Henry Moseley

Henry Moseley (9 July 1801 – 20 January 1872) was an English churchman, mathematician, and scientist.

Biography The son of Dr. William Willis Moseley, who kept a school at Newcastle-under-Lyme, and his wife Margaret (née Jackson according to published sources, but genealogical evidence is that her maiden name was Robins), he was born on 9 July 1801. He was sent at an early age to the grammar school there, and when fifteen or sixteen to a school at Abbeville. Later he attended, for a short time, a naval school in Portsmouth.

In 1819 Moseley went to St John's College, Cambridge. He graduated B.A. in 1826, coming out seventh wrangler, and proceeded M.A. in 1836. In 1870 he was given an honorary degree of LL.D.

Moseley was ordained deacon in 1827 and priest in 1828, and became curate at West Monkton, near Taunton. On 20 January 1831 he was appointed Professor of Natural and Experimental Philosophy and Astronomy at King's College, London. He held the post till 12 January 1844, when he was appointed one of the first of H. M. inspectors of normal schools. He was also chaplain of King's College from 31 October 1831 to 8 November 1833. As one of the jurors of the International Exhibition of 1851 he came to know Albert, Prince Consort. In 1853 he was presented to a residential canonry in Bristol Cathedral; in 1854 he became vicar of Olveston in Gloucestershire, and was appointed chaplain in ordinary to the Queen in 1855.

Around 35 papers on natural philosophy written by Moseley appeared in the Philosophical Magazine, the Transactions of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, the Philosophical Transactions, the British Association Reports, and other journals. The observed motion of the lead on the roof of Bristol Cathedral, under changes of temperature, caused him to advance the theory that the motion of glaciers might be explained in the same way.

Family Moseley married, on 23 April 1835, Harriet, daughter of William Nottidge of Wandsworth Common, Surrey. Henry Nottidge Moseley was their son.