'Mr Bishop's observatory from the north east', Twickenham, Middlesex, 1869

Mr Bishop's observatory from the north east', Twickenham, Middlesex, 1869. Coloured lithograph, printed by Day and Son, showing the observatory built in Twickenham in 1861 by George Bishop. Bishop was a wealthy businessman and amateur astronomer who had amassed a fortune from producing wine. Bishop had previously built an observatory with a 7 inch refractor telescope in Regent's Park in 1836 where he employed the astronomer, William R. Dawes (1799-1866), from 1839 to 1844. Later, in 1868, he also employed William E. Plummer (1849-1928) in Regent's Park, where he made observations of the stars and computed the orbits of comets. Plummer became known as the only Englishman, apart from Halley, to predict the return of comets. ©SSPL/Science Museum