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Authorised form of nameShenstone; William Ashwell (1850 - 1908); chemist and schoolmaster
Dates1850 - 1908
NationalityBritish
Place of birthWells next the Sea, Norfolk, England
Date of birth01 December 1850
Place of deathPolurrian Hotel, Mullion, Cornwall, England
Date of death03/02/1908
Occupationchemist and schoolmaster
Research fieldPharmaceutical chemistry
Chemistry
ActivityEducation: Colchester grammar school; awarded a Bell scholarship to train as a pharmaceutical chemist at the school of the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, London (1871); Science Master, Clifton College, Bristol (1880-1908).
Career: Apprentice pharmacist at his father's business; awarded the Pereira medal and was appointed demonstrator of practical chemistry in the school under Professor John Attfield (FRS 1880) (1872); joined Clifton College, Bristol as the assistant of William Augustus Tilden (FRS 1880) (1874)
appointed science master at Taunton School (1875); science master at Exeter grammar school (1877) and built a cheap laboratory which became a model for other public schools; returned to Clifton College, succeeding Tilden as senior science master (1880-1908).
Memberships:
FIC
Association of Public School Science Teachers
Membership categoryFellow
Date of election09/06/1898
Age at election48
ProposerWyndham Rowland Dunstan; Raphael Meldola; John Perry; Silvanus Phillips Thompson; Arthur Mason Worthington; Charles Vernon Boys; Archibals Liversidge; John Beddoe
William Augustus Tilden; Henry Enfield Roscoe; Henry Edward Armstrong; Joseph Norman Lockyer; Thomas Edward Thorpe; William James Russell; William Ramsay
RelationshipsParents: James Burt Byron Shenstone, pharmaceutical chemist in Colchester, and Jemima, daughter of James Chapman, of Wells next the Sea.
Spouse: Jane Mildred, daughter of Reginald N. Durrant, rector of Wootton (27 December 1883)
Children: One son and one daughter
PublishedWorksRCN R63402
RCN R63403
OtherInfoCollaborated with William Tilden in investigation of terpenes and the solubility of salts at high temperatures.
Pursued research on preparation of ozone and the properties of highly purified substances.
As a skilled glass-blower, he published an important practical manual on the subject in 1886 and introduced vitrified silica as a material for laboratory apparatus.
SourceSources:
Bulloch's Roll; DNB
Obituaries:
Proc Roy Soc Series A 1909 vol 82 pp xxii-xxiv signed by W A T
References:
Sir Brian Pippard, FRS, 'Schoolmaster-Fellows and the campaign for science education' in NR 2002 vol 56 pp 63-81, plate
N R Ingram, 'All that you can't leave behind' in NR 2003 vol 57 pp 177-184
CodeNA1664
Archives associated with this Fellow
RefNoTitleDate
EC/1898/16Shenstone, William Ashwell: certificate of election to the Royal Society
NLB/3/742Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to William Ashwell Shenstone, Clifton College, Clifton, Bristol27 September 1889
RR/16/184Referee's report by Richard Tetley Glazebrook, on a paper 'The optical properties of vitreous silica' by J W Gifford and William Ashwell Shenstone30 January 1904
RR/16/183Referee's report by Hugh Longbourne Callendar, on a paper 'The optical properties of vitreous silica' by J W Gifford and William Ashwell ShenstoneFebruary 1904
NLB/15/397Copy letter from an unknown correspondent, to William Ashwell Shenstone, [Fellow of the Royal Society], Clifton College, Bristol21 September 1897
NLB/16/596Copy letter of a notice from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to [The Times]5 May 1898
NLB/17/173Copy letter from Theodore E James, to William Ashwell Shenstone, Fellow of the Royal Society5 August 1898
NLB/17/548Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor William Ashwell Shenstone, Fellow of the Royal Society16 November 1898
NLB/20/244Copy letter from Theodore E James, to Messrs Harrison & Sons6 March 1900
NLB/18/405Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to W A Shenstone, Fellow of the Royal Society6 March 1899
NLB/25/493Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to William Ashwell Shenstone, Fellow of the Royal Society11 November 1902
