Janet Taylor

Janet Taylor (born Jane Ann Ionn; 13 May 1804 – 25 January 1870) was an English astronomer, navigation expert, mathematician, meteorologist, and founder of the George Taylor Nautical Academy. She was the author of various astronomy and navigation works, and owner of a navigational instrument production and repair warehouse.

Her "George Taylor Nautical Academy" was highly regarded by the East India Company, Trinity House, and the Admiralty. She received medals from both the King of Prussia and King of the Netherlands, and her rule for calculating latitude from altitude was described as "ingenious". Taylor was among the few women working as a scientific instrument designer in 19th century London. Her 1834 patented "Mariner's Calculator" was dismissed by the Admiralty, and was later reassessed as "genius but impractical in the 'clumsy' hands of its potential users."

Early life Taylor was born Jane Ann Ionn in Wolsingham, England, on 13 May 1804. Her parents were Reverend Peter Ionn and Jane Deighton, and she was their sixth child of eight. Her father was the headmaster of a Wolsingham School, which she attended, and which was one of the few Northern English schools to teach navigation.

At nine years old, she received a scholarship to attend Phoebe Wright's Royal School for female embroiderers in Ampthill, Bedfordshire, which had an entry age of fourteen. During this time she published "Luni-Solar and Horary Tables: with their application in nautical astronomy; containing an easy and correct method of finding the longitude, by lunar observations and chronometers; the latitude, by double altitudes and elapsed time, the azimuth, amplitude, and true time," which discussed calculations that could "reduce the lunar distance" using a formula she derived herself.

In 1834, she received a patent for her "Mariner's Calculator". The invention was not adopted by the British Royal Navy as it was deemed "unworthy for the Lordships Patronage" by the Admiralty. Later, she published a second edition of "Principles of Navigation Simplified", however she faced financial difficulties following its release and her invention's failure.

Around mid-1835, she had a child. After improving her lunar distance formula, she published the second edition of Luni-Solar and Horary Tables. She owed much of this success to Francis Beaufort, who helped push for the acceptance of her work by the Naval establishment.

Luni-Solar and Horary Tables This was Taylor's first published book, in 1833. It was specifically meant to simplify the calculations of astronomical navigation by using the moon instead of the sun as one's point of reference.

In 1833 the first edition of Luni-Solar and Horary Tables was reviewed in The United Service Journal, The Atlas, and The Morning Advertiser. These positive reviews urged young mariners to use this as their basis of studying. In 1834, Taylor published a shorter version of Luni-Solar and Horary Tables called The Principles of Navigation Simplified: with Luni-Solar and horary tables, and their application in Nautical Astronomy.

In 1835, after getting a grant from the Admiralty, Trinity House, and East India Company, Taylor published the second edition of Luni-solar and Horary Tables; by 1854 this book was in its seventh and last edition. Taylor published a second book, An Epitome of Navigation, and Nautical Astronomy, with the Improved Lunar Tables, in 1842. This ran to twelve editions by 1859.

Mrs. Janet Taylor's Nautical Academy and Navigation Warehouse After the second edition of her book, Luni-Solar and Horary Tables, came out in 1835, and with steady income from her first nautical academy, Taylor was able to open a second academy in late 1835. By this time, Taylor was recognised as a credible mathematician and entrepreneur. Mrs. Janet Taylor's Nautical Academy and Navigation Warehouse offered training in all subjects a mariner would need: "a complete course on Navigation, including Trigonometry, and its application to Navigation. Another course was Algebra, Geometry, Physical Geography in relation to the velocity of tides, waves, etc. Mechanics including the Composition of Forces, Mechanical powers, the Laws of Motion, the strength of strain, of materials; wind, rain, steam powers, Atmospheric and Oceanic Phenomena... and so it continued....".

During the late 1830s and 40s, her academies were advertised in the Shipping and Mercantile Gazette and the London Shipping Gazette.

For three years following the Great Exhibition of 1851, Taylor continued to develop more binnacles, by performing experiments consisting of swinging ships back and forth across the Thames and recording the compass actions. She explained these results in a letter to astronomer George Biddell Airy in 1854.

In 1856, Taylor invented another nautical instrument consisting of an attachment for sextants and quadrants, called sea artificial horizon.

In 1862, Taylor presented a new sextant and mariner's compass at the 1862 London International Exhibition of Industry and Art.

Later life

Taylor's husband died in 1853. From 1860, Taylor began receiving an annual Civil List pension of £50. The academy later rebranded to Mrs Janet Taylor and Co. In 1863, she published the sixth edition of Directions to the Planisphere of the Stars, but declared bankruptcy the following year. She left London in 1866. She contracted bronchitis, and died on 26 January 1870 aged 65. Her death certificate states her occupation as "Teacher of Navigation".

Works Lunar Tables for Calculating Distances Luni-Solar and Horary Tables