Flamsteed Astronomy Society

page 2 of 3

Burstow - September 21, 2002

When Flamsteed was appointed first “Royal Observator” in 1675 his salary was a less-than-princely £100 per annum.  Very little now, and not much more then!   From this he had to pay tax and buy his own instruments.  The result was that he had to take in students, a duty he resented because it distracted him from his observing program.  He had been ordained in 1675 too, and he was somewhat relieved (at least financially) to be appointed to Burstow under Lord North’s patronage in 1684.  The church dates back at least to 1211 and was held by the Archbishops of Canterbury until 1536 when possession passed to the Crown and nomination of the church living was then made by the Lord Chancellor.  The glebe and tithes at Burstow were worth around £150 annually and that made a big difference to Flamsteed’s circumstances.

Of course Flamsteed was largely an absentee parson and appointed a curate to run the church and rectory day-to-day and preach at Burstow.  He paid the curate £40 a year.  Flamsteed visited each year at Christmas, and in the summer to oversee collection of the tithes.  He was fortunate that the M25 hadn’t been constructed and this must have made his journey from Greenwich much quicker than it is today.   On one such visit he met his future wife Margaret, and they were married in 1692 when he was 46 and she was 22 years old.  They never had children.  Margaret was very supportive of Flamsteed’s work at Greenwich and she studied sufficient maths to give him considerable help .

In 1715 when he was nearly 70, Flamsteed started a series of major improvements to the Rectory at Burstow which were finished by Christmas 1717.  He wrote to Abraham Sharp his old assistant “I have rebuilt three-quarters of my parsonage house at Burstow at about £120 charge, so ‘tis now the best in the country.”  He didn’t live long to enjoy the improvements.  He died on the last day of 1719.   He was succeeded at Burstow by a fellow astronomer, the Revd. James Pound who had been chaplain to the East India Company and Rector of Wanstead in Essex.  Pound was doting uncle to James Bradley and supported Bradley through Oxford.  He may well have passed on his passion for astronomy, and Bradley became third Astronomer Royal after Edmond Halley.

Burstow Church (photo MD)

Eddie in action (photo RD)

Jane, Steve, and Tony (photo MD)

Norman and Brian

(photo MD)