NLB/20/379Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to William Ashwell Shenstone, Fellow of the Royal Society6 April 1900
NLB/20/277Copy letter from Arthur William Rucker, to William Ashwell Shenstone, [Fellow of the Royal Society]10 March 1900
NLB/21/482Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to William Ashwell Shenstone, Fellow of the Royal Society26 November 1900
NLB/23/2/443Copy letter sent from Joseph Larmor, to William Ashwell Shenstone, Fellow of the Royal Society, and J W Gifford24 February 1904
NLB/28/319Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to William Ashwell Shenstone, Fellow of the Royal Society18 February 1904
NLB/28/360Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to William Ashwell Shenstone, Fellow of the Royal Society23 February 1904
NLB/28/397Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to William Ashwell Shenstone, Fellow of the Royal Society27 February 1904
NLB/28/406Copy letter from [Theodore E James], to [Messrs Harrison & Sons]1 March 1904
NLB/33/3Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to William Ashell Shenstone, Fellow of the Royal Society, Tuffleigh, St Vincent's Rocks, Clifton 14 June 1906
NLB/32/667Copy letter from Joseph Larmor, to William Shenstone, [Fellow of the Royal Society]2 May 1906
NLB/32/813Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to William Ashwell Shenstone, Fellow of the Royal Society29 May 1906
NLB/34/335Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to William Ashwell Shenstone, Fellow of the Royal Society, 46 College Road, Clifton, Bristol4 January 1906
MC/19/760Letter from [William Ashwell] Shenstone, Tuffleigh, St Vincent's Rocks, Clifton, to [Robert William Frederick] Harrison6 February 1904
RR/9/241Referee's report by James Dewar, on a paper 'On the solubility of salts in water at high temperatures' by William Augustus Tilden and William Ashwell Shenstone10 May 1884
RR/9/242Referee's report by Thomas Edward Thorpe, on a paper 'On the solubility of salts in water at high temperatures' by William Augustus Tilden and William Ashwell Shenstone15 January 1884
PP/6/31Paper, 'On the solubility of calcium sulphate in water in the presence of chlorides' by William A [Augustus] Tilden and W A [William Ashwell] Shenstone1885
PP/6/31/2Diagrams, experimental equipment and results by William A [Augustus] Tilden and W A [William Ashwell] Shenstone1885
PP/6/31/1Manuscript, 'On the solubility of calcium sulphate in water in the presence of chlorides' by William A [Augustus] Tilden and W A [William Ashwell] Shenstone1885
MC/23/176Letter from [James] William Gifford, Oaklands, Chard, to the Secretary, The Royal Society14 November 1908
MC/23/462Letter from William [Augustus] Tilden, The Oaks, Northwood, [Middlesex], to [Robert] Harrison, [Royal Society]28 September 1908
MC/19/763Postcard from [William Ashwell] Shenstone, Tuffleigh, St Vincent's Rocks, Clifton, to [Robert William Frederick] Harrison17 September 1904
MC/19/762Letter from [William Ashwell] Shenstone, Tuffleigh, St Vincent's Rocks, Clifton, to [Robert William Frederick] Harrison8 August 1904
MC/19/764Letter from [William Ashwell] Shenstone, Tuffleigh, St Vincent's Rocks, Clifton, to [Robert William Frederick] Harrison22 September 1904
MC/19/761Letter from [William Ashwell] Shenstone, to [Robert William Frederick] Harrison12 February 1904
NLB/29/320Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to William Ashwell Shenstone, Fellow of the Royal Society20 September 1904
MC/19Volume 19 of miscellaneous correspondence regarding business matters, sent to the Royal Society1904
MC/21/571Letter from [William Ashwell] Shenstone, Clifton College, Clifton, Bristol, to [Joseph] Larmor9 May 1906
MC/21/570Letter from [William Ashwell] Shenstone, Clifton College, Clifton, Bristol, to [Robert William Frederick] Harrison11 March 1906
NLB/32/455Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to William Ashwell Shenstone, Fellow of the Royal Society13 March 1906
MC/21Volume 21 of miscellaneous correspondence regarding business matters, sent to the Royal Society1906
MC/23Volume 23 of miscellaneous correspondence regarding business matters, sent to the Royal Society1908
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