25 May 2014
One of the things that I tried to show in my PhD research was how the longitude problem got everywhere. It cropped up in every conceivable type of print publication, from broadsheet, pamphlet or newspaper, to novel, joke book and satirical print. It entered the parlours of fashionable gentlemen to be be discussed over an elegant scientific instrument, and to be explained to polite young ladies. But, it also entered taverns and coffee shops to be joked over, used as innuendo, and made a subject of whimsy. A section of the upcoming 'Ships, Clocks and Stars' exhibition will show that broader public discussion. I came across one brilliant example of longitude getting everywhere on a trip to Kew Palace today. Kew and George III have long starred in a chapter of the longitude story. George had a keen interest in natural philosophy and made an important collection of instruments, which is now at the Science Museum. He also brought an end to one phase of the story of the Board of Longitude by 'seeing Harrison righted', having H5 tested at Kew Observatory, and ordering parliament to vote Harrison a gratuity. He allowed Harrison to feel he had almost 'won' the great reward, and allowed the Board of Longitude to concentrate on other matters. The enjoyable 'Longitude' film, based on Dava Sobel's book, even shows William and John Harrison visiting George III and family and encountering a cosy, family setting. This is a side to the royals that Historic Royal Palaces have worked hard to convey at Kew Palace. They have, also, recently opened Queen Charlotte's Cottage in the grounds of Kew Gardens, a small pseudo-Tudor building used by the family for picnics. On the ground floor they have recreated a wonderful print room, filled by Charlotte with Hogarth prints, pasted on to boards with matching borders, and varnished. Readers of this blog will know how exciting I found such a room!
So, there he was, our longitude lunatic from the Rake's Progress, scribbling away behind a door in Queen Charlotte's folly of a cottage, among his fellow Hogarth characters. Charlotte might not be an ordinary print collector, and this is certainly no ordinary building, but it adds another unexpected space to which the longitude problem reached.