| Description | Data gathered in support of Walker's magnetic survey. The results were published as 'The magnetic re-survey of the British Isles for the epoch January 1, 1915', by George Walker Walker, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, A, v.219 (1919), pp.1-72 and charts.
A revision of a survey by Rucker and Thorpe was first proposed in 1910, financed by a grant from the Gunning Fund, but Sir Arthur Rucker and Sir (Thomas) Edward Thorpe were unable to commence it. The scheme was resucitated in 1913, when a committee of the British Association for the Advancement of Science was formed for the purpose. It was considered that over 200 stations for observations would be necessary at a cost of £1,000; a Royal Society committee administered Gunning and Donation Fund sums for the purpose. It was reported to Council by December 1913, that G.W. Walker had been appointed to conduct the survey at a salary of £30, with loan instruments from various sources including the Admiralty and Kew Observatory, and maps from the Ordnance Survey. The use of a motor car and driver for two six month periods of summer seasons was secured from March 1914. |