| Description | General diary entries on weather, gardening, reading, family movements and activities, and guests at Collingwood. Some information on William's visits to others, lecture attendance and correspondence. Concluding on 31 December 1886, 'Old year 1886 was duly seen & heard to depart, under the starlight, on the doorsteps, to the sound of Hawkhurst Church Bell, by us...' Signed by Alexander Stewart Herschel, Francisca Herschel, Isabella Herschel, and John Herschel. The final leaf contains some anecdotes of scientists, including Henry Cavendish, James Joseph Sylvester, William Buckland, Roderick Murchison and Lord Rosse. |