The Benefactors
 The
Site Donation
There
were many people that helped John Craig in his efforts to
construct the world's biggest telescope on Wandsworth Common.
The
Rev. Mr. John Craig was vicar of All Saints Church in Leamington
Spa. He was well respected by the local community.
The
need for an increase in aperture was quite evident in the
19th century. Starting around 1820 was the lens made for the
Dorpat Observatory with a diameter of 23-cm. After this came
that of James South's Private Observatory, where a refractor
with an object-lens of 30-cm was installed in 1829. Then there
were a few of increasing aperture from 1834 to 1839 culminating
in the great refractor built at Harvard College in 1847. This
had an object-lens of 38-cm figured by the famous Messrs Merz
& Mahler.
 Craig's
telescope came into its own in 1852. The 61-cm lens was the
work of Mr Slater using glass cast by the Chance Brothers
who at first were not keen to take on the task. But once completed
and handed over, Mr Slater duly worked the glass blanks into
the correct figure.
When
installed in the telescope at Wandsworth, Mr Craig's refractor
held the record for shear aperture for eighteen years until
Thomas Cooke had a great telescope with a 64-cm object-lens
erected on his private estate at Gatehead. However, the weather
was so poor that the instrument rarely ever performed as it
should.
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The
Construction
Craig
had a mind to build his vision in or near London. The Great
Exhibition of 1851 in South Kensington and Hyde Park had no
doubt helped to influence his choice. Everything about the
'scope was to be the "best of British", indeed he
refused to employ any parts of the instrument that may have
been made in foreign countries.
He
approached a Mr Nelson Esq 10th February 1852, an acquaintance
of the 4th Earl Spencer, the Lord of the Manor of Wandsworth
and Battersea. In the communication Mr Nelson says, "I
had a visit this morning from Mr Craig vicar of Leamington
to request the assistance of the Leasees of the Common in
procuring for him the ground of a small portion (say about
an acre) of the Common for the erection of a telescope of
great power".
We
may never know for sure why the Earl Spencer granted permission
for the plot of land to be "given" to John Craig,
but many Victorian gentlemen often had a brass telescope in
their studies bringing them out after dinner for perhaps the
occasional view of the Moon, so having the biggest telescope
on your land had quite a bit of prestige!
 It
was clear in several other letters that Mr Craig was in a
great hurry to get the 'scope up and running as soon as possible,
for in a letter to Mr Goodford Esq. from Charles Lee, the
lawyer of Earl Spencer, he writes, "The
Rev. John Craig has been with me about the plot of ground
for his "monster telescope". I hardly know what
to do, he requires it within a week or his telescope will
not be up in time to catch Mr Orion, who is now above the
horizon, and it is a great object with the scientific gentlemen
to put a little salt on his tail before he departs".
The same letter also mentions how the land should be used,
"...call it temporary occupation
- for Mr Craig will stipulate to restore the land to Lord
Spencer when the telescope is removed". On the
reverse of the letter Mr Lee had drawn an illustration of
the telescope as he understood it from what Mr Craig had said
during their conversation, noting that the tube was 80-feet
long!
Indeed
the rapidity of the building work becomes clear with a communication
dated 26th April 1852 to the builders, "I
duly received your letter conveying to me the restitution
past at the Homage, on the 22nd of March last. Immediately
on its receipt I commenced most active operations - The centre
tower will be built this week, & all ready for the telescope,
by the 8th of the approaching month on Saturday week in fact".
The
land given over to Craig was just under two acres. In a summary
of work carried out by the Earl's solicitors on 19 Oct 1852,
it mentions in that entry a "peppercorn" rent of
1 shilling paid in respect of the Homage granted to Craig
on the 23 March 1852.
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