Savilian Professor of Astronomy - Professors' Houses

Professors' Houses

Two official residences have been provided for the astronomy professor. The first was in New College Lane, in central Oxford. John Wallis (geometry professor 1649–1703) rented a house there from New College from 1672 until his death in 1703; at some point, it was divided into two houses. Towards the end of his life, David Gregory (astronomy professor 1691–1708) lived in the eastern part of the premises. Wallis's son gave the unexpired portion of the lease to the university in 1704 in honour of his father's long tenure of the geometry chair, to provide official residences for the two Savilian professors. New College renewed the lease at a low rent from 1716 and thereafter at intervals until the last renewal in 1814. Records of who lived in each house are not available throughout the period, but surviving documentation shows that the professors often sub-let the houses and that for about twenty years in the early 18th century the premises were being used as a lodging house.

The second official residence was built during the time of Thomas Hornsby (astronomy professor 1763–1810), who proposed that an observatory should be built at a site to the north of the city centre. In 1772, construction began of the Radcliffe Observatory and an adjoining house for the astronomy professor, to which Hornsby moved. Thereafter the university sub-let his former residence. Both of his successors, Abraham Robertson (1810–27) and Stephen Rigaud (1827–39), were the geometry professor at their appointment to the astronomy chair, and in turn they moved from New College Lane to the Radcliffe Observatory. The university then sub-let the astronomy professor's house. The link between the professorship and the observatory was broken in 1839 with the appointment of George Johnson; he had little practical astronomical experience and the officers in charge of the observatory appointed Manuel Johnson as Radcliffe Observer instead. In the early 19th century, New College decided that it wished to use the properties for itself and the lease expired without renewal in 1854. Charles Pritchard (1870–93) had a new observatory built in the University Parks, but his attempts to persuade the university to add a residence for the Savilian professor were unsuccessful.