Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 52.djvu/20

 parliament in 1854; and they were described by Sir George Airy before the Royal Society on 18 June 1857 (Phil. Trans. cxlvii. 646). Their result was of first-class excellence, and the new standard, with certain authorised copies, was legalised by a bill which received the royal assent on 30 July 1855.

Sheepshanks presented in 1838 to the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, an eight-foot equatoreal, with an object-glass, by Cauchoix, of nearly seven inches aperture. In the same year he determined the longitudes of Antwerp and Brussels (Mémoires de l'Acad. des Sciences, t. xvi., Bruxelles, 1843), and in 1844 those of Valentia, Kingstown, and Liverpool, collecting for the purpose an array of the best chronometers. On instruments he spared no expense; he was an adept in their history and theory, experimenting more than he observed with them; and he contributed to the ‘Penny Cyclopædia’ a number of admirable articles on this branch of astronomy. Many now familiar improvements were of his devising, and he originated an effective and easy method of driving an equatoreal by clockwork. He resided from 1824 to 1841 at Woburn Place, London, thenceforward at Reading. A small observatory was attached to each house.

On 29 July 1855 he was struck with paralysis, and died on 4 Aug. at Reading, aged 61. His character presented a curious mixture of merits and defects. He was a thorough friend and an unsparing opponent. He had a keen wit, and his satire cut to the bone; yet it was inspired by no real malignity. Augustus de Morgan, one of his closest intimates, described him as ‘a man of hardly middle stature, of rapid and somewhat indistinct utterance, of very decided opinion upon the matter in discussion, and apparently of a sarcastic turn of thought and a piquant turn of phrase.’ But in defending what he considered worth fighting for, ‘the tone of flighty sarcasm disappeared, and an earnest deportment took its place.’ The ‘radical parson,’ as another of his associates called him, was excellent company. A classical scholar of no mean quality, he was also versed in English literature, and deeply read in military tactics. A portrait of him in early life was painted by (1778–1831) [q. v.], and a monument, surmounted with a bust by [q. v.], was erected to his memory in the chapel of Trinity College, Cambridge.

His sister, (1789–1876), lived with him from the time he left college, and was his sole heiress. In 1858 she presented 10,000l. to the university of Cambridge for the promotion of research in astronomy, terrestrial magnetism, and meteorology at the observatory, as well as for the foundation of an exhibition in astronomy bearing her brother's name; to which munificent gift she added in 1860 2,000l. for the purchase of a transit circle. To the Royal Astronomical Society she made, in 1857, a donation of Sheepshanks's extensive and valuable collection of instruments, and was elected in return to honorary membership on 14 Feb. 1862. She died at Reading on 8 Feb. 1876, aged 86.



SHEERES, HENRY (d. 1710), military engineer and author, was son of Henry Sheeres of Deptford, a captain in the navy (Harl. Soc. Publ. viii. 516). In 1666 he accompanied, first earl of Sandwich [q. v.], the English ambassador, to Spain in a diplomatic capacity. On his return in 1668 he became intimate with Pepys, who took a strong liking for him, but his attachment cooled owing to the advances which Sheeres, who was something of a poet, made to Pepys's wife. Sheeres left England for Tangier in May 1669, and resided in that colony as engineer for fourteen years (cf. A short Account of the Progress of the Mole at Tangier). He superintended the blowing up of the Mole in 1683, when the place was abandoned (Hist. MSS. Comm. 11th Rep. App. v. 102). He hastened to England in 1684 in order to defend, at court,, baron Dartmouth [q. v.], the admiral at Tangier, against accusations of peculation. Aided by Pepys, he was successful in this task, and thereby permanently established himself in Dartmouth's favour (ib. pp. 112–14). In 1685 he took part in the campaign against Monmouth as an officer of artillery, and was present at the battle of Sedgmoor (ib. pp. 126, 128). In July he was knighted for his services (, Brief Relation, 1857, i. 355), and about the same time was made surveyor of the ordnance. Sir Henry preserved his loyalty to James during the revolution of 1688, but illness prevented him taking an active share in the contest (Hist. MSS. Comm. 11th Rep. App. v. 202, 233, 236, 247). He followed the example of his patron, Dartmouth, in peacefully submitting to the new rulers when their authority was established. But he retained his devotion to James, and was twice arrested on suspicion of conspiring on his behalf, in June 1690 and in March 1695–6.