Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 46.djvu/239

 the first satellite, into which he introduced an equation for the transmission of light (Phil. Trans. xxxi. 1021).

Pound was tenderly attached to his sister's son, [q. v.] He trained him in astronomy, and many of their observations were made together. Those of the opposition of Mars in 1719, and of the transit of Mercury on 29 Oct. 1723, are examples (, Miscellaneous Works, pp. 353, 355). Their measurement of γ Virginis in 1718—the first made of the components of a double star—was directed towards the ascertainment of stellar parallax; and Pound doubtless aided in planning the operations upon γ Draconis which led Bradley to the discovery of the aberration of light.

Pound was a frequent visitor of [q. v.] at Kew. He was commissioned by the Royal Society, in July 1723, to test Hadley's reflecting telescope, and reported favourably on its performance (ib. xxxii. 382). He died at Wanstead on 16 Nov. 1724, aged 55. His instruments were sold for 25l. He married, first, on 14 Feb. 1710, Sarah, widow of Edward Farmer, who died in June 1715; and secondly, in October 1722, Elizabeth, sister of Matthew Wymondesold, a successful speculator in South Sea stock, and proprietor of the Wanstead estate. She had a fortune of 10,000l. After her husband's death she resided with Bradley at Oxford, 1732–7, died on 10 Sept. 1740, and was buried at Wanstead. By his first wife Pound left a daughter Sarah, born on 16 Sept. 1713; she died at Greenwich, unmarried, on 19 Oct. 1747.

 POUNDS, JOHN (1766–1839), gratuitous teacher of poor children, was born in St. Mary Street, Portsmouth, on 17 June 1766. His father, a sawyer in the royal dockyard, apprenticed John, at twelve years of age, to a shipwright. In 1781 Pounds, then a youth six feet in height, fell into a dry dock, and was crippled for life. He put himself under the instruction of an old shoemaker in the High Street, and in 1803 started as a shoemender on his own account in a weather-boarded tenement in St. Mary Street. In 1818 he took charge of one of the children of his sailor brother, five years of age. Feeling that companionship for his nephew was desirable, he added first one child then another to his pupils. With a natural power of teaching and love of children, he thus became voluntary and gratuitous schoolmaster to the poorest children of Portsmouth. His numbers averaged about forty, including twelve little girls. His modes of teaching were chiefly interrogatory and realistic. He taught reading from handbills, and preferred old school-books to new. In arithmetic he taught up to the double rule of three. He instructed children how to cook their own food, mend their shoes, and make their playthings. He was doctor, nurse, master of sports, and companion on excursions into the country. His philanthropy also displayed itself in relieving his poor neighbours in winter notably in 1837-8, a winter of exceptional severity and his sympathy with and power over animals were remarkable.

In 1838 a characteristic portrait was painted of Pounds by H. S. Sheaf of Landport, a journeyman shoemaker. It is in the possession of the family of the late Edward Carter, esq., of Portsmouth. There was a lithograph, drawn by W. Mitchell and engraved by W. Charpentier. Pounds died on 1 Jan. 1839.

After his death came the recognition of his influence. Schools were established as memorials; publications in England, Scotland, and America extolled his virtues. In 1847 Dr. Guthrie wrote his 'Plea for Ragged Schools,' and proclaimed Pounds as originator of the idea. In 1855 a memorial stone was erected to Pounds, and placed on his grave in High Street Chapel burial-ground.

 POVEY, CHARLES (1652?–1743), miscellaneous writer and projector, was probably descended from a family which had settled at Shookledge, Cheshire, and may have been son of Ralph Povey (b. 1607) and a relative of Pepys's friend, [q. v.] (cf. Addit. MS. 5529, f. 59 b). He had a brother, Josiah (d. 1727), who was rector of Telscombe, Sussex. When twitted with his obscure origin, he said his birth was neither noble nor ignoble. According to his own statements, he spent the flower of his youth and middle age in study and thought, and during the reign of James II he was twice imprisoned for writing against that king (English Memorial). In 1689 he printed ‘A Challenge to all Jacobites,’ which was