The amateur astronomer and scientific instrument maker John Dovaston was born into a long-established Shropshire family on April 25, 1740, the son of John Dovaston and Margaret (Rogers). While still in his twenties, Dovaston used the proceeds from his sugar plantations in Jamaica to build "The Nursery," an estate near West Felton, near Shrewsbury, where he lived until his death on April 4, 1808. He left a son John Freeman Millward Dovaston. His wife Ann (Hoper) had died in the previous year.

A polymath and man of varied scientific interests, John Dovaston developed a large arboretum at the Nursery, introducing a cultivar of yew in 1777 that now bears his name, and he was an ardent amateur astronomer and instrument maker. Both in England and during his voyages to Jamaica, he recorded careful observations of heavenly phenomena including comets and the transits of Venus and Mercury, and he was apparently a keen astrologer as well.

A friend of the engraver Thomas Bewick, John Freeman Millward Dovaston was a respected naturalist and a romantic poet known for his sonnets. His best known publication was Poems, Legendary, Incidental, and Humourous (Shrewsbury: W. Morris, 1825).

John Dovaston's astronomical notebook contains observations on the transits of Venus and Mercury, 1761-1799; the eclipse of the moon, July 1776; and the comet of August 1797; as well as more general notes on stellar positions, astronomical instruments, calendars, and the measurement of latitude and longitude. The volume is illustrated, and includes copies of two letters received from his fellow amateur astronomer, Waldron Hill.

Dovaston's interest in astrology is suggested by his detailed notes on casting a horoscope ("The Manner of Erecting a scheme or figure of the Heavens"), as well as by the presence of nativities for his son (1782) and for William Dovaston (1765). The chart for Dovaston's son includes interpretative notes, the other is tipped in to the end of the volume without additional comment. William Dovaston is of unknown relationship to John.

The volume is bound in half leather over marbled paper boards, with a note by Dovaston dated 1764, indicated that he had had it bound for 2 shillings. J.F.M. Dovaston's elaborate bookplate is pasted on the inside front cover.

Provenance

Acquired from Sotheby's, October 1980.

Preferred citation

Cite as: John Dovaston Astronomical Notebook, American Philosophical Society.

Processing information

Recatalogued by rsc, 2003.

General physical description

1 vol., 131p.

Bibliography

Early American History Note

This manuscript collection falls outside the geographic scope of the Early American guide (British North America and the United States before 1840). It may be of interest to scholars interested in global history, international relations, imperialism, or the U.S. in the world.

Genre(s)

• Bookplates
• Horoscopes

Personal Name(s)

• Dovaston, John Freeman Millward, 1782-1854
• Dovaston, John,1740-1808.
• Hill, Waldron

Subject(s)

• Astrology--Great Britain--18th century
• Astronomy--Great Britain--18th century
• Beyond Early America
• Calendars
• Comets
• Eclipses.
• Latitude--Observations
• Mercury (Planet)--Transit
• Venus (Planet)--Transit