ARTWORKS

Sir Francis Ronalds

Hugh Carter (1837–1903)

National Portrait Gallery, London

Sir Francis Ronalds

Image credit: National Portrait Gallery, London

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Joined the family firm of cheesemongers at fifteen. Always interested in experimenting with electrical and scientific apparatus, by 1816 he had created a primitive electric telegraph that sent messages through eight miles of wire in his garden. He offered it to the Admiralty, but was declined. In 1818 he left England for a tour of Europe and the Mediterranean and began collecting books on electricity and magnetism. He was appointed Director of the Kew Meteorological Observatory in 1843, where he devised a system of registering meteorological data. He spent the last years of his life adding to his library on electricity, magnetism and the electric telegraph, collecting over 1,500 books and 5,000 pamphlets.

National Portrait Gallery, London

London

Read more on National Portrait Gallery, London
Title

Sir Francis Ronalds

Date

c.1870

Medium

oil on canvas

Measurements

H 61.6 x W 50.8 cm

Accession number

1095

Acquisition method

Given by Hugh Carter, 1897

Work type

Painting

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National Portrait Gallery, London

St Martin’s Place, London, Greater London WC2H 0HE England

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Artist or maker

Hugh Carter

1837–1903

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