| RefNo | HSF/2/1/39 |
| Previous numbers | 32.8.24 |
| Level | Item |
| Title | Letter from J [John] Herschel, Camp near Dera Ghazee [Gazi] Khan, to 'Dearest Pater' [John Frederick William Herschel] |
| Creator | Herschel; John (1837-1921); British army officer and astronomer |
| Date | 22-24 January 1860 |
| Description | He has been plunged suddenly into a rush of work which has prevented him from writing and even on Sunday all work is not suspended. He has been keeping a kind of journal which he has been sending to Willy [William James Herschel] for him to forward home. He has found enough work to make up for last year's idleness. In case his father has not received the journal from Willy, he sketches out his activities. He stayed in Lahore for three weeks and then marched to Dera Gazi Khan where he found arrears of letters which kept him busy until [James Palladio] Basevis' arrival. His father's letter came later and John is glad that he approves of the choice of department; it is laborious, but he will never regret it. Zeal is never overlooked or underrated in the [Great Trigonometrical] Survey. Colonel [Andrew Scott] Waugh may be making arrangement to leave the service and spoke of it often when John was at Mussoorie. He could not make up his mind whether to live in town or country on returning home and John recommended Kent. He forwards a letter of Waugh's to his father [not present]. John agrees with his father that he had an advantage in spending his first months in India with Willy, and he wonders if they will meet again. At [James Palladio] Basevi's camp he has been employed from his first day on computations until 1.00pm then observing until sunset, and again after dinner until the early hours of the morning and more in summer. [Continuation 24 January] He is forced to send the letter in an unfinished state, since every march away from Dera Gazi Khan makes it more uncertain that any mail will be caught. He is now at Thakar where it was intended to take an azimuth by observation of a circumpolar star evening and morning, but they concluded that they had observed the wrong star 'a very absurd mistake'. They have given up hopes of doing it, because the correct star was too faint to be seen in daylight, when they commenced. They will continue the ordinary horizontal angle work. John describes the country, 'wild jungle' except for the hills. In a postscript, John relates that 'Miss Baily's house was the first house I was ever in, in London - it was from that, that I made my first excursions to the B.M. also to Harley St., finding my way about alone!!. It was also very nearly the last'. |
| Extent | 6p. |
| Format | Manuscript |
| PhysicalDescription | Ink on paper |
| AccessStatus | Open |
Fellows associated with this archive
| Code | PersonName | Dates |
| NA7955 | Herschel; John (1837 - 1921); Colonel; military engineer, surveyor and astronomer | 1837 - 1921 |