ by Herschel, was 200 pounds – an enormous sum of money in those days. Ellison, quite rightly, felt that the cause of science was not served by secrecy and after learning the techniques of telescope mirror grinding and polishing he published a book entitled ‘The Amateur’s Telescope’ which described his methods. This book, which was reprinted many times, was the first book to describe telescope making procedures.
