Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society/1881/Obituary: James Sweetman Eiffe

was the second son of Luke Eiffe, Esq., of Norman's Grove and Tirlstone, near Dublin, a gentleman of hunting celebrity in the past generation. He was born at his father's town residence in Rutland Square on December 25, 1804, and was intended for the army, a uncle offering him a commission but a passion for horology overcoming every other consideration, he, soon after the completion of the full course of his collegiate education, and in opposition to the wishes of his family, directed his whole energies to the pursuit of his favourite science, and made everything subordinate to the one object of making the chronometer a perfect time-keeper. For his inventions for equalising the rates of chronometers in extremes of temperature, he received from the Government a reward, which, however, he only accepted as part payment of his claim. He also made various improvements in the astronomical clock. In 1842, an account of his improvements in chronometers was published by the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty.

From a pecuniary point of view his efforts were unrenumerative, and he exhausted his private resources and those of his wife in his experiments. He leaves a widow and an only son. He was elected a Fellow of this Society on April 8, 1842. He died at Ashford, Kent, on October 28, 1880